Anti-piracy measures by Batman developer unearth bugs in player morality. This isn’t a first.

I can’t wait to play Batman: Arkham Asylum this week. The potential game of the year hit those not-so-cutting edge consoles almost a month ago, but I didn’t want to touch it. My new PC’s a much more comfortable home for Batman and his incomparable rogues gallery of villains. Here, with the help of my GTX 275 graphics card and intel i7 920 processor, he can spread his bat-legs and show off significantly improved bat-graphics and added support for Nvidia’s Physx system. Check out the video below to see what I mean.

The differences may seem slight to some, but even the most insignificant of changes can improve a title’s perceived immersion. And, in a title like this, aren’t we all looking to wade in the deepest immersion waters as possible? So, “yes,” a more realistically flowing bat-cape matters.

Oh, and did I mention I can modify the PC version with custom-built content? Last month, with only an asset and gameplay-limited demo in their hands, the modding community designed dozens of costumes for Batsy Watsy – transforming him into Dark Claw, a Green Lantern, Batzarro, Nightwing, and many others (none of which will scar villains with sharp protruding nipples). Now, with the full release in absurdly capable hands, I expect much, much more. Are community-architected expansions and gameplay improvements less than six months away? Definitely.

Apparently a “leaked” PC version of the title hit the torrent communities last week. I could’ve downloaded, installed, beaten the game, and prepared a review for release date in just a few days, but I didn’t.

Plausible justification even lied within arm’s reach. If I pursued this potentially shady route, I wasn’t technically becoming a pirate, right? The PR team at fortyseven communications, who are working with developer Rocksteady, guaranteed me a free copy!

Deciding against tossing another game on my immediate platter (more lie on shelves, in closets, and somewhere in a plethora of internal and external hard drives), I decided to wait for my copy to arrive via snail mail.

Late last week, a funny news item surfaced regarding Arkham Asylum and piracy. According to multiple complaints on the various forums, a growing number of PC users began encountering various bugs in some of the game’s most simplest features. One in particular, prevented Batman from gliding over poison gas. Instead, he’d fall directly to his death. They needed a solution.

Read the rest of the article at IPR's Multimedia blog.