Batman Arkham City PC Version Ships, OnLive Has Demo

Warner Bros. has finally shipped the PC version of Batman: Arkham City. Gamers can now check out an exclusive streaming demo via OnLive before making a retail purchase.

On Tuesday Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment finally released Batman: Arkham City, the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum, for the PC after several unexplained delays. The game originally launched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles back on October 18 and so far has received an average score of 94 and 96 respectively.

"Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City – five times larger than the game world in Batman: Arkham Asylum – and the new maximum security 'home' for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds," reads the game's description. "Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new, all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight."

To play Arkham City, PC gamers will need to meet the following requirements:

Minimum System Requirements

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7
• CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.4 Ghz
• RAM: 2 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA 8800 or ATI 3800 with 512 MB of VRAM
• Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
• DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
• Hard Drive: 17.5 GB free disk space
• Input Devices: Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard

Recommended System Requirements

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7
• CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or ATI Radeon HD 6850 with 768 MB+ of VRAM (DirectX 11 compatible)
• Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
• DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
• Hard Drive: 17.5 GB free disk space
• Input Devices: Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard or Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Batman: Arkham City is now available for Games for Windows LIVE, Steam, OnLive, Origin, GameStop via its 'Impulse Driven' download store and other digital platforms. Streaming game service OnLive also reports that it is now offering a free exclusive demo of the game for U.S. and UK-based gamers. Setting up an OnLive account is free and a small "app" is needed to play. This is a good way to check out Arkham City without sinking $50 USD up front given there won't be a released demo.

"A number of you have been asking about an Batman Arkham City demo so I wanted to get back to you with an update," Rocksteady said back in October. "As you know, we here at Rocksteady have been working like crazy for 2 years to deliver the best Batman experience we possibly can, and get this ready for the October 21st release. Unfortunately this has meant that there has simply not been time for us to create a demo for the game and I have been told there are no plans to release one in the future."

Want even more Batman love on your PC? EVGA recently announced an Arkham City special edition GeForce GTX 580 card featuring 512 CUDA cores, 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory at 4 Ghz, Nvidia 3D Vision Surround support and more. The card can be purchased from Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, CompUSA and Circuit City for around $509 USD.