Rocksteady silent on next game..for now

er...wrong Rocksteady...

After last year's Game of the Year nominee, Batman Arkham City, developer Rocksteady has been very silent about what they are planning to do next.  This hasn't stopped tons of speculation as to what they might be working on next.  

No one expected it to be as good as it really is.

Let's be honest here, Batman Arkham Asylum pretty much perfected the super hero game genre.  While not anywhere as mistreated as Superman, Batman has been "damaged goods" when it comes to video games.  Rocksteady did what was thought to be impossible, turn Batman into a viable video game IP.  Warner Bros. was so impressed with the game, that they purchased the developer.  A sequel was announced as a surprise a mere 4 months after the launch of their original game (believe it or not, Square Enix was actually the publisher, as they purchased Eidos shortly before the August release of Asylum..which is even funnier when you think that the PC version of Final Fantasy VII was original published by Eidos, as they were much larger than Square at that time...).

So now, we are nearly a year removed from last year's sequel, Arkham City, and no one really knows what exactly what Rocksteady is up to.  Let's look at the rumors.

Rumor #1- Superman- Man of Steel

Thrilling.  Oddly enough, no sequel.

This is an interesting rumor, mostly because this would be a movie tie in game, as Man of Steel is due out next year.  It also is interesting because as I said above, Superman has been treated pretty piss poor when it comes to video games (I can only think of one that was decent, the Death and Return of Superman on the SNES and Genesis).  Given that Warner is doing the movie, and they own Rocksteady, I could honestly see this happening.  However, given how the movie games usually are developed, and Rocksteady liking to take their time in making their games as fun as possible, I am not entirely sold on this one.  I'd love to see it, don't get me wrong, but if I had to venture a guess I am not sure Warner is wanting to put Rocksteady on a toxic IP that the Man from Krypton has become in gaming.

Chance we'll see it:  20%

Rumor #2- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This needs some explosions.

I consider this the dark horse of the rumors for a few reasons.  First and foremost, Nickelodeon purchased the rights to the TMNT a while ago, and has been looking for a silver screen reboot of the series for some time now.  Most recently, Transformers director (and resident "big boom guy") Michael Bay had expressed serious interest in the project, but was removed a little bit ago (supposedly, the script was pretty much out there, the Turtles were from outer space or something..).  Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom, which is one of the competitors to Warner.  That's not really saying much though, considering that Viacom has no video game arm to their company.  Furthermore, reports are that Activision has secured the rights to the Turtles for the time being.  If that's the case, Rocksteady cannot touch the TMNT, since they are owned by Warner Bros.

Chance we'll see it?:  5%

Rumor #3- Another DC Comic Book Game (Wonder Woman/Green Lantern/etc)

Lots of game heroines out there, why not the original?

This is a little more likely than the TMNT, mostly because DC would love to see someone build up one of their lesser heroes into a triple A title, which in turn would lead to more comic book sales.  Now, DC has an absolute ton of different characters that they could pick from, there are three in particular that are extremely possible.  First, Green Lantern.  There was a GL movie last year, and it didn't go over that well. There was also a tie in game to it, and it wasn't really that bad.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't really good, but it was a damn sight better than some of those Sega Avengers games.  GL is still one of the more popular characters DC has, I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of attempt to get him back into the limelight (no pun intended).  Second one we have here is Green Arrow.  Green Arrow isn't exactly the first character that comes to mind when I think of DC, but there will be a new Green Arrow TV show coming out here before too much longer.  It is quite possible to see some sort of effort to get the Arrow off the ground in the gaming market too.  This would be the black sheep of this trio though.  Lastly, and the one I'd like to see the most here, would be Wonder Woman.  She's the most popular female super hero, but she doesn't have anywhere near the respect that her Kryptonian or Gothamite brothers.  Warner has attempted on a few occasions now to get her a movie, but these attempts didn't do to well (I remember Joss Whedon was supposed to do one...then he went on to do the Avengers movie....oops).  Honestly, I look at these as a long shot as well, but as long as DC is looking for a way to make heroes popular, Rocksteady will be around those rumors.  

Chance we'll see it?:  10%

Rumor #4- "Silver Age" Batman

No word on Adam West's involvement.

 Now we have the odds on favorite, and most recent rumor.  It has been speculated that they will announce (maybe as soon as this weekend's Comic Con) a Batman Arkham Asylum prequel, which could be the first initial meeting between the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime himself.  This seems like it's going to be the one that will win here, but I can't say I'm really that much in favor of it.  I have two reasons as to why I feel this way.  First and foremost, I don't know if Rocksteady is looking to become a "one trick pony." I mean  that they don't want to be come the Batman studio.  Maybe they do, I don't know.  However, with the Dark Knight Rises movie coming out in a week, as well as the overwhelming popularity that always seems to surround Batman, this is a pretty good bet.  The second reason why I don't like this is quite honestly, the Joker.  Mark Hamill went on record several times during the development of Arkham City saying that this would be his final performance as Joker.  Going back re-casting Joker after Hamill stole the show with both games, I just don't know if this is a wise thing to do at this point in the game.  That being said, I bet this is what we will see.  I hope, if this is true, that they will recast Joker as a wonderful talent (John DiMaggio's Joker in Under the Red Hood comes to mind..).

Chance we'll see it?:  50%

I'll leave 15% out there for "random ass game we haven't heard of" since who really knows?  Outside of Rocksteady themselves, of course.