I’m still loving the squidgy bits out of Arkham Asylum, obviously. The challenge maps are my new crack-cocaine, but I call shenanigans on the guy who got 0:28 on Silent Knight.

I’ve hurled a great many batarang during my time in the Dark Knight’s shoes. They are sharp and pointy in every way possible, and yet all I have ever managed to do is bludgeon people upside the head with them. Now I’m willing to chalk this up to sheer skill on Batman’s part… but at the same time is sort of falls into this weird “Wolverine always knocks someone out with the side of his claws in the animated series” kind of zone.

I understand that Batman doesn’t kill people…. it’s his thing. But if you only want to incapacitate someone, is throwing razor-sharp boomerang-knives at them really the option that is most conducive to a non-lethal ethos?

I’ve got my eye on the prize right now with Batman, but it’s hard to ignore the giant pink elephant in the room… the fall release season. It’s approaching like an eighteen-wheeler, and it’s not long before I’m frozen like a deer in its headlights.

In the next few weeks alone we have Champions Online, Aion and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, among others (Scribblenauts).

I was in the beta test for Champions Online since early spring, and I got to see that game go through some incredible growth spurts. I swore off it about a month before the closed beta ended, so as not to burn out on a game still in development. I’m looking forward to seeing the release product.

I tried the beta for Aion and lasted all of ten minutes before I logged out and uninstalled it. Still, I hear positive things from time to time, and it looks like they’ve done a lot more work westernizing the game since I put hands to it, so I figure (since I’m stuck with my preorder no matter what), I’ll give the game another look. The open beta starts this week, so I’ll test the waters there. Maybe I’ll see some of you there.