Telltale's interpretation of the Batman series, whose first episode is set to release in just a week on August 2, will feature a passive multiplayer component throughout its single-player campaign. It's a new mechanic that Telltale's communications boss, Job Stauffer, has dubbed "a live interactive multiplayer experience," according to a report from Shacknews.
The feature is meant primarily for streamers, as decisions in the game will come with multiple choices that an audience can vote upon. Anywhere from "2 to 2,000-plus people" can weigh in on your branching point by entering a URL which appears if you turn on the Crowd Play feature and casting your vote.
Now, you can choose to go with the audience's pick or your own, but you can actually set the game up so that the decision is completely determined by the vote. I suppose this will be very useful if you don't want to feel the pressure of making a decision… or if you're mad drunk.
The only inherent issue with this Crowd Play feature is the lag between the stream and live play. We'll have to see how well Telltale's Batman deals with this issue. The developer may need to make adjustments through patches as the game continues its five-episode run through to the end of next year.
