Mercenaries 2 on four platforms

Speculation over which platforms Mercenaries 2 will appear on has finally ground to halt, as EA has announced the game will be coming to Xbox 360, PC, PS3 and PS2 in the Christmas period this year.

It was formerly thought to be exclusive to Sony's next-gen console, though it was also persistently linked with Microsoft's green and white box.

"Mercenaries 2: World in Flames delivers the next evolution in explosive open world gameplay - regardless of the system you play it on," said Andrew Goldman, CEO of developer Pandemic Studios. "All four platforms are incredible gaming machines, and from the beginning we designed an experience that accentuates their individual strengths and delivers the interactive freedom and explosive action Mercenaries fans demand."

The original Mercenaries launched back in 2005 on PS2 and Xbox, fetching much critical acclaim for its brilliant combination of violent action in an open world setting.

The carnage this time will take place in Venezuela, which apparently has a much cooler vibe than previous setting North Korea. However, the Venezuelan government wasn't too chuffed when it found out, fearing it might signify the first step to a real life invasion. We wouldn't expect you'd find the game on general release out there.

Eurogamer recently had a chin-wag with Pandemic Studios president Josh Resnick who told us the developer was working on bringing fans action that was even bigger and better this time around, designed specially for next-generation systems.

"Mercenaries 2 is built on a totally new next-gen engine that will allow our bad-ass Mercs to take the action to a level that wasn't possible on earlier platforms," he told us.

Which makes us scratch our news-beard as to why a PS2 version is in development. Perhaps the continuing strong sales of the platform are to blame? What do you think, Eurogamer reader? Tell us your words underneath.