Surprising no one more than ourselves, several members of the staff have been spending loads of quality time with Rainbow Six Vegas 2, so it brought us plenty of joy to see that Ubisoft recently released a title update for the 360 version of the game. No, most aren't fixes to our beloved co-op, but what does it really need? More radical? Our pants are quite soiled enough, thank you very much.

Those of you who prefer multiplayer matches can expect faster weapon switching, faster respawns and bevy of other changes that you can check out here. And if you play on the PS3, don't worry: A similar patch is in the works for you as well.

It may seem like just a silly promotional video for Rainbow Six Vegas 2, but we like to think of the above video as an educational film. Primarily, of course, it teaches/reminds the guys from Mega64 are really ballsy. Seriously, they're bold in a way that would make Errol Flynn want to curl up with a mug of Earl Grey and an issue of Teen Vogue.

But we also learn the lengths that everyday citizens are willing to go to in the fight against terror. Terrorists can literally be dancing in front of them in Hawaiian shirts and they will still pretend to see nothing. Consider us inspired.

Ubisoft announced today that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has engaged retail with precision and sold two million units worldwide. GameDaily reports that due to RSV2's initial sales and the continued momentum of Assassin's Creed and Games for Everyone, the publisher raised its fiscal guidance and expects net sales of €920 million ($1.54 billion) from €875 million ($1.38 billion). Ubi's CEO, Yves Guillemot, says 2008 is "off to be a record year" for the industry and company.

Modest reviews didn't seem to put a damper on RSV2's initial sales with Ubisoft calling them a "better than expected start." If This is Vegas ends up selling exceptionally well -- and boy, could Midway use the sales -- we may see Vegas become the hottest video game setting since Omaha Beach.

According to their website, much of Ubisoft's technical support staff has taken this weekend off in observation of Good Friday and Easter. That's all well and good -- but perhaps, when they aren't draining Cadbury eggs or enjoying fine roasted hams, just one of them could take the time to Google their latest release, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, and discover that a good portion of the console gaming world is ready to swear off all things Clancy.

Our tip box has exploded with complaints from owners of the PS3 version of the game -- apparently, a majority of those who try to play online either can't connect or have to suffer staggering amounts of lag. We'd expect a bandwidth epidemic such as this to be patched post-haste -- we guess Ubisoft didn't anticipate we'd actually want to play their game on the first weekend of Eastertide. What, did they think those terrorists would hunt themselves?

It seems Tom Clancy's latest visit to Las Vegas has yielded strikingly similar results to his 2006 outing: Lots of jumping out of helicopters and being shot at by ambidextrous bandits. Some people like that sort of thing, however, and reviews of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 suggest that Ubisoft's second trip down the strip is just for them. This is your last chance too -- the next Vegas game is that one starring Kevin Pereira.

• Eurogamer (70/100): "Overall, Vegas 2 feels like an incremental expansion, despite the success of the character-creation feature. The annoying thing is that with a bit more investment these quickfire sequels would feel like true follow-ups, which would go a long way with those of us who've been following the series for the past ten years. As it is, we'll still go to Vegas, but we'll be grumpy on the way home."
• IGN (84/100): "The gameplay in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is awesome; it just isn't as awesome as it was 18 months ago. The main complaint that most gamers are sure to have with RSV2 is that it's simply too similar to the game that we played late in 2006."
• Videogamer.com (80/100): "While Rainbow Six Vegas 2 feels more like an add-on than a proper sequel, that shouldn't stop you picking Ubisoft's latest up. The gun-play is excellent, the production values are top notch and the multiplayer game modes will keep you coming back months down the line."
  

Congratulations, you did it! Why are we heaping our praise upon you for no good reason? Well, friend, you just joined Comcast's Elite Rainbow Six Bravo team. We don't know how you got the honor or why, but we know all you have to do is click this link to be automatically on the crew. For your trouble, you'll get the pride of knowing you're part of something bigger than yourself ... oh, and a free Rainbow Six Vegas 2 map.

The new map is called "Comcast Event" which is uncomfortably close to (read: is) super-blatant in-game advertising. But also, it's free, which makes it pretty tough to take a moral stand against. Enjoy.

One of our favorite things about Rainbow Six: Vegas was the multitude of weapons a player could choose from while outfitting their digital soldier. With varying levels of kickback, damage, ammo capacity, and accuracy, each weapon felt like a unique character, and diehard followings sprung up behind many of the game's realistic firearms.

The above trailer shows a few new "characters" we'll be introduced to in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2; like Mr. Shoots Through Walls, SMG Jr., and a sniper rifle that's bigger than the Juno I satellite launcher. We'll get to meet the whole gang (as will a number of unlucky terrorists) when the game lands in our anticipatory hands come mid-March.

Don't expect a Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 3 anytime soon. Speaking to Eurogamer, designer Philippe Therien said, "We will never go back to Vegas - at least, not in the foreseeable future." So much for the "rescue four hooker witnesses from a back alley full of out-of-town drunkards" mission we've been dying to play.

Therien also noted that, although the single location worked well for the story of the previous two games, he's not sure if they'll return to that format for the next Rainbow Six installment. (Make no mistake, no one expects this to be the last Rainbow Six title.) The glamorous, time-paradoxical Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is due out March 21.

Eurogamer reports that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will be shooting up casinos and terrorists before you know it, as Ubisoft has confirmed a March 21st release date for the game.

Vegas 2 will feature numerous improvements over the first Nevada-centric Rainbow Six game, including an improved reward system, online co-op, sprinting, and destructible cover. We're assuming March 21 is a worldwide release for the game, although we will confirm with Ubisoft whether that date pertains to North America as well as Europe.

[Via X3F]

Ever since the first lackluster trailer was revealed at the 2007 Spike TV VGA's, we've been curious about the direction which Ubisoft is taking our favorite terrorist-hunting franchise, Rainbow Six: Vegas. Sure, we've been promised that that Vegas 2 will improve on the mechanics of the Vegas the first, but we haven't heard much about the storyline for this "part prequel, part sequel".

The newest trailer for the game still doesn't tell us about the subject of Six's Sin City romp, but it does drop a few vague clues. For instance, most of the trailer takes place in a large concert hall. Can we expect to rescue a helpless Celine Dion from a pack of disgruntled Cirque du Soleil performers? We can only hope, as this would provide the greatest video game soundtrack since Revolution X -- but it's a fairly unlikely scenario. Ah, well. Our hearts will go on.

"Talk to the hand!" has been the sentiment of the two Rainbow Six Vegas 2 teaser trailers released thus far, and while Ubisoft still isn't ready to show us the game, the publisher is ready to talk. A smattering of gameplay details was disclosed today, confirming what the game title already reveals: we're in for more Rainbow Six Vegas. More weapons, more armor, mo' better AI, more multiplayer and, of course, "more Vegas."

As the Tom Clancy franchises continue along the 'EA Sports trajectory,' Vegas 2 will see its most ambitious seasonal tweaks in the form of improved "vastly improved" co-op play (a jump-in/jump-out campaign) and single-player expansion of the first game's multiplayer progression system (offline experience points). Anyone else convinced that the Ubisoft Montreal devs could code this game in their sleep?

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is being developed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Games for Windows, and is currently scheduled for a March 2008 release.

Perhaps to replace its last embarrassing trailer, Ubisoft has unveiled a new teaser for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2. This teaser offers even less of the game than Duke Nukem Forever's recent sighting, opting instead to show a few seconds of operatives hopping out of a helicopter.

There is one pesky problem, and that is with time itself: if you notice the first shot of the helicopter it displays 6:52:12 and the chopper isn't close to the building. When the camera cuts back to the helicopter next to the building, time is again 6:52:12. There are two (and only two) logical conclusions: either we are to assume two helicopters, with shots from two separate buildings, or Vegas 2 has a time travel component. Hopefully Ubisoft will come clean on its temporal experiments sometime in the near-distant past-future.

[Via Megatonik]

If you're wondering what Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will look like in-game, close your eyes and wish really hard for a new trailer. However, if you want to see what operatives do when not scaling walls or killing people (hint: it involves bountiful, big-breasted, brunette bimbos bumped briskly by brazen bodies), boy do we have a teaser for you.

The original video was posted and later pulled by GameTrailers, only to be re-uploaded to the site via a user -- if the video is pulled again, you can also find a copy at DailyMotion (via Megatonik). Other facts: it's still in Las Vegas and that's the logo above. Did you want to know anything else? Don't be so greedy!

After last week's report of Haze being on track for a December release, we're now prompted to point out the rather abrupt appearance of a detour in-between the metaphorical train and its final stop at the PlayStation 3. It seems the designers at Free Radical didn't receive nearly enough coal to reach the lead platform in time for Christmas, and now hope that you'll conduct your purchase of their first-person shooter in the first quarter of 2008.

Thankfully devoid of increasingly insufferable train puns, a Gamasutra article details the delay mentioned within Ubisoft's favorable first-half financial results. Sales for le publisher rose by 52% to $372.86 million, with profits jumping up 12% to $44.8 million. You might consider the money already spent on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, expected to arrive in the same quarter as Haze. Not much is known about the sequel, save that it'll (probably) feature soldier-types shooting up evil, one-armed bandits.

Fellow Tom Clancy property, Splinter Cell: Conviction continues to be wishy-washy about a potential release date, as it's also been pushed back to Ubisoft's fiscal year 2008-2009.