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The World of Batman

 

Batman is an enduring franchise.  The iconic nature of character intersects with problem associated with urban life and culture.  The success of the Christopher Nolan's trilogy has been matched by Batman: Arkham City video game developed by Rocksteady Studios. 



Since 2008, the Arkham games have given players the chance to live the gritty Batman existence. The Rocksteady franchise has stylized versions of iconic characters, but the game play is engrossing.  


The success of the Arkham City series standout in a game landscape full of failed tie-in games and lackluster original content.  The key to Rocksteady's success is that the developers recognizes the core ideas behind the source material and caters to a highly specialize customer's expectation. The Arkham City series routinely calls into questions perceptions linked identity, gender, and community. As has been noted in The Video Game Theory Reader (2003), the relationship between the gamer and the game reinforces certain social coding that promote some ideas and deter others.  Using Batman as the source material, basic assumption linked to the urban experience as dangerous are crucial to the game.  Moving beyond that, the depictions of the male and female body play on sexualized assumptions.  Those problems, I suspect, only occur to a small percentage of player.  For the target audience of 18-35 yr old white males, the Arkham games are pure pleasure. 

The games effectively use the Batman mythology for maximum effect.  Players are given the chance to fight in a gritty engrossing style. Lots of blood, but also tools and challenges to keep you coming back a crucial to the gameplay.   Further adding to the experience, Gotham and its denizens are exactly the dark and foreboding spaces and people expect.  Taken together the games becomes a safe way to connect to the thrills and dangers linked to the Batman story. 

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