Eidos doing "incredibly dark" Batman title

Eidos has lifted the mask on Batman: Arkham Asylum, an "incredibly dark" outing for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Rocksteady Studios, creator of violent anti-terrorist effort Urban Chaos: Riot Response, is developing the game for a 2009 release.

Batman: Arkham Asylum unfolds as a routine transfer from the iconic prison goes wonky, setting the Joker and fellow inmates free to cause all sorts of mischief in Gotham City. The story will be co-created by Paul Dini, writer and producer of many television shows based on DC characters.

"Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham's worst villains with Batman's physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game," said Martin Tremblay, boss of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

"We look forward to working with Eidos on expanding DC Comics' world-renowned character Batman in the game space with a noticeably different feature set in an incredibly dark interactive environment."

We had expected EA to reveal a Batman game, which has long been rumoured to be in development at Pandemic Studios. The Dark Knight actor Gary Oldman all but confirmed "the videogame" recently, but made no mention of developer or publisher.

Promising, nonetheless.