Binned "Mercs Inc." footage appears
Pandemic's bucket topples, spills.
Footage from what appears to be Pandemic's canned multiplayer Mercenaries game has leaked onto the internet.
The "Mercs Inc." pitch demo (found by superannuation) shows characters tearing around an outdoors environment shooting machineguns and explosive weaponry at helicopters, cars and other players for cash.
Vehicles provide transport and mobile weaponry, and most scenery appears to be destructible - as is common to the Mercenaries series. "Play with your friends," boasts the demo, "drive with your friends", "kill your friends".
A CV for former Pandemic VFX artist Dorian Compo corroborates the existence of a PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 game called "Mercenaries Inc." that was "cancelled [in] winter 2009".
EA confirmed the closure of Pandemic Studios last week, following a streamlining move that will cut 1500 jobs at what was once the world's largest videogame publisher.
EA bought Pandemic in October 2007 as part of an $860m acquisition of parent company VG Holding Corp., which also owned RPG heavyweight BioWare.
Under EA's control Pandemic has released two sub-par games: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
A third and final EA Pandemic game, The Saboteur (gamepage below), will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on 4th December.