Mercenaries 2 on Xbox 360: a tale of the tape

by James Ransom-Wiley { Dec 22nd 2006 at 1:25PM }

Either the developers of Mercenaries 2 play a lot of Xbox 360 in their downtime, or Pandemic is bringing its sandbox sequel to Microsoft's console. The chances are strong, even by admission, but Mercs 2 remains exclusively tied to PlayStation 3 -- for now. So guys, care to explain all the 360 equipment cluttering the office in your latest video blog? Perhaps it's time for the official announcement...

[Via GamersReports]

Tags: 360, Exclusive, Exclusivity, Mercenaries 2, Mercenaries2, Mercs 2, Mercs2, Pandemic, PS3, Video blog, VideoBlog, Xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

The Intangible Fact @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:33PM

Thats funny!

Even PS3 developers prefer to play 360.

theGreenGrunt @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:34PM

Developing on the 360 must be a sweet endeavour as it appears a lot of PS3 exclusives keep coming over to the 360. This is a good sign for the future of gaming on the 360.

w()()ter @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:35PM

Well, being VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS, it's not out of the question for them to have one of the newest systems in their office to play. That being said, however, I wouldnt be suprised to see yet another "exclusive PS3 title" find it's way to the 360 =)

Wii60

Buckshot @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:37PM

OMG!!! Another defector! I enjoyed the first one a lot, even though some bashed it.

steve @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:37PM

Also, most game development is done on PCs, and it might be easier to plug a 360 controller into your Windows box to test something than to compile it for a PS3.

B33 @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:41PM

Like Assassins Creed, this game was never declared a sequel to begin with. What is the big deal? And why are fanboys acting like this is another blow to Sony?

Les Doodis @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:41PM

At first I thought that maybe it was a mere coincidence, but there are just too many developers there with 360 dev kits or controllers. Notice we didn't see a single PS3 kit or controller in the video?

Frosty22 @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:42PM

Look at the video again... I think I saw a black xbox 360 dev kit in the back right corner of one of the developers. Anyone care to confirm this?

B33 @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:43PM

@ w()()ter:

"Wii60"

If you only had a brain...

nick @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:43PM

This is funny.

I want Mercs2 on the 360 as my present for Christmas

Frosty22 @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:45PM

er... rather bottom left of the guy with the red hat. Top right... bottom left... practically the same thing.

nick @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:45PM

I saw two 360 dev kits in the video, one black and one white.

Pip @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:50PM

It's not like this is a big secret anymore. I'm not entirely sure why devs are so hesitant to say what platforms their games are for anymore. This would be an excellent article for a gaming magazine to get to the bottom of. I find it hard to believe that Sony or Microsoft are just handing out cash bonus's if they make it seem like their games are going to be exclusive.

Seriously, they are out to make money, staying exclusive for ANY system is just going to make to lose money, especially when the dev systems for the 360 are so straightforward and easy to code with. The overhead simply isn't there to say it would be 'too expensive'.

Seriously, I'd like to know, someone needs to get the info up front and figure out why companies are doing this.

BklynKid @ Dec 22nd 2006 1:54PM

Yea I'd say it will come out for the 360 as well. You can come look for me when that doesn't happen.

ben @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:00PM

I wouldn't get so excited, at about half way through the video, you can clearly see a gamecube controller. And I know that there is NO chance of Mercs 2 coming to the gamecube.

0ldb0y @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:01PM

Perhaps Microsoft wants Devs to keep lids on the 360 development. Coming upon launch, they can "announce" it as going cross platform, and deliver another "PS3 loses exclusive title!" blow to Sony, even though it was in the works the whole time.

Paul @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:11PM

@13, PIP
"I find it hard to believe that Sony or Microsoft are just handing out cash bonus's if they make it seem like their games are going to be exclusive"

Actually, I think that's exactly what they're doing. Cash incentives are why developers are being lured to the 360. It's not because Microsoft promised to be best friends or give them all back rubs or something...

Of course, now that it's becoming clear that neither the 360 or the PS3 will dominate like the PS2, it's just economics that forces developers to develop for both.

w()()ter @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:23PM

B33 - Care to validate your comment and elaborate a bit instead of just posting random back-handed insults? Thanks...

Metalmurphy @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:28PM

If you guys did some research, you dont even need alot of research, just view they're video blogs, they play Halo 2 constantly... so i don't think this means anything.

"BAMF" @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:32PM

B33 is just mad.

Reasons:

1. PS3 sucks
2. PS3 sucks
3. PS3 sucks

and

4. Wii and 360 are better.

No need to thank me B33. Anything to to help out an ignorant/niave gamer.

AliZeroThree Fan @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:37PM

AliZeroThree FTW!!!!!!!!!1111

Kid Pyrrhic @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:38PM

@19

There's 360 dev kits in the video. Unless they're playing Halo 2 on their kits, it means something.

Remember when Mercenaries 2 didn't have a publisher? My guess is Sony may have shown in an interest in publishing, but didn't officially sign off. So Pandemic kept their mouth shut until LucasArts signed back up. Come March, we'll hear an official word.

Neil @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:41PM

News shocker!! People who make games play games!! On other systems even!!!!

Many industry professionals own various systems. Remember nerds, you don't have to own just one system.

AliZeroThree Icantsee @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:47PM

I want to have your babies!!! You are the sexiest Persian.

GOD @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:54PM

@Neil
True, but most don't use DEV KITS to play their games. You can clearly see that the 360s they have are dev kits (some are black and others have the extended tops where the hard drive should go).

James @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:55PM

I'm with commentor #5 on this one... While I'm sure it will be X-platform, until they announce it I would assume they're just using the controllers for PC or actually to play 360 games. =D

Matt @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:55PM

@23

There's a significant and meaningful difference between a game developer simply owning an off the shelf system and having an actual dev kit in their office. Unless Pandemic has some other title that they are developing for the 360, this is a pretty clear sign that there are at least some plans to bring Mercs 2 to the 360.

I don't see why people see this as such an unbelievable proposition, considering the first title was multi-platform. In all likelihood, Pandemic is waiting out on announcing it in hopes that Sony will pony up some cash to make Mercs exclusive to the PS3. This is the same thing that happened with Assassins Creed.

GOD @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:56PM

One more thing, in the video they are asking what everyone wants for Christmas. Well the best gift I could get would be a confirmation of this rumor. Mercenaries is one of my favorite games.

Matt @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:04PM

@#5 & #26

From what I can tell those are cordless controllers. MS only recently put out the dongle for connecting wireless controllers to a PC. It seems unlikely to me that a for-profit company would so readily spend an extra $70 or so per controller to upgrade to wireless so quickly. In a business environment, I would think the limited battery life would actually make wireless controllers a poorer choice.

Matt @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:11PM

it's not farfetched to assume that Pandemic is developing a game for 360.
it's also just as possible that said game is Merc2.
I don't really care unless it's online multiplayer - in which case I'll have to pick it up.
btw, there are no white 360 debug or dev kits - they're all black.
afaik, PS3 games are only developed on PCs in the VERY early stages - sony and nintendo like to use proprietary dev kits; microsoft was one of the first to allow (almost) full dev cycles on PCs. take all that with a grain of salt, though - I've just never seen any SDKs for GC, PS2/3 on PCs.

Endejas @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:17PM

The user known as "B33" rarely has anything worthy to say. You can look on Kotaku and see the same amount of validity in his posts.

And as for Mercs 2, I really liked the first one. Hopefully they can bring this one on the 360 because the chances of me buying a PS3 before next year are pretty low.

eric @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:19PM

ps3 exclusive (adj): a term slapped by developers on big name titles at the request of a company who hands over a very large check to maintain secrecy around the fact that it will be a mult-platform release.

used in a sentence: virtua fighter 5 will be a ps3 exclusive!

i don't know, the games gonna be pretty weak on the 360, with its lack of real time weapon changing and all.

Contra666 @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:24PM

With the cost of Dev Kits, they are unlikely to have a few sitting around.

It just wouldn't happen.

Ronald Ray @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:25PM

this game will end up on the Xbox 360 as well

Matt @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:33PM

"Cash incentives are why developers are being lured to the 360."

If ANYTHING, cash incentives are being handed out to convince devs to stay true to the Playstation 3. No developer needs a cash bribe to get them to come to the system with the largest current marketshare, let alone the largest projected marketshare. Would you rather sell a game to 200,000 PS3 owners (the other 200-300,000 are Japanese, and they hate anything that isn't weird and Squeenix) or 5,000,000 Xbox 360 owners? Exactly.

Hart704 @ Dec 22nd 2006 3:34PM

Just because there are Xbox 360 items doesn't mean that a specific game will be for that system. You'll need to come to me with more than just a controller in a photo.

theGreenGrunt @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:04PM

Hart704=Denial is the first sign your a fanboy.

jimbo @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:05PM

This pic shows there to be a 360 dev kit (I think):

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1678/mercs21oq0.jpg

Frosty22 @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:25PM

For pete's sake... THERE IS MORE THAN JUST A CONTROLLER! There are black devkits in the videos. Black devkits are used for... yep, you guessed it, DEVELOPING GAMES FOR 360! Geez does everything have to be s-p-e-l-l-e-d out?

It is safe to assume they are developing something for the 360. Since this is the merc2 team... it might even be safe to assume that they are developing merc2 for the 360. Make sense? Good.

Optimus Prime @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:30PM

So, this would be like the 100th shooter for 360.. yea, that will do wonders for console sales, esp. once the halo3 hype starts up.

DeejayKnight @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:39PM

I see 360 dev kits on-screen.

In the bottom-right pic of this story's headline, the screen has a 360 dev kit on it, beside the obvious controllers.

Even if they don't admit it, i'm expecting to see Mercenaries 2 for the 360.

tituspullo @ Dec 22nd 2006 4:44PM

then why are the controllers wireless? and the wireless apater for the 360 to pc isn't out yet. hmmm. are we to believe they guys have then or are we to believe this isn't an exclusive title.

Lindsay @ Dec 22nd 2006 5:58PM

I want AliZeroThree for Christmas. I love persians! Doset daram AliZeroThree!

VadgePutin @ Dec 22nd 2006 6:09PM

Total Hotness! Mercs was awesome! AL1 0 3 4ever!!!!! Hell0 Kitty, Mercs is coming to 360!!!! That makes me a happy Red Panda!

Brandon @ Dec 22nd 2006 7:56PM

I can't beleive that any one is suprised about this. It was more than likely going multi-plat.

dybot @ Dec 22nd 2006 9:10PM

Just look at the whiteboard they are clearly trying to tell us something... There are references to the 360 on it FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

It's fairly obvious they are going for a 360 version.

Mr. Fake @ Dec 22nd 2006 10:39PM

Fake!!!!!!!!
trust me this is completely and utterly faked. The photo shop lines are just killing me by looking at it.

GOD @ Dec 22nd 2006 11:31PM

From their forums in a Thread titled "New! Official Developer Answers Thread!!"

"The following is a compilation of answers to questions from Scott Warner, Lead Designer on Mercs 2. "

"How much more advanced is the enemy AI? Do they work together better? Will they still fire an RPG at you point blank? And how is the allied AI improved?

It will be extremely improved. This will be one of the big innovations people notice not only with Mercs 2 but with a lot of games during the next generation. The 360 and the PS3 are capable of allowing us to do some groundbreaking A.I. development."

There are other mentions of the 360 in this tread too. I don't think this proves anything, but does fuel the fire.