All Articles: Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 VR is coming to the PS4 on December 14

Gearbox Software struck gold with the Borderlands franchise, and while we’re still waiting patiently for Borderlands 3, the developer has been busy pumping out spinoffs and remakes at a pretty steady clip. And now it looks like PS4 owners will be able to get their hands on yet another re-release this Fall with the upcoming launch of Borderlands 2 VR.

Borderlands 2 VR is being designed as a single-player experience, but the developer are planning to add a number of new features to the game beyond support for the PlayStation VR headset, including a new slow-mo ability that gives players time to “set up their next attack”:

Features
Virtually Step onto Pandora: Step into the boots of a treasure-seeking Vault Hunter armed with 87 bazillion possible guns on a quest to line your pockets with loot and free Pandora from Handsome Jack’s clutches. Blast bandits with real-world aiming, punch bullymongs in the mouth, find the perfect gun inside a life-sized treasure chest and inspect it from every angle. Catch-a-Ride and race across Pandora in first-person view and experience the thrill of a psycho running toward you with grenade in-hand yelling, “Boom time!”

Virtually Slow Time: Borderlands 2 VR includes new features unique to the VR experience to empower Vault Hunters in their fight against Handsome Jack. With Bad Ass Mega Fun Time (aka BAMF Time), players can use this new slow-mo ability to literally slow the speed of the game temporarily to set up their next attack. In addition, with the option to Teleport, players can glide across Pandora as gracefully as Claptrap (if he had grace).

Become a Virtual Vault Hunter: Take on the role of one of four playable classes – Siren, Commando, Gunzerker and Assassin – each with unique combat styles and updated skills that leverage the new VR functionality, including the new BAMF Time ability. Whether crushing enemies with Maya’s Siren powers, calling in Sabre Turret reinforcements as Axton, feeling the heft of dual-wielded machine guns as Salvador, or the satisfying swing of Zer0’s sword in an enemy’s back, Borderlands 2 VR immerses players like never before.

Experience Virtual Improvements: For the first time ever, players can experience the sublime exhilaration of driving around the Borderlands in first-person perspective – accelerating and steering with the joystick and aiming the vehicle’s weapons with their headset. With the use of the motion controllers and headset, players can interact with the menu systems in a new and intuitive way for the platform, easily navigating through the menus by pointing, clicking, dragging and dropping. Players will also have the choice of preferred movement styles. Whether that’s the VR popular pointed-teleportation, or the classic direct movement style with joysticks – your experience should feel good for VR and true to form of classic Borderlands.

Get Virtually Rich: Borderlands VR brings shoot-and-loot mechanics to VR with bazillions of procedurally-generated guns and gear, each with their own capabilities and modifiers. Procedurally-generated shields, grenades, relics, class mods and more round out your Vault Hunter’s arsenal for maximum power and mayhem.

The first trailer for Borderlands 2 VR has been embedded above, and the game will be released exclusively for the PS4 on December 14.

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New Releases: Star Wars Battlefront, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, More

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“Do or do not. There is no try.”

After an absence from gaming for more than a decade, it’s time for the return of the Star Wars: Battlefront franchise on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Did DICE recapture the old magic that made the series a fan favorite? We won’t know for sure until Tuesday, but I do know that the Vader-emblazoned PS4 500GB + Star Wars: Battlefront Limited Edition Bundle is a beautiful piece of hardware. A regular PS4 500GB + Star Wars: Battlefront Bundle will also be released this week.

Also available this week is a pair of Nintendo exclusives on Friday. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon for the 3DS is the latest dungeon-crawling roguelike starring those lovable Pokemon. Meanwhile, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash serves up another Mario-filled tennis tournament on the Wii U in place of the delayed Star Fox Zero.

Finally this week, we’ve got plenty of familiar games in new places…

  • Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate makes its PC debut as the Assassins and Templars take their eternal struggle to Victorian England.
  • The Borderlands Triple Pack (PS3, Xbox 360) puts all three games (and all their downloadable content) into a single package for the first time.
  • The Crew: Wild Run Edition (PS4, Xbox One) bundles together Ubisoft’s online racer with its Wild Run expansion.
  • Deadpool breaks the fourth wall again in this PS4/Xbox One remake of his PS3/Xbox 360 game.
  • Telltale compiles all six episodes of their Game of Thrones adaptation onto a single disc for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

A complete list of this week’s new release can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Flawless Retaility! Mortal Kombat X tops April 2015’s list of best-selling games

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Mortal Kombat X killed the competition last month as it’s been crowned the top-selling game of April 2015 by The NPD Group. Aside from NetherRealm’s latest and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin at #8, the tracking firm’s report showed a top ten that was comprised solely of returning titles including Grand Theft Auto V at #2, Battlefield Hardline at #3, MLB 15: The Show at #4, and the well-loved Minecraft at #5.

Overall, it was a good month for the game industry as total sales rose 3% over April 2014. It’s a small gain, but it’s a gain nonetheless.

“Overall sales across hardware, new physical software, and accessories in April 2015 grew by 3% over April 2014 due to the strength of new physical software sales, which offset losses from hardware and accessories,” The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz.

April 2015’s top ten best-selling titles (which also includes CoD: Advanced Warfare, NBA 2K15, the fourth Super Smash Bros. game, and a remastered Borderlands collection) can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Borderlands creator and Franchise Director Matthew Armstrong has left Gearbox

borderlands-11Matthew Armstrong, the creator and Franchise Director of all things Borderlands at Gearbox Software, has decided to leave the company. This news comes just a week after 2K confirmed the closure of 2K Australia, the development team behind Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.

Announcing his departure on Twitter, Armstrong said it was time for new adventures:

Armstrong elaborated on his reasons for leaving to Game Informer. The developer said he was an inventor who was “ready to make something new.” There was no anger in Armstrong’s resignation, but with all of Gearbox’s Borderlands projects complete, he was able to leave “without damaging Borderland or Gearbox too much.”

Gearbox announced a desire to begin development on Borderlands 3 at the first-ever PAX South expo in January. At the time, CEO Randy Pitchford said the company wanted to “look outside Gearbox to find fresh ideas for the future of the franchise.”

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

Battlefield Hardline pulls off a heist to become best-selling game of March 2015

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Hey, have you heard of this Bloodborne game? I hear its pretty popular and that Sony’s got a bonafide hit on their hands. It even sold more than a million copies. For all the acclaim Bloodborne has received and all the copies it surely has sold, the game was topped in last month’s NPD rankings by Battlefield Hardline. Developed by Visceral Games, Battlefield Hardline is a cops-and-robbers spin on the Battlefield series and it, not Bloodborne, managed to become the best-selling game of March 2015.

That said, nearly every game of note managed to crash the top ten last month including Mario Party 10 (#4), MLB 15: The Show (#6), Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (#9), and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (#10). Nintendo’s Code Name: STEAM was the only other March release that seemed like it might have enough juice to reach the top ten, but it was pushed out by Grand Theft Auto V (#3), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#5), and other returning heavy hitters.

The NPD Group (via Game Informer) used this new release drought to explain why March 2015’s game sales were down 6% from the same month a year ago. NPD’s Liam Callahan was also quick to point out that March 2014 saw the release of two very well-received games in TitanFall and InFamous: Second Son. Callahan also confirmed that the PS4 outsold the Xbox One for another month.

March 2015’s top ten best-selling titles can be found after the break. (more…)

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Xbox Store Today: Borderlands Collection, Life Is Strange Ep2, Game of Thrones Ep3, more

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The Xbox Games Store grew by a few titles today as new Xbox One and Xbox 360 games are now available to download.

On the Xbox One, Gearbox’s Borderlands: The Handsome Collection compiles Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel into a single current-generation package. In addition to enhanced graphics and every piece of downloadable content for both games, the Handsome Collection also includes a brand new four-player couch co-op mode.

The Internet’s favorite boogeyman, Slenderman, will also make his Xbox One debut today as the survival horror title Slender: The Arrival is now available to download.

Finally, two episodic games will receive new entries this week as Telltale’s Game of Thrones: The Sword in the Darkness (Episode 3 of 6) and Dontnod’s Life Is Strange: Out of Time (Episode 2 of 5) are now available on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

More information on all of these titles can be found after the break. And an overview of this week’s Xbox Live “Deals With Gold” can be found at Major Nelson’s blog. (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , ,

PS Store Today: Bloodborne, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, Metal Slug 3, more

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Have you been waiting for another big PS4 exclusive? Wait no longer, From Software’s Bloodborne is now available to download through the PlayStation Store. A spiritual successor to the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne adds a creepy Victorian setting and lots of gunplay to the mix.

Also available this week is Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which collects Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and all the previously-released DLC for both into one package on the PS4 (including the new Claptastic Voyage expansion for The Pre-Sequel). And speaking of games making the leap to the PS4, Slender: The Arrival is also available today for Sony’s newest machine.

If you’re looking for something a little more family-friendly, Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin is available on the Vita. It’s joined by this week’s Spring Fever selection, Metal Slug 3, which is actually a Cross-Buy title on the PS3, PS4, and Vita.

Finally, in episodic gaming news… Dontnod’s Life Is Strange: Out of Time (Episode 2) and Telltale’s Game of Thrones: The Sword in the Darkness (Episode 3) are both available for the PS3 and PS4.

More information on all of these titles can be found after the break. And a full breakdown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita | Tagged , , , , , ,

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is here and here’s a launch trailer

It’s here… Gearbox Software and 2K Games have released Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for the PS4 and Xbox One. To get gamers pumped for the Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel compilation, they’ve also unveiled a launch trailer that highlights some of the new features found in the Handsome Collection, including:

  • Four-Player Couch Co-Op
  • Every Piece of Downloadable Content for Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel
  • Faster Frame Rates
  • 1080p Visuals
  • Cross-Save Compatibility (PS3-to-PS4 and Xbox 360-to-Xbox One only) to Carry Your Saves Forward

I still don’t understand why the original Borderlands wasn’t included in this package, but for those who need more another dose of Borderlands, the Handsome Collection is just what the doctor ordered.

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