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FIFA 13 still on top in UK; Resident Evil 6, Just Dance 4 debut strong
FIFA 13, which had a record-setting debut, maintains its premier position on the UK charts. The game saw a 72 percent decline in sales in its second week, but from a historical perspective, FIFA 13 is going to have a long tail and be in the top of the charts for quite a while.Taking the second spot were launch-week sales of Resident Evil 6. Despite crushing reviews, the action horror adventure was the fourth largest game premiere in the UK for 2012. Borderlands 2 slips one spot to third, just above the insidious debut of Just Dance 4.Insidious? Yuuuup! Again, if history serves as any basis for the future of Just Dance 4, it'll just hang out this holiday season, being charming as ever. It won't go away or may find some way to sneak into the top spot once things slow down early next year. Hit the dance floor after the break for the UK top ten.
Borderlands 2's Mechromancer prepares for the Eden-5 Youth Science Fair
Gaige, the plucky Mechromancer in Borderlands 2, has some stiff competition at this year's Eden-5 Youth Science Fair. In a missive to her near-dozen subscribers, Gaige describes her prototype for the fair, Project DT: a mechanized drone designed to hunt down bullies and pulverize 'em.
Of course FIFA 13 is biggest thing since FIFA 12 in UK, PS3 'Super Slim' helps hardware
FIFA 13 debuted in the UK last week and the footie franchise dismissed last year's record-setting premiere. According to Chart-Track, FIFA 13 outsold the previous year's installment in units and revenue by 27 and 31 percent, respectively. The game represented 80 percent of all entertainment software sales on the British isles.Last week saw the biggest sales week in the UK of the year so far, with a 196 percent increase of unit sales in the market and 282 percent in overall revenue.FIFA 13 wasn't the only major player to come on the field last week, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria got its kung-fu panda on in fourth. Although that may seem like a lowish debut for what's still one of the biggest MMOs in the world, it should be noted that the game was available digitally and therefore wouldn't be tracked.Finally, on the hardware front, the PS3 'Super Slim' 500 GB sent PS3 sales up 138 percent, with the console representing 37 percent of PS3 sales. Storm on past the break for the UK top ten.
Stiq Flicks: Borderlands 2 and The Good, the Bad, and the Weird
Stiq Flicks – from film and video game industry freelance writer Kevin Kelly – examines video games and attempts to pair them with matching films. It's like wine and cheese, but with more aliens. Loot, treasure, swag, the goods. It's what fuels the pursuit of plenty of video games. But when you boil that essence down into an experience that is extremely focused on the loot experience, you wind up with something that fuels that need perfectly, like Borderlands 2. There might be a firefight raging next to you, but if there's an orange gun on the ground, you'll ignore bullets, rockets, and certain death in order to grab it. In the realm of the movies, there are plenty of films about adventurers seeking treasure, but we wanted something that had an unlikely band of daredevils coming together in order to find fortune and glory. While The Goonies is one of the best treasure-seeking films of all time, there just isn't enough gunplay in it to marry it to Borderlands 2. Then there are the Indiana Jones films, which recently hit Blu-ray. But he's definitely more of a lone gun type of guy, weighed down by sidekicks. So, we turned to one of the most stunning films to come out of South Korea. It takes some liberty with one of the most famous western films of all time, and adds a ton of South Korean flavor and humor to it. When three very unlikely adventuring gunplayers come together in search of treasure marked on a map, you get a gorgeously shot, well-acted film that is The Good, the Bad, and the Weird. %Gallery-160312%
Borderlands 2 bug wipes Badass ranks, chievos, across all platforms
So there's this bug in Borderlands 2. It wipes out players' Badass Ranks, golden keys, heads and skins with no chance of redemption, at times lowering stats to unplayable levels. The bug affects Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of Borderlands 2 and it doesn't appear to follow a pattern of attack.The bug, viewable in the above video, doesn't reset any of the challenges it erases, meaning players can't go back and try to complete them again. A 300-response thread on the official Gearbox forums chronicles players who have encountered the bug, though Gearbox Community Manager Chris Faylor says it is a "fairly rare" occurrence."Thanks for all the reports and specific details, folks," Faylor writes in the forum. "Our engineers are looking into this, and the information you've provided has proven to be a great resource while we investigate. At the moment, it seems to be a fairly rare issue and we'll keep you updated on when we resolve it."So far one piece of advice in the forum tells players who log in to find wiped Badass Ranks or achievements to immediately quit the game and boot it back up.We've reached out to Gearbox for more information about the bug and any potential fixes.[Thanks to everyone who sent in this tip!]
Borderlands 2 gets its first level 50 vault hunter in 43 hours
It's been a week since the launch of Borderlands 2, and though most players probably have a couple character builds by now, it only took 43 hours for the first player in the world to reach level 50. Noted streamer Matt Siegfried credits himself as being the fastest gamer to reach level 50, having played for 43 hours and 15 minutes nonstop since picking up Borderlands 2 at a midnight launch.The video above documents Siegfried's milestone, so you probably don't want to watch it if you've yet to finish Borderlands 2 or want to play it at some point in your life. You have been warned!
Borderlands 2 beats Mass Effect 3 for biggest UK sales debut so far this year
Borderlands 2 launched straight to number one in the UK last week, with the strongest debut of 2012 so far, besting Mass Effect 3 by 4,000 sales, according to Chart-Track. For some historical context, the original Borderlands premiered in seventh place back in 2009, with the sequel outselling the previous installment during launch week 4 to 1.Gearbox's co-op shooter wasn't the only big premiere this week, both F1 2012 and Pro Evolution Soccer debuted strongly and took second and third place, respectively. Another newcomer last week was LittleBigPlanet Vita in sixth, which had the "biggest sales week for a non-hardware launch week Vita title." Leap past the break for the UK top ten.
Borderlands 2 will have 'non-season pass' DLC, Pitchford promises
Borderlands 2 is getting four confirmed slices of DLC as part of the Season Pass, but it has even more planned, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tells Kotaku. We already know about one piece of additional non-Season Pass content, the Mechromancer."We will have other, non-season pass related DLC," Pitchford says. "The additional character (Mechromancer) is one kind of example."We've heard rumblings of themes for future Borderlands 2 DLC: One may be an expansion on the weapons manufacturer Torgue, and another might involve Sand Skiff-like transportation. Pitchford reiterates a vehicle-focused DLC approach."Since we finished the game, we've started with some new ideas that we expect will show up in DLC," Pitchford says. "Some new vehicle types are on-deck – awesome stuff."All of the Season Pass DLC packs will be "big," similar to the third expansion for the original Borderlands, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. Knoxx raised the level cap, added 30 new enemy types, new weapons, new vehicles and improved the AI."The stuff we're planning and working on for the Campaign DLC Season Pass is big DLC stuff – more like Knoxx," Pitchford says. "We're extremely far along with the first campaign DLC. The second DLC is also in amazing shape. The third DLC is a little farther out and the fourth DLC is just in the pre-concept stages."
Borderlands 2 'Torgue' expansion turns up on The Workshop resumes
Borderlands 2 promises four bits of DLC by June, and one of those may very well be based on the game's Torgue weapons manufacturer. A "Torgue" expansion is listed on a few resumes from The Workshop Entertainment, the studio behind PS3 Move's Sorcery, as spotted by Superannuation.A level designer lists the Torgue expansion for Borderlands 2 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and a former senior level designer (through August 2012) lists "unannounced DLC" for those three platforms. Superannuation notes a current animator also includes the Torgue DLC listing on his resume, but that has since been taken offline.Another Workshop level designer describes one piece of unannounced DLC as an "expansion for a highly successful triple-A FPS," and with more than 10 hours of gameplay.
PSN Tuesday: Borderlands 2, Jet Set Radio, more PSOne Classics for Vita
The digital version of Borderlands 2, available as a download alongside its Blu-Ray sibling starting today, leads this week's PSN content dump. Gearbox Software's next installment in the gun grab-em-up is accompanied by Zuma's Revenge and the HD revival of Jet Set Radio.Additionally, the PlayStation Vita gets 17 more PSOne Classics this week, including Jumping Flash 1 and 2, King of Fighters '99, Cool Boarders 3, Destruction Derby, Jet Moto 2 and many more. PS Plus subscribers can grab a free full game trial of EA reboot SSX and get 10% off on all Rock Band DLC packs as part of Harmonix's big sale. For the full list of this week's content, head over to the PlayStation Blog.
Check out this Minecraft easter egg in Borderlands 2
This video shows you how to reach a hidden Minecraft-inspired area in Borderlands 2, which includes Creepers and familiar blocks just begging to be broken. Be warned: the video includes minor spoilers for the game (and a lot of awesome).
Borderlands 2 region-locked in Russia, players speak out
Steam versions of Borderlands 2 are region-locked to Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia, meaning players with the RU version will be unable to play online with anyone outside of these areas. Many people in these regions pre-ordered Borderlands 2 without receiving any indication that they would get a different version, and on the eve of the game's launch they're taking their case to Reddit, Gearbox and publishers 2K Games and 1C.Reddit member K900_ has compiled a list of grievances and attempts to solve the issue:These potential players are unable to pre-load Borderlands 2 and it is unclear if the game will support multiple languages, or if it will only be in Russian. Since many people in countries outside of Russia don't speak Russian, this further complicates the issue. DLC may not work on the RU version of Borderlands 2, as those who pre-ordered the Season Pass are unable to activate it. Players paid full price for the game.2K Games is in charge of any region-locking and responded to one inquiry with the following message: "All users with a Russian IP address that are attempting to purchase and play the game will be restricted to the RU version of the game. This version of the game will only be compatible with other RU versions of the game, meaning you will only be able to play online with other Russian IP players. We deeply apologize for any and all inconvenience this issue may cause."Boxed versions of Borderlands 2 appear to not be region-locked, even though they are compatible with Steam.2K responds to these problems on its own forum, apologizing for not providing region-lock information during the pre-sale and discussing possible refunds:"2K Games and 1C are aware that digital distribution pages for the Russian, CIS and Baltic states versions of Borderlands 2 contained incorrect information regarding the language and cross territory compatibility support. We apologize that this information was incorrect during the pre-sale and pre-order period for these territories. We are working with our partners to update those pages, and offer any customers who pre-ordered or pre-purchased the game the opportunity to cancel their order and receive a refund."Additionally, we are working with our product development teams to investigate potential support for additional languages and options for our customers in these territories. While this was and is not possible for launch, we will provide an update this week on our progress."
Borderlands 2 review: Non-trivial loot pursuit
Borderlands 2 caters to a primal part of the brain, where violence is the answer to everything and fat loot is the worthwhile reward. Gearbox Software's second effort shows a more learned approach that doesn't languish, and sets a breakneck pace from the opening moments of the game.%Gallery-161206%
Borderlands 2: every enemy in one image
Borderlands 2 has around 300 enemies, and they're all in the image below, which we assume was torturously sketched, lined and colored by a Gearbox marketing artist. Borderlands 2 drops tomorrow, so click to make the pic bigger and study up.
Borderlands 2's handsome launch trailer
Borderlands 2 won't be available until tomorrow, despite what its trailer released this morning wants you to believe, which means there's still time to get the Mecromancer DLC as a bonus with pre-order.
Pitchford: Borderlands 2 DLC may skate on the sand a la Star Wars
We expect a stream of quality downloadable content post-launch for Borderlands 2, if DLC for the first game is anything to judge by. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford teased fans at a panel during Gearbox Software Community Day in Dallas, saying the team is channeling Star Wars: Return of the Jedi for one piece of content."I've always wanted to ride a sail barge and drive a Sand Skiff," Pitchford said. "I've always wanted to do that, and we've got some cool stuff that's along those lines."Borderlands 2 will have four pieces of DLC by June 2013, available for $10 each, or all together for $30 as part of the season pass.
Borderlands 2 available on PSN at launch
Borderlands 2 will be downloadable on PlayStation Network in North America on its September 18 release date, the PlayStation Blogcast revealed. It's also available for pre-order on PSN in Europe right now, for release on September 21. That makes the PlayStation Plus release of Borderlands a really smart piece of marketing.Unfortunately, since the American download version is not currently pre-orderable, it won't get you Premiere Club access.
Borderlands 2 'Golden Key' unlocks this chest in Sanctuary
If you're a vault hunter who signed up for Premiere Club – accomplished by pre-ordering Borderlands 2 through a select retailer – you'll find yourself burdened by one golden key come launch day. This golden key unlocks a special treasure chest in the city of Sanctuary.The chest (pictured above) will drop some very rare (see: purple) loot once open – loot that is scaled to your character, Gearbox says. So the potency of the loot within is dependent on the level of your character when you open it – and while we know how hard it is to not open a chest full of loot in a game where that is one of the primary goals, you may want to hold off as long as you can on this golden chest.
Gearbox posts final version of Borderlands 2 Mechromancer class
Gearbox Software's final look for Borderlands 2's Mechromancer DLC was posted this morning. The character, available October 16, is the fifth playable class in the game and is still available with pre-order. Without the pre-order she'll cost $10.
Borderlands 2 skill tree calculator now online
Posting about skill tree/talent calculators is really more of a Massively jam, what with such things typically being the fare of massively multiplayer online orc/spaceship simulators and everything, but in Borderlands 2's case, we'll have to make an exception.Calculators like the one seen above are now available on the game's official site via each character's individual page, which can be accessed by surmounting the age gate and clicking on "Characters." We went ahead and spec'd out our siren, and we don't mean to brag or anything but that build up there is 100 percent guaranteed to be the most efficient, powerful build for the class.Either that, or we randomly slapped it together in about 12 seconds.
