Welcome to The Mad City.

ARKHAM HAS MOVED.

365 days after the heart-racing events of Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum, Gotham has a new Mayor, Quincy Sharp, a new psychiatrist, the ever kind Hugo Strange, and a slew of new problems. Welcome to a town where criminals have free reign, a village of poverty and misery, a City that is an Asylum. Welcome to Batman: Arkham City.

The Gadgets: All of your old gear form Arkham 1 (such as Batarangs and Grapple Guns) will be brought over to the second, most if not all will have new improvements and abilities. The smoke grenade (good in both Sneak and Fight modes) and the Broadcast Tracker, allowing you to follow a radio signal, are two new and confirmed pieces of equipment and we can only assume there's more to come. In addition Rocksteady has changed Detective Mode (a function that allows you to see all the enemies in the room, as well as the riddles) with augmented reality. This is probably because detective mode turned all the scenery colorless, removing a key artistic aspect of the game. As a side note the Riddles from the first game are set for a return.

Villains: Aside from Hugo Strange (whom I already mentioned is now a psychiatrist), the emotionless Dr. Victor Freis, the charming Selina Kyle, the vengeful Harvey Dent, the deranged Harleen Quinzel, the psychotic Joker and the charismatic Edward Nigma are set to appear in Arkham 2.If you don't watch a great deal of Batman, those villains are- Dr. Strange, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Joker, and The Riddler (although it's yet to be confirmed as to if we will ever see him).

I'd rather not discuss the plot (as to not spoil anything) but if you want to know the little that has been revealed just leave a comment. The official site is here: http://www.batmanarkhamcity.com/. Release is set for Fall of 2011 and if you want a little teaser, and you own the first game: go into Warden Sharp's office, and as you enter the more open room take a left and continue to the far wall, try blowing up the middle-ish part of the wall, it takes a while to find, but it's worth it.

More News Soon..