Batman Arkham City PC Version Ships, OnLive Has Demo
Warner Bros. has finally shipped the PC version of Batman: Arkham City. Gamers can now check out an exclusive streaming demo via OnLive before making a retail purchase.
Batman crushes the competition once again in Arkham City.
On Tuesday Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment finally released Batman: Arkham City, the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum, for the PC after several unexplained delays. The game originally launched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles back on October 18 and so far has received an average score of 94 and 96 respectively.
"Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City – five times larger than the game world in Batman: Arkham Asylum – and the new maximum security 'home' for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds," reads the game's description. "Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new, all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight."
To play Arkham City, PC gamers will need to meet the following requirements:
Minimum System Requirements
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7
- CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.4 Ghz
- RAM: 2 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA 8800 or ATI 3800 with 512 MB of VRAM
- Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
- DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
- Hard Drive: 17.5 GB free disk space
- Input Devices: Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard
Recommended System Requirements
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7
- CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 4 GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or ATI Radeon HD 6850 with 768 MB+ of VRAM (DirectX 11 compatible)
- Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
- DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
- Hard Drive: 17.5 GB free disk space
- Input Devices: Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard or Xbox 360 Controller for Windows
Batman: Arkham City is now available for Games for Windows LIVE, Steam, OnLive, Origin, GameStop via its 'Impulse Driven' download store and other digital platforms. Streaming game service OnLive also reports that it is now offering a free exclusive demo of the game for U.S. and UK-based gamers. Setting up an OnLive account is free and a small "app" is needed to play. This is a good way to check out Arkham City without sinking $50 USD up front given there won't be a released demo.
"A number of you have been asking about an Batman Arkham City demo so I wanted to get back to you with an update," Rocksteady said back in October. "As you know, we here at Rocksteady have been working like crazy for 2 years to deliver the best Batman experience we possibly can, and get this ready for the October 21st release. Unfortunately this has meant that there has simply not been time for us to create a demo for the game and I have been told there are no plans to release one in the future."
Want even more Batman love on your PC? EVGA recently announced an Arkham City special edition GeForce GTX 580 card featuring 512 CUDA cores, 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory at 4 Ghz, Nvidia 3D Vision Surround support and more. The card can be purchased from Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, CompUSA and Circuit City for around $509 USD.
Games will mostly be GPU bound. While it would be nice if they cold use a CPUs potential, until the consoles jump ahead most games will be bound to run on that hardware mostly.
That said, the game itself is fun. DX11 could use some fine tuning, a lot of people are having stuttering issues or performance issues all together but so far I have been enjoying gliding around and beating up the thugs.
I've had it for weeks although I was able to start downloading it yesterday.
PC DirectX 11 Issues Please Read
We have received reports of performance issues from players of Batman: Arkham City on PC. After researching the matter, we found that running the game with DX 11 is causing the performance issues. We’re working on a title update to address this matter and expect to make it available in the near future.
In the meantime, a workaround for this issue is to run the game with DX 9 instead of DX 11. Instructions on how to turn off DX 11 are listed below.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience with your gameplay experience and thank you all for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
Instructions for changing DX 11 to DX 9
The Launcher can be accessed on Games for Windows LIVE and Steam to change DX 11 to DX 9 in the Settings menu.
Change both DirectX 11 Features and DirectX 11 Tessellation to OFF.
Games for Windows LIVE
Start > All Programs > Games > Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Launcher > Settings
1. Open the Start Menu
2. Select All Programs and then the Games folder
3. Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Launcher
4. Choose Settings then click on the arrow next to DX options to change
Steam:
Launch Steam Client > Library > Right click on Batman: Arkham City > Configure PC Options
1. Open Steam
2. Select Library
3. Right click on Batman: Arkham City and select Configure PC Options
4. Choose Settings then click on the arrow next to DX options to change
Andy Cataldo
US Community Manager
Turbine Inc.
"I'm not mad at all! I'm just differently sane!!"
Got it for free with my GTX580
Are you kidding??
And then they jump from an 8800gt to a gtx460... So my gpu will be burning to death while the cpu thinks im playing Mario...
Very nice! Thee 590 will devour anything you throw at it! I bet 2560x1600 @ 60fps looks jaw-dropping!
I bet the GTX590 will eat his PC as well.
Probably just his psu.
Once the PSU goes, the rest usually goes with it.
So this game plays better w/DX9? I guess my 4850 will hold out just a little bit longer.
Runs like a slideshow with tessellation on high and DX11 on a 4GHz Phenom II 955BE, and GTX560Ti's OC'd to 900MHz in SLI (With or without SLI enabled). Sadly, this rig CAN PLAY Crysis! I really wanted to play this game with all the bells and whistles enabled. It's like buying a Porsche and being locked into first gear.
Oh well. I'll wait till it's patched and play it when I can turn DX11 on.
What annoys me the most about this game is that they took 1 month longer for the PC version and you can't rebind any of the keys! Too much of a console feel when have to press SPACE for running, gliding, jumping ledges, picking up items, climbing, etc. Under utilization of the keyboard.
Waittaminnit...SPACE for running? I guess I will have to re-learn.