Well at long last the wait is over. Tonight at midnight my local Gamestop has Batman: Arkham Asylum on sale after over a year of waiting. I remember when I first saw the cover of the Game Informer that had the feature on the game. I set about immediately subscribing to the mag. I know that sounds extreme, but a little backstory is in order. 
 
I'm 35 years old & have been gaming since the Atari 2600. Spider Fighter & Pitfall are still all-time classice folks! (IMO) So since the NES I have played Batman games & been somewhere between disappointed or disgusted with the finished product. Batman always seemed to be just a bit weaker than the most average foe in those games. The boss fights were always next to impossible for Batman to use any of his trademark fighting techniques or gadgetry. Now granted hardware limitations of the day kept creativity at bay for the most part. But even as hardware power progressed up to the PS2 (Batman: Dark Tomorrow anyone? Ok I'll never mention that atrocity again!) The soul of Batman has gotten lost in every game since this time.  
 
Anybody out there remember the dismal efferts of Sunsoft's batman games on NES or Gameboy? Please stop now! Those memories are unpleasant at best & can drive one to drinking! 
 
So when I lay my eyes upon Rocksteady Studios version of Batman in GI, I said to myself another pretty face. Then I read the article & said they may be onto something. Why did it take this many years & this many horrible games for someone to finally not try a dismal movie tie-in & use the comic book license? I may never know but after seeing the E3 footage, watching a few videos, & all the previews & reviews that are popping up on the web now, at last I know that this is finally a true Batman game. Not sure what the bomb is waiting on to post their review, but I'm sure they'll get to it due course. 
 
So midnight tonight I'll leave work at the TV station I am gainfully employed by, go a block down the street & get my hands on the Batman Collector's Edition for PS3. Calm down 360 owners. I'm sure that version will be great as well. I just prefer the PS3 platform for my mutiplat games because I like the controller better. No platform warrior here, I own all 3! 
 
So this comic fan from way back has geeked out enough on Batman. Now if only those minutes on the clock would hurry up. Think maybe we can move the clocks forward a few hours & trick everybody? hehehehe

Well at long last the wait is over. Tonight at midnight my local Gamestop has Batman: Arkham Asylum on sale after over a year of waiting. I remember when I first saw the cover of the Game Informer that had the feature on the game. I set about immediately subscribing to the mag. I know that sounds extreme, but a little backstory is in order. 
 
I'm 35 years old & have been gaming since the Atari 2600. Spider Fighter & Pitfall are still all-time classice folks! (IMO) So since the NES I have played Batman games & been somewhere between disappointed or disgusted with the finished product. Batman always seemed to be just a bit weaker than the most average foe in those games. The boss fights were always next to impossible for Batman to use any of his trademark fighting techniques or gadgetry. Now granted hardware limitations of the day kept creativity at bay for the most part. But even as hardware power progressed up to the PS2 (Batman: Dark Tomorrow anyone? Ok I'll never mention that atrocity again!) The soul of Batman has gotten lost in every game since this time.  
 
Anybody out there remember the dismal efferts of Sunsoft's batman games on NES or Gameboy? Please stop now! Those memories are unpleasant at best & can drive one to drinking! 
 
So when I lay my eyes upon Rocksteady Studios version of Batman in GI, I said to myself another pretty face. Then I read the article & said they may be onto something. Why did it take this many years & this many horrible games for someone to finally not try a dismal movie tie-in & use the comic book license? I may never know but after seeing the E3 footage, watching a few videos, & all the previews & reviews that are popping up on the web now, at last I know that this is finally a true Batman game. Not sure what the bomb is waiting on to post their review, but I'm sure they'll get to it due course. 
 
So midnight tonight I'll leave work at the TV station I am gainfully employed by, go a block down the street & get my hands on the Batman Collector's Edition for PS3. Calm down 360 owners. I'm sure that version will be great as well. I just prefer the PS3 platform for my mutiplat games because I like the controller better. No platform warrior here, I own all 3! 
 
So this comic fan from way back has geeked out enough on Batman. Now if only those minutes on the clock would hurry up. Think maybe we can move the clocks forward a few hours & trick everybody? hehehehe

yep pretty exicited as well, to bad I have o be at work at 6am tomorrow

Yeah, Started with the 2600 as well.  I was always excited by the batman games because I was around 9-10.  The Sun-soft NES game was fun (see my age at the time for review perception) but, It was never my favorite.  My favorite was the Genesis Sun-soft game.  I do agree with you that the games really did not have the "personality" of Batman.  Batman forever came the closest, JUST KIDDING!!  They were geared toward the genre of the time i.e. platformers.
 
When I played the demo the first thing I thought is, WOW a Batman game that has finally nailed it!!!  I loved the MANY ways to intimidate your enemies.  When I read the GI article I had the exact reaction with the interview.  I didn't get too hyped because I thought that Spider-Man Web Of Shadows was going to kick the bad spider man game trend.  While I enjoyed the game and It improved the Spider Man Combat system.....a lot.  It was at it's core the same game.  So with that experience I though well I'll wait and see some footage.
 
When I seen the first demonstration of the stealth element included with the free flow combat, I worried no more.  I am geeking out too the best thing is that my daughter my be born at anytime so I may not get to the game until later in Life even though I'm buying it tommorow (I wish 24 game-stops existed in NC).
 
Can't wait to whoop some Bane Ass.

I'm going to check my local 7-11 this evening to see if they have it.  Rumor is they don't care about street date releases and will sell it if they have it.

Starting tomorrow, it'll probably take 3 days to a week more until our stores get copies of the game.
 
International shipping takes too damn long....>_>

As of now, I've already played the hell out of this game to the point that I've finished story mode three times (two in normal and one on hard), found all 240 riddles (including the last arkham chronicle), acquired almost all trophy achievements aside from the Challenge Mode Medals, and am practically at 92% game completion (challenge mode is HARD).
 
I was pretty fortunate to get this game earlier than usual because stores received copies some time between afternoon of august 25 and morning of the 26th, approximately in terms of USA time. This is a pretty rare occurrence if you asked me.
 
Here's the funny (and slightly frustrating) thing:
 
Our stores received European versions of the game................................TWO DAYS BEFORE ITS RELEASE IN EUROPE.
 
Well that's a pretty funky trivia about International Shipping, isn't it?