Rocksteady's highly anticipated game "Batman: Arkham Knight" will have its release date delayed thanks to the decision by DC Comics to release a new comic book series.
According to Matt Liebl of GameZone, DC Comics announced a new six-issue mini-series called "Batman: Arkham Knight - Genesis." This series is expected to be published on July 29, while the video game is scheduled to be released on June 23.
"If the dates are accurate with no more delays, than fans would have had the game for over a month before reading about Arkham Knight's past," Liebl wrote. "It's entirely possible the new comic could just retell information that we learned in the game, possibly going into more depth; but, given the game's development history, another delay isn't out of the question."
Liebel added that whatever date both projects are released, writer Pete Tomasi and artist Alisson Borges are behind the new Batman comic series.
"Tomasi, by the way, is also the writer of the Batman: Arkham Knight comic that bridges the gap between Arkham City and Arkham Knight," Liebel wrote.
Joshua Yehl of IGN reported that Tomasi was also the current writer of the Batman and Robin comic series at DC. He noted that Rocksteady has released few details on the upcoming video game.
"All we know is that he's a villain wearing a militaristic, Batman-inspired outfit with an Arkham symbol on his chest," Yehl wrote. "He has a mysterious connection to Batman and wants him dead, and he's teaming up with Scarecrow to carry out his plan."
However, Rocksteady producer Dax Ginn shared a few more details on what gamers can expect from "Batman: Arkham Knight." He spoke with Phil Owen of VG24/7 about the buzz surrounding the game.
"The opportunity is exciting, but the expectation [from fans] is off the scale," Ginn said. "That's why working with DC is so awesome for us, because those guys are so experienced, and it's obviously something they do a lot of."
Ginn added that Rocksteady had the chance "to develop our own character and introduce that into Batman's world."
"That's not an opportunity that comes along very often, and I think we totally nailed it with this guy," Ginn said.
However, Ginn quipped that some aspects exclusive to Batman wouldn't be altered in the upcoming game. Owen noted that the gameplay reinforces that notion.
"Batman's no-kill philosophy is pretty non-negotiable," Ginn said.
According to Owen, the game would exclusively be available on PCs and next-gen consoles such as PS4 and Xbox One. He focused on the details within the game itself, including the city of Gotham and the weather.
"The city is as detailed and pretty as Seattle in the new inFamous game, and with long draw distances a necessity since Batman spends a lot of time in the sky, it's obvious at a glance the scope of the world is too much for an Xbox 360 to handle well," Owen wrote.
Ginn explained to Owen why Rocksteady went with that decision.
"There's a lot that the next-gen hardware has enabled us to do, and for us it's about picking and choosing where to spend that horsepower," Ginn said. "The atmospheric effects that we really needed to integrate in order to bring Gotham City to life [are] something we just knew right from the beginning that we've got to invest in."
Ginn added that Rocksteady's efforts would be "a huge technical challenge to face down and overcome." Owen thought it would be a worthwhile effort in the end.
"It does demonstrate the resource-intensive nature of highly detailed open-world games," Owen wrote. "That on top of pretty textures and pouring rain and copious particle effects the transitions from play to cutscene are seamless - not even cutting to a new angle to begin a scene necessarily - means that its test of Rocksteady's technical ability to make it all work properly even working only with new hardware."
