Batman Prequel

To begin, I'd like to state that I'm excited by the idea of this game. It's not an origin story, per se, but it is the story of a younger Batman where he meets a lot of his most famous enemies for the first time. When the official news hit yesterday about the prequels, I held back my excitement for a bit to ponder why I get so irritated by the prospect of prequels.

Assassin's are coming to get Bman? Bring it

As jaded a person as I am, I still try to give things the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes, prequels end up doing more damage to the initial story than good. In terms of video games, prequels tend to forget that no one cares about the past that much that a game needs to be made about how Cole and Baird came to be the soul-singing duo they are. The fact is that I don't care to see the Covenant give Reach a glossy once-over. Hell, ODST story played out during the events of Halo 2 and acts as a bridge to Halo 3, but it came out AFTER Halo 3. I don't understand that, but as a story, it worked for me.

Video games are becoming more... 'cinematic' in terms of storytelling as time goes on. As exposition has become and important element of getting plot points across in video games, we get the details of the past in dialogue and some kind of shocking flashback. I know that it's all about the entertainment aspect to bring in enough money to fuel a franchise. This small rant is more rhetorical than anything else.

Come get some

But it doesn't stop there. There will be two Batman prequels, one of them being on a handheld device. I'm assuming the PS Vita and/or the Nintendo 3DS will receive this game since I'm sure there won't be a big-budget game produced for an Android phone any time soon. Basically, this means that one prequel will be on consoles, and the next prequel will act as a bridge between the first and Arkham Asylum. The only problem with this is that I don't have one of the handheld devices that I mentioned earlier. Will it be cross-platform? Could I get a digital copy of the handheld game to play on my console. Sony has been trying to do that with their PS3 to make the Vita more relevant as a handheld device, and this would be a good thing to try.

You're gonna put that where? WHAT?!?

It's still too soon, and I'm obviously speculating, but what if it isn't cross-platform? Will I miss out on certain story details because I didn't shell out $300 for an over-powered cell phone? I don't want to feel like I'm being forced to buy something just because the creators want to appeal to a 'wider' audience. Regardless, I'm sure the prequels will be decent even if Rocksteady is taking a backseat on them. It's too soon to tell one way or the other, so I will wait to see how the Dark Knight returns this October.

Official Batman Prequels Announced