Fans of Electronic Arts and Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and PC) rejoice! The game has finally been dated for launch. In addition, the developers have also released a new trailer of the upcoming video game. To find out more and see the video, head on over to the full article.

Pandemic Studios and BioWare are currently on the hotseat after Electronic Arts' shocking acquisition of both development studios, and we're fortunate enough that they're giving answers to fans who aren't very happy. In an interview, Pandemic made it pretty clear that the partnership with EA won't hinder the developers from being creative.

According to Pandemic chief production officer Greg Borrud, nothing is changing in how Pandemic develops games or what games they choose to develop. He also adds that the acquisition will not break the company's "core pillars of building big brands", regular game events, or their ability to attract the best talent in the industry.

Co-founder and president Josh Resnick continued, saying that EA probably wanted to buy them because of Pandemic's "ability to be creative... and to really stretch our limits and innovative, and to really focus on creating blockbuster original IPs." He stressed out that new and original IPs will be coming without restrictions from EA.

What Pandemic can learn from the partnership, as Resnick sees it, is how to have a powerful marketing organization and make franchises go forward by spinning out many games. Pandemic CEO Andrew Goldman and Borrud agree that passing technology around is another positive draw to the US$ 860 million deal with a publishing giant like EA.

Aside from having access to support from Electronic Arts, Pandemic big wigs say nothing much will be changed in the development pipeline. Hopefully, we won't be seeing annual Destroy All Humans! titles or titles like Mercenaries 09 any time soon.

 

Not too long ago, back in March, we found out that Warhound from Techland was 50% complete. Roughly four months have passed, and huge improvements have already surfaced. Looking at the newly released factsheet for this open-ended FPS tells us that the game is being tweaked into perfection.

It must be said: the amount of features that Warhound offers is overwhelming. We don't want you to miss every single detail, so here's what went through the press wire.

Unprecedented freedom of choice in an FPS:

• Tackle missions in the order you choose, create your own path through each mission's objectives
• Plan your tactics and equipment load-outs
• Buy satellite photos, recon data and other intelligence about the battlefield situation
• Pick a deployment time and location, then pay for the means of getting in and getting out

Character development:

• Train your character in several skills, including climbing, repair, and weapons proficiency
• Skills are earned and developed as in the real world - for ex., shooting ranges improve accuracy, running tracks and climbing walls boosts cover and movement skills
• Develop and use skill specializations to gain advantages in combat; new skills offer fresh opportunities for advancement through the mercenary ranks, and new ways to complete missions

More on this after the jump!

Here are a few more chunks of info about Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the much-awaited next-gen iteration of the highly popular and much-loved Fallout franchise. The following details were revealed at Bethesda's recent Fallout 3 press event and come to us courtesy of Joystiq:

• In the Fallout 3 universe, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout: Tactics never happened.
• Fallout 3 will feature a day/night cycle as well as changing weather.
• There will be no multiplayer mode. No demo is currently planned.
• Players can collect 21 collectible bobbleheads throughout the game
• Fallout 3 will feature 20 licensed songs from the '40s. Players can listen to these songs through radio stations accessible via the PIPBoy as well as radios that players can come across in the game world.
• Travel between locations can be done via subway tunnels. There will be no drivable vehicles.
• Bethesda is still considering the addition of downloadable content as well as player-created mods.
• The game will have 9 to 12 different endings.
• Almost all NPCs in the game will be killable. There will also be children, but Bethesda has yet to decide if they will also be killable as in the previous Fallout games.
• Players will once again be able to hire mercenaries for extra firepower. As in Fallout, players will not have a lot of direct control over them.
  

Joystiq also mentioned that the Fallout 3 demo showcased in the press event included a loading screen that showed a metric of "corpses eaten." When asked, executive producer Todd Howard declined to reveal anything about it. "We're not talking about that stuff," said Howard.

While the possibility of it being a joke is there, we still wonder what a corpse's rad levels are.

Fallout 3 is currently slated for release in Fall 2008.

Prepare to step back into the boots of a hardened Mercenary in this world premiere trailer video of Pandemic's Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. We give you a sneak peek on what to expect with this highly-anticipated sequel to the game that gave you the license to blow up anything - literally anything - in your path.

The trailer itself is in true Mercenaries style: loud, brash, and has loads of explosions. The next-gen bells and whistles are obvious here, with smoother, better-looking character models and even more impressive explosions. We get to see the three members of the team, each doing what they do best: Steal vehicles in mid-flight, blow stuff up, throwing grenades into tank holds, blowing MORE stuff up, performing hazardous stunts with expensive-looking cars...did we mention making a lot of stuff go boom?

The Mercenaries are back, and it's time to get paid. Watch out for its multiplatform release (PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360) sometime this year - we know we'll be!

Speaking with Eurogamer, Scott Warner revealed that once Pandemic Studios were done with Mercenaries 2 anything is possible - even a handheld version of the game. Here's Scott Warner's words:

At the moment we're only concentrating on the versions of the game we've announced, but I'd love for us to work on a handheld version of Mercs! Anything's possible!

What has Pandemic Studios currently busy at the moment is Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which is being custom built for next-gen consoles, the PC, and the PS2. After they're done with that game, we just might see more Mercenaries for the PSP or the DS.

Mercenaries 2 is set to feature fully destructible environments and is set to look a lot like Venezuela.

This combination of destruction and Venezuela is something that the aforementioned country doesn't seem to like - heck they even asked Bono to do something about it.

Anyhow, all the mercenary focus on next-gen platforms (and Venezuela) should end by Winter, as Mercenaries 2: World in Flames game is set to be released by then. Will we see a PlayStation Portable version of Mercenaries? We certainly hope.

It's confirmed: Uwe Boll's making another movie adaptation of a popular videogame, and this time it's Far Cry.  The shooting of the movie - which will take place in Vancouver, Canada, instead of Hawaii as previously stated- will begin immediately next month, as Gamerflicks reports.

A little backgrounder on Far Cry: Ubisoft's 2004 first-person shooter puts the player in the shoes of Jack Carver, an ex-Special Forces soldier who encounters mutant creatures known as Trigen after a mercenary job goes awry. Things go sharply downhill after that, with Carver bent on rescuing his employer - a female journalist by the name of Valerie Constantine - and every step bringing him closer to what the Trigens really are, and who created the monstrosities in the first place.

That's how it goes in the game. How it actually goes in the movie is anyone's guess - and when Uwe's involved, all bets are off, if one remembers his spin on Postal. With much of the cast and staff from his previous movies reprising their roles, one thing is clear, at least: we're in for one very interesting game-to-movie adaptation.

Oh, and in case you're wondering just who'll be portraying Jack, it's a rumored toss-up between Michael Pare ("Bloodrayne II") or Jason Statham ("In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Movie").

We can't help remembering G.I. Joe with Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. (We can't tell whether it's the Mohawk or the tattoos.) Anyway, today we've got some new screenshots for this action title.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is set to be released for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and PS2. It's set in Venezuela and locations vary from its lush forest to some cityscapes, plus of course the abandoned warehouses. Details look great and if we are to judge by the screenshots, gameplay promises to be a heck of a lot of fun, too. (Check out the flying baddie in one of the screens.)

Anyway, we'll leave you to check out the screenshots for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames from Pandemic Studios. There hasn't been any announcements regarding a concrete release date for the title but we'll keep our eyes peeled nonetheless.

More screenshots after the jump!

And we don't mean in just graphics and game depth... As the eventual successor to Diablo-killer Sacred, the game is looking to be going down the right path after all. Dubbed as Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, the story now revolves more on the history of Ancaria and the legendary race of the Seraphim - the Fallen Angels.

Ure Paul of Action Trip got together with Hans-Arno Wegner, Creative Director on the project, to reveal what Ascaron Entertainment can about the world of Sacred 2 while it's still in development. First and foremost, is the bump up from sub-3D to full 3D characters and 3D environments. Count 'em: 10 regions of beautiful sceneries.

The idea to create Sacred 2 went as far back as before the development of Sacred: Underworld. The game will be sporting the same huge world to traverse, but this time you can enjoy the environment from a whole new 3D perspective, thanks to a self-created Sacred engine. You can expect that Sacred will be coming out in DX9, but with DX10 support and even low-powered hardware support.

This time around, however, instead of placing all shady and heroic characters into the side of saving Ancaria, Sacred 2 will be allowing you to choose two sides: the "Light" and the "Shadow." By choosing one path, you change how the events in the world develop and twist. But the story is more or less the same, with you in either side, depending on your opening choice.

Oh and finally, you can hire your own mercenaries. This feature was absent in the first title, since you could only muster an army if you accepted all quests that gave you a companion. And the world of Sacred 2 will be a lot more alive than before, sporting NPCs that actually have  a life and live it (lucky them eh?). They will sleep by night and work by day.

Side-quests and mini-stories are also available (if it's like the NWN idea, we like it!) that are generated for the nature of the side chosen, the character chosen, or the worshipped deity.

Click on the "Read" link below to get read the interview in more details.

The first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has been through quite a few ups and downs through the years. It's been praised, delayed, anticipated... it even got a vaporware award. Things have changed though, and now that developer GSC Game World has THQ's backing, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is finally running on all engines for its planned March 23 release.

As a Zone bounty hunter in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you'll be scavenging the irradiated land in search of artifacts to sell off. Just because the landscape's a bit uninviting doesn't mean you're all alone, so it would be a very good idea to be familiar with the other, uh, people that roam the Zone.

Read on for a quick look at the different factions that you'll be coming across in your travels, courtesy of GSC Game World and CVG.

Stalkers. These are the Zone bounty hunters, brave souls who risk facing severe radiation and a lot of other deadly threats in the Zone to scavenge and scour the area for artifacts to sell. A dangerous job, but hey, everybody's gotta make a buck. Survival is the name of the game for stalkers, and those who have been able to survive find their own way - either stay a lone wolf or join a community of other stalkers sharing similar values as their own.

The full article awaits after the jump!