Sony has just announced that MotorStorm 2 will be muddying up the PS3 this autumn – bigger, badder and altogether better than ever.

Yup, an official statement says more than enough to get us drooling into our skinny lattes. Game highlights include:

• A brand new location set on a jungle-strewn Pacific island.
• 16 multi-route courses promising such hazards as thick mud, tangled undergrowth, fast-flowing rivers, barely-penetrable swamps, towering peaks, searing lava pools, choking clouds of volcanic dust and more.
• The aggressive Monster Truck to add to your garage of steroidal motahs.
• Offline split-screen multiplayer fun for up to four.
• 16-player online gameplay via the magic of the Playstation Network.

On top of that there’s all the vehicles from the original – buggies, bikes, mudpluggers etc – and a collection of game modes and rewards, all shaped around a fictional motor-racing festival, again as in the first game.

“It’s brutal, dangerous, relentless and unpredictable and more than a game – MotorStorm is a way of life,” says Sony, already ramping up the hyperbole. We’ll make our own minds up about that when we lay hands on the game. Meantime there’s a very cool trailer available to view at SCEA’s blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com). Needless to say actual gameplay is eschewed in favour of pre-rendered action sequences, but you’ll get the picture. More soon.