That last bit certainly explains the teaser video that McWhertor posted awhile back, featuring the two criminals running through a Chinese restaurant pursued by gunman and an attack dog, caught on what looks like a grainy surveillance camera. IO Interactive is looking to “deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’ in video games”, and if that teaser was less tease, more gameplay, then they might just be on to something.

“Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days,” said Niels Jorgensen, general manager of IO Interactive. “A special thanks to gamers worldwide for their feedback. They are certainly in for a shock as we, with immense pride, welcome back our two dear, violent and somewhat unfortunate friends.”

Dog Days will feature the world’s most dysfunctional couple as they journey through the seedy Shanghai underworld. The original teaser vid plus a new one are now up at http://www.kaneandlynch.com, with screenshots listed as coming soon. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is slated for a 2010 release on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 under the Eidos label.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the sandbox third-person shooter/action game label; it certainly does sum up both Just Cause 2 and its 2006 predecessor. But with sequels, you’re expecting something more, right? Well, Just Cause 2 delivers — in parachute and grappling hook form.

What Is It?
Just Cause 2 puts players in the shoes of Agency operative Rico Rodriguez who is sent to track down his AWOL friend and mentor, Tom Sheldon on the fictional island of Panau. Along the way, he gets enmeshed in conflicts between three different factions and there are a lot of high places that are just begging to be BASE-jumped off of.

What We Saw
I watched a developer recap the demo shown at E3 where Rico BASE jumps into a speedboat and then goes crazy grappling between points on what looks like a shipping port. Then the dev took me and several other games journalists through the beginning of the Casino Bust mission before handing over the controller so I could try my hand at playing in the sandbox.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out sometime in 2010, but it looks pretty enough to seem like the release could be sooner rather than later.

What Needs Improvement?
Wait, What Was I Doing? It’s awfully easy to get distracted by the pretty scenery and raw freedom offered up by Just Cause 2. You do get map notifications of where you can go to complete the next objective on whatever question you might be on — and sometimes mobile phone updates from non-playable characters who want you to do something. But the map is easy to ignore since you have to open a menu to view it properly. Also the mobile phone pep talks are jarring enough to be irritating, so you might tune them out. It’d be nice if the game sent your PDA unobtrusive text messages or something.

Where Am I? Panau feels huge. I’m not sure how it stacks up compared to the first game, but the square mileage of the island is supposed to be something like 400 square miles (1035sq km). With all the ground to cover and topography that makes it hard to scan for landmarks, it’s easy to get lost. You might not mind it much if you’re an intrepid explorer — but if you’re one of those gotta-beat-main-story-now types, getting lost while trying to learn the lay of the land is going to be a huge drag.

You Can’t Grapple Two Elevators Together: Bummer.

The Malaysian Faction Boss Is Annoying: I might catch heat from both feminists and Malaysian people when I say that I can’t stand the Malaysian faction boss lady. But seriously, she’s irritating — especially when she’s constantly yelling at you during a mission in heavily accented English.

What Should Stay The Same?
I Want To Have The Grapple’s Babies: It is so fun to grapple onto things, grapple things together or just grapple yourself to the ground then deploy the parachute while you’re being pulled toward said grapple point to launch yourself into the air for what’s basically the Spider-Man mode of transportation. The best part of the demo was when the developer grappled a truck that was pursuing him to the underside of a bridge as they passed by. The physics of watching the wire snap taut and the truck flip up and over were hilarious. Also, you can grapple cars and boats to helicopters. Oh, and you can keep your airborne momentum up when you’re parachuting by grappling onto distant points on the ground or environment.

I Might Cheat On The Grapple With The Parachute: You can deploy your parachute at any time, pretty much anywhere if you’ve got even a few metres of air between your feet and the ground. A single button press deploys it and releases it, which is very low-fuss given all the guns you’ve got to handle. Once you master the pitch (point up, not down and you’ll gain altitude!) and the grappling-to-the-ground technique, you might even forget to hijack cars.

We Could Have A Threesome With The Stunt Driving: Car chases are infinitely more fun when you’re not actually driving. It’s way better instead to let the car’s momentum do the work while you straddle the front of the car as cover and shoot at the dudes climbing onto the back of your car, trying to kill you.

Final Thoughts
Just Cause 2 is pretty and violent and expansive — just like sandbox third-person shooter/action games ought to be. It’s really the grapple combined with the parachute that sets this game apart from, say, Mercenaries 2 or Saints Row 2.

Also, it occurs to me that if the game really went for realism with the parachute/grappling thing, discarded parachutes and wires would be littered all over Panau by the end of the game. Also, Rico would be covered in vomit.

Just Cause 2 ‘The Grapple’ Mini Doc 3 [GameVideos]

According to a potentially spoiler-filled email — yes, spoiler alert in effect! — from a regularly reliable tipster, Messrs. Kane and Lynch will be on the run entirely in the buff for one of the game’s levels. That’s for the whole level, supposedly. How does this happen? According to our tipster “they wind up naked because in the previous level they get ambushed and are about to get sodomised.” Oh, my.

If that’s the kind of information that gets your blood pumping, you may be similarly pumped to hear that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will feature online co-op multiplayer for the entire campaign, letting you run for dear life — naked — with your friend. It could get awkward.

It will be interesting to see how this is pulled off, if true, as we doubt that Kane & Lynch will exhibit the modesty of, say, Raiden’s naked adventures in Metal Gear Solid 2.

We’ve reached out to Eidos PR to see if they have any confirmation on this information, but this sounds like the kind of info they’d prefer to cover up until closer to release.

A sequel is certain, reported to have been in development as early as October 2007. The likely name of that sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, puts one aspect of this teaser clip, hosted by MTV Germany’s GameOne.de, into context.

The video appears to have been shot by a Chinese restaurant’s surveillance cameras, filmed in black and white, featuring two naked men — with their unmentionables blurred out — running from gunfire. One, who appears to be Lynch, appears to have been hit by some of that gunfire, tumbles over a dining table and is attacked by a dog. The other man, possibly Kane, beats the dog away with some type of blunt object.

And that’s about it. The trailer, if it is for Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, is certainly…interesting, if only a very, very brief taste of what we can expect in the sequel.

Judge for yourself. Does this scream viral marketing attempt at Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days? Or is someone pulling our leg?

2 nackte Männer hauen einen Hund [GameOne.de - thanks, unknownassassin!]

This game’s packing some attitude, dammit. It doesn’t really care that opening a parachute 10 feet from the ground probably wouldn’t work in real life. It does in real Just Cause 2. Now excuse me while I step off this building, I have a car to catch. Huh-huh, get it?

The revision takes some ¥4.9 billion off their net income – about $US53 million US – in the first half of this fiscal year (which spans April 1 to March 31). Originally, Square had been planning on 7.5 billion yen in the first half of this fiscal year; it’s now predicting ¥2.6 billion, and for comparison’s sake, at this time last year it had pulled in ¥6 billion.

Square’s income picture for the year fell commensurately; it was lowered from ¥15 billion for the entire fiscal year down to ¥10 billion.

The entire filing [pdf]is available through Square-Enix’s investor relations site if you’re into this sort of thing.

One of the joys of PC gaming is the ability to screw with stuff, like Batman’s costume skin in Arkham Asylum. Over at the official game forums they’ve got a fan-made skin collection going, complete with apps and instructions on how to implement them in your own game. If Arkham can have gargoyles on the inside, then I see no reason why Batman can’t dress as Nightwing, or the Green Lantern, or yes — Captain America. I particularly like the Batman Of Zur En Arrh outfit, which mimics the bat-suit Batman wore when he went bat-shit insane.

Batman Arkham Asylum Modded Costume thread!! [Official Forums - Thanks Stancis!]

The company that owns the North American licenses for both Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh now has a lot more adorable video game characters up its sleeve. The tiny protagonists of Mini Ninjas had cartoon written all over them, and 4Kids certainly sees the franchise’s potential.

“Mini Ninjas has a wonderfully distinctive look and compelling characters, and the brand appeals to a broad demographic range – all key attributes for a healthy licensing program across multiple categories,” said Carlin West, executive vice president for acquisitions and development for 4Kids Entertainment.

No plans for a cartoon or film based off of the game and its characters has been announced, but come on — it’s 4Kids.

4Kids signs Mini Ninjas [Licensing.biz]