Mercenaries 2 deploying August 31

At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, then-independent developer Pandemic Studios unveiled Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for the PlayStation 3. Now, 22-and-a-half months, three more versions, two delays, and one near-Bono-boycott later, the now-Electronic Arts-owned studio has finally announced the game's release date, courtesy of a trailer released today on its official site. As predicted by retailers in January, the game will arrive in August--Sunday, August 31 to be exact. Pandemic has since confirmed to GameSpot that the date applies to the PS3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PC editions of the game in North America. Europe and the UK will receive the game on Friday, September 5.

The trailer shows the setup for Mercenaries 2, which follows the further misadventures of Scandinavian gun-for-hire Mattias Nilsson, voiced again by Swedish actor Peter Stormare (Fargo, Prison Break). This time, instead of tangling with North Koreans, the tattooed merc is betrayed by his employer, the suave drug lord Ramon Solano, who stages a coup in Venezuela.

After receiving a painful gunshot to the posterior, Matthias reteams with his two former comrades--American Chris Jacobs and Chinese-Australian Jennifer Mui--to take on Solano by working for other factions seeking Venezuela's oil wealth. Said factions include the Chinese, Rastafarian pirates, Universal Petroleum, and the PLAV (Peoples Liberation Army of Venezuela).

Like the first Mercenaries, World in Flames will feature free-roaming gameplay where a player can run freely--and amok--on a battlefield eight-by-eight kilometers in size. In either single or co-op mode, players can use a variety of weapons, as outlined in GameSpot's most recent preview of the game.