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Borderlands 2 is 2K's highest selling game
Among all the highlights from Take-Two's financials yesterday comes confirmation that Borderlands 2 is now the highest-selling game in 2K Games' history, with over 8.5 million units shipped to date. That's another million on top of last year's figure, which had the game tracking to be king of 2K mountain. And yes, more content is still planned for Borderlands 2. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, we imagine the folks of Pandora will give each other boxes of guns, 'cause you never know what you're gonna get. [Image: 2K Games]
Borderlands 2 adding colorblind mode
Color plays a big part in the vivid world of Borderlands 2, particularly in its loot system, so it makes sense Gearbox is adding a colorblind mode to its shooter. In an extensive post that goes into what colorblindness is and what can be done to help players who suffer with it, programmer Jeff Broome said the mode is coming to all platforms, with more info on its release "in the near future." Like many loot-heavy games, Borderlands 2 uses colors to distinguish the rarity of the items spread across its wasteland. That color shines out from loot in a beam, and it features on their descriptions in the title. For colorblind players, distinguishing those different colors from one another is problematic, so Gearbox is modifying them to make them more identifiable, as well as denoting the color in text on the descriptions. It's a shame it wasn't there when the game shipped - it it had, Gearbox would've been able to apply i to just one side of a split-screen, rather than the whole screen. Still, it's good it is being added, and that Gearbox has gone to the lengths of letting players specify different types of colorblindness; when toggling the mode, players can select Deuteranopia, Prtoanopia, or Tritanopia.
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Rumor: Vita to shoot and loot Borderlands 2 in March [Update: 2K says Nope]
The long-discussed Vita port of Borderlands 2 may be due on March 18, at least according to a now deleted tweet by publisher 2K Games, which we've screen-capped above. It was posted by the @2KInternational account this morning and then deleted shortly after. It's worth noting 2K International covers the publisher's activity outside of the US, so even if the tweet is accurate, it might not reflect the release date in the States. As PlayStation Lifestyle reported in December, it's a date that's popped up before, that time on a NewEgg listing - that said, NewEgg lists the game currently for April 15. We've reached out to 2K Games for comment. Looking back, it feels like the Vita port was as much in the limelight as the action-RPG shooter itself, after Gearbox received countless questions about the handheld venture it seemed so keen on. Thankfully, 2K Games and Sony put an end to the seemingly endless discussion by announcing it at Sony's Gamescom conference, and unveiling Divekick studio Iron Galaxy as its developer. Update: Via the @2KInternational account, 2K Games said the March 18 date is incorrect. "We apologize for a tweet about a release date for Borderlands 2 on Vita which was posted in error. The release date mentioned is incorrect," reads the 2K tweet.
Bethesda, 2K Games $30 bundles: Skyrim & BioShock Infinite, Dishonored & Borderlands 2
Bethesda is palling up with 2K Games on an Elder Scrolls/BioShock bundle again, this time for BioShock Infinite and Skyrim. It's not the only cross-pub bundle on the way; there's also one for Dishonored and Borderlands 2. Both bundles are priced $30 and are due to arrive on February 11. It may seem a bit of an unusual union, but there's precedent: The two publishers teamed up on an "Award Winning Combo" bundle for Oblivion and the original BioShock back in 2009. We've reached out to Bethesda to find out more details, including which editions of the various games are being included. Update: A Bethesda spokesperson told Joystiq each game is the base edition, with no DLC bundled in. Also, the bundles are on PS3 and Xbox 360, and for North America only.
PSA: Holiday-themed DLC hits Borderlands 2
Tis' the season to blow aliens to pieces, and to aid in that effort developer Gearbox has unleashed the third entry in its Headhunter DLC series, aptly dubbed "How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day." Not quite a full-fledged DLC offering, How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day will only set you back $3. As we reported earlier, the adventure is holiday-themed, pitting players against arctic temperatures and an eventual battle with the Abominable Mister Tinder Snowflake, a character whose adorable name belies the posse of killers he's employed to protect his grim winter wonderland. Kill Snowflake, and you'll be rewarded with a custom snowman head for your character, almost daring snipers to aim for the huge white blob attached to your skull. This latest Headhunter DLC joins Thanksgiving- and Halloween-themed DLC with similar bonus prizes.
Borderlands 2 delivers Christmas cheer in next Headhunter chapter, due Dec. 17
Borderlands 2's third Headhunter series add-on, titled "How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day," will hit Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and PC and Mac platforms via Steam on December 17, publisher 2K announced this week. How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day is a Christmas-themed expansion that takes the vault hunters to the wintry village of Gingerton in search of a missing weapons cache. Battling freezing temperatures and obnoxious holiday cheer, the hunters fight toward a climactic battle with the Abominable Mister Tinder Snowflake, a killer snowman with a posse. Upon completing the mission, players will receive an equippable snowman head for their vault hunter, along with a number of unlockable expressions and character skins. Gearbox's latest add-on is the third in a string of holiday-themed releases for Borderlands 2, following up on recent expansions celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween. How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day will be priced at $2.99 when it launches next week.
Tales From The Borderlands is a Telltale, Gearbox crossover project in the Borderlands universe
Telltale is working on a crossover project with Gearbox Software that takes place in the Borderlands universe. Like other Telltale games, this will be an episodic series where the storyline is defined by player choices. Gearbox is providing assets, but the development is all Telltale. Telltale has created new characters for this game; they're not quite Vault Hunters, and a male character shown bares more than a passing resemblance to Borderlands 2 villain Handsome Jack. Coincidence? We'll find out in 2014.
Borderlands 2 gets Wattle Gobbler next week, third Headhunter DLC next month
Borderlands 2 players can get their collective teeth into a second Headhunter pack next week, when The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler launches on November 26. Gearbox is serving it up on Steam, Xbox 360, and PS3 at the digestible price of $3. The third Headhunter DLC, titled How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day, is due in December. As the name suggests there's a Thanksgiving air to the Wattle Gobbler DLC, with the head you're hunting this time belonging to a giant turkey. Should you succeed, you'll earn new character heads and skins as gaudy emblems of your seasonal success, you monster, you.
Borderlands 2 ships 7.5 million copies, on track to break sales records
As part of its second-quarter financial results issued today, Take-Two revealed that Gearbox's Borderlands 2 has shipped over 7.5 million copies to retailers. "Borderlands 2 has sold-in over 7.5 million units and counting, and is on track to becoming the highest-selling title in 2K's history," Take-Two president Karl Slatoff said. Retailers had stocked over 6 million units of Borderlands 2 as of February, with sales spurred by the frequent release of downloadable content and the recent launch of a DLC-bundled Game of the Year Edition.
Borderlands 2 new Halloween-themed DLC available Oct. 22
Borderlands 2's "headhunter" series begins with a trip to hollow out a Pumpkin Kingpin's head for your Vault Hunter to wear. The downloadable content with the Thanksgiving mouthful of a name, "Headhunter 1: TK Baha's Bloody Harvest," will be available on Steam, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 22. Each headhunter installment will culminate with Vault Hunters fighting a "rather unique" boss and then taking their head to wear. It's far less creepy than that Hannibal Lecter image you've got in your head. This first installment concludes with a trip to the Pumpkin Kingpin's pumpkin patch to claim his orange melon. Are pumpkins melons? Too early to Wiki it. The DLC is priced at $2.99 and can be completed "in a single sitting," according to 2K Games. In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, there will also be pieces of candy from enemy drops that provide temporary buffs. Oooo, piece of candy. Ooo, piece of candy...
Shoot things in Borderlands 2 for a chance at winning loot, cash prizes
Borderlands 2's upcoming Loot Hunt competition will give you a shot at earning in-game and real-life prizes as you mow down the inhabitants of Pandora. Once players register at the event's site, they can enter themselves in the raffle by hunting Daily Targets within the game starting on October 11. The prize pool will include loot chests filled with Nvidia Shield and Falcon Northwest Tiki PC combos, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti GFX cards, PlayStation Vitas with copies of Borderlands 2 Vita (once it's released), and lifetime passes to everything 2K ever has and will put out on Steam. One player will also win $50,000 in cash while four others earn scaled amounts from a second pool of $50,000. If you don't win a physical prize, you'll still have a collective chance with other players at "unique in-game loot" by completing the loot hunt's Community Goals. The event's site describes these as daily campaigns of genocide against "a special type of enemy with that day's unique gun." If enough are slaughtered in the name of personal benefit, those involved will earn a special gun at the end of the week. Only players in the US are eligible for the physical rewards, but the in-game rewards will be available to vault hunters worldwide.
3D Realms withdraws lawsuit against Gearbox
3D Realms has withdrawn its lawsuit against Gearbox. Filed in June, the lawsuit alleged that Gearbox blocked an independent audit to document royalties earned from Duke Nukem Forever. The original Duke Nukem developer sought $2 million in the lawsuit, but has now dropped the case entirely. In a statement to the media, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller said, "After reviewing evidence regarding our business affairs, and without any money exchanging hands, we have satisfactorily resolved any and all differences that we perceived against Gearbox." Miller also offered "genuine apologies" to Gearbox CEO and President Randy Pitchford "for any damage that our lawsuit may have caused to the relationship."
Hardware: Shipbreakers secures Homeworld license, Gearbox funding
Gearbox Software announced at PAX that it has granted Hardware: Shipbreakers developer Blackbird Interactive the official Homeworld license, allowing its creators to release the game under the new title Homeworld: Shipbreakers. Announced in May, Hardware Shipbreakers was to be a spiritual successor to the Homeworld series. Developed by several key Homeworld franchise developers, Shipbreakers promised a similar brand of real-time strategy gameplay bolstered by online competitive multiplayer modes. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford additionally revealed that Gearbox will fund the project, supporting Blackbird's development process and investing "a pretty non-trivial amount of money -- the millions of dollars necessary for them to realize their vision." Pitchford's announcement begins at 5:27:05 in this archived stream. Gearbox acquired the rights to the Homeworld name in April, following the liquidation of former trademark owner THQ. The company previously announced plans to release HD-optimized versions of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 later this year.
Gearbox confirms two new IPs for next-gen consoles
At PAX Prime this past weekend, Borderlands series developer Gearbox Software revealed that it is working on two new franchises for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. "A lot of people know that there are new consoles coming," Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford explained. "Gearbox is in development on a couple of original things -- new IPs -- that we'll announce later." An archived stream of Pitchford's announcement starts at 5:22:34 here. Last year, Gearbox revealed that it had significantly reworked its in-progress shooter Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, announcing plans to "evolve" the game into a new franchise. It was not clear if the reworked Furious 4 was among the two next-gen games Pitchford teased. Gearbox will provide closed beta access to an unannounced game as part of its upcoming Community Day event.
Borderlands 2 Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2 out Sept. 3
Borderlands 2's second level-cap increase will take place on Tuesday, September 3, when the game's new Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: Digistruct Peak Challenge DLC pack becomes available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac for $4.99. Unlike the first Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack, Digistruct Peak Challenge is not included in the game's DLC Season Pass. In addition to raising the level cap by 11 (to a maximum of 72 when stacked with the first Ultimate Vault Hunter Pack), Digistruct Peak Challenge also includes new weapons, new character customization options and a new map/mission, Raid on Digistruct Peak. Owning both Ultimate Vault Hunter Packs unlocks even more stuff, such as more weapons, "Legendary Class Mods" and tougher enemies that drop better loot.
Tiny Tina goes to her happy place in Borderlands short
Tiny Tina, stuck in a precarious position, doesn't sulk. She rides that reading rainbow and lets her imagination (and undiagnosed psychosis) get her out of a particularly prickly situation. Although not tied to any particular promotion, this Borderlands 2 short comes shortly after the game's GOTY announcement.
Borderlands 2 GOTY Edition stuffed with DLC, out October
Gearbox unveiled the Game of the Year edition of Borderlands 2 today, which features all the major content released for the 2012 wasteland wonder so far, including the four Season Pass expansions, the two bonus characters, and a whole ton of other loot. It's priced $60, and hits North America on October 8, and internationally October 11. GOTY editions can be hit-and-miss, but much like the game itself, Gearbox has stuffed Borderlands 2's bundle with content a-plenty. In addition to the game, you'll get the four DLC expansions; that's Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt, and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. They were bundled together for $30 in the season pass, so that's a pretty good start. The GOTY edition also features the pre-order-tied Premiere Club content, including first bonus character Gaige, as well as second addition Krieg. Also in there is the formerly GameStop-exclusive Creature Slaughter Dome, as well as the heads and skins from the Collector's Edition, and the Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 1, which raises the level cap and also adds a few other assorted add-ons.
Michael Biehn: Working on Colonial Marines 'wasn't fun at all'
Actor Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Hicks in landmark 1986 sci-fi film "Aliens," recently described Gearbox Software's first-person shooter spinoff, Aliens: Colonial Marines, as a "passionless" project, and revealed that reprising his film role in the game "wasn't fun at all." "It seemed kind of passionless," Biehn said in an interview with Game Informer. "I think in movies, television, and the gaming world, you get some people that are really, really passionate, and some people that are just going through the paces." "They think that because they have a brand name they're going to get a hit game or hit movie out of it," Biehn continued. "That certainly was the situation on [Aliens: Colonial Marines]." In contrast, Biehn praised his follow-up experience voicing Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, due largely to the hands-on involvement of creative director Dean Evans. "Dean is such an interesting and creative presence," Biehn said. "He has such energy and such passion. One of the things that I really, really enjoy working still in this business is finding people that have that kind of passion." [screenshot courtesy Game Informer]
Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC concludes with 'Stasis Interrupted'
The final Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC, "Stasis Interrupted," is available on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam today. This single-player add-on, which is free for Season Pass holders and $10 for everyone else, follows three different characters through an interlocking story, ultimately shedding light on what went down with Corporal Dwayne Hicks between Aliens and Alien 3. Despite being panned by critics, Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn't a total dud for publisher Sega: As of May, 1.31 million copies of the first-person shooter have been shipped out into the wild. A Wii U version was also in the works before being canned.
Gearbox remaking Homeworld 1 and 2 for Windows
Gearbox announced plans at PAX Australia to warp drive HD remakes of Homeworld 1 and 2 to Windows this year, following their recent acquisition of the franchise from THQ for $1.35 million. Direct ports of the original games will also be made available on unspecified digital distribution platforms for Windows. Gearbox Software CCO Brian Martel expressed his fondness for the series in April after the purchase, stating his intent to make them "accessible on today's leading digital platforms" in a statement released by Gearbox. Relic Games, creator of the Homeworld franchise, was sold to SEGA during the liquidation of THQ's assets and is currently working on Company of Heroes 2. Part of the Homeworld development team has since left the mother ship to begin work on a more grounded RTS, Hardware: Shipbreakers.
