Xbox 360 Fanboy

There are few existing licenses that can pull large scale, arena-style, battles off and it looks like Lord of the Rings has just joined the ranks -- so far. In the teaser trailer for the upcoming title Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Pandemic showcases the epic battle of good versus evil from both perspectives. Pulling inspiration from Battlefield and its own Star Wars: Battlefront franchise, Lord of the Rings: Conquest has shown great potential. Working closely with Peter Jackson's Weta Digital to capture the look of the award-winning films, LotR: Conquest looks to impress gamers when it ships this fall.

In a recent interview with Crispy Gamer, Pandemic got the chance to shed some light on their recently announced Battlefront-meets-Lord of the Rings title, Lord of the Rings Conquest. With the interview come a few details regarding the game and just what gamers can expect. Said details are as follows:

• Three types of combat: Melee, Ranged, and Magic (expect warriors, archers, etc)
• The game will play from 3rd person perspective
• There will be several playable creatures and vehicles including ents, fell beasts, catapults, siege towers, trolls, battering rams and eagles
• Much like the Battlefront series, players will be rewarded with playable heroes for completing objectives
• Players will fight through the major battles of the film and a few that appear in the books. There are also battles included that were "hinted at" in the books.
• The Evil campaign plays out as though Frodo failed in his mission to destroy the One Ring
• No cross-platform play between PC and 360 (surprise, surprise)
• Conquest features "a recognizable actor from the films" as the narrator (dare we hope for Hugo Weaving?)

The concept of mixing Battlefront with Lord of the Rings already had us intrigued, but this new info has us even more excited, particularly the news regarding the available creatures and vehicles. Hit the "Source" link for the full article.

EA returns once more to the golden money spigot that is The Lord of the Rings franchise with The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Currently under development at Pandemic, IGN states that Conquest is essentially the studio's Star Wars: Battlefront set in the LOTR universe. Players will take control of the series' many creatures and characters (no word on whether or not the game will feature heroes å la Battlefront) and wage war on some of the films' most famous battlefields. The game will also include battles not featured in the films (dare we hope for the Battle of Bywater?). Conquest will feature up to 16 players online, 4 player co-op (online and local), where players will fight battles that feature up to 150 characters on screen at one time. The game will include both a good and evil campaign, including a scenario in which Sauron -- the leader of the evil forces -- reclaims the One Ring. Expect Conquest to arrive in fall 2008.

IGN has revealed that Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is scheduled for a U.S. release on August 31st. And since a release date announcement is a big deal, Pandemic also supplied a new Mercenaries 2 "US Release Date Trailer" for everyone to enjoy. From what we can tell, things splode really, really good. We also get a feeling for why Mattias Nilsson is so hellbent on revenge ... his bum has a bullet lodged in it. Watch the trailer, take it all in and (potentially) add Mercenaries 2 to your ever expanding list of 2008 must-haves.

[Via Game Stooge]

According to an IGN post that has since been removed, Pandemic Studios is hard at work at a Batman game for release alongside the upcoming movie. IGN has been on the story for a while now and they were the ones who originally got wind that (then) current owners of Pandemic (Elevation Publishers) had acquired the rights to make Batman video games. With this latest leak it seems that a tie-in game for the Dark Knight movie is all but a guarantee, and rumors are that the team in charge of the game is Pandemic Australia (the same team who worked on Destroy All Humans). The actual post has been removed, but thanks to those intrepid posters at NeoGAF we have the full text, which follows after the break.

Ah, to remember the heady days when Electronic Arts was content to flood the world with Lord of the Rings titles. It seems that EA isn't quite ready to let its very lucrative license go by the wayside, as newly acquired studio Pandemic (Mercenaries 2) is working on a new title set in Middle Earth. And that's about it, really. The news was revealed in a recent analyst meeting (the same one that also seemingly unearthed plans for a new KOTOR title). The only thing known about the title is that EA plans to release it in their fiscal 2009, which runs April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. Could it be the resurrection of The White Council? Time will tell (and so will we, once we find out).

[Via Joystiq]

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.

[Via Joystiq]

Online retailers have been hinting at it for a while and now developer Pandemic is fessing up announcing that Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has officially been delayed into early 2008. In an interview with IGN, president of Pandemic Josh Resnick stated that Mercenaries 2 fell back to a Q1 2008 release because they need some more development time and that the studio doesn't "want to slop out a game just to meet a deadline". Kudos for being frank and honest Mr. Resnick, sometimes games need to cook in the oven a bit longer to bring out their subtle flavors and lovely texture. We'll be ready and willing to snack on destruction next year.

[Thanks, todd]

The debut trailer for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has been released and we have it embedded above for your convenience. The action in the game looks pretty hot, and the graphics aren't too shabby either. The lighting and explosions are really impressive, and the destructive enviroments look really ... breakable? Either way it looks really cool, and a blast to play. Jacking helicopters looks completely crazy. Did you ever get your hands on the first Mercenaries, and are you ready for some new gen flavor?

[Thanks, Jonah Falcon]

Eurogamer recently sat down with Scott Warner, Pandemic's lead designer for Mercenaries 2. We don't get a ton of new info on the game, but it's interesting nonetheless. One nugget that was revealed is that while most areas will respawn after they've been destroyed, there are certain areas that will remain in tatters after you've blown them to smithereens. The game will feature hundreds of new vehicles including boats, a first for the series. There's bad news for multiplayer fans though, as there are no plans for any competitive multiplayer. Mercenaries 2 will, however, feature online co-op. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.

There is no mention of Bono in the interview by the way, though we expect he was -- as always -- lurking in the shadows.

A group called Venezuelan Solidarity isn't happy about Mercenaries 2 (that sounds awfully familiar). Apparently the group isn't so keen on the game's depiction of Venezuelan locales, not to mention the "extremely realistic" violence Mercenaries 2 encourages in said locales. In an open letter to Bono, Venezuelan Solidarity asks the U2 singer-cum-activist to pull the support of Elevation Partners -- Bono's investment firm -- from Pandemic Studios, developers of Mercenaries 2. The group pulls at Bono's human rights strings, asking that he "reconsider [his] investment in a company that glorifies violence and militarization." Furthermore, Venezuelan Solidarity implores the rock star to prevent the game from being sold "anywhere." That's a mighty tall order, even for Bono.

Whether or not Bono will accept this call to arms remains to be seen. We wait with bated breath.

[Via Joystiq. Thanks, Stynk Monkey]

Today, Pandemic released a few screenshots of their upcoming sequel Mercenaries 2. The graphics look okay, the lighting is fine, and the textures will pass, but there's nothing jaw dropping here. Maybe the in-game explosions will make us wet ourselves, but we don't get the same effect from screenshots. Also, who's enjoying the main character's badass image? Tattoos, stylish hair, tight jeans, and a sleeveless shirt ... he's my idol. Anyone eagerly anticipating Mercenaries 2 and want to share your impressions of the new screenshots?

[Thanks, un1qu3 n3wy0rk]

Looks like we need a new "worst kept secret" in the game industry, as Mercenaries 2 has finally been officially announced for the Xbox 360. Following months of speculation, the news breaks from IGN during an interview with Pandemic. The game is set to feature a large, streaming world. To put it in perspective, the world of Mercenaries 2 is the size of all the maps in Mercenaries 1 put together. The game will also feature oh-so-trendy online co-op (system link is still being considered). The game is set to include plenty of vehicles, including jets and watercraft. Finally, Mercenaries 2 is expected to release this fall. Hit the "read" link for screens and more details on gameplay.

[Thanks, Machiavelli 420 # 2]

Update 2: IGN has revised the paragraph again, and has reinserted the phrase claiming the title is coming to both PS3 and Xbox 360. What's going on over there?

Update 1: Looks like someone at IGN spoke a little too soon. The paragraph claiming that Mercenaries 2 is coming to the Xbox 360 has been removed.

After noticing some 360 peripherals in the latest Pandemic developer video, many were led to believe that Mercenaries 2 was headed to the Xbox 360. Pandemic hasn't been shy about the possibility, but as yet no official announcements have been made. We're not sure if this is official, but IGN has now stated that the game is definitely headed to the Xbox 360. The remark is located at the tail end of an interview with Pandemic: "Keep an eye out for [Pandemic's] next release, Mercenaries 2, coming to Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as some cool announcements in the coming months." IGN may have made a mistake there, but we doubt it. So there you have it, it looks like Mercenaries 2 is definitely headed to our favorite curvy, white box.

The interview itself is actually pretty interesting, too. The subject is the importance -- or lack thereof -- of graphics in new gen games. 360 fanboys will quickly zero in on a quote concerning the PS3 vs. the Xbox 360. Coming from Pandemic's Morgan Jaffit, "If you look at the on-paper specs, the PS3 doesn't have this mythical, untapped reservoir of power. There's been a lot of talk about that, but it doesn't seem to be there." He does, however, go on to say that it's possible that the PS3 may eventually have an advantage (apparently he didn't talk to Mr. Gates)

But let's not dwell on fanboy bickering. The important thing is that Mercenaries 2 is coming to 360. It's Mercenaries 2! Hooray, Mercenaries 2!

[Thanks, Ricardo]

Back in July, there was a rumor going around that Mercenaries 2 (only announced for PS3) would be heading to the Xbox 360. Via our friends at Xboxygen, we have uncovered more fuel for that particular fire. In Pandemic's latest Mercenaries 2 developer blog video, there are clear shots of both an Xbox 360 dev kit -- look for the 360 with a huge hard drive in the background -- and a developer holding a 360 controller. Of course, it's possible that the developers are working on some other secret project for the 360. However, given their previous open minded statements, we think it's fairly safe to assume Mercenaries 2 is going multiplatform. Hit the "read" link to watch the video, and remember to keep your eyes peeled.

[Via Xboxygen]