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Borderlands dropping in October

Gearbox's long-awaited sci-fi action role-playing game finally gets a release date, right at the end of Take-Two Interactive's fiscal year; new trailer inside.

Another delay would've made this fellow even more agitated.

In March 2008, a rude surprise was dropped on gamers looking forward to Borderlands, the ambitious open-world, postapocalyptic driving/shooting game from developer Gearbox Software. As part of a lackluster earnings report, Take-Two Interactive--which is publishing the game under its 2K Games label--announced that the game had been pushed back to sometime during the company's 2009 fiscal year.

Now, GameSpot has confirmed that the game will make its aforementioned launch window--but only just. During a preview session today, Gearbox staff writer Mikey Neumann said that the game will "ship this October." Take-Two's 2009 fiscal year--which Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II were just pushed out of--ends on October 31.

Described as an RPS (role-playing shooter) by Gearbox, Borderlands is a sci-fi action RPG that combines driving and on-foot action. Set on the desolate and hostile world of Pandora, the game sees groups of treasure seekers--known as "Vault Hunters""--who scour the ruins of a collapsed civilization for more than 500,000 unique weapons. Using combat vehicles, the rival bands fight each other in an attempt to secure the ultimate prize: an all-powerful alien artifact.

Check back later today for GameSpot's hands-on preview of Gearbox, straight from the Electronic Entertainment Expo show floor. The brand-new trailer for the game, which shows off its revamped, semi-cel-shaded graphics, is below.

110 Comments

  • markh117

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 12:10 am PT

    @stziggy. Dude what the hell are you talking about. What news??? Its just been E3 and we have had about 3 months worth of news done in the space of a few days. You should be thaking the gamespot crew for busting the balls to keep the site update during that time. They dont do that for themselves. They do it for us to keep us updated. Look back to the last few E3's you will see that after there is a news dry spell cos games companies have nothing left to say.

  • andy_lyall

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 12:02 am PT

    @twitchscb
    Thank you! I don't know how many times I've ranted about how this isn't cel-shaded. I think the art style is awesome and, for me at least, it's lent a certain something to this game which has pushed me from interested to really excited.

    @A4RDRT
    I played XIII when it came out. Interesting game if a little rough around the gameplay edges (and Duchovny's voice over was a little lacklustre). That game really pushed the comic book style though. I don't think that demo is really going to give much of a feel as to how Borderlands is going to play. Oh, and XIII actually is Cel-Shaded where this is not.

  • A3RDRT

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 6:19 pm PT

    All they have done color wise with this new version is paint roofs and canopies red. I think they could have easily done that in the original version.

    I guess no one played xiii back in 2003, check out this video gameplay of xiii, or better yet grab the demo and you can see first hand what playing Borderlands will be like.

    http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/xiii/video/6084121?om_act=convert&om_clk=gsupdates&tag=updates;title;8

  • twitchscb

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 10:43 am PT

    @stziggy

    There's no news to report... E3 just ended and all the big announcements from any developer worth looking at just happened... Gamespot can't just make up stuff to keep the articles flowing, they have to wait for meetings and hands-on work to be able to write anything substantial.... If you're so impatient go to G4 they just write crap to hear themselves talk

  • twitchscb

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 10:41 am PT

    @A3RDRT

    First off, it's not cel-shaded, it's a new form of artwork done by the developer that focuses on bringing in the original concept art into the actual gameplay... and this game has not been ruined the last thing we need is yet another brown/gray color palette for a dark post apocalyptic game... This game has an underlying sense of lightness and humor involved in it (i.e. the names of the bad guys and NPC's) This art style matches this game perfectly and I for one can't wait for this game... Probably my number one pick for this year

  • A3RDRT

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 9:43 am PT

    What i was afraid of, the game has been Ruined, check this gameplay out using cell shader, the big problem with cell shader is it looks like paper doll cutouts floating around on a comic book back ground. Cell shader works great for games like Scooby Doo, Ben 10, you know cartoon games.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJ8VudWF1o

    or search tube for:
    E3 09 Borderlands Gameplay!!!!!

  • Jiggy_Wilson

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 9:37 am PT

    This game's gonna own. It's going to be like Rage, except it might ACTUALLY come out.

  • Joshuayeah

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 7:13 am PT

    has this got character customization, i'm sure i've seen that it hasnt, its not a big deal but it'd be nice to see it.

    any info?

  • horgen123

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 4:55 am PT

    This game sounds interesting.

  • stziggy posted Jun 8, 2009 6:47 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    stziggy

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 6:47 pm PT (hide)

    It's June 8th and there's no new news on Gamespot's news section. How lazy is that? Imagine of CNN did that? How do you expect we the readers to take you guys seriously when you can't even cover the news 24/7?

    Gamespot is pathetic. Way to slack off guys!

  • John_Chi

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 6:35 pm PT

    It HAS 4 PLAYER COOP. Why don't you read the other articles regarding this game.

  • SlayerX13

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 5:37 pm PT

    They need a coop mode. :/ Game looks great though. I will be getting this.

  • Gunbladebuster

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 4:46 pm PT

    Looks pretty nice, seems a lot like Fallout also. Will definitely look into it.

  • devotedgmr17

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:22 pm PT

    @joe_ender Look up Borderlands gameplay on YouTube, they have like a 10 minute clip of gameplay but it's before they changed the art style, so its not celshaded.

  • devotedgmr17

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:21 pm PT

    @CobaltJewel1 Um they showed a gameplay video before they changed the art style and spawned a ton of guns showing how they do it. The reason there is that many is because the game proceduraly generates them by putting different body pieces together, so for example you can have a 6-shooter with a sniper scope etc.

  • joe_ender

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:16 pm PT

    @ davethebomb where did you see gameplay footage?

  • vampiro1313

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:10 pm PT

    this game reminds me an awful lot of s.t.a.l.k.e.r., which i wish they would port to next gen consoles

  • Davethebomb

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 1:08 pm PT

    Nah....

    Definatly a Mature game. (I saw a guy's head explode like a cherry in a gameplay video...

  • metalicelvis

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 12:09 pm PT

    "CobaltJewel1 Posted Jun 8, 2009 6:43 pm GMT 500,000 weapons? I'll believe it when I see it."

    Its not as impressive as it sounds, its basically guns with loads of different attachments.

  • CobaltJewel1

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 10:43 am PT

    500,000 weapons? I'll believe it when I see it.