Mercenaries 2: World in Flames fanboys who were excited to get their hands on the new Total Payback title update will, sadly, be dissapointed. Pandemic Studios has yet to release the new update, which was supposed to release on October 13th. The Mercenaries 2 forums are abuzz with angry gamers, so much so that forum moderators have been deleting threads that make mention of the Total Paypack update being delayed. We aren't sure what Pandemic's reason is for the delay or when it'll finally be released, but we've contacted them for comment and will update when we hear back.
As is customary every Sunday, we diligently looked through the Sunday retail ads on the search for Xbox 360 related deals, discounts and offers. So here you go shoppers, enjoy the money savings fruit of our ad searching labor.
Starting off with Best Buy, they're giving away a free RC Centaur tank with Gears of War 2: CE pre-orders (available when game picked up) and Toys R Us has the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith bundle for $79. Over at Circuit City, they're giving away a free $20 game with purchase of an Xbox 360 Elite, are giving out life-size Tony Parker growth charts with NBA Live 09, and they're selling Mercenaries 2 to $45. Finally, Target stores are offering a free $40 gift card with the purchase of NBA Live 09 and an Xbox 360 Pro 60GB. Shop on!
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will be receiving it's first ever title update on Monday, October 13th with the release of a "Total Payback" update that's aimed at connecting gamers from around the world, adding more variety and enabling cheaters to, well ... cheat.
The Total Payback update will add an additional six characters to the Mercenaries 2 mix, give players the ability to enter cheats and (this one's a biggie) enable cross-region support of Xbox Live multiplayer. Huzzah! Again, this is an update, meaning it'll be applied instantly and for free come October 13th.
Also, Pandemic revealed that they'll be releasing the first set of Mercs 2 downloadable content sometime this November. So, keep an eye out for that.
Three days after Pandemicannounced that a Mercenaries 2 demo was on Xbox Live Marketplace, it finally emerges. Where was it hiding? We're not sure. Venezuela perhaps. Regardless of where it's been, it's available now for anyone who wants to give its particular brand of open world destruction a try. Be warned though, the demo only lasts for twenty minutes, and the timer doesn't reset when you die, and it boots you back to the dashboard when time is up. Better get that destruction in while you can (and hope that you can figure the game out without a tutorial).
Last night, Pandemic sent word to the internets informing everyone that the promisedMercenaries 2: World in Flames demo was released to the Xbox Live Marketplace for download. And even though they sent word, it doesn't mean it's true, because it simply isn't there. We're sure the Mercenaries 2 demo will eventually make its way to the XBLM (probably sooner than later), but right this moment we aren't seeing it. Keep your mercenary eyes peeled and your mercenary ears perked ...
A new Mercenaries 2 developer diary has been released and it features lots and lots of destruction. Pandemic director Cameron Brown discusses all the various destructible elements of the game. Mercenaries 2 uses what Pandemic has dubbed "Crashable structures" which are objects that can be destroyed by a moving object like, say, a car. All that is just talk though. The highlight of the video is undoubtedly all the yummy footage of things being destroyed. Now imagine wreaking this havoc with a friend and we've really got something.
Those lucky jerks passionate journalists at Joystiq recently got a chance to try out the online co-op in Mercenaries 2. Not only that, but they were playing it with a member of the Pandemic development team. From the sound of things, it sounds like they had a blast. It was quite literally a blast actually, what with the hands-on preview mentioning inappropriate use of surface-to-air missiles, using a tank to punch holes in concrete walls and calling in air support to sink a ship. And that's only a handful of everything that went down. Head over to Joystiq to check out the full preview.
Posted Aug 13th 2008 1:45PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
IGN has a pretty decent writeup detailing their hands on time with two player co-op in the explosive Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Online co-op is presented pretty standardly, allowing two players to connect seamlessly where one player enters the others' world a la Crackdown. Meaning that any progress made during co-op only counts towards the hosts' game, but any weapons or money earned by the other player can be taken back to their game. What's nice to see too is the fact that the game doesn't "scale" the action based on co-op, which means that having a co-op buddy by your side makes dishing out the destruction a whole lot easier. Make the jump to get Mercs 2 learnified.
Mercenaries 2 news has been lacking a bit lately, so we were rather excited to see a new trailer pop up on the old Gametrailers.com. Actually, it's a developer walk-through video with the game's lead designer Scott Warner who shows actual level gameplay but played three different ways with all three Mercenaries 2 personalities. There's plenty of tactical, covert and overkill gameplay to view complete with head butts, helicopter hijacking, button mashing sequences and explosive goodness that really doesn't look too bad. Both visually and gameplay wise, that is, if you're into that kind of genre. But how about that demo?
Posted Apr 17th 2008 10:30AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Pandemic Studios has just confirmed with Eurogamer that they plan on releasing a Mercenaries 2: World in Flames demo, but are "not sure of dates" for its release to the XBLM. Pandemic's creative director Cameron Brown also confirmed that they have Mercenaries 2 downloadable content in the works saying that they already "have it up and running on the consoles" and it is being seen as an "enormous opportunity" as far as the longevity of the title goes.
Downloadable content already up, running and complete months before the game even releases? Something smells of EA shenanigans and it doesn't smell good.
Electronic Arts has announced today that it will acquire VG Holding Corp. from Elevation Partners. VG Holding owns both Pandemic Studios and BioWare, which means the deal nabs both developers for EA. Electronic Arts will be paying up to $650 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding, with up to $155 million being paid in equity to specific employees. Pandemic is currently hard at work on the excessively violent sandbox title, Mercenaries 2, which is being published by EA. The deal raises questions about BioWare, as the company is currently developing the galaxy hopping RPG Mass Effect for Microsoft Game Studios. As the game is set to be a trilogy, we have to wonder what this deal means for the next two installments.
We'd love to make some sort of Madden RPG joke here (Madden Effect, perhaps?), but we just don't have the energy. Hit the "read" link for the full press release.
As is customary every Sunday, we diligently looked through the Sunday retail ads on the search for Xbox 360 related deals, discounts and offers. So here you go shoppers, enjoy the money savings fruit of our ad searching labor.
Last night, Pandemic sent word to the internets informing everyone that the 
