The team behind the upcoming first-person shooter Gotham City Impostors announced on Thursday that the game would be getting an open beta starting in December before their scheduled release date for the Playstation Network, XBox Live, and the PC on January 10, 2012.

The upcoming game will be based around the storyline of David Hine, Scott McDaniel, and Andy Owens’ short run of Detective Comics #866-870 which told the story of Gotham City being overrun by two feuding gangs, one that was influenced by The Joker, and one that was influenced by The Batman. The Jokerz began committing harmless crimes against society for the pure idea of having fun, but at the expense of others to the point where they became out of control, which led to a group of policemen and concerned citizens to take the law into their own hands when they mobilized far enough to take the lives of the other gangs. The story is quite good as an out of continuity comic story, so if you haven’t read it, check it out.

While the game is inspired by this run of Detective Comics, I’m pretty sure the narrative of the game will not be of much importance. The important thing about this game is that it’s simply going to be an all out online video game war between fans of The Dark Knight and fans of his greatest rival. Gamers will have the opportunity to either take the role of a member of The Bats, that are inspired by Batman without the whole “No Guns” or “No Killing” thing, while The Jokerz are designed to be wacky murders that are just as likely to hit you in the face with a pie as much as they would a baseball bat. Players can customize their characters in the vein of their favorite characters, and after a closed PC beta, their opening it up to the consoles. So, to sign up for the open, console-based beta, head over to the official site. I’ve already signed up for the PS3, so if you want to join me as a Bat, make sure to sign up. And if you want to be a Joker, fine. But be prepared to be locked away in Blackgate Prison for life, punk.

Gotham City Impostors will be opening a beta testing on the PS3 and XBox 360 in December before it is released across all platforms on January 10, 2012.

[Source: Gotham City Impostors via Joystiq]

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