Mercenaries 2 for 360?

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 July, 2006

Could be.

Pandemic's next-gen sequel to Mercenaries could appear on Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3, the developer's revealed.

Unveiled at E3, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is currently without a publisher - despite LucasArts' involvement in the first game - and development is currently focused on PS3.

But that could change. "There is a possibility of it coming to Xbox 360," a representative told IGN on Friday.

"Right now, we have PS3 development kits and it's on PS3, and there is no announcement, but we're definitely considering Xbox 360."

The original Mercenaries appeared on PS2 and Xbox.

There's "still a lot of time", the rep added - and we're to expect some form of announcement, perhaps a publisher, in the next couple of months.

Mercenaries 2, like its predecessor, puts players in the role of a merc taking sides in a war over Venezuelan oil. The first game was likened to a war-based Grand Theft Auto - although not everyone's a fan.

Supporters of current Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez made headlines recently when they claimed Mercenaries 2 was a form of psychological warfare aimed at preparing the American people for a potential invasion of Venezuela.

Pandemic didn't really agree.

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is due out on PS3, at least, later this year.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • PortJourno #1 6 years ago

    Presidente "Huge" Chavez? Come on, the man isn't THAT fat... ;)

  • NthSimulachum #2 6 years ago

    It's HUGO chavez you numbskulls. Don't make me coup you!

  • Kiigan #3 6 years ago

    Personally, I think that unless Pandemic DO have a political agenda of some kind, they'd be better off with setting the game in a fictional location.

  • PortJourno #4 6 years ago

    They did the same with the first one, setting it near the DMZ in North Korea. Looking forward for this one.

  • regmund #5 6 years ago

    Huge Cahones

  • #6 6 years ago

    Everything points towards a multi-platform release - EVERYTHING.
    -1 reason to buy a PS3.

  • Steroyd #7 6 years ago

    Wow since when was this not announced for the Xbox 360...

  • repairmanjack #8 6 years ago

    Would save me £425... How about a similar (non-)announcement for Assassin's Creed?

  • Skooch #9 6 years ago

    Platform exclusives seem to be getting rarer as platforms become more and more expensive to code for. The interesting effect this has is that surely developers code for the lowest denominator, so buying the most expensive/powerful console may not be the way to go. Couldn't give a toss about exclusivity periods...so long as I gets me hands on it in the end....

  • Steroyd #10 6 years ago

    isn't that contradictory...

    Because timed exclusives allows the devs to utilise the full potential of the console.

  • Skooch #11 6 years ago

    Is that the same 'full potential' of titles that are released on current-gen AND next-gen consoles... ;)
    Edited by 1 at 10/07/06 @ 15:22

  • Steroyd #12 6 years ago

    Well GTA seemed to benefit from it, and the timed exclusive of Splinter Cell worked very well.

    One thing is buying a more powerful console, buying the more powerful console with dev support who knows what could happen.

  • Darkedge #13 6 years ago

    repairmanjack - Assasins Creed was shown at X05 and announced for 360 then. The worst kept secret of E3 this year was that it's not 100% a PS3 exclusive, it'll be out on 360 too.

  • YogiTah #14 6 years ago

    It allways depends on who donates more Cash - an M$ hast got plenty of these little papery fellas

  • Kostabi #15 6 years ago

    I thought the first game did quite well. It seems strange for LucasArts to not pick up the sequel.

  • IAmBatman #16 6 years ago

    > It seems strange for LucasArts to not pick up the sequel

    Publishers don't really want to fund anything that's PS3 only.

  • Skooch #17 6 years ago

    "One thing is buying a more powerful console, buying the more powerful console with dev support who knows what could happen"

    True. But can the publisher be arsed to pay a dev team to tailor a title in such a way that the improvements are actually noticeable?

  • rinoaMW #18 6 years ago

    out on ps3? later this YEAR?

    oh dammit - just when i'd gotten it OUT of my head to buy a ps3....

  • penhalion #19 6 years ago

    Working in the industry I can say that IAmBatman is correct. No publishers with any sense (after the burning they received with platform exclusives last gen) will willingly foot the bill for a platform exclusive title these days.

    Only studios owned by microsoft and sony will every be doing platform exclusives these days. Such titles are almost guaranteed not to make back the money spent on them. Halo being a rare exception.

  • El_MUERkO #20 6 years ago

    Chavez is a legend and Pandemic are numpties!

  • Xerx3s #21 6 years ago

    I missed the original, is it any good?
    Only studios owned by microsoft and sony will every be doing platform exclusives these days. Such titles are almost guaranteed not to make back the money spent on them. Halo being a rare exception.
    Ahh, so what about ninty? Don't tell me that over a 100 sequels isn't good for some profit.

  • Drakron #22 6 years ago

    Penhalion is wrong.

    Its about costs and profits, Fatal Frame 3 end up being a PS2 exclusive despite the previous 2 having a Xbox version.

    SH3 lacked a Xbox version due to SH2 Xbox poor sales.

    There is no real point in multiplataform when most of the market have more that one console, it raises costs in development and creates issues with inventory.

  • IAmBatman #23 6 years ago

    "There is no real point in multiplataform when most of the market have more that one console"

    That's the thing though - at this stage who does have more than one of the possible target platforms for Mercs 2? I can see people going platform exclusive in a year or so's time when Sony have built up an install base, but at the moment it'd just be limiting the potential audience.

  • myk #24 6 years ago

    I enjoyed the original, one of the few console shooters I played for more than a couple of hours. The factional set up was well done, less of a 'do this faction till you have to screw them over...' than GTA (although still there) and lots of vehicles and stuff to blow up (kind of like battlefield 2 in a way).

  • Drakron #25 6 years ago

    That's the thing though - at this stage who does have more than one of the possible target platforms for Mercs 2?

    Consider that Mercenaries 2 dont have a publisher and they only have a PS3 developer kit.

    Explain now why sould they foot the bill for the Xbox 360 developer kit, raising development costs when as far as they know Sony could very well be the publisher.

  • EmiliasHorse #26 6 years ago

    I am more than a little sure Pandemic will have a 360 dev kit. To not have one would leave one of the major US dev houses looking very silly in todays market.

  • Triggerhappytel #27 6 years ago

    Ofcourse Pandemic have access to a 360 development kit - they are now partnered with Bioware. Y'know; Mass Effect Bioware.

    The only reason this game might be a PS3 exclusive would be if Sony bought the rights to make it an exclusive. It'll probably be a timed exclusive, like many games seem to be.