The story claims that the game, titled Black: Second Mission, will be released in 2009 on PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360. Sort of a boring name. They should just call it "Blacker." Or "Black 2: Bigger & Blacker." Or call it "Black Black" and get a tie-in with the Japanese candy of the same name.
It feels like ancient history now, but this isn't the first time a sequel to Black has been mentioned. It came up in EA financial reports given prior to the launch of the current generation of consoles as a game that was in development. Criterion has since gone on to deny that a sequel to its explosion-focused first-person shooter was in development, but it's always felt sort of inevitable. The game's release as a downloadable Xbox Original earlier this year only furthered the notion that we'd someday see a sequel.
The original Black was an interesting game, but one that felt short and a bit singular in its gameplay. The game's main trick was to almost always have the enemies standing near barrels or other explosive objects, turning the game into a kind of basic shooting gallery. Still, it had a great sense of a style and those explosions were pretty fantastic. I'd definitely be interested in seeing Criterion take another crack at it, especially if it received the long-term attention that the company's given to its most recent release, Burnout Paradise.