For those that didn’t pre-order Batman: Arkham Asylum and missed out on the pre-order bonus of the “Dem Bones” challenge map and the “Crime Alley” challenge map that only came with the collector’s edition release of the game, you will now be able to purchase these two challenge maps as they are released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store.

The challenge maps are being sold for 240 Microsoft Points, or $3 for Xbox 360 owners, or $3.49 for PlayStation 3 owners. The decision to release these challenge rooms just happens to coincide with the release of the Game of The Year Edition of Arkham Asylum, which adds 3D support to the game as well as all of the previous DLC content and the previously difficult to obtain challenge rooms, Dem Bones and Crime Alley.

Selling pre-order or special edition bonuses after the fact seems to be a trend that is continuing to grow. While not every studio and publisher is following suit and going in this direction, studios and publishers claim that consumers that didn’t pre-order or choose to buy the Collectors/Special Edition of the game are now asking how to obtain these bonuses, even if they have to pay extra for them.

The decision to sell this content has not been an easy one. In the recent case with Turn 10 studios and Forza 3, the studio struggled with the decision to sell the VIP access and bonuses that were included with the Special Edition of the game. Despite loud protests from loyal community Turn 10 members who had spent money and pre-ordered the Special Edition, Turn 10 eventually decided to offer these extras for sale from the Special Edition in the Xbox Live Marketplace. At the time, it was believed that this decision was based more on selling the content after a period of time had gone by than to simply satisfy the requests of consumers who wanted it.