Lucasarts may have taken on the publishing duties for the original Mercenaries for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but Pandemic Studios is partnering with mega-publisher EA for the sequel, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames. The critically lauded shooter is scheduled for a Q4 release of this year.

The game is still also a PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive, according to the company. Call me cynical, but EA's multiplatform publishing strategy combined with Pandemic's history of developing for all platforms plus a dash of Sony's inability to retain an exclusive makes me think an Xbox 360 version isn't far behind. But I was wrong that one time in the '90s, so who knows? Michael McWhertor

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