Batman: Arkham Asylum has been praised for its combat system, among many other things. The countering that Batman is required to do when prompted by enemies is very similar to a rhythm game, and is a residual element of a full-on rhythm combat system that the team had planned.

According to Game Informer, the first iteration of Arkham was "A full rhythm action game! The second one was prototyped in 2D, which popped up whenever you got into a fight, and involved colored circles bashing into each other. This actually formed the basis of the final system."

This is quite interesting, because I used Arkham Asylum in an article I wrote defending Quick-Time-Events, demonstrating that the combat was very much a QTE cleverly disguised far more appealing aesthetics. This seems to very much support the case. 

So, the next time you dump all over QTEs, remember what Batman managed to do.

[Via Joystiq]