Arkham Asylum sequel breaking out next year

Batman: Arkham City will be out in autumn 2011, Warner Bros. said today. The game, a sequel to the caped crusader's surprise 2009 hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, is being developed by Rocksteady Studios, the London-based independent team that developed the original.

The game was first shown at the 2009 Spike Video Game awards, when a teaser trailer (which can be seen below) was released. The name was strongly hinted at in July, when Warner Bros. registered 15 associated domains, including batmanarkhamcity.com. The original sold more than three million copies and won a hatful of awards including Best Game at the 2010 BAFTA video game awards.

Details on the game are scarce at present. Warner Bros. has revealed that Arkham City itself is a "heavily fortified" zone in the centre of Gotham City and is home to all of Gotham's "thugs, gangsters, and insane criminal masterminds." The game's debut trailer shows The Joker and Harley Quinn, who were both featured in Arkham Asylum, and new villains are also promised.

Arkham City is being developed for the PlayStation 3, Windows PC, and the Xbox 360. It has not yet been rated by PEGI or the ESRB.