I was just thinking the same thing, can't rember where I heard or read this from Gary, he did definitely said that all VE would be on orginal platforms. That being said whe. The whole production line is geared towards Spike & spike 2 it may prove more difficult and costly to use orginal platforms such as Sam then just recoding the game for the newer platforms.

Also VE might struggle to sell if the LCD in newer games proves a big hit. Especially as the tend for VE seems to be pointing towards premium price points. However including an LCD in a VE may make the higher price point an easier sell. Also there is so much anticipation that Sterns next release is going to be LCD that even if it is a VE batman they would almost have to include the new display.

To me it seems that Batman 66 is sort of come out of left field. It wouldn't surprise me if this is a similar case to WRestle Maina, which According to Treaudu, was a reskin of a previous game he had been working on but had to switch due to licensing issues. The Batman 66 license may have been presented to Stern and they thought it was to good an opportunity to pass up, so they switched gears and rethemed an existing game that was close to production. I band license does not have the same pressure for release as a movie tie in pin, or say the Batman 66 which is going to be hot property with the orginal series release on BlueBay and the new cartoon straight to DVD movie. If Stern wants to capitalise on this momentum they would have had to move fast. Also I cannt see Stern getting the sales numbers from a straight Dark night reskin. The orginal game does not have the same collectibility of Spider-Man and that VE didn't exactly rush out the door. I think a batman 66 with an orginal game layout would far outsell a VE version of the dark knight, even if it a premium offering only. This would more then justify the extra cost of development especially if they had a solid layout and rules ready to go from a current work in progress game.