Play Batman: Arkham City, L.A. Noire and other AAA Games on Your iPad

Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to play Batman: Arkham City on your iPad. No, not Arkham City Lockdown. The real one, the big-boy PC version. It’s happening courtesy of OnLive and it’s impressive enough to make you consider trading in your Xbox 360 or PS3 for Apple’s lightweight tablet.

You know OnLive. They’re the company that lets you play AAA and indie games in the cloud, meaning you don’t need an actual disc or high-end PC to run heavyweights like the original Crysis. Last year, they launched their MicroConsole, an iPhone-sized device that brought the same cloud-gaming functionality to garden-variety HDTVs. A nifty trick, even if it requires a wired Ethernet connection to pull it off. But OnLive’s latest feat may be its most impressive, as it turns iPhones, iPads, Kindle Fires and a slew of other smartphones into places where you can play the latest blockbuster games. The video above shows off OnLive’s app and new Universal OnLive Controller in action as I play Trine and Batman: Arkham City over the wifi connection at Kotaku Tower. What I can’t show yet is L.A. Noire. OnLive’s integrating touch controls for many of the games they offer, including Rockstar’s hit detective release. The tweaking’s still happening to make L.A. Noire playable via fingertips, but it will work with a controller when it hits the OnLive marketplace.

Still, a development like this is enough to make you forget all about the just-announced Arkham City Lockdown. For the $49.99 price of the new controller and a free app download, you can play hits Assassin’s Creed Revelations wherever you please. The new OnLive app launches tomorrow and the Universal OnLive Controller will be available soon. We’ll have more on OnLive’s app and new tablet initiative tomorrow.