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The Borderlands timeline unfurled
With the recent release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Gearbox knows it may have some fans with questions on how the series' timeline is organized. That's understandable when your latest game is sub-titled "The Pre-Sequel." To bring order to the chaos, the series developer offered an "ultimate Borderlands timeline" on its blog late last week. The comic-style timeline divulges major plot points from before the original Borderlands through its direct sequel, Borderlands 2. Viewers beware: Gearbox didn't shy away from spoiling those major events in the timeline, including that of The Pre-Sequel. Our review of the latest game noted that the game is "missing just a bit of soul," but still "has the makings of a pretty great Borderlands game." The series' overarching story will continue with The Walking Dead developer Telltale's adventure game, Tales From the Borderlands, which is expected to launch this year. [Image: Gearbox Software]
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel review: You don't know Jack
Xbox 360, PS3, PC Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is all about loot, murder, humor, loot, swarms of enemies and loot. It looks like a comic book, plays like a shooter, and feels like that one hilarious idea you and your buddies had at two in the morning after a night of riding around town and chugging energy drinks. Also, loot. In other words, it's more Borderlands. The Pre-Sequel introduces a few new ideas into the franchise – including near-zero gravity, oxygen management and shiny character classes based on NPCs from the previous games. Players participate in the story of Handsome Jack, before he became the villain in Borderlands 2, back when he was just a funny dude with wild ideas about being a hero. Still, while The Pre-Sequel boasts the loot of a full Borderlands game, it's missing a touch of depth and a dash of polish.
Battleborn and the rise of the friendly shooter
"We are absolutely, deliberately targeting the idea that we want a game that people can just pick up and play," says John Mulkey, design director on Gearbox's new shooter, Battleborn (PS4, Xbox One, PC). His team's latest design, which favors collaboration, community input and a heavy focus on testing and tuning, couldn't be more different from the cult classic he built levels for – years ago. Just how much community input and playtesting went into No One Lives Forever anyway, I ask Mulkey. "Oh, god," he says, briefly thrust back into a previous life. "None." Propelled chiefly by the strength of its clever vision, a game like No One Lives Forever seems to be an outlier now. It was a game made without a steady stream of analytics, feedback and pushback, though meant to be consumed more succinctly, and for what was then a much smaller audience. "A game like this, we hope, it's not just this game that hits and fades away," says Scott Kester, the man in charge of Battleborn's look. "We want this to go. We want to keep making it."
Borderlands reclaims its online co-op prowess via Steamworks
With just weeks to go before Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! brings people back to the Skag-infested wastes of Pandora, now's the perfect time to revisit the original Borderlands. Thanks to a fresh migration to Steamworks servers, PC players can actually get the full four-player co-operative Borderlands experience again. Borderlands was in danger of going offline earlier this year when Glu Mobile announced that it would be closing GameSpy's online gaming services once and for all. 2K Games had a sizable catalog of online games that were scheduled to shut down alongside GameSpy in May 2014, but Borderlands was one of the few that 2K planned to salvage and migrate to a new platform by Summer 2014. With less than a week left in the summer, 2K announced that Borderlands is now playable online via Steamworks. Borderlands has been updated for Steam in a number of ways, small and large. In addition to a news ticker offering updates on tweaks to Steamworks support for the game, SecuROM copy protection has been removed. Support for retail disc versions of the game meanwhile has been added, so anyone with an actual physical copy won't be left out. [Images: 2K Games]
Joystiq Weekly: Free upgrades for Destiny, Hatoful Boyfriend review, PAX Prime and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. PAX Prime 2014 ended on Monday, but we're still recovering. Not from the marathon of appointments or swimming through an ocean of people – we've got those parts down pat. If you've ever heard of the PAX Pox though, just know that it's ... definitely a thing. It seemed every morning of this week brought news of another staff member falling to Prime's crowdsourced super virus. Laptops still work on death beds, of course, so we kept churning out content from Prime while we tried to remember what clear airways and normal body temperatures feel like. You can dig through our featured content after the break worry-free though – we slathered it in hand sanitizer, so you shouldn't catch anything from going near it. There's always the rest of this week's content that wasn't staged in a biological hazard, of course. We've got good news for Destiny fans planning on upgrading hardware at a later date, release dates for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat X, a review of pigeon-on-human dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend and much more after the break!
Sega pins Aliens: Colonial Marines marketing mishaps on Gearbox
After Aliens: Colonial Marines publisher Sega moved to settle a class-action lawsuit to the tune of $1.25 million in August for alleged false advertising for the game, it shifted the blame for the game's marketing issues to Gearbox Software, according to court documents obtained by Game Informer. Internal emails from Gearbox and Sega representatives cite examples of the former revealing information about the game without the consent of the publisher. One such email refers to a New York Comic Con panel in October 2012, in which Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford firmly states that a Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines would launch in February 2013 alongside the other versions of the game. Emails within Sega stated that "no-one on the call was aware" of the Wii U version, and that it's "not been picked up so far." Of course, the game missed its Wii U launch window before Sega confirmed in March 2013 that it was no longer in development.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel season pass, pre-order Slaughter Pit announced
In case you were worried about running out of loot to hoard in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a $30 season pass has been announced for Gearbox and 2K Australia's upcoming shootout on Pandora's moon. The pass will last for four additional content packs, which a related press release notes will include "new characters, missions and experiences." Vault hunters wary of preemptive bulk DLC purchases will still be able to pick up the packs individually as they release for $9.99 apiece. As is the modern custom, bonus content called the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit can also be earned by pre-ordering The Pre-Sequel from select retailers. Those waiting on holiday sales to stock up on this year's remaining games won't miss out on the Slaughter Pit though, as the press release adds it will be available for purchase later on. [Image: 2K Games]
Claptrap learns new tricks in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
It appears that the trick to silencing Claptrap's unending stream of verbal inanity is to dress the lil' metal fella up like a pirate ship and grant him free rein to launch cannonballs at deadly space critters. [Image: 2K Games]
Sega moves for $1.25M Aliens: Colonial Marines settlement
Aliens: Colonial Marines publisher Sega has moved to settle a class-action lawsuit brought against the company regarding alleged false advertising to the tune of $1.25 million, according to court documents filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Should the motion be accepted, plaintiffs Damion Perrine and John Locke would receive $2,500, while $312,500 would be used to cover their attorney fees. Administration fees would total $200,000. That leaves $735,000 to be divvied up among members of the class filing the lawsuit, with each share not exceeding $59.99. Game Informer reports that the number of claimants is estimated to be roughly 135,000 people, which equals roughly $5.44 per payout. While that's not exactly what we'd call "rolling in the dough," the case could nonetheless set an interesting precedent for the way games are advertised. The days of the infamous "bullshot" could - could! - be numbered. If accepted by the court, the motion would protect Sega - but not developer Gearbox - from further litigation. [Image: Sega]
Borderlands 2 shoots through 10 million copies shipped
Publisher 2K has shipped more than 10 million copies of Borderlands 2, maintaining its spot as the highest-selling game in the company's history, a spokesperson tells Joystiq. Overall, 2K has shipped more than 18 million copies within the Borderlands franchise. During today's Take-Two financial call, President Karl Slatoff addressed the viability of series developer Gearbox's next installment, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, when it's launching exclusively on current-gen consoles and PC: "Our view is that if you give consumers what they want, they come out for it. Our catalog sales have done very well – as we announced in this quarter, it's one of the key reasons we were able to beat in the quarter. We have a lot of faith in the Borderlands franchise. There's still a huge install base of consumers; Borderlands is beloved .... We have very high hopes for The Pre-Sequel for current-gen platforms and PC, indeed. But it will be reliant on quality, and we expect to deliver a really high-quality game." Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel launches on October 14 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC – we'll see how many more copies 2K's tower of 18 million can handle. [Image: 2K Games]
Battleborn melds the MOBA with a first-person perspective
Challenging the notion that all MOBAs must be played from an omniscient isometric viewpoint, Gearbox revealed its own MOBA, Battleborn, that takes place from a first-person perspective. Battleborn promises a wide array of character variety as heroes battle on an alien planet, including Elvish archers, steampunk riflemen, and minigun-toting heavies. The lore hook is pretty solid, too, with the good guys fighting to protect the very last star in the universe against a faction called the Varelsi. The MOBA will feature both a co-op campaign and multiplayer PvP mode, and will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC next year. You can check out the reveal trailer after the break.
Borderlands studio mixes MOBA and FPS in Battleborn
Battleborn is a brand-spanking new IP from Gearbox Software (the Borderlands people), published by 2K Games and due out for Xbox One, PS4 and PC by March 31, 2016. Battleborn is a first-person arena shooter with cooperative narrative and competitive multiplayer modes, all set in a futuristic, sci-fi fantasy world. A team of diverse warriors are tasked with defeating a consuming, evil force in order to save the universe's last star. "If Borderlands 2 is a shooter-looter, Battleborn is a hero-shooter," Gearbox President Randy Pitchford said in a press release. "As a genre-fused, hobby-grade, co-operative and competitive FPS exploding with eye-popping style and an imaginative universe, Battleborn is the most ambitious video game that Gearbox has ever created." According to the Battleborn Facebook page, the game is due out in 2015, though the press release is more conservative, placing the due date any time before March 31, 2016, during Take-Two's fiscal year 2016. Get a little more information on the main Battleborn site. [Image: 2K Games]
These Borderlands: Pre-Sequel tips came from the moon
Want advice on surviving Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's treacherous lunar landscapes? Let the galaxy's most dashing rogue tell you how it's done; Handsome Jack is here to help you study for the Pre-Sequel's deadly tests with an overview of the game's features. Test date: October 14. [Image: Gearbox]
Tales From The Borderlands nets a nerdy voice cast
Tales From The Borderlands, the upcoming adventure game spin-off from the Borderlands series, will feature the voice talents of Nerdist's Chris Hardwick, developer Telltale Games revealed today. Hardwick's character, named Vaughn, is described as the best friend of Rhys, one of the game's primary protagonists. The promo art revealing Vaugh shows him with a scared expression, but what's there to be scared about? Pandora is just a planet overrun with insane robots, psychopathic bandits, telepathic mercenaries and giant monsters, after all. Other names attached to Tales From The Borderlands include Patrick Warburton (Family Guy) and Mr. Video Game Voice himself, Nolan North - or does that title go to Troy Baker now? Tales From The Borderlands is expected to make its debut sometime this summer. [Image: Telltale Games]
Borderlands 2 on Vita: Mostly Handsome, Jack
It is complete. With today's launch of cross-save support for Borderlands 2 on Vita, the game is fully fleshed-out and filled with finger-flicking delight. That isn't a euphemism – since it's on Vita, there's plenty of touchscreen and rear touchpad action in this latest version of Borderlands 2. Some of it works, and some of it feels designed in the bowels of frustration hell. Borderlands 2 wasn't conceived as a Vita game, and at times that fact is obvious – when it runs into framerate issues or the graphics pop in (usually leaving my character's irises and pupils for last on the home screen), it feels like a big game ported onto a tiny device. These issues are mostly ignorable, but they contribute to a few annoying gameplay problems.
Homeworld Remastered Collector's Edition pre-orders now live
Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the upcoming Homeworld Remastered Collector's Edition for the low, low price of $99.99. Well, it's low compared to the cost of real-life space flight, anyway. The Collector's Edition, as revealed by Gearbox at PAX East earlier this year, includes a Mothership replica statue roughly one foot tall. Along with the statue, Amazon notes the Collector's Edition includes "a revised Historical Briefings and Artwork book includes the backstory of the Homeworld universe, some newly uncovered details from the game's creators plus a dazzling collection of original concept art by Rob Cunningham and Aaron Kambeitz," as well as a die-cast Angel Moon Homeworld keychain. Unfortunately, Amazon's release date is a placeholder, so we're still unsure exactly when Homeworld Remastered will blast off. [Image: Sierra Entertainment]
Borderlands 2 Vita zeroes in on Europe
Europe may have got the Vita 2000 a few months before North America, but it'll have to wait a few weeks more to play Borderlands 2 on it. Sony says starting May 28, Europeans can loot wastelands on the go too. Borderlands 2 Vita is part of the new bundle for the handheld's slimmer, lighter iteration. The shooter's standalone version hits next week on May 13, and according to Shacknews that's when the game will be patched with PS3 cross-saving. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
Save your Borderlands 2 progress across Vita and PS3 'shortly'
Borderlands 2 on Vita will support cross-save capabilities with PS3, but that feature isn't live just yet. A patch to add cross-saves is heading to PS3 "shortly," a Gearbox representative said in the Borderlands 2 forums. Borderlands 2 launched in a bundle with the new, slimmer Vita on May 6, and the standalone Vita game hits on May 13. The Vita game includes six DLC packs: Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, the Psycho and Mechromancer Character Classes, the Ultimate Vault Hunter's Upgrade Pack, and the Collector's Edition pack. The Vita version of Borderlands 2 supports a maximum of two co-op players, though the SCEA Third Party Production team "strived to include four-player co-op," Sony said. [Image: Gearbox]
Tales from the Borderlands gets first screens, debuts this summer
Tales from the Borderlands is dressed to kill in its first screens, which aptly showcase Telltale's dialog choices alongside Gearbox's penchant for violence. The upcoming collaboration stars data-miner Rhys and con-artist Fiona as the two playable characters, Of course, some familiar faces from the Borderlands series show up, including mysterious Borderlands 2 assassin Zer0. Telltale says its wasteland adventure is "premiering" in the summer, although we're still waiting to find out which systems are on the red carpet. There's a clue that some form of Xbox is on the guest list, and we're guessing it's most likely the original Xbox. [Image: Telltale Games]
Borderlands 2 caps co-op play on Vita at two Vault Hunters
In sad news for fans of the frenetic multiplayer gunplay found in Borderlands 2, it has been revealed that the game's upcoming Vita incarnation will only support a maximum of two players during co-operative play. "We checked in with the SCEA Third Party Production team, who confirmed that while they strived to include four-player co-op in the game, they made a decision late in their development cycle to focus on providing the best two-player-only co-op experience possible," a Sony representative wrote on the PlayStation.blog. "As a result, the maximum co-operative player count for Borderlands 2 on PS Vita is capped at two." While this is disappointing, players can look forward to the wealth of content otherwise found in the handheld Borderlands 2. Not only are saves cross-compatible with the PlayStation 3 version of Borderlands 2, but the Vita game includes six of the DLC packs released for its console counterpart after launch. Plus, online multiplayer is available for anyone suddenly depressed that they can't shoot up Pandora with three nearby pals. [Image: 2K Games]
