Odd choice. Batman has already had a Lego head.

Thanks to reader Davis who spotted this in Brooklyn’s High Street station.

Lego Batman [Flickr]

According to the insider, who has a flawless track record on these matters, the Elite will soon be bundled with free copies of LEGO Batman and racer Pure. Not a bad deal that, as you’d keep most people happy with one, if not both of those.

No word on a similar deal for the Arcade unit, but hey, it’s only September.

Kotaku AU Note: He’s talking about the US here. Console bundles are typically different in each territory, so even if it is true for the US, who knows if we’ll get it here.

Mole spills holiday 360 bundle as Microsoft begins $US50 rebate [Ars Technica]

The Boston-based organisation Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has given the stink-eye to Warner Bros’ LEGO Batman, nominating it as one of the most “oppressive and destructive” toys of 2008. Congratulations, WB! I mean…

Why does the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood find LEGO Batman, of all games, so distasteful for our children, nominating it for a TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children)? Is there a special broken glass bottle controller included that we’re not aware of?

In their words, it’s the crass commercialism and forced marketing that’s so icky.

“How do you turn the ultimate creative toy into a symbol of commercialized childhood?” writes the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. “Begin by partnering with media companies to sell that toy in branded kits designed for recreating movies like Star Wars, rather than creative construction. Then, dispense with hands-on building altogether by turning your toy into a video game so that instead of deciding what to build next, children choose which cyber weapons to use to beat up their opponent.”

Okay, so it’s robbing our kids of LEGO building creativity. What else ya got?

“Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers.”

Well…. I guess I can see your point there. No one likes violent fat kids. But I’m still voting for the Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll. She’s such a bitch!

Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children [CCFC via GamePolitics]

I was unable to complete a single level without trying to collect the hundreds of thousands of LEGO coins that appear when you break something. Note: everything is breakable. It’s the jingling noise the coins make. . .the way they zip through the air into Batman’s utility wallet. . .this simple, visceral thrill led to several uncontrollable hours of collecting shiny things. Current in-game progress as a result: 9.6%

I’ve made my armchair studies of OCD/neurotic gaming behaviour before — I still want to erase my progress in Star Wars:STFU and start all over, even though I haven’t beaten it.

But Ward talks to some health professionals and notes a study from earlier this year that found a high rate of OCD in those who played classic 1980s arcade games. On the flipside, kids weaned in the 1990s Super Nintendo games based on TV shows, movies and athletes, exhibited less of a tendency. But now we seem to have swung back around.

Take the open-ended Grand Theft Auto series. Its vast landscape intimidates a need to control my environment. “My little brother has major OCD,” one online post reads. “I noticed while he’s playing [GTA] that he can’t drive a car in the game if it has the smallest dent in it, he won’t even steal cars if he has to break the window to get into it.”

The Most OCD Video Games [Village Voice]

IGN
LEGO Batman is unique from past titles in the building blocks’ franchise. The story isn’t based off a movie or even a comic-book plot. This is an original tale. That gives Traveller’s Tales some latitude, since there’s no need to follow a well-known plot. There isn’t even a direct tie-in to a particular Batman universe. This isn’t Batman of movie fame, the campy TV show or the comics. It’s Batman from the toy shelves, which means a sort of hodgepodge of ideas and a myriad of costumes meant to sell extra action figures. It translates well into LEGO, though I wonder if the original four movies wouldn’t have made for better source material.

GamesRadar
Indy and Star Wars could do silly, but where in either would you find a man-penguin and cat-lady robbing a natural history museum while riding dino skeletons? Indy rode the occasional bike, but then we guess Batman’s crocodiles, ice-cream vans, military mechs and walruses would seem a tad out of place inside the Well of Souls. His loss. Bouncing bricks here (sign there’s plenty of building to be done) guarantee that fun is about to kick off. GameDaily
Where LEGO Batman excels over previous LEGO games is its variety of missions. The hero missions are cool, complete with exciting vehicle segments (including a fun ride in the Batmobile) and different characters to control. Villains also get their share of the spotlight. Not only do you control The Joker and the Penguin (among others), but they also get their own missions. From stealing an ice cannon to facing off against an impatient Commissioner Gordon, these stages are just as much fun as the heroes’. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself growing attached to Joker’s antics with his electrified hand buzzer. Finally a Batman game worth playing.

GamePro
The only gripe I had with LEGO Batman is that you really can’t play it alone; the A.I. partner isn’t particularly helpful and while it does an adequate job of being in the right place when it comes to cooperative puzzles, it spends most of its time just sort of standing around. But the real joy of a LEGO game is heading out with a friend to smash stuff up and grab scads of loot, so it’s not that big of a deal.

“There’s an expectation now that there would be a LEGO game per year, and we certainly feel that one or two games would be the right amount per year, otherwise there’d be a saturation of LEGO games and they’d lose the charm…We’re also conscious that we’re making games for young kids. We don’t want to take the piss out of the consumer and end up making any old rubbish. We’re hoping people feel our games are of a high standard and we want to continue doing that”.

Thank goodness I say. Games like Lego Caligula and Lego Schindler’s List need to stay in my imagination, for the good of all mankind.

TT not going to “take the piss” out of LEGO-game fans News [Eurogamer]

“My understanding is that they will use the engine, the Maya files where the characters come to life, but they’ll be creating animated… I think it’s a 20-minute cartoon. I’m personally quite intrigued to see how it comes out. Lego, every time they’ve had a new brand out, they’ve done some CGI stuff as well, but I think this will be quite different”.

This would be a perfect opportunity to bring Adam West back into the Batman fold, as I can’t see Batman: The Animated Series lead Kevin Conroy’s voice coming out of Lego Batman’s little round head.

20-minute Lego Batman cartoon in works [GI.biz]

There have been earlier Java midlet versions of LEGO games – notably Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, but it would be nice to think that theiPhone would get a proper conversion..

The possibilities for manipulating LEGO bricks using multi-touch gestures could make for an interesting twist on the LEGO gameplay. Even if it is just a port of the DS version, though, it should be worth checking out providing the thorny issue of lack of D-Pad is resolved.

Pocketgamer don’t mention a source for the news — hence the rumour tag — but as soon as we get more details, you shall be the first to know.

LEGO Batman goes crimefighting onto iPhone [PocketGamer]