[Update: Now with video (thanks, VVP)! Watch Gary Oldman spill the beans after the break. And hey, G4 – you guys totally got that story fair and square, so why pull the video?]

Far be it from us to tell Electronic Arts how to run its business, but one would think that announcing a long-since-leaked game based on a hugely anticipated movie which just so happened to premier the very same week of the industry's largest press event would be – what we in the video game blogging business call – "a no-brainer." But, then again, we're not Electronic Arts so, despite being first rumored and then leaked by IGN over a year ago, Pandemic's totally secret adaptation of The Dark Knight did not make its debut during the serendipitous collision of E3 and Batman-mania last week.

As if EA's counter-intuitive marketing plan wasn't funny enough, an interview on G4 with Commissioner Gordon himself, Gary Oldman, revealed – surprise! – that a game was indeed in development. Oldman stopped short of naming developer Pandemic or EA, but we all know the score; in response, G4 had the video removed from YouTube as well as their own site. Our favorite part from the interview teaser reel? When Oldman says, "It's hard to make a movie like this under the radar." You know what, we were just thinking the same thing about games ...

Source – IGN forums
Source – YouTube video (since pulled by g4 Media, Inc.)

After what feels like countless delays, the new trailer for Mercenaries 2 rekindles our hope that the latest release date of Aug. 31 for the game actually sticks. The video gives examples of a couple different ways to complete missions within the game, from being all stealth-like to just going in guns blazing.

There's something disturbingly satisfying about the idea that, if a mission goes south while trying to sneak through it, the option of just flipping out and destroying everything is still on the table. Check out the video after the break.

Those who enjoyed the economics-meets-explosions gameplay of Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction will no doubt get a kick out of the latest trailer for the title's upcoming sequel. The three ExOps personalities we came to know and love in the first Mercs are making a comeback, and in the above video, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames lead designer Scott Warner gives us a sneak peek at how these well-trained operatives, you know, operate.

The gameplay looks solid, but for those of us too busy to watch a five-minute video on a Saturday afternoon, we'll briefly break it down using A-Team archetypes: Jennifer Mui is Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Mattias Nilsson is "Howling Mad" Murdock, and Christopher Jacobs is an amalgam of John "Hannibal" Smith and B.A. Baracus -- only he doesn't pity fools. He hastily shuffles them off this mortal coil using their own grenades.

Pandemic just released the first trailer for their Star Wars: Battlefront-esque take on Tolkien's beloved fantasy world, Lord of the Rings: Conquest, and despite a few framerate issues, we're as pleased as Miruvor-flavored punch. Though past titles have tried to capture the grand scale of Middle Earth's climactic battles through various methods of interactivity, we've never really felt the exhilaration associated with cutting through swathes of Orcborn adversaries with our trusty Andúril. The familiar Battlefront gameplay formula looks to be just what the doctor ordered -- though PETA might have a few unkind words to say about the Proboscidean homocide apparently featured in the title.

Delays are never good, but in the case of two titles emerging from EA's acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic, it's nice to see the publishing giant giving its studios the time they need to get the job done right. In particular, we're talking about BioWare's all-new original RPG title, Dragon Age, and Pandemic's WWII action game, Saboteur, both of which EA boss John Riccitiello revealed are now 2009 titles during a speech Tuesday.

BioWare, hot off the PC release of Mass Effect, has been crafting its first fantasy RPG since Neverwinter Nights for some time. Saboteur showed substantial promise when we saw it last year; it's a third-person action game set in Nazi-occupied France, starting off in black & white, with color appearing as Nazis are driven out of areas of Paris.

Just how many people are working at Pandemic anyway? Not only are they still finishing up Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and (maybe) making the next Batman game, but news has come from IGN today that the Lord of the Rings game the studio is currently crafting (called Lord of the Rings: Conquest) will arrive on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this fall. By the developer's own admission it's an unabashed mash-up of the fantasy property and its own Star Wars Battlefront (read: huge fights in Middle Earth).

The game will incorporate every battle from the movies, a few from the books and some from whole cloth. Conquest's large-scale battles, which will sport up to 150 characters on screen at once, can be waged by eight players online [update: It's apparently 16] against one another or with four players teaming up on the main campaign online or via split screen. Frankly, we got a little burnt out on Lord of the Rings games when a glut of them arrived with Peter Jackson's films, but this sounds like the kind of meaty experience that justifies a return to Middle Earth.

Last night, eagle-eyed members of NeoGAF spotted a story on IGN about developer Pandemic working on a new Batman game, moments before the story was then pulled. We're betting it was an exclusive let slip a bit too early, but that's just a guess. If you'll remember, this partnership of Bat and studio was rumored all the way back in May.

IGN didn't have details on the game but we're inclined to agree with the assumption that it's a Dark Knight tie-in meant to drop alongside the movie in July. As for the choice of Pandemic, best known for Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries, we're amiable enough. They're at least qualified to hurdle over the bar set by previous devs, so low as to be in danger of being melted by the Earth's molten core.

An EA analyst report and meeting (via ShackNews) has revealed that Pandemic Studios is developing a new Lord of the Rings title. The studio, which was recently acquired by EA along with BioWare, continues to work on the twice-delayed destruction-fest, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Little is known about Pandemic's journey to Middle-Earth, save for EA CEO John Riccitiello's announcement that it will release during the publisher's 2009 fiscal year -- somewhere between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009. You'll know more when we know more.

Shacknews reports that Pandemic Studios' action-packed Venezuela-wrecking shooter, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, has been struck with another delay, this one sending it careening into publisher EA's 2009 fiscal year. Though the game "is likely to ship this year," the official release period now stretches from April 2008 to March 2009.

The news follows several rumors which suggested that EA would show gamers no Mercenaries until August. We'll let you know as soon as official release date debris details come hurtling through our office window.

Electronic Arts has dropped a cold, emotionless reminder of its late-2007 acquisition of both BioWare and Pandemic Studios, announcing that the pair have now been officially digested by the EA collective. While we remain cynical of the whole affair – it is, after all, what we do – EA has announced that the pair has been tapped to create a whopping ten new franchises for EA, based on six different "wholly-owned" properties. 10? Seriously? BioWare alone hasn't touched that much code in nearly a decade, though to be fair EA hasn't laid out a time line for how often these games will emerge.

Both BioWare and Pandemic will be overseen by EA Games' top cheese Locutus...erm, Frank Gibeau, and according to the executive the acquisition will broaden EA's game portfolio in the RPG, action and adventure genres. A cloud of mystery continues to hang over the bulk of these new projects, though EA has confirmed that BioWare remains hard at work on Dragon Age and the DS Sonic RPG, while Pandemic is chugging along developing Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur. At least it seems as though the assimilation hasn't freed the developers of independent thought, though granted it does take some time before the implants take hold.

Pandemic put together a small set of viral videos promoting its mercifully delayed Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. The mockumentary is The Office-esque and follows the exploits of Jim Holston, a "real" mercenary who visits the Pandemic studios to "check out the game."

There is no Mercenaries 2 gameplay footage or launch announcement in the videos that we can see, the first episode is above with the other three found after the break. If you like cringe-humor created by awkward situations then you may find a few moments of laugh-out-loud humor in the videos. We'll never view motion capture technology the same way again after seeing what Holston does to the Pandemic receptionist.

With the gaming world still reeling over this afternoon's purchase of BioWare and Pandemic by EA, the major publisher/developer held a conference call discussing its plans for the studios, calling the acquisition "mutually beneficial" for all parties.

Says EA CEO John Riccitiello, "We bring a lot to the table ... we simplify the process of courting publishers, basically taking it to zero." He adds that EA, being the publishing giant that it is, can "reach places where [BioWare and Pandemic] don't get to so we can build their properties bigger." As for what EA itself gets out of the deal, the exec noted matter of factly that EA is "not in the open world action-adventure business. These guys are the leaders ... this strengthens us where we need to be stronger."

Monolithic publisher EA has today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to purchase VG Holding Corp. -- a move which sees EA becoming the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. A shocking move to be certain, but one that should make complete sense to a publisher looking to strengthen its lineup of role-playing games and action titles. BioWare, currently finishing development on November's Microsoft-published Mass Effect, has proven itself to be one of the leading developers in the genre, and Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries franchise has shown an alarming propensity for blowing things up.

Closing January 2008, the purchase will cost EA up to $620 million in cash payment to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp., with another $155 million in equity going to "certain employees" of VG Holding Corp., "subject to time-based or performance-based vesting criteria." EA has also agreed to lend VG Holding Corp $35 million through the closing of the purchase. Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp, thinks it's all money well spent. "This vision is consistent with BioWare's focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world," he says. "It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin."

EA will hold a conference call later today to discuss the acquisition. Oh, and here are all the exclamation marks we wanted to put in the headline: !!!!!!!!!!