Batman: Arkham City PC, OnLive, Origin release details

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 22 November, 2011

Plus: Robin Bundle Pack out now.

UPDATE: OnLive has just been in touch to say it's offering a free 30 minute Batman: Arkham City demo for US and UK gamers from today ahead of the game's Friday 25th November launch.

ORIGINAL STORY: The PC version of Batman: Arkham City launches in the UK on Friday, 25th November, Warner Bros. has announced.

Then, it goes live in shops and via Steam.

It is available now from OnLive, Origin, GameStop's Impulse Driven service and other digital platforms. The superb superhero adventure launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last month.

Meanwhile, Warner announced that the Robin Bundle Pack is out now on Xbox Live Marketplace (560 MS Points) and on the PlayStation Network (£5.49) and "all supported digital platforms".

Robin has his own gadgets and special modes. He is playable in all challenge maps and two additional maps that are included in the pack: Black Mask Hideout and Freight Train Escape. The pack also contains two alternative Robin character skins.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2d ago

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  • Anciegher #1 2d ago

    That seems unfair. Why should steam have to wait?

  • StooMonster #2 2d ago

    @Anciegher Because publisher hates Steam, wants to promote other digital download distribution platforms?

  • Darren #3 2d ago

    I've read reports of severe performance dips when running the PC version under DX11 - I'm talking minimums of 1-4 fps here - so, if true, it's good to know that the five week delay was put to good use! ;)

    /sarcasm mode off

    Seems DX9 is not affected and it isn't PhysX related for a change either. Hopefully, this issue will be quickly fixed via a patch and/or driver update as it was annoying enough to have to wait five weeks for this game without having to wait again to be able to play it properly.

    *sigh*

    Such is the nature of PC gaming these days, it seems... :(

  • JayG #4 2d ago

    I often read these reports too, most times games work fine for me though. Just because a few people have issues doesn't mean it's that widespread.Skyrim and Saints Row worked fine, and I have hopes Batman does too.

  • PaulLFC #5 2d ago

    Delay PC version repeatedly for no reason, then release paid DLC on launch day. Yeah, no thanks WB.

  • deadstoned #6 2d ago

    Delay the PC Version then immediately release DLC for it? Go fuck yourself WB =D

    Edited by 1 at 22/11/11 @ 15:55

  • Darren #7 2d ago

    The PC version really should have come with the Robin DLC for free as compensation for having to wait an extra five weeks to play the game. It would have been a nice pre-Christmas gesture from Warners.

  • Darren #8 2d ago

    @JayG - Both Skyrim and Saints Row The Third had issues for a good number of people though. Skyrim quits to the desktop at random for a lot of people, including myself (though the Large Address Aware patch seemed to fix that unless yesterday's Steam update) and Saints Row had (has?) performance issues for AMD graphics card owners (I'm not sure whether this issue has been fixed now by a driver update/CAP or not).

    True, not everyone is affected by these issues - Saints Row The Third runs brilliantly on my own GTX 580 for example - but it does seem that more and more PC games are released with major issues for many these days. I don't know whether that's inadequate testing, poor drivers, sloppy coding or all three but it can become a bit annoying at times. I expected Batman: Arkham City to have a flawless release myself considering it has been delayed but I've seen a good number of posts complaining about the game stuttering under DX11 so it looks like the rumours are true. Unfortunately.

  • StooMonster #9 2d ago

    it's good to know that the five week delay was put to good use!

    I reckon it was put to the use of making an OnLive version.

  • Ryboy #10 2d ago

    It's going to have to be something special to drag me away from Skyrim.

  • Sharzam #11 2d ago

    Just tried the Onlive demo.

    This was my first experience of Onlive and Batman AC so i dont know which is at fault but i found the texture work to be really crappy in particluar. No detail in any objects, in fact batman himself looked better in AA also alot of alising artifacts if i was actually running it on my system i could force on some super sampling or simlier. Also frame rate wise was mostly 60fps but did jump down to 30fps a few times which again could be cured if was on my PC. I assume must be because of Onlive but i have 30mb Cable so if i cant get a good game i imagine adsl people are screwed.

  • swede #12 2d ago

    @Sharzam No. Onlive currently uses 5-6Mb maximum. So, greater download speeds don't mean an awful lot at the moment. I tried the demo on ADSL and it seemed pretty good to me.

    /Edit... just had a another look. Sorry, yes have to agree with you on the most part. Had no problems with artifacts or lag, and the framerate is very smooth... but the trade off is that the game appears to be running at very low settings. Some textures are incredibly low-res. Look at the banners hanging down in the first room for example.

    Shame.

    Edited by 1 at 22/11/11 @ 19:57