The pack adds new characters, four new game modes and is totally, 100% free. 360 owners, it should be available by the time you read this, while PS3 owners, it actually went live last week for you, so if you're keen, you can grab it right now.

Riccitiello also re-confirmed that Dead Space and the soon to be released Mirror's Edge would be further franchised but were "not likely to be annual sequels." Same for Spore, which will see new expansion packs and "new business models." Let's just hope all this franchise success doesn't put the kibosh on the company's drive for new IP.

Eurogamer
...apart from some cool explosive effects and solid controls, Mercenaries 2 is utterly mediocre in almost every sense that matters. From the initial sorties onwards it's bogged down by the worst kind of brain-dead cannon fodder enemies, lead-you-by-the-hand level design, arbitrary boundaries, and some technical howlers. It lacks challenge, excitement, personality and any real verve whatsoever.

Videogamer.com
One of the fundamental problems is the AI of enemies. We've seen plenty of action games with dumb enemies, but those in Mercs 2 rank very near the bottom of the list. They show almost no signs of intelligence other than raising alarms or occasionally moving to a vacated gun emplacement. We regularly saw enemies stood motionless between buildings, firing RPGs at us from touching distance and driving into each other

IGN
Mercenaries 2 seems balanced for two players more so than one. Especially since, in co-op, your teammate can revive you if you die. They just have to get near you, hit the proper button, and you're back on your feet. In single-player, death kills you, so to speak. It helps to communicate, as one man's explosion can often be his friend's untimely demise. With two people calling in air strikes, these can get pretty crazy on screen. There's something eerily poetic about laying a hail of bullets on an enemy as your face is awash in the glow of a nuclear detonation. Co-op is a powder keg of goodness.

Gameplayer
There’s also the occasional odd visual glitch or letdown. Scooting about in a chopper, at one point, we were engulfed in the thickest fog of war seen this side of an RTS. Other glitches saw the AI spot our position even though we were obscured from view, and our support chopper got stuck on the environment on more than one occasion. That said, these aren’t deal breakers. For a virtual world that spans 8 square kilometres we guess this sort of stuff is, at times, unavoidable.

Variety
But what makes the game a true standout is how streamlined its design is — the controls are extremely approachable and players are trained slowly in their use. Rather than inserting endless fill-in dialogue, "Mercenaries 2" makes in-depth data on characters, locations and story elements available for optional reading through an intuitive menu interface. The overall effect is that players can concentrate on everything there is to do in the game world without getting stuck in an overburdened story or overcomplicated controls.

Things aren't always simple in the world of mercenary game critics.

We touched on the assignment system in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and showed you what it looks like on the current gen. However, for all of you that haven't made the switch to the Xbox 360 or PS3 fear not, Mercenaries 2 is also hitting PlayStation 2. If you want to take a look at the linked video you can make a comparison, but our consensus is the PlayStation 2 version ain't half bad. The game comes out to you on August 31st.

The company provided the same window of release for Battlefield: Bad Company, a Digital Illusions co-op shooter originally slated for a 2007 release. We'll, of course, let you know when we hear more solid release dates for these two shoot-fests.

We've contacted EA to see if we can get confirmation on the delay, but our requests haven't yet yielded a response. We'll let you know when we know.

Mercenaries 2 publisher EA did not provide an official reason for the delay to the European outlet, but I suspect dev kit eating goblins were involved. While most delays are a good thing ultimately for gamers because it afford opportunity for polish, this one is doubly beneficial, giving us more cash to spend on the other bazillion must-haves this season.

Mercenaries 2 Delayed [CVG]

T-shirts and inflatables might be good enough for the E3 and Penny Arcade crowd, but in Germany if you want to make a splash with gaming swag you've got to go big... big hair.

Electronic Arts was giving out these tubes of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames HaarGel or hair gel for those non-German speakers out there. I, of course, had to take the stuff for a spin as soon as I got back to the hotel. The gel's rich texturing and high poly-count left me with the sort of three-foot high flattop perfect for open world mayhem and Brigitte Nielsen-inspired discotheque dance parties.