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Robin to join in for Arkham Asylum 2?–IGN UK

Batman’s divisive sidekick Robin could be making an appearance in the forthcoming Arkham Asylum 2, with early cast listings revealing the presence of The Boy Wonder.

An IMDB listing for Rocksteady’s sequel to its genre-defying Arkham Asylum confirms that Mark Hamill reprises his performance as The Joker, who’s to be joined by Two-Face with actor Bruce Greenwood taking on the character. (Gamecasa note: Ironic that Greenwood will be Two-Face as he will voice Batman in the animated feature Batman: Under the Red Hood this summer)

What’s likely to prove more controversial is the inclusion of Robin, to be played by Vincent Martella who most recently voiced Hope Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII.

Warner Bros. has been coy about the news, telling Kotaku “To our knowledge, what you asked about is inaccurate information. We are not yet discussing details for the sequel.”

IGN’s resident Batman expert Alex Simmons was keen on the potential inclusion, saying “I think it’s a good idea. [Robin's] not as much of a dick as people think he is.”

Game Casa’s resident Batman expert JerseyJosh would like to see the inclusion of Robin.  Too many people dismiss the character as unimportant to the Batman mythos.  He can be featured correctly.  At this point somone might have gotten the story wrong being that Vincent Martella will be voicing the younger version of Robin in this summer’s Red Hood DTV movie.    IMDB users can get confused.

From obsoletegamer.com

To call yourself a classic gamer you would have to have beaten at least one of the old Castlevania games. In my opinion if you didn’t beat both Super Castlevania and Symphony of the Night your classic gamer resume is seriously lacking. However, there is a new generation of gamers out there who may have heard of Castlevania but never really played it and that is the audience Konami is targeting with their upcoming title, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. LOS introduces us to Gabriel whose wife was murdered and is on a quest surrounding two holy masks that are infused with special powers. LOS doesn’t follow any specific Castlevania timeline and it is not yet clear if Gabriel is related to anyone from the Belmont clan, but he does have the trademark chain whip and use of daggers and holy water. (more…)

250GB Xbox 360 Hard drive to arrive March 23 in USA?–Gamespot

GameStop lists, pulls listing for $130 expanded storage unit for Microsoft’s console; Microsoft mum.

Not long after announcing the 250GB limited-edition Xbox 360 bundle for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Microsoft went on record to say that it had “no plans” to release as a standalone quarter-terabyte hard drive. Plans, of course, can change.

Gamers may not need to pick up a special bundle to get the 250GB drive after all.
According to a product listing in specialty retailer GameStop’s online database, Microsoft intends to roll out a standalone 250GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 on March 23 for $129.99.

The price comes in at $30 more than the currently available 60GB Live Pack, which includes a hard drive, headset, 3-month Xbox Live Gold subscription, and Ethernet cable. Microsoft also currently offers a 120GB standalone drive for $149.99.

The 250GB has thus far been available as part of limited-edition $400 hardware-software bundles. Beyond the Modern Warfare 2 package, Microsoft has also issued a 250GB drive bundle in the US for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII. Earlier today, the publisher also announced the Splinter Cell: Conviction Special Edition Bundle, which includes Ubisoft’s stealth action game as well as a 250GB-equipped black console and two black wireless controllers.

Microsoft had not returned requests for comment on the listing as of press time.

Deal Brings MLG Tournaments to EA Sports Titles in 2010–Kotaku

Tournaments sanctioned by Major League Gaming will be a multiplayer feature of certain upcoming EA Sports titles, under a deal announced today by the two parties that proposes to establish “the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America.”

The pact deepens the ties between MLG and EA established last year with a live tournament series called the EA Sports Challenge Series. Under thsi new development, EA Sports titles will include new multiplayer lobbies specifically for MLG-sanctioned and refereed tournaments. Players victories, defeats and other stats will then be tracked and compiled in a profile, “enabling the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America,” according to a joint announcement.

No specific titles were mentioned, just that the online tournaments would begin in 2010. The remainder of the announcement touted the marketing potential of the partnership.

Gamers Beware! PlayStation Catastrophe Still Plaguing PS3s–Switched

What’s Going On?
The geek meltdown that began last night continues unabated this evening as Sony plods through its PlayStation quagmire, largely due to 2010 being mislabeled as a leap year. The ordeal started when clocks rolled over to March 1st and older (non-PS3 Slim) PlayStation owners began experiencing a myriad of bizarre and unfixable problems, including blocked access to the PlayStation Network, corrupted trophy data, and an inability to launch certain games and videos.

How to Handle the PS3 Situation:
While the official source of the fiasco remains a mystery, Sony believes “that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system,” which may be linked to faulty leap year programming. The company also contends that the problem is isolated to older models, though apparently not all, and has recommended that owners of anything other than the slim consoles keep their PS3s turned off. read more…

Atari launches free-to-play, web-based, co-op Missile Command–Joystiq

This here is another one of those posts that takes us three hours to write, because we accidentally become infatuated with the subject we’re writing about. Atari and online game developer OMGPop recently launched a completely renovated, web-based version of Missile Command. It retains the same steamy missile-on-missile action of the original arcade title, but adds some neat new gameplay mechanics in the form of power-ups, character progression, social networking features and seven-player co-op.

Check out the trailer above, then create a profile and start saving the world with six strangers on Atari’s site. It’s totally free — unless, of course, you buy into the adage that “time is money,” because it will certainly cost you some of that.

Old Nintendo system sells for $13,105–Yahoo Games

Everyday folk discovering colossally valuable collectors’ items amid everyday junk has been the lifeblood of antiques shows for years, but it’s not every day you see a real-life gold-in-the-attic tale play out on eBay.

Last week, North Carolina eBay user lace_thongs35 thought she was putting up an everyday, 80s-era Nintendo Entertainment System (together with five games) up on the popular auction site. But less than an hour after the first bid, the price was over $6,000 — and on Wednesday, when the auction closed, the final selling price topped $13,000.

Why? Not the console itself, but one of the games bundled with it — a deeply obscure 1987 release called Stadium Events, a highly sought-after collectors’ item. But it wasn’t even the game itself that was worth the bulk of the money — it was the original cardboard box, which collectors value at a breathtaking $10,000. Fewer than 10 complete copies of the game are thought to exist, and retro gaming aficionados consider it one of the hardest-to-find NES games ever made.

Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t let Mom throw out your Nintendo collection now, eh?

StarCraft 2 PC Beta client is now live–Joystiq

Quick, stop reading this post and head on over to Battle.net to grab the PC beta client for StarCraft 2! (It appears the Mac client is not available yet). Of course, you must have previously volunteered for the beta at Blizzard’s site, so if this sentence is news to you, then … sorry. You’re what scientists call out of luck.

The client weighs in at 1.64GB and will take a while to download, so have a crossword handy. See you out there!

Update: Blizzard has revealed the minimum system requirements for the beta. Check ‘em out past the break.

PC Minimum Requirements:
Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
1024×768 minimum display resolution
4 GB free hard space (Beta)
Broadband connection

Australian Industry Group Submits R18+ Rating Proposal–Gamasutra

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, an industry trade group active in Australia and New Zealand, has submitted a proposal for an R18+ rating to the Australian attorney general’s office, hoping to alter long-standing practices effectively banning games which exceed a certain threshold of violent or sexual content.

Unlike its ratings for films, Australia’s game rating system does not include “R18+” or “X18+” ratings, which pertain to content rated for those 18 years of age or older. The game system tops out at “MA 15+” — meaning games with content deemed more mature than is suitable to an MA 15+ rating are denied classification entirely, and cannot be sold at retail in the country. read more…

EA loses $82 million in fiscal Q3 2010, revenue down 25%–Joystiq

Right off the bat, you should know this: for EA, losing $82 million in the third quarter of a fiscal year is an enormous improvement. Compared to the same period last year (“Q3″ for EA is October 1 – December 31), the company lost 559 million fewer actual physical dollars. Yes, really. Now that we’ve told you that, we should also note that the publisher pulled in 24.85 percent less revenue year over year (down to $1.243 billion in Q3 2010 from $1.654 billion in Q3 2009). That said, Playfish had “two of the top ten Facebook games” for the quarter! Good thing EA spent $300 million on those folks, eh?

Okay, okay, real talk: the company also points out that it was the “#1 packaged goods publisher in North America and Europe” for its entire fiscal year. CEO John Riccitiello even notes that Mass Effect 2 is “the first blockbuster of 2010.” And hey, with 2 million units already shipped, we tend to agree.