Free Dark Knight Rises Game Puts Players on Bane's Side

 announced earlier today that next Monday, June 19, Warner Brothers Games will release The Fire Rises--a new, free-to-play, browser-based video game set in the universe of The Dark Knight Rises. Described as a "real-time strategy game," the release says that "The Fire Rises casts players as henchmen, out to get their own piece of Gotham's pie. With lackeys of their own, players secure territory, spawn various crew members to take out a relentless stream of deadly security officers, and loot valuable gear from nearby buildings, all before Gotham PD shows up in full force and puts an end to your crime spree." According to the site, your criminals will operate below Gotham's streets, setting up an expanding territory in the sewers and unlocking more and more useful gang members--including even Catwoman--as you progress through the game. Batman-News suggests that the game will be housed at the-fire-rises.com, a password-protected site that was recently discovered by fans working to crack riddles found in the Dark Knight Rises viral campaign. Wikia, however, characterizes it as a game that can be played "with your Facebook friends," so it's likely that it will function something like Zynga's popular games, which are available on several formats but most commonly used on the popular social network site. A separate Dark Knight Rises mobile game was also announced today, coming to iOS and Android this summer, but that game doesn't have a specific release date yet.