AU Shippin' Out August 31-September 4: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum kicks off this week's releases by bringing the Dark Knight to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 around Australia this Thursday. This time around The Joker has turned Arkham Asylum into a massive prison riot. Naturally, everyone's favourite nonlethal superhero Batman is the only one who has a fighting chance to stop him. Along the way, you'll run into Arkham residents Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quin to name just a few. If that's not enough, Batman: Arkham Asylum also features an impressive roster of voice talent, including DC Animated Universe voice Kevin Conroy and Star Wars' Mark Hamill as The Joker.

The PlayStation Portable is getting a double dose of fighting games this week with prescriptions coming in for Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. Dissidia pulls characters from across the various Final Fantasy universes and pits hero characters like Squall and Cloud against villain characters, such as Sephiroth and Ultimecia. Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny marks the first time the weapons-based fighter has appeared on the PSP. In it, you'll have over 30 characters to choose from, including Kratos from God of War, as well as the option to invent your own fighter using the create a fighter tools available. Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny are due to hit store shelves on Friday.

This week also marks the release of the PlayStation 3 Slim. Aside from a new look and smaller stature, the PS3 Slim is almost technically identical to its older models, except for a larger 120GB hard disk. As before, you'll be able to swap out the HDD and replace it with a standard laptop drive to upgrade your console's storage. The new PlayStation 3 Slim arrives Thursday and will set you back A$499.95.

September 3, 2009
Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, PS3)
IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (360, PS3, PSP, DS)
Warriors Orochi 2 (PSP)
SuperCar Challenge (PS3)
Academy of Champions (Wii)

September 4, 2009
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny (PSP)