Confirming rumors that have been flying on the net for months, 2K Games has now confirmed it will be publishing Borderlands 2, the sequel to the 2009 sci-fi first person shooter-RPG hybrid from developer Gearbox Software. Not much info on the sequel has been revealed yet but Borderlands 2 will be set yet again on the planet of Pandora. The game itself will have “all-new characters, skills, environments, enemies, weapons and equipment” according to today"s press release. The game will be released for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms sometime in 2K Games" 2013 fiscal year which begins on April 1, 2012. The game will be featured as the cover story for the new issue of Game Informer"s print magazine and will be shown in public at Gamescom in Germany and at PAX Prime in Seattle later this month.
The original Borderlands game was a sleeper hit for developer Gearbox Software when it was released in the fall of 2009. The game offered a mix of first person shooter gameplay with elements of action and RPG, including loot and weapons drops and co-op support for up to four players, was praised at the time as was the game"s cel shaded graphics that gave Borderlands a unique art style. After the game shipped to stores, Gearbox developed and released several DLC packs for the game that added to the game"s single player content. It then re-released the game with all of the DLC packs in 2010 as Borderlands Game of the Year Edition.
After completing Duke Nukem Forever earlier in June, Gearbox still has two more games due out in 2012. One is the long awaited sci-fi movie-based shooter Aliens Colonial Marines, to be published by Sega. The other is Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, an over-the-top WWII based co-op shooter that will be published by Ubisoft.