By Quintin Smith on June 10th, 2011 at 2:30 pm.

I’m too good to you lot. First of all I ease your aching need for a $200 Star Wars keyboard, and now I point you towards a promotional Batman: Arkham City controller designed like a batarang and lit up like some kind of high-tech bat… controller.
No price just yet, but the controller will be available in all game shops which “carry Power A peripherals” when Arkham City comes out. There’s a PS3 one too, though that’s wireless and Lord knows if it’ll come with a long enough USB to mini USB for PC use. Here’s the Xbox one in all her plastic glory.

Peripheral manufacturers Power A had this to say:
“POWER A understands the high quality standard that partnering with a legendary brand such as Batman demands,” said John Moore, vice president of product development and marketing for POWER A. “We are committed to making the best possible controller to amplify the experience players have with Batman: Arkham City, and the Batarang does just that. It’s not just a great Batman collectible, but a high-performance controller worthy of the Batman: Arkham City game.”
Somewhat impressively, it isn’t anywhere near as batarang-like as that terrifying prototype PS3 controller that Sony threatened gamers with back in 2006, but it’s still fairly batmanish. Any takers?


If it costs less than £100 then they’re clearly doing something wrong. Look at it! I bet it glows in the dark too, it should.
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Does it cook?
I thought so…
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Will it blend?
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Phew, bat-dust!
Don’t breath this!
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If by “glow in the dark” you mean ” it has lights”, then yeah, it looks like it does.
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I saw it a few days ago actually and there is a PS3 version too. And it’s red. http://geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2011/06/2011-06-03-ps3_batarang_controller.jpg
Probably wont buy either, but they look nice enough, even if they don’t look too comfortable to actually hold.
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I might buy that for the functionality alone. The placement of the buttons and sticks is better, plus it has proper triggers.
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Terrible.
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To contact us, just click… no, wait. Wait. Before you send that press release about your new iPhone game or link to a dog playing the Zelda theme tune on a noseflute, please remember that we are a PC-only site. That’s PC only. P.C. O.N.L.Y. Honestly, you’d be amazed how many people don’t realise that, or think their non-PC game is so incredigood that we’ll magically change our minds and become multiformat overnight. P.C. O.N.L.Y.”
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What? You can’t use a controller to play PC games now?
What has the world come to?
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Indeed entire post is blasphemy.
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Geez, sorry. The huge Xbox logo on the thing is turn-off for me. I thought it would be the case for you too.
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That’s the great thing about PCs: you can connect anything to ‘em. Even terrible ricer controllers.
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Looking as xbox gamepads are currently the best gamepads for PC, I think this is PC related.
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Yeah, I was a sceptic like that myself.
And then I finally gave in and bought one of those XBox-controllertoys.
Now I don’t want to miss it anymore, they are truly great (my previous PS2-controller was nice as well, but this is better). And guess what, I use both. For example Just Cause 2: running and grappling and gliding is so much better with the good old mouse. But driving and flying? More fun with a controller.
So I’m glad RPS isn’t that xenophobic and also reports about other means of controlling games than simply KB/M.
But regarding this thing: uuh, ugly. And if it glows in the dark, I bet it’ll be distracting. Also: no dinosaurs.
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I don’t have or want an Xbawks, I use an Xbawks controller for games that can be played with it to a great effect though e.g. stuff like Platformers Super Meta Boy, Darksiders, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Trine, Hunted: Demon’s Forge, Assassin’s Creed and yes Batman: Arkham Asylum too etc.
I also use a WiiMote for Wii games via Dolphin Emu, both of em with my PC connected to a glorious 1080p HDTV… I guess that makes it double sacrilege.
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Well I’ve got an XBox controller for my PC.
Even thought he only reason is that quite a few games simply don’t work with my cheaper controller.
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Actually guys, batman is quite nice on the controller. Especially a wireless one so you can sit back while playing.
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Yeah, this is a pretty daft thing to get worked up about, plus it’s completely wrong anyway. The funsquare is an excellent controller and many people use it on their PCs for that reason (plus a lot of people will have one anyway because despite what the frothers may think, it’s not only possible, but very common for normal people to have a PC and a console at the same time).
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PC purists struggling to play beat ‘em ups on mouse and keyboard make me QQ. This is almost as bad as someone playing DiRT3 with keys too.
EDIT: I’m wondering if you can cycle the colour scheme to blue. I always thought Razer missed a trick by not making a controller with neon blue to match all their other peripherals. They could have made a slick one that looked like the Mamba, with a wireless docking/charging cradle, for PC only.
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Batman wouldn’t be seen with anything glowing like that. Actually, he would be seen, that’s kind of my point…
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I guess it depends on “which” Batman. The one driving THAT THING probably enjoys this kind of batarang.
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@Gnoupi:
EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES.
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But how far/hard can you throw it? If it can’t knock out a steroid-pumped psycho with a clown mask at 50 yards from around a corner, well, what use is it?
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I CAN KNOCK OUT A PSYCO IN A CLOWN MASK WITH IT.
I’M BATMAN!
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I use a PS3 controller on my PC and the cable provided works fine.
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There was a fancy looking tron one a little while back, too. was much easier on the eyes.
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Controllers are ok, but thought Arkham Asylum was just perfect with the mouse.
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@ Avenger
i thought most ppl (pc gamers) used the 360 controller.
obviously it depends what games but i use k+m and controller about 50/50.
so this is entirely relevant to PC.
who cares what LOGO is on the front??
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detachable wire? so I could actually use it as a batarang
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I think the PS3 controller looks more awesome…
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I just hope an X-Box controller isn’t absolutely necessary. Some PC ports fail to include a walk option which means your only method of travel is running around like a spaz.
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Better than only having a walk button…
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I suspect it won’t be. Arkham Asylum, in a remarkably backwards feat, didn’t actually make use of the analogue function on the funsquare – you had to hold a button to run.
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LOOK AT THE D-PAD! Maybe I should buy this one for the upcoming SSFIVA release :D
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Get one of them Arcade Sticks instead… these type of Controllers don’t seem very good for fighting games.
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Agreed, controllers shine in 3rd person games, schmups and platform games. You need an arcade stick to do a 2D fighter justice.
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eugh.
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Just last night I was playing NES games on my PC using a PS3 controller connected wirelessly via bluetooth to my PC, running through the MotionInJoy custom drivers, pretending to be a 360 pad via emulation.
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The wiimote suddenly had competition for TV damage records.
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when you throw it at the wall in rage it flies back and smacks you in the head
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What’s the point? It doesn’t even have extra buttons that are relevant to the game!
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It looks like it has one, in the middle, as part of the bat shaped thing. But yeah, it is a bit functionless now that you mention it.
Also it appears that the triggers are not actually triggers, but instead rather uncomfortable looking buttons. Which actually removes a perfectly good function from the standard controller. Erm.
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Controller looks like it belongs in the movie Batman & Robin.
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That d-pad looks a mite better than the standard Xbox 360 controller’s d-pad.
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