A slew of new details on the recently announced Batman: Arkham City seem to have hit the net, as fan site ArkhamCity.co.uk (via CVG) posted what is supposedly info from Game Informer’s upcoming cover story on the sequel.
For starters, evidently the game begins with Arkham Asylum and Black Gate Prison unfit to hold inmates, leading (apparently former) mayor Quincy Sharp to purchase a part of Gotham City’s slums, wall it off, and turn it into the titular Arkham City. Hugo Strange is put in charge of Arkham City, and the game’s plot (or one of its subplots?) follows Two-Face’s attempt to assassinate Catwoman to "gain respect" from the other inmates. And as far as the Joker goes, apparently an overdose of the venom seen in the first game isn’t why he’s receiving a blood transfusion, as the very first tease for the game showed (above).

On gameplay, Batman will supposedly begin the game with every gadget he had by the end of Arkham Asylum, meaning no strained pretext ("Oops, I lost my utility belt!" or something?) to force players to reacquire it all -- and on top of that, he’ll also get smoke bombs, too. Batman will also be able to counter two attacks at once during combat, and will have to solve "more puzzles." There will also be the addition of "side-missions;" various gangs roaming Arkham City that Batman will record in a criminal database; and the Riddler challenges will return, but Batman now needs to find people who work for the Riddler to initiate them.

Arkham City is lined up for release in fall of 2011 on Xbox 360