The rumors are rumors no longer. Everyone's favorite pair of mercenary psychopaths, Kane and Lynch, will be returning to the PS3, 360 and PC in 2010. Eidos has officially announced that Kane & Lynch: Dog Days, the sequel to 2007's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, is in development from IO Interactive, the same studio that worked on the original. This time around the action moves to Shanghai, where our not-quite-heroic duo will fight their way through the city's gritty underworld. The press release states that Dog Days will introduce a new visual experience, and that the developers were inspired by documentary filmmakers, and have set out to redefine the words "intensity" and "realism" in the game.

"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 Jørgensen, 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."

In keeping with the realistic and documentary theme promised in the release, there are a pair of videos to accompany the game's announcement. The first, entitled "Bowling for Shanghai", shows a pissed-off Lynch smashing down a door and presumably handing out a beat-down with a bowling ball. The second video features Kane and Lynch storming into a fast food restaurant, chased by a pissed-off German Shepard. Yeah, there are a lot of pissed-off mammals in Shanghai. Oh, did I mention that in the second video, both characters appear to be completely naked? I guess I forgot to mention that, which is weird, cause, you know, they're both totally fucking naked, and that's the kind of thing I would normally mention.

No official release date has been given for the game, but rest assured we'll bring you more news when it comes out. And maybe we'll get an explanation as to why Kane and Lynch are so very naked.