Grave Gamer News & Views — borderlands 2

THIS DAY IN DLC:

Borderlands 2 Teaches You a Thing or Two About Piracy and RE6 Irrationally Dishes Out Content for Free

Right on the heels of the Mechromancer add-on class that saw early release as a surprise to fans, Gearbox is chugging out even more downloadable content for their highly praised loot-shooter Borderlands 2.  The first of four promised expansions to the game, “Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty” – pause to soak it in – takes you and your vault plunging comrades into a new treacherous stretch of desert fittingly stamped The Oasis.

There, you’ll get to shoot the ever loving hell out of enemies such as gigantic sand worms, collect a valuable new currency, and cut dunes with the new sand skiff vehicle.  You’ll come at odds with the beautiful pirate queen (who is as dangerous as she is one-eyed) as she and the vault hunters battle for none other than illustrious, loot-tastic treasure.  The Captain Scarlett expansion will become available October 16th and cost you $10 – a whole $10 already saved if you spring for the Season Pass ($29.99).

Capcom, on the other hand, doesn’t want your money…Huh…I just got a chill up my spine, as if somebody just walked over my grave or something.  Something’s terribly askew in the universe.  Anywho, some intrepid data miners dug up some insidiously hidden “DLC” locked on the recently released Resident Evil 6 disc, a revelation that almost upended the very meaning of justice for rabid Crapcom haters up until the company announced the content was going to be made available completely free.

Coming to a copy of RE6 near you as a title update, an even harder difficulty than the punishing Professional mode will unlock dubbed “No Hope."  Along with that, Ada Wong’s solo campaign will receive a new option to include a co-op partner (no specifics on that character-wise but don’t expect any changes to the story a la Dead Space 3).  Ada’s story typically unlocks for players after finishing the three main campaigns but the update will render it selectable from the start.

Capcom also issued clarification that any content stored on disc is very much free (including extra palette swapped costumes for The Mercenaries – skip on over to Residentevil.net for more information on unlocking those threads), and that anything offered outside of the disc will be price-tagged DLC.  Unfortunately, no specifics better than "soon” were given regarding the update’s release window.

Here’s a “scoop” posted by Gearbox’s own Randy Pitchford.  This ain’t some simple cosplaying here.  They look like they’re gearing up some live action Borderlands, if you ask me.

I’m going to have to put a “keep your eyes open as this story develops” right about here, which undoubtedly means: “I don’t know what the hell they’re up to.”

Borderlands 2 (PC/PS3/X360 - September 18th)

As far as my must-have’s list goes, this summer is proving to be, fittingly, a bit of a dry spell.  The air will once more be tolerable by the time Borderlands 2 comes out, but even a drop in temperature will fall short of how refreshing it’ll be to jump right back into Gearbox’s comic styled, gun-crazed, loot hoarding universe.

What Gearbox was happily willing to share over the weekend’s Comic-Con blitz showed signs of a tighter, thought-out sequel that almost seems obsessed in bettering every one of the first game’s ills.  From little improvements like cross-character perks that better your entire cast instead of just one, to big renovations like centralizing where you get and cash-in missions into a single hub.  Having a hub base is going to do you a world of good since Pandora is roughly twice as large as our first visit.

There was certainly a lot to love about Borderlands, but even this early out, there looks like a lot more to love about Borderlands 2 (and I’m pretty sure that’s impossible).

Borderlands 2 (PC/PS3/X360 - September 18th)

Anyone that has trouble with their loot addiction should seek help from Gearbox today as live streams the internet over will have Borderlands 2 in action.  Help is scheduled for you about 9:00PM EST.  Until then, let these screens tide over your shakes.

Borderlands 2 fan art by Ray Dillon