Batman: Arkham origins
YES! The rumors are slightly true. The next batman game is going to be a prequel, hence the name. Its to take place christmas eve. The story is:
Early in the dark knight's career, black mask offers up a fortune for the person who can kill the batman. Black mask hires some of the worlds most deadly assassins( deathstroke,deadshot) to hunt batman down. Also, the cops are after the bat. So batman has to solve all this before morning.
So basically, its year one.
More like Year 3-5, really. I wish they'd continue the Arkham story with a sequel, because the last game gave so many hints at a BIG 3rd entry. Hopefully Rocksteady is taking this time off to focus on a legitimate sequel (since they're not working on Origins). It'd be daft to halt the storyline at Arkham City.
Also: I wonder if they'll bring back the ability to play as different characters. Maybe we'll get a young Dick Grayson (the first Robin).
I think WB Montreal is in charge of the arkham franchise from now on. Rocsteady is working on something else( non batman related). I have no doubt in a sequel for arkham city, that's a guarantee.
Dooma Wendschuch and Corey May are both writing the story. My heart sank like a rock as soon as I found out. Urgh...
I'm not sure about a prequel, as there has been shit prequels unleashed to the gaming populace. Just look at God of War: Ascension and Gears of War: Judgement.
As long as they keep the basic idea of the other Arkham games, it's hard to go wrong. We just have to see.
So i just got done reading the article in the game informer. It makes it very clear that batman will make alot of "mistakes" being he hasn't honed his skills just yet. It also talks of two demos for the game. Apparently, the batwing will be a fast travel feature. Also that the detective mode feature has been "up graded" .
The settings are both old and new gotham. Old gotham( Arkham city) is the slum, poor district
New gotham is the classy, skyscraper filled district.
EDIT:
Arkham origins is set to release in fall 2013.