I have to admit to having a healthy dose of skepticism about Batman: Arkham Asylum. After all, the history of superhero-based video games isn’t exactly all rosy and happy. Just in recent times, there’s been a good Hulk game, a bad Hulk game, an Iron Man game with horrid controls, and a Wolverine game that was actually quite good.

My trepidation was somewhat relieved when I got my hands on the demo and found it to have great atmosphere, great pacing, and great voice acting. Now I’ve had my chance to play the full game, and in short, it far exceeds any expectations I had.

Arkham Asylum opens as Batman transports his arch-nemesis, The Joker, to Arkham Asylum. Soon after arriving there, the Joker breaks free of his restraints and takes over the asylum, leaving Batman to pursue him through a myriad of obstacles the Joker puts in his path.

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The long march to Star Trek Online will be an arduous one for fans of the series like myself. Luckily the team at Cryptic Studios knows how to dole out the information to keep the interest at a low thrum. Along with advancing the storyline of the Next Generation/Voyager universe explaining the changes in the political landscape of the upcoming game universe, Cryptic is also revealing some of the starships that players will be captaining in the sci-fi title. Starships often served as little more than settings for the story of the many Star Trek series but since this is an action-oriented MMO and we players do like our combat getting a glimpse at the ships of the line is a wonderful geeky pastime.

This installment introduces the Excaliber Class of Starfleet vessels. The Excaliber is an update to the classic Constitution Class starship ( which if you’re a Star Trek geek like me, you might recognize as the original series and early Star Trek movie USS Enterprise model). The history of the future vessel is explained in loving detail and gives some insight into the changes that occurred in the game post-Star Trek:Nemesis (may it never be mentioned again) with war coming to the forefront in the Alpha Quadrant.

There are other Ship of the Line entries at the site as well for the die-hards out there. Is it still unpopular to be a Star Trek fan after the release of this year’s parralell reality film?

LucasArts has gamers setting sale for Monkey Island in two new updates of this classic adventure series. Guybrush Threepwood is coming at you in new episodic adventures from the creative team behind Sam & Max and Strong Bad, Telltale. Gamers can enjoy Tales of Monkey Island in five months of brand new swashbuckling adventures for the PC and WiiWare

The word on the web on the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has turned out great for Money Island fans. gamers will get to meet all their favorite characters from the Secret of Money Island in there-imagined first adventure of Guybrush Threepwood with HD graphics and full voiceovers. Learn the art of insult sword fighting with Guybrush to a new musical score. The game will be out for the Xbox 360 and PC.

Get the full details on Tales of Monkey Island and the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition from the press release following the break. There’s also word of an easter egg included on the upcoming Wii version of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.

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Someone over at Valve has a sick sense of humor.

While many TF2 Snipers were eagerly awaiting news of something that would replace his “weak ass melee weapon”, the Kukri, with something far more useful, instead they get stabbed in the back, Spy style. The image above, taken from the official Team Fortress 2 website, shows our Aussie face down with his nemesis standing next to him, mocking him in a way only a person of his seedy profession would: by smoking a cig in his victim’s honor.

The crossed out text originally reading “The Sniper Update” is instead changed to “The Spy Update”, thus revealing the shocking finality of it all. Yes, begin the Spy Updates.

Today’s update to the Team Fortress 2 website, which was, as far as we can tell, originally intended for the Sniper class, instead reveals updates for his arch-nemesis: The Spy. Irony seems to be ever present here, as yesterday’s revelation yielded the Sniper class would be getting something to finally thwart those cigarette toting backstabbing bastards. Perhaps the ensuing overzealous Sniper mobs angered the gods with their uncontrollable laughter, orgy-like celebration, and idolatry of golden calves? Or maybe Valve just couldn’t wait any longer to tell us what they have in store for their Spy class?

Read more to find out.

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Atari and Cryptic studios formally announced the upcoming release date for the anticipated massively multiplayer superhero game – Champions Online.

Cryptic, best known for developing NCSoft’s City of Heroes/Villians and an unsuccessful attempt to bring Marvel Super Heroes to the MMO market, purchased the long running Champions tabletop RPG property from Hero Games over a year ago and quickly began the process of bringing the four-colored workd to the market. Fans of superhero games can expect some lessons learned to make their way into the new title including more modes of locomotion – like swinging and the new Nemesis system that allows players to not only create the hero but their arch foe as well.

More info and the Nemesis intro video after the jump.

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The black heart of Gotham is being exposed as never before in Eidos’ Batman Arkham Asylum. The videogame developed by Rocksteady attempts to capture the look and feel of the Dark Knight movies. The following video clip is the first glimpse into the world of darkness where Gotham’s most dangerous criminals lurk, Arkham Asylum.

The latest screenshots reveal more of Arkham’s secrets…
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Champions Online is offering up a special edition of its Ask Cryptic Q&A feature as design director Bill Roper steps up to field questions from the Champions Online Community. Roper covers queries on his personal background, experience and opinion as well as CO.

Roper brings new eyes to Champions Online with experience of playing running the original Champions pen and paper RPG. He also intends to impress his lessons learned from Hellgate: London on the Cryptic team.

Roper assures players that although specific details on the CO MMO are few and far between in the malleable alpha phase, Cryptic has plans to get word out as soon as elements start to stabilize. He’s particularly excited about the level of customization availible for character creation and the Nemesis System. Get the full scoop at the Champions Online website.

FileFront has received a bunch of demos and patches this past week, and for once, it seems like the demos are worth writing about. So, to kick things off, lets start with the patches that hit this week, just in case you were unaware that one was available for your game.

As always, for the full list of patches and games, hit the links.

Patches

• Legacy Interactive has released a patch updating The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes to v1.1.
• Codemasters has released a patch for ArchLord to adjust registry entry to point to correct location.
• Crytek has released a patch updating Crysis Wars to v1.2. This patch fixes various problems, but mainly addresses balancing issues.
• Electronic Arts has released a patch updating Spore to v1.03 with 24 new and exclusive exoskeleton limbs for the Creature Creator.

Demos

Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: Move over, James Bond! Strong Bad’s here to show you how it’s done in his hand-crafted cinematic masterpiece. You play Dangeresque, a dirty cop in pursuit of action and big sacks of cash. Can our hero defeat his arch-nemesis and save the world? Looks like he’s gonna have to jump.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven: In 7 Wonders, you have to build nine of the most intriguing structures throughout history. You have to match runes to break blocks and uncover the lock and keystone for each round.

Call of Atlantis: Takes players on a fascinating journey around the ancient lands of the Mediterranean to acquire seven mysterious crystals of power able to restore the Altar of Poseidon and save the fabled sunken city of Atlantis.

Ellen Whitaker’s Horse Life: PC demo which allows you to take care of your horse and complete certain tasks.

Murlikin Rescues His Estate: Aliens are threatening to occupy the Earth and the only one who can interfere with this evil plan is… a cat.

Five more demos listed after the jump.

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Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has a new episode coming up for which you can now get a free demo. Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 is James Bond meets Dirty Harry Strong Bad style. You’ll be playing the part of the part of dirty cop Dangeresque. Your mission is to defeat your arch-nemesis, grab some fat loot and save the world.

To try before you buy, grab the Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 Demo from FileFront. Check out the latest screenshots in Strong Bad’s gallery while you’re there.

With Halloween almost upon us, its time to start thinking of what new party games to offer friends at your big bash. Nintendo has you covered with Tetris Party, one of the WiiWare releases this week on the Wii Shop Channel.

If your flying solo this All Hallow’s Eve, grab The Incredible Maze. You can control this twist on your get the ball in the hole maze with your Wiimote or challenge your skills with the Wii board. The classics GRADIUS II GOFER NO YABOU and Digital Champ Battle Boxing are out for the virtual console if puzzle games aren’t your favorite.
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