Feedback about Arkham Asylum has been illuminating and, yes, even educational for Hill in 2009. This was the year he and the rest of the British underdog team at the little-known Rocksteady Studios developed and released one of the leading contenders for Game Of The Year.

Feedback was helpful, but it also was a little weird.

Imagine the beginning of Hill's 2009. The development of Batman: Arkham Asylum, an adventure featuring Batman's one terrible night trapped on an island prison/asylum overtaken by the Joker and the Dark Knight's worst foes, was more than a year under way, yet almost no eyes aside from Rocksteady's and its publishers' were on the project. The public didn't have the game on its radar, nor did much of the gaming press. "I think we felt at the start of the year that a lot of people didn't know much about the game," Hill told Kotaku in a telephone interview. People in the studio thought the game was shaping up. But who could be sure they weren't fooling themselves? "When you're working on something for so long it's quite weird," Hill noted. "You're sort of isolated from the outside world and you sort of lose quite a lot of perspective."

So for Hill one of the most important moments of his 2009 — "a nerve-wracking time" — were the few days in March that Arkham Asylum was made playable for the gaming press during the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. Rocksteady and publishers Eidos and Warner Brothers let game reporters try some of the challenge rooms, the contained areas in the game, one made for Batman brawling against thugs, the other built for "predator" criminal-frightening stealth.

"We sort of decided to go with a slightly different approach, showing the challenge rooms rather than the story because we were confident in the story we had but we didn't want to approach it in a way to show off flash cutscenes or cinematics to try and sell the game. We thought: Let's show people there's real substance to the gameplay."

Hill stayed back in the Rocksteady offices in England during GDC, plugging away on the game with his team. An Eidos representative e-mailed him feedback. Slight problem, though: "Games journalists can be a bit cagey. Sometimes you guys like to be too cool for school. So you can never be 100% sure." This unwashed horde of gaming reporters playing through the demo (a group that may or may not have included the author of this story) may not have been able to verbalize feedback that would be useful intelligence for Rocksteady, but the way the demo was played was good feedback enough.

"One of the things we were really happy with, with the initial feedback, is that a lot of the journalists played it and then played it again and tried to do it in different ways," Hill said. "One of the design philosophies [of the game] was to sort of create your own Batman stories: You did something a particular way and saw these cool things. It was really great to get that particular feedback to come through."

In theory, the game would then be released a little later, but Arkham Asylum, originally slated for a June was delayed until late summer before it showed up at E3 in Los Angeles. For E3, Hill crossed the Atlantic and dared to get some feedback first-hand. The good news was that he was bumping into developers at E3 and getting the insights of people from Naughty Dog, whose single-player balance of action and story in Uncharted was comparable to the design of Arkham Asylum, as well as from Ubisoft folks, whose Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell series were, like Batman, exploring the gameplay of aggressive stealth. "Developers tend to be more generous with feedback because making any game is really hard — even bad games," Hill explained. They know the way things work, and they can relate to the struggle of making this stuff. "You put your life and soul into them."

Oh, but for Hill there was also sort of something bad — or uncomfortable — about being at E3 to get that firsthand feedback. "To be honest, I hate watching people play the game," he said. "It's watching your baby. It's nerve-wracking. I would kind of watch but I could only watch for a certain amount of time and then I would walk away. But it's nice because you can watch in anonymity and see where they're enjoying it and also where they're struggling."

Hill flew back to work in England and then back to California in the summer for Comic-Con. Also in the summer, the demo came out, the one that inspired people on the Internet to start using that term GOTY. Hill wasn't sure what kind of feedback the demo would get, because he was aware of the awkward fact that this demo, a thing theoretically made to sell a game, was, well, inferior to the game it was selling.

"I think we all felt the game was better than the demo," Hill said. "It's a hard game to do a demo of because it's a journey rather than a staccato experience. The story is important. The characters are important. Sometimes that can be hard to get across in a demo. We were really a little bit worried when it went out... So when people really enjoyed the demo, we felt, well if you like the demo, you'll definitely like the game, because it's a lot better."

Batman: Arkham Asylum was released in late August. Hill had just crammed three weeks of vacation into his August, days banked to take off as soon as the game disc went gold and was out of Rocksteady's hands. He was back in the country the day the game was released. Reviews were out, another odd sort of feedback. "It's such a weird experience making games because you kind of go two years with almost no feedback," he said. "And then suddenly you get all this feedback on what you've done for the last two years in one mad hail of comments. And then nothing again for two years."

He remembers about 40 reviews hitting the Internet almost all at once. He was on his laptop, not back in the office yet. He was calling in, and the team was "shouting the review scores to each other. It was really exciting and really crazy."

But the time warp would continue. As the fall arrived and people were playing the game, many gamers were saying, yes, this is the Game of the Year. They were in the mode of showering praise and awarding rhetorical trophies. Rocksteady was in a different mode. "We're sort of trying our best to enjoy it," Hill said, "But obviously by the time the game comes out we're already a couple of months into the next thing we're doing." Hill's interview was conducted before the announcement of Rocksteady's "next thing," but today we know what that is: Arkham Asylum 2.

"Hopefully whatever we do next," he had said, "People will be excited about as well."

And so the feedback from Rocksteady will abate. Hill and his team are now working on something that no marginally helpful reporter, no more generous developer, no eager demo players will likely be able to provide some feedback on for a while. But maybe, it would be nice to let Hill offer some feedback of his own. What did we think of the game? After all, we've told him in many ways. It's his turn:

Why did he think Arkham Asylum was a special game, a special super-hero game?

"One of the things the team did that was successful was make a game that was uniquely a Batman game," he said. "It wasn't another genre that just happened to have a character with a cape in it. It was uniquely Batman in terms of the gadgets, the detective mode, the predator aspects and the combat. All those elements were built, designed and created to reflect Batman himself.

"Not just with super-hero products, but with licensed products, I think what tends to happen is you get a genre rather than a license and you kind of shoehorn the license into the genre. And you don't get the best of the license.

"I think Batman is quite challenging in some ways. There are some things he obviously can't do. He doesn't kill people. He never uses a gun. And there's a lot of genre conventions which you have to approach in a slightly different way. Your options are to embrace that or not. And if you embrace it, it means you have to come up with more interesting answers. I'd like to think that's what people responded to as well. If you can't kill people, what can you do? [We presented] this whole element of creating the fear and changing the way people behave because of this character and this persona he's created.

"If you can get those elements into the game, I think it's really going to resonate with people. And I think that's what happened. "

That seems on target.

Concluded Hill: "We wanted to make a great game, but also a great Batman game. … Thanks everyone for the great feedback."

I only played the original Just Cause very briefly during a busier stint in my game playing schedule, Did I miss action like this, or is using the statue of the island's president as a wrecking ball something completely new to the series? Either way, I'm in.

The action portions are shot with much of the grainy, shaky cam styling seen in previous Kane & Lynch 2 trailers, a treatment we expect to see throughout the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC sequel. The rest—like watching Lynch relieve his bladder and think deep thoughts—is more standard, story-building stuff. But if IO can pull off gun battles that look this interesting, on top of the online co-op and quirky gameplay twists, we may like Dog Days for more than its visual style.

The trailer from IGN is after this and falls under the potentially not safe for work banner, due to its violence and salty language. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is officially due this fall.

That really didn't take long. The show opened with the announcement of Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. A url for the game: Arkhamhasmoved.com was given, but as of 6 p.m. Mountain Time I was still getting 404 errors for it.

Unfortunately not everyone else has caught on to the joys of launching grenades from a hovercraft, so we'll have to settle for Eidos' Just Cause 2. Preorders kick off today, with participating stores offering codes good towards the download of five exclusive items to help Rico do the things that Rico does. Things like parachuting, driving cars, and shooting people. His signature pistol, Bull's Eye assault rifle, Chevalier Classic car, and Chaos parachute should do the trick nicely.

About the only time where Just Cause 2's vehicle physics work against you is when it has the chance to create an even BETTER awesome car crash, such as street vehicles going off road, or anything trying to get a grip on icy surfaces. God, I lose it when that sportscar goes off the sand dune. Just lose it.

The thing is, I want this game to take itself seriously while all this crap is happening. Oh, sure, this would be hilarious if it was all set to a Dukes of Hazzard banjo accompaniment. But, like giggling in study hall, it's even funnier when you beach a cigarette boat, parachute onto the dock and karate kick a bad guy and try to keep a straight face throughout.

Vehicular Stunts Developer Diary [GameTrailers]

Given that Crystal Dynamics hasn't done much of anything other than Tomb Raider since 2005, and given that Eidos/Square Enix have telegraphed a "reboot" of the Lara Croft franchise, sounds like it's a good bet that's your prestigious AAA franchise. Unless they're referring to Legacy of Kain, of course.

The ad listing mentions multiplayer maps, which indicates competitive online, not just cooperative campaign support.

Next Tomb Raider has Multiplayer? [CinemaBlend via Joystiq]

This time around Rico hits up the South East Asian island of Panau, where his former boss Tom Sheldon has retired with a whole lot of Agency intel and cash. It's another island; another military regime; and a lot more explosions, and it's coming on March 23rf to North American Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s, and PCs, with a European release three days later on the 26th.

"Just Cause 2 offers the freedom to explore and tackle the world in any way you choose", said Lee Singleton, General Manager of Square Enix London Studios. "The grapple and the parachute mechanic will change the way you play open-world games, allowing players to be in the air in seconds, tackling missions from above and using the aerial advantage. If you prefer to stay on solid ground, the choices offered by the grapple are limited only by your imagination."

I may come off snarky, but I'm actually looking forward to another round of Just Cause, if only to see if they fixed the things I disliked about there first one. Hey, it happened with Assassin's Creed II, why not Just Cause 2?

That last bit certainly explains the teaser video that McWhertor posted awhile back, featuring the two criminals running through a Chinese restaurant pursued by gunman and an attack dog, caught on what looks like a grainy surveillance camera. IO Interactive is looking to "deliver a fresh perspective to the words 'intensity' and 'realism' in video games," and if that teaser was less tease, more gameplay, then they might just be on to something.

"Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days," said Niels Jorgensen, general manager of IO Interactive. "A special thanks to gamers worldwide for their feedback. They are certainly in for a shock as we, with immense pride, welcome back our two dear, violent and somewhat unfortunate friends."

Dog Days will feature the world's most dysfunctional couple as they journey through the seedy Shanghai underworld. The original teaser vid plus the new one below are now up at http://www.kaneandlynch.com, with screenshots listed as coming soon. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is slated for a 2010 release on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 under the Eidos label.

Not that there's anything wrong with the sandbox third person shooter/action game label; it certainly does sum up both Just Cause 2 and its 2006 predecessor. But with sequels, you're expecting something more, right? Well, Just Cause 2 delivers – in parachute and grappling hook form.

What Is It?
Just Cause 2 puts players in the shoes of Agency operative Rico Rodriguez who is sent to track down his AWOL friend and mentor, Tom Sheldon on the fictional island of Panau. Along the way, he gets enmeshed in conflicts between three different factions and there are a lot of high places that are just begging to be BASE-jumped off of.

What We Saw
I watched a developer recap the demo shown at E3 where Rico BASE jumps into a speedboat and then goes crazy grappling between points on what looks like a shipping port. Then the dev took me and several other games journalists through the beginning of the Casino Bust mission before handing over the controller so I could try my hand at playing in the sandbox.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out sometime in 2010, but it looks pretty enough to seem like the release could be sooner rather than later.

What Needs Improvement?
Wait, What Was I Doing? It's awfully easy to get distracted by the pretty scenery and raw freedom offered up by Just Cause 2. You do get map notifications of where you can go to complete the next objective on whatever question you might be on – and sometimes cell phone updates from non-playable characters who want you to do something. But the map is easy ignore since you have to open a menu to view it properly. Also the cell phone pep talks are jarring enough to be irritating, so you might tune them out. It'd be nice if the game sent your PDA unobtrusive text messages or something.

Where Am I? Panau feels huge. I'm not sure how it stacks up compared to the first game, but the square mileage of the island is supposed to be something like 400 square miles. With all the ground to cover and topography that makes it hard to scan for landmarks, it's easy to get lost. You might not mind it much if you're an intrepid explorer – but if you're one of those gotta-beat-main-story-now types, getting lost while trying to learn the lay of the land is going to be a huge drag.

You Can't Grapple Two Elevators Together: Bummer.

The Malaysian Faction Boss Is Annoying: I might catch heat from both feminists and Malaysian people when I say that I can't stand the Malaysian faction boss lady. But seriously, she's irritating – especially when she's constantly yelling at you during a mission in heavily accented English.

What Should Stay The Same?
I Want To Have The Grapple's Babies: It is so fun to grapple onto things, grapple things together or just grapple yourself to the ground then deploy the parachute while you're being pulled toward said grapple point to launch yourself into the air for what's basically the Spider-Man mode of transportation. The best part of the demo was when the developer grappled a truck that was pursuing him to the underside of a bridge as they passed by. The physics of watching the wire snap taut and the truck flip up and over were hilarious. Also, you can grapple cars and boats to helicopters. Oh, and you can keep your airborne momentum up when you're parachuting by grappling onto distant points on the ground or environment.

I Might Cheat On The Grapple With The Parachute: You can deploy your parachute at any time, pretty much anywhere if you've got even a few feet of air between your feet and the ground. A single button press deploys it and releases it, which is very low-fuss given all the guns you've got to handle. Once you master the pitch (point up, not down and you'll gain altitude!) and the grappling-to-the-ground technique, you might even forget to hijack cars.

We Could Have A Threesome With The Stunt Driving: Car chases are infinitely more fun when you're not actually driving. It's way better instead to let the car's momentum do the work while you straddle the front of the car as cover and shoot at the dudes climbing onto the back of your car, trying to kill you.

Final Thoughts
Just Cause 2 is pretty and violent and expansive – just like sandbox third person shooter/action games ought to be. It's really the grapple combined with the parachute that sets this game apart from, say, Mercenaries 2 or Saints Row 2.

Also, it occurs to me that if the game really went for realism with the parachute/grappling thing, discarded parachutes and wires would be littered all over Panau by the end of the game. Also, Rico would be covered in vomit.

According to a potentially spoiler-filled e-mail—yes, spoiler alert in effect!—from a regularly reliable tipster, Messrs. Kane and Lynch will be on the run entirely in the buff for one of the game's levels. That's for the whole level, supposedly. How does this happen? According to our tipster "they wind up naked because in the previous level they get ambushed and are about to get sodomized." Oh, my.

If that's the kind of information that gets your blood pumping, you may be similarly pumped to hear that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will feature online co-op multiplayer for the entire campaign, letting you run for dear life—naked—with your friend. It could get awkward.

It will be interesting to see how this is pulled off, if true, as we doubt that Kane & Lynch will exhibit the modesty of, say, Raiden's naked adventures in Metal Gear Solid 2.

We've reached out to Eidos PR to see if they have any confirmation on this information, but this sounds like the kind of info they'd prefer to cover up until closer to release.

A sequel is certain, reported to have been in development as early as October 2007. The likely name of that sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, puts one aspect of this teaser clip, hosted by MTV Germany's GameOne.de, into context.

The video appears to have been shot by a Chinese restaurant's surveillance cameras, filmed in black and white, featuring two naked men—with their unmentionables blurred out—running from gunfire. One, who appears to be Lynch, appears to have been hit by some of that gunfire, tumbles over a dining table and is attacked by a dog. The other man, possibly Kane, beats the dog away with some type of blunt object.

And that's about it. The trailer, if it is for Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, is certainly... interesting, if only a very, very brief taste of what we can expect in the sequel.

Judge for yourself. Does this scream viral marketing attempt at Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days? Or is someone pulling our leg?

2 nackte Männer hauen einen Hund [GameOne.de - thanks, unknownassassin!]

This game's packing some attitude, dammit. It doesn't really care that opening a parachute 10 feet from the ground probably wouldn't work in real life. It does in real Just Cause 2. Now excuse me while I step off this building, I have a car to catch. Huh-huh, get it?

The revision takes some ¥4.9 billion off their net income - about $53 million US - in the first half of this fiscal year (which spans April 1 to March 31). Originally, Square had been planning on 7.5 billion yen in the first half of this fiscal year; it's now predicting ¥2.6 billion, and for comparison's sake, at this time last year it had pulled in ¥6 billion.

Square's income picture for the year fell commensurately; it was lowered from ¥15 billion for the entire fiscal year down to ¥10 billion.

The entire filing [pdf]is available through Square-Enix's investor relations site if you're into this sort of thing.

One of the joys of PC gaming is the ability to screw with stuff, like Batman's costume skin in Arkham Asylum. Over at the official game forums they've got a fan-made skin collection going, complete with apps and instructions on how to implement them in your own game. If Arkham can have gargoyles on the inside, then I see no reason why Batman can't dress as Nightwing, or the Green Lantern, or yes - Captain America. I particularly like the Batman Of Zur En Arrh outfit, which mimics the bat-suit Batman wore when he went bat-s*** insane.

UPDATE: EternalStar let us know that, thanks to SecuROM's DRM, the skins only work in the demo version of the game. On the plus side, it's free?

Batman Arkham Asylum Modded Costume thread!! [Official Forums - Thanks Stancis!]

The company that owns the North American licenses for both Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh now has a lot more adorable video game characters up its sleeve. The tiny protagonists of Mini Ninjas had cartoon written all over them, and 4Kids certainly sees the franchise's potential.

"Mini Ninjas has a wonderfully distinctive look and compelling characters, and the brand appeals to a broad demographic range – all key attributes for a healthy licensing program across multiple categories," said Carlin West, executive vice president for acquisitions and development for 4Kids Entertainment.

No plans for a cartoon or film based off of the game and its characters has been announced, but come on - it's 4Kids.

4Kids signs Mini Ninjas [Licensing.biz]

The map actually is live on the UK's Xbox Live servers as we speak, so if you're there and home from work/school, check it out now. Maybe it'll hit U.S. servers in the evening hours, too.

Update: This content is exclusive to the PS3 in North America and so it will not be coming to the 360 in the U.S. You may read more about it at Eidos' official forums or in the official news release.

More Batman Free DLC Today [Eurogamer]

Mini Ninjas is a game that sees you start off as a young ninja, sent out into the world to stop an evil samurai. As you progress on your travels, you'll meet new friends, learn new skills, explore large areas and do a lot of fighting. All controlling an ever-expanding gang of cute, big-eyed ninjas.

And yet, it's by the same guys who did Hitman. So is there some substance, some menace beneath the fluff? Or is this just Fisher Price: My First Legend of Zelda?

Loved
Design – Mini Ninja's visual design is clean, pure, charming and incredibly effective. Adorable, even. I wish more games realised that it's better to have a fully-realised, simple aesthetic than get bogged down shooting for something more elaborate.

Okami Jr. – It's not Fisher Price: My First Legend of Zelda. There are no dungeons and no puzzles. Instead, it's Pixar Presents: Okami. Except, in many ways, better. The levels are often smaller than Clover's masterpiece, but not an inch is wasted, enemies are easily distinguished and varied, and there's no unskippable dialogue sequences. It rarely feels linear, or cramped, it just feels tight, focused.

E for Everyone – Don't write this off as a kids game. Like the best cartoons, it appears superficially to young ones, but has a greater depth to it that adults can appreciate, like tongue-in-cheek humour, hidden areas on every map and some surprisingly tough combat sequences that feel more Ninja Gaiden than Mini Ninja.

Hitman: Lunch Money – IO are the guys behind Hitman, and Agent 47's influence can be seen skulking under the hood of Mini Ninjas. There's a strong stealth mechanic throughout the game based on crouching and hiding in long grass or bushes, which makes every confrontation a choice between fight or fright and every level – especially the large, "urban" castle stages - a tip-toer's playground.

Tricks – One of the delights of playing Mini Ninjas is in the little things, the little touches that add colour and variety to the gameplay. Like your big hat, which when under fire can be used to shield you from arrows, but also doubles as, of all things, a boat and a ski sled during some "vehicle" sections. Or your magic powers, some of which are obvious – like firestorms – but others quirky little delights, like allowing you to possess cute little animals and, disguised, sneak past guards.

Short Film Festival – During the game, story sequences and cutscenes are kept to a minimum. But as you unlock new ninjas to control, you in turn unlock a short animated vignette of that ninja's first day at ninja school (here's an example). It's a shame these are buried within an extras menu on the game's start screen, because the quality of both the animation and humour really blew me away.

Hated
Mini Game – I blew through mini ninjas, finishing it in just under two days. That's partly because the game is so tight, with no real "down" time, but mostly because it's, well, short. It's such a joy to play through that it's a shame there's not more to it.

A little more conversation, a little less action – one area it differs from Okami and co. is in a lack of NPCs and things to do other than fighting. There are a few people scattered around, and they offer sidequests to boot, but they're one –dimensional and rare. For most of the game, you're just exploring and fighting. I would have liked a little more depth to the world, make it more worth your while to go off the beaten path and explore the game's many hidden areas.

Mini Ninjas is one of the most pleasantly surprising games I've played in a long time. Hitting the market with little fanfare, I threw it on expecting a quick blast through a children's action game, and ended up loving every second of one the most polished, charming action/adventure games I've played in a long, long time.

Mini Ninjas was developed by IO Interactive, and published by Warner Bros/Eidos for the 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PC (version played). Retails for $30 on DS & PC, $40 on Wii, $50 on 360 & PS3. Played game to completion on all three difficulties.

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Eidos celebrates the "must-have game of Summer 2009" today, announcing some rather large shipping numbers for the first Batman game in a long while to not outwardly suck. Citing numerous awards, including the dubious Guinness World Record the game earned for highest-rated comic book game, Warner Bros. gives credit where credit is due.

"The tremendous critical and commercial success of Batman: Arkham Asylum sets a new benchmark for superhero games," said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Rocksteady Studios created an excellent game and the sales numbers demonstrate how a powerful franchise fused with high-quality production resonates with consumers."

As for how many of those 2.5 million copies shipped have sold since we reported on the 2 million sales, it would take a master detective armed with figures I don't have on hand to work out that figure. To the batcave!