Don't you just love the smell of good news in the morning? The oh-so-awesome Arkham franchise will allegedly have its third game come out this year!

Time Warner management recently held a conference call, and the company's CFO, John K Martin, briefly mentioned the next Dark Knight game.

And we also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise. So all in all, we expect Warners to post another very strong year in 2013. And with a little luck, the year should be as good or maybe even a little bit better than 2012.

Now, the only real issue is whether Rocksteady will be behind the game. They've done a stellar job with the first two, however, they've previously told IGN their next project will be "something a bit different."

Does this mean the developer is leaving the franchise and going off in an entirely different direction... or does it perhaps mean the next Batman game will dive deeper into the DC universe -- including a wider assortment of playable characters and locations? There was that rumor about the Justice League being in it and the game possibly being a prequel...

Viners, what villain would you like to see steal the spotlight this time around? Well get more details in due time, but for now, this is definitely exciting news.

Source: IGN, Yahoo! Finance

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! :D

This makes my day! Yeah! I just love those gamaes! Really looking forward to this : D

wuuuh!!! hope rocksteady is behind it!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT MOAR BATMAN ARKHAM GAMES!

If I could only play Arkham and Rock Band, I wouldn't need any other video games.

YES! Goddammit! This has totally made my day!! But please, please let Rocksteady make it.

I wonder if its going to be that Justice League prequel they talked about. 
 
I'm still hoping they carry on the plots from Azrael and Hush from the last game

Yes, and where it may be a prequel I hope Dick Grayson is Robin, that would be awesome. I don't have any games where he is, unless you count Lego Batman, but he isn't really Robin in that Tim is. I like to play a younger Dick Grayson.

It's too soon.

take my money now...

I want to be able to drive/fly the Bat- mobile and the Bat-wing.

As obsessed with Arkham City as I was/am, I'm a little nervous. I know Paul Dini won't be on script and Mark Hamill is retired from the Joker. I'm sure it'll be awesome and I'll play it anyway but my expectations are considerably tempered.

As long as the same team is behind it - and it shares the same/improved qualities of the last games - then I'm definitely in. The first two games were brilliant. I hope they add a co-op mode though, that'd be just perfect.

Excellent news :)

@Mbecks14 said:

As obsessed with Arkham City as I was/am, I'm a little nervous. I know Paul Dini won't be on script and Mark Hamill is retired from the Joker. I'm sure it'll be awesome and I'll play it anyway but my expectations are considerably tempered.

Mark Hamill is "retired." He said at least twice before Arkham City (Arkham Asylum and one of the direct-to-DVD Batman movies) that this was his "last time as the Joker." I'm...still skeptical.

That said, this announcement is awesome! I hope it comes out for Wii U (or otherwise I won't be able to play it).

@Nightw BR: I'd rather just be able to do more with Nightwing... maybe get Loren Lester to voice him?

TAKE MY MONEY

If this isn't Rocksteady developed, my interest on this plummets. I hope its great, but consider me skeptical.

They should do a Trilogy, like The Dark Knight series....

insert more Detective mode into the game

OH YEAH! BATMAN IS BACK!

Good for Batman, but when is Superman getting his big game? His film is almost out.

I think a Justice League origins game would be awesome if it was the quality of the last 2 games. Have it be that Batman has been in the hero game for a little while, and he has a problem that is bigger than he can handle on his own.

We need Rocksteady to make a bad ass Batman game.

Think Hush or Long Halloween with tons of insane cameos. Let's get a Green Lantern appearance and a Superman appearance in there. Make it something crazy where the last boss is Darkseid.

Would be CRAZY.

Well for me anyways.

I'd like to see the Riddler take the spotlight this time around. His part was too small in Arkham Asylum, and he was excellent in Arkham City. The return of Hush, and maybe more Killer Croc would be cool too. That being said, it would be really stupid of Warner Brothers to pull Rocksteady off this game. They're what made this series, and they need to stay, even if Paul Dini and Mark Hamill don't.

Cool ^^. Hopefully Rocksteady is going to be behind the game.@mk111 said:

Good for Batman, but when is Superman getting his big game? His film is almost out.

Agreed. I love Asylum and City and definitely don't mind another Batman game coming out but it'd be cool if other heroes could get video games to themselves as well. A solo Superman game would undoubtably be awesome.

Am I allowed to be excited for this even thought I haven't played the first two games?

SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!!

@SupBatz said:

Cool ^^. Hopefully Rocksteady is going to be behind the game.@mk111 said:

Good for Batman, but when is Superman getting his big game? His film is almost out.

Agreed. I love Asylum and City and definitely don't mind another Batman game coming out but it'd be cool if other heroes could get video games to themselves as well. A solo Superman game would undoubtably be awesome.

This game literally guaranteed there will never be another superman game ever.

YES! YES! FUCKING YES! HELL YEAH! FINALLY! XD

Now if they would kindly release this on the current generation of consoles, please? :D

And I really hope it's still Rocksteady who'll be developing this game, cause if it's not then it won't feel right... :\

@sora_thekey: If you haven't played any of the others... What are you waiting for?

You must play the games which single-handedly moved super-hero games beyond cheap, bad quality movie tie-ins!

The story is unbelievable and you really must play it!

@Joelislegend:

Oh yeah. That horrid game.

But to be fair, as a film cash-in, no one really expected anything good from it, anyway.

Sooooo many question beyond just what the game is and who will make it. Is this calendar 2013, or fiscal (ie March 2014)? There's no way it's coming out any sooner than the holidays, so what consoles will it be on?

WB would be stupid to not put this out in the launch window for the new consoles, right? They're guaranteed that the vast majority of early adopters will get it.

But then how is this game being developed? Current consoles are stuck with Unreal Engine 3.x, while the new consoles will be capable of so much more. UE3 with some extra horsepower looks fine, but compared to UE4 it would look dated. Is there a way for developers to take UE3 games and upscale them in a relatively short amount of time in UE4?

Cant wait......really excited!

@Joelislegend said:

@SupBatz said:

Cool ^^. Hopefully Rocksteady is going to be behind the game.@mk111 said:

Good for Batman, but when is Superman getting his big game? His film is almost out.

Agreed. I love Asylum and City and definitely don't mind another Batman game coming out but it'd be cool if other heroes could get video games to themselves as well. A solo Superman game would undoubtably be awesome.

This game literally guaranteed there will never be another superman game ever.

Let's just all forget that happened and give Superman a nice videogame that exists in its own little world and doesn't involve fighting tornadoes :P

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY !!!!!

AZRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My body is ready

@sora_thekey: You can be excited.

Having said that, however, DEFINITELY try out the first 2 Arkham games. I got Arkham City for Christmas two years ago and dear Lord, it is THE best, most all-out fun superhero game I've ever played. Period.

I don't know, when a game is announced as coming out the same year before a trailer is released, I think that's a sign they're rushing it.

@LeaderVladimir said:

OH YEAH! BATMAN IS BACK!

When did he ever leave?

NANANANANANANANANANANANANANA BATMAN!

I really like how this is up here before on GiantBomb. :V

@comicfan123: Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! but I can't get them if I don't have a console to play the games on. <_>'

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a little surprised we have not heard any more solid announcements about the forthcoming game. Perhaps DC wants to push Injustice before worrying about Arkham. Still, very interesting. I'm up for another game. Oh, also, I totally do not buy into the silver age Justice League Arkham game. That would be insanely stupid of DC to risk torpedoing their series.

@Smart_Dork_Dude said:

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!

AND MINE!

Looks like a good year for comic book character related games this year.

Sooo... we're not talking about this? 

" In July 2012, Vareity  p ublished a report that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was looking to make Rocksteady's next Batman game a prequel based on the Silver Age of Comic Books  , and featuring the characters Superman  , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern  , and the Flash  . The report suggested that the game would explore Batman's first confrontation with the Joker, and that it would have a release date of no earlier than 2014"