I've had a decent bash at The Darkness II on Xbox 360, and honestly, as a console first-person shooter, it's a hell of a lot of fun to play. Quad-wielding sounded weird on paper, but in practice and on a controller, it just seems to work.

Unfortunately the same can't necessarily be said of the game, and it's touted control system, on the PC. So we gave full review duties to Nachos, who ran his skilled keyboard-loving fingers through its frenetic and bloody combat to serve you up his thoughts. The end result is essentially a great game, marred only by an overreach on the platform it ought to be able to overreach on.

Click here for the full review.

The long awaited sequel to the hit 2007 title, The Darkness, is now available in Australia for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Inspired by the comic book series created by Top Cow Productions, Inc., and developed by Digital Extremes, The Darkness II continues the story of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and brutal force of chaos and destruction known as the Darkness. Introducing unique Quad-Wielding™ combat and four-person cooperative gameplay distinct from the first-person campaign, The Darkness II breaks the mold of traditional first-person shooter titles.

Also available is a demo on Xbox 360 Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Steam for PC.

Check out our game page for more information about this title.

Digital Extremes' quad-wielding sequel, The Darkness II, is essentially the first major release of the year and follows in the footsteps of the highly acclaimed, and much loved, The Darkness from Starbreeze.

Today's launch trailer for the game, which arrives at retail on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC February 10, gives potential players a glimpse at the title's mature themes and familiar setting, though avoids the touted visual shift to a more comic-book art style by being presented as a traditional CG trailer. There's also an emphasis on the Darkling, who now plays a bigger part in the game, as well as the varied, and challenging, enemy types you'll be facing.

Watch the full launch trailer embedded below, or click here for the direct page, and be sure to stay tuned for AusGamers' full review coming soon.

As has become standard practice these days, a demo for Digital Extremes' The Darkness II, sequel to the critically acclaimed The Darkness from Starbreeze Studios, will arrive on Xbox Live exclusively for Gold subscribers, for a week, before being made available for standard subscribers and also making its way to the PlayStation Network and PC (via Steam).

The full game is due to release on February 10 for all three platforms, and features a robust single-player campaign that has a heavy focus on "quad-wielding" - a feature the developer has been touting since the project was first revealed. Stay tuned for our inevitable review prior to game's release, but if you need more, check out our game page for all The Darkness II AusGamers coverage.

The inclusion of cooperative multiplayer element separate to the traditional singleplayer campaign seems to be the flavour of the month in game development at the moment and you can add yet another upcoming title to that list today as 2K Games and Digital Extremes have revealed Vendettas for The Darkness 2.

The Vendetta's Co-Op experience will reportedly take place parallel to the adventures of demon-possessed protagonist Jackie Estacado in the singleplayer campaign and will instead feature four new player characters, who each have their own supernatural abilities and reasons for fighting The Dark Brotherhood.

Interwoven into key points of Jackie’s single-player narrative, Vendettas expands the universe of The Darkness II by branching off into unique, parallel missions, while connecting thematically to the core single-player story arc. Four players can collectively immerse themselves in the lore of The Darkness II, and explore a variety of environments not found in the main story. Adding to the destruction and mayhem, Vendettas will also feature a new Hit List mode, which allows players to repeat their favorite campaign moments or wreak havoc in brand new scenarios.

Vendettas will also offer varied, intuitive combat with multidimensional scenarios for the four characters. Each individual possesses unique combat styles that will help shoot, smash and disembowel enemies in the most brutal and diverse ways. Designed to pick-up-and-play, gamers have their choice among the following wielders of dark power:

Read more about the new characters in the press release and check out the trailer embed below (or via the direct page here) for a look at The Darkness 2 Co-op in action.

The Darkness II is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 10 2012.

2K Games have released a new trailer for The Darkness 2, the supernatural first person shooter sequel in the works at Canadian studio Digital Extremes.

Today's video is titled "What is the Darkness?" and aptly describes the titular demonic parasite in a brief overview that brings us up to speed with some of the happenings of the first game.

Watch it below or click here for the HD option.

The Darkness 2 is due for a February 10th 2012 launch on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

As they prepare for a public showing of the game at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con event, 2K Games have revealed that the target release date for The Darkness 2 has now been pushed back to February 10th 2012, a delay of four months from the previous October 2011 goal.

Currently in development with Digital Extremes and based on the supernatural horror comic book series created by Top Cow Productions, Inc., The Darkness II delivers a brutal and personal narrative as gamers take control of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and ruthless force of chaos and destruction known as the Darkness.

Delays of anticipated games are always disappointing, but at least in this case, it's being shifted to a quieter time of the year and we might actually be able to enjoy it more without the impending holiday season onslaught.

The Darkness 2 is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Australia on February 10th 2012.

For more details on The Darkness 2, stop by our recent interview with Project Director Sheldon Carter.

2K Games' forthcoming sequel, The Darkness II, developed by Canada-based Digital Extremes, has passed through Australia classification, receiving an MA 15+ here with no need to make any changes.

AusGamers checked the game out exclusively earlier in the year at Digital Extremes' studio and walked away happy with the direction of the game, but also with a legitimate concern we might not see it in its entirety on our shores. The adult content and extent of some of the gore was definitely a talking point, but again the Classification Board has seen fit to pass through another questionable game, and at this stage, we're not complaining.

The Darkness II is due to release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 early October.

The E3 trailer for The Darkness 2 has landed a little early, setting the scene for the story in gruesome style - opening with a hand getting nailed to a board - and showing off a stack of the action. For those who came in late:

The Darkness II breaks out of the sea of conventional first-person shooters with its fervid Quad-Wielding gameplay, which will allow players to slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with their Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons. The game is layered with the use of dark versus light, steeped in deep and twisted storytelling, and engulfed in stylistic violence that is visualized through a hand-painted graphic noir technique that stays true to its comic book origins.

As always our game page has more information and screenshots.

Check out the trailer below or download in HD now!

AusGamers travelled all the way to Ontario, Canada for an exclusive look at The Darkness II and in addition to last week's in-depth hands-on preview, the embargo has lifted and we're now allowed to share our developer interview.

In addition to the hands on demo, we also had the chance to hit up Digital Extremes Project Director Sheldon Carter for a chat about all things Darkness. Topics discussed are the many differences between this new game and the original -- both in gameplay and art direction -- and some great insight into the game's development process. There's also some brand-new gameplay footage in the mix that offers the best glimpse of the game that we've had so far.

Once again this interview is available in both video and written format, so click on through to find out everything that we did.

Earlier this week AusGamers was invited out to Digital Extremes' London, Ontario-based studio to see the team hard at work on The Darkness II, sequel to Starbreeze's critically acclaimed The Darkness.

To say Digital Extremes has some pretty big, Darkness-filled, shoes to fill would be an understatement, but the team visited Otherworld, picked up some Darkness-fused development team-members and emerged in the modern day world ready to do just that. And so far we're very impressed; the team have opted to make their own mark on the IP without a 'reboot', which is a more than admiral approach.

Today we have a full preview for you along with a bit of hands-on, with more coming next week in the way of a video interview covering Starbreeze, PC development, the altered art-style and more, so stay tuned.

Click here for our in-depth preview.

2K Games and Digital Extremes have revealed the release date for The Darkness II, follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed The Darkness from Starbreeze Studios. And it's one day before my birthday... aw shucks guys, thanks!

October 7 will see people stepping into the Darkness-filled shoes of Jackie Estacado once again, in a game that promises to be more action-packed than the first with a slightly altered art-style intended to more closely resemble the title's comic-book origins. We also have a new trailer to accompany the release date information, but we'll be getting a closer look at this baby in the not-too-distant future, so stay tuned for more details, right here on AusGamers.

Watch the trailer embedded below, or click here for the HD option.

2K Games have released a new developer interview video for The Darkness II, the demon-armed shooter sequel currently in the works at Canadian studio Digital Extremes. In addition to commentary by Project Director Sheldon Carter and Lead Designer Tom Galt describing the broader goals of the game and what changes to expect, the video also includes several new screenshots that show off the colourful comic-like art direction with plenty of gore.

Watch it below or click here for the HD option.

The Darkness II is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Spring 2011 (U.S. Fall).

Update: Here's some 720p snaps of the new screenshots found in the video (nb: these are screengrabs directly from the video so won't be quite as nice as the actual game).

2K Games have today revealed that a sequel to the 2007 first-person shooter, The Darkness, is in the works and set for release before the year's end; once again putting gamers in the shoes of Top Cow comics' supernaturally-enhanced anti-hero.

Titled simply The Darkness 2, the new game is currently in production at Digital Extremes, the Canadian studio who most will know from their co-development and various ports on Epic's Unreal products and most recently, the PC-tailored version of the upcoming Homefront.

The announcment press release reveals a few details about the game, including the plotline:

It’s been two years since Jackie Estacado, now the Don of the Franchetti crime family, used The Darkness to kill the men responsible for his girlfriend’s murder. He’s been unable to shake the memory of Jenny’s death since bottling up his supernatural power, and now The Darkness wants out. A sudden, unprovoked attack on Jackie’s life heralds the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. The botched attempt opens the door for The Darkness to reemerge, and sets Jackie on a journey to hell and worse, as he unravels the mystery behind the attack and the motivations of The Darkness itself.

What they don't mention however, is that it's not the same team that brought us the original Darkness game -- which was the Sweden-based Starbreeze Studios with their own in-house engine powering it. So it will be interesting to see how The Darkness 2 compares to the original once we learn more. Until then, you can check out a single screenshot.

The Darkness 2 is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in "2011".