borderlands

It's been nearly three years since the team at Gearbox Software released a new open-world RPG franchise with a unique art style and curiously addictive gameplay. Borderlands went from a sleeper hit to blockbuster seemingly overnight; since its release, it has seen sales in the range of 5 million copies.

Borderlands' looting-focused formula encouraged and rewarded exploration, which helped ease the otherwise intimidating undertaking that some RPG titles can endure.

With Borderlands 2, Gearbox Software has tweaked and refined the genre -- mind you, a hybrid that it seems to have invented -- and has unquestionably topped itself.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Apple patents game controller.

- Check out Shellrazer, out now and available for everyone.

- Spelunky is a 2D platform game for Xbox Live Arcade and PCs that demands patience and a lot of time.

- The Verge has bad news about your favorite game.

- Subscribe to Polygon's gaming podcast The Besties, featuring Russ Frushtick. … Read more

The successor to the wildly popular Borderlands space Western is due in the U.S. on September 18, according to 2K Games and Gearbox Software.

When Borderlands 2 hits Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PCs later this year, it will feature new characters and skills, as well as "imaginative, diverse new environments with unique missions and enemies, and more exciting and fun weapons, equipment, and loot than ever before," according to a press release. The first-person shooter, chock full of cell-shading, is a unique game in several ways, most notably in that it offers the ability to build a character from the ground up like a role-playing game.

The primary focus of the sequel "takes players to the world of Pandora to take down the notorious Handsome Jack and his corrupt Hyperion Corporation as a solo campaign or with up to four cooperative players." … Read more

This week on preGAME, hosts Jeff Bakalar and Mark Licea take a sneak peek at the online multiplayer component of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Watch as Mark hops into a game on Xbox Live during the show!

But before we get into the live game demo, we'll discuss the new downloadable content (DLC) for some very notable titles. Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, and BioShock 2 all have extra content coming your way, so tune in to see when they'll each be available and how much they'll cost. This news story leads us to our featured discussion of the week: whether or not DLC is here to stay. We'll touch on the good, the bad, and the annoying.

All this plus a DICE 2010 awards recap and all of the week's top headlines and releases on preGAME!

Want to be a part of our live taping? Make sure you head to http://cnet.com/live/pregame every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. If you missed any of the stories we talk about on today's preGAME, make sure to check out our links below.

With the near ubiquitous nature of broadband-enabled video game consoles, we've seen an increase in games that are intended primarily for online cooperative play. Games such as Left 4 Dead and the new Borderlands have basic single-player functionality, but are clearly intended for multiplayer sessions with friends.

The social utility of this type of cooperative gameplay is an especially important point of differentiation after a season of single-player hits, from Batman: Arkham Asylum to Uncharted 2.

Jeff, Scott, and Dan took the game for a spin to see if it's worth a spot on your holiday wish list. … Read more

We trekked out to the far reaches of deepest Brooklyn last night to check out an under-development video game called Borderlands. Buzzed about since at least 2007, it's a first-person sci-fi RPG set in a desolate wasteland that looks like the American Southwest, but is, in fact, another planet (go figure).

While hands-on demos of upcoming games are usually enough to get us to show up, publisher 2K went a little further, turning a Williamsburg warehouse into a B-movie set, complete with props straight out of Mad Max, costumed bartenders, and an entire roasted pig, gleefully hacked up for the attendees.

We thought the proceedings were amusing enough to snap a few photos of the event--just be careful not to let it offend your delicate vegetarian sensibilities. … Read more