Plus $4 Valkyria Chronicles too!

Today GMG switched to Part 2 of its PC games Spring Sale. If you're looking to overload your Steam library, you can now get up to 80% off titles from 2K Games, Kalypso, SEGA, and Capcom. Several titles are at their all-time low price such as Borderlands: The Pre-sequel - which is now only $8; or grab Borderlands: The Handsome Bundle for only $20.

Other choice pick includes $4 Valkyria Chronicles; $7 DMC: Devil May Cry; and Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide at a new low of $16.80. Evolve is also makes a return at the $10 price point, but we're not sure if you'll get much out of the game due to its dwindling population. Full list of the sale can be found here.

Use Coupon: DEALZON20

2K Games

• Borderlands: The Handsome Bundle (Steam) — $20.80  (list price $130)
• Bioshock Franchise Pack (Steam) — $19.19  (list price $120)
• Sid? Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide (Steam) — $18  (list price $30)
• Evolve Monster Race Edition (Steam) — $16  (list price $80)
• Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth (Steam) — $12.80  (list price $40)
• Evolve (Steam) — $10.88  (list price $40)
• Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Edition (Steam) — $10  (list price $50)
• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Steam) — $8  (list price $40)
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown The Complete Edition (Steam) — $8  (list price $50)

Capcom

• Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition (Steam) — $20  (list price $50)
• Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Steam) — $12  (list price $25)
• Ultra Street Fighter IV (Steam) — $12  (list price $30)
• DMC: Devil May Cry (Steam) — $7.20  (list price $30)
• Ultra Street Fighter IV Upgrade (Steam) — $6  (list price $15)
• Lost Planet 3 (Steam) — $5  (list price $25)
• Remember Me (Steam) — $4.80  (list price $30)
• Strider (Steam) — $4.08  (list price $15)

Sega

• Total War Grand Master Collection (Steam) — $33  (list price $165)
• Warhammer 40k Dawn of War II Grand Collection (Steam) — $16  (list price $80)
• Alien: Isolation (Steam) — $10  (list price $50)
• Total War: Attila (Steam) — $9  (list price $45)
• Company of Heroes 2 (Steam) — $8  (list price $40)
• Company of Heroes: Complete Pack (Steam) — $7.40  (list price $37)
• Alien vs Predator Collection (Steam) — $4.80  (list price $24)
• Valkyria Chronicles (Steam) — $4  (list price $20)
• The Typing of the Dead: Overkill (Steam) — $4  (list price $20)
• Binary Domain Collection (Steam) — $3.20  (list price $16)
• Rome: Total War Collection (Steam) — $2.60  (list price $13)

Kalypso

• Tropico 5: Complete Collection (Steam) — $24  (list price $40)
• Grand Ages: Medieval (Steam) — $14.08  (list price $40)
• Dungeons 2 (Steam) — $14.08  (list price $40)
• Crookz – The Big Heist (Steam) — $8  (list price $25)
• Tropico 4 Collectors Bundle (Steam) — $6.48  (list price $30)
• Port Royale 3 Gold Edition (Steam) — $6.48  (list price $30)
• Omerta: City of Gangsters Gold Edition (Steam) — $6.48  (list price $30)
• Crowntakers (Steam) — $5.64  (list price $15)
• Rise of Venice (Steam) — $5  (list price $25)
• Anna - Extended Edition (Steam) — $1.60  (list price $10)

More Top Picks

• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (Steam) — $16.80  (list price $30)
• Fatshark Pack (Steam) — $12.38  (list price $31)
• Hatred (Steam) — $10.24  (list price $20)
• Hard West (Steam) — $9.60  (list price $20)
• FIVE: Guardians of David Deluxe Edition (Steam) — $8  (list price $25)
• Syberia II (Steam) — $2.40  (list price $10)
• Syberia (Steam) — $2.40  (list price $10)
• Shelter 2 Mountains (Steam) — $2  (list price $5)
• Shelter (Steam) — $1.60  (list price $10)

These deals are all part of GMG's Spring PC Gaming sale "Part 2". Part 1 ended earlier F?riday morning, and these deals are set to run thoug??h Monday, March 28th a 9AM Pacific.

Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

The post N??ew low on Borderlands titles as GMG Spring Sale continues appeared first on Destructoid.

Claptrap and Headhunter DLC

Last week, Humble and Gearbox announced the Humble Borderlands Bundle, featuring Borderlands, Borderlands 2, a coupon for 75 percent off Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and a big chunk of downloadable content for the first two games ??in the series. Despite featuring a lot of t?he DLC, there were some notable entries missing. Predictably, they showed up in the bundle last night to kickstart interest during the second week of the campaign.

In addition to everything previously included, the bundle now features Borderlands' fourth DLC Claptrap's New Robot Revolution and the remaining Borderlands 2 Headhunter packs, T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest, The Horrible Hunger of the R?avenous Wattle Gobbler, How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day, and Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre. All of these a??re in the "pay more than the average" tier, which is currently sitting? at just above seven dollars.

This bundle is now about as close to a "complete edition" as one can get for the Borderlands series. There are cosmetic items for Borderlands 2 not included in the bundle, but the only major gameplay content missing is the Pre-Sequel DLC. The bundle expires on July 7.

The post Humble Borderlands Bundle adds more DLC appeared first on Destructoid.

Why grind for loot when it's right there in a golden chest?

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is out today. One of the major selling points for those who have already played Borderlands 2 and/or Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on last generation hardware is the ability to import save data from legacy consoles. However, certain things like items in Claptrap's Secret Stash and Golden Keys cannot be transferred. The former is easy to work around; one needs only to move the Secret Stash item to a backpack or bank. The latter ha?s no user end procedure, so Gearbox is giving out a fat stack of Golden Keys for everybody.

For those new to the idea of Golden Keys, they were introduced in Borderlands 2. Generally, players acquire new keys by following Gearbox/Borderlands/Randy Pitchford on Facebook or Twitter. By signing up for Gearbox's data-tracking service Shift, players can enter codes ??in-game for various rewards; usually it's just keys, but there have also been character customizations.

After redeeming codes for keys, the keys may be spent at a Golden Chest. In Borderlands 2 the chest is found in Sanctuary. In The Pre-Sequel it is found in Concordia. Opening the chest will generate random pieces of loot at exactly the character's level, almost always of rare (purple) quality or higher. It's a good way to buff up as old gear becomes obsolete but before any good random dro??ps have shown up.

As a bonus, these codes shoul??d work with any version of the two games found in the Handsome Collection. Even those without the current generation upgrade can enjoy them. So without further ado, the Shift codes are below. They are good through March 31.

Gearbox Software [Twitter]

PC/Mac/Linux
Borderlands 2: WBK3T-BKW6T-TXTRK-JTTBT-C6BS5
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: KKWBJ-6B5FJ-3JJBT-JBBJB-WWH6X

PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita/PlayStation 4
Borderlands 2: KTKTT-ZSFWS-R3CHC-9BW33-3JW3H
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: 555JT-6TTX5-SFBKT-HTW33-T3F3T

Xbox 360/Xbox One
Borderlands 2: CJC33-KHBCW-FHF6Z-C6JTB-F9395
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: 555JT-6TTT9-KCFJX-CXT33-T3FBC

The post Ce?lebrate Borderlands: The Handsome Collection by stocking up on Golden Keys appeared first on Destructoid.

From Inside Gearbox panel

Gearbox and Harmonix have worked together in the past with a dance section in one of last year's trailers for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. At the PAX East Inside Gearbox panel, Gearbox and Harmonix announced a new partnership. Vault Hunters Nisha and Claptrap are now available as character models in Harmonix's Dance Central Spotlight. 

The panelists discussed the trepidation over including Claptrap, since he doesn't have legs. As it turns out, it was fairly easy for Harmonix to insert him into the dance game. The usual tailbone is mapped to his wheel, and it ended up working? without any extra tweaks.

Dance Central Spotlight players can download the newest patch, then enter X, X, X, X, X or Y, Y, Y, Y, Y on the character select s??creen to unlock these characters. No money necessary; it's a cheat code! Like the old days!

The post Borderlands characters are now in D?ance Central Spotlight appeared first on Destructoid.

Please stick to the commons and the blues that you're used to

[Update: A patch released in Novem?ber ad?ded the option to grind three purples. Therefore, this is not as useless of a bug as originally thought.]

Anyone that plans to hop around the moons of Pandora today might want to take some care when playing around with the Grinder. The January 27 update to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has an unforeseen bug that causes the game to crash under somewhat ?unique circumstances.

As outlined in a Gearbox Software Support memo, The Pre-Sequel is liable to crash when three purple items are put ??into the Grinder. It's not a certainty that it'll happen; some forums users are experiencing the bug, others report no problems at all. The kicker here is that there's no use to putting three purples in anyway, as the game won't let you forge a new item from that combination.

Gearbox says that it's working on rectifying the issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, those that feel the urge to needlessly grind purple after purple can simply not accept t??he update on consoles, or play in offline mode on Steam.

Important Information Regarding January 27 Update [Gearbox Software Support]

The post Borderlands players: Don’t go grinding purple hauls appeared first on Destructoid.

This could be you, apparently!

During the official Borderlands panel at PAX South, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford confirmed the company was "ready to start" production on a new game in the franchise, later taking to Twitter with an open call to developers looking for work.

According to firsthand reports from the panel, Gearbox hasn't officially started work on the next Borderlands. There are currently no hints as to what exactly the next Borderlands would look like, but if you combine the ending of Borderlands 2 with Gearbox filing a trademark ??for 'Borderworlds' in 2009, a larger-scale game with mul?tiple planets seems likely.

Gearbox is currently looking for "artists, designers, coders, producers and other developers," according to a tweet from Pitchford, so no matter what your particular skill may be, Gearbox has a home for you. They're also taking applications from established developers, promising "confidentiality"?? should you wish to re??main anonymous.

The post Gearbox ‘ready to start’ Borderlands 3, begins hiring process appeared first on Destructoid.

Gearbox hints about the upcoming story DLC too

The inaugural PAX South is wrapping up today, and Gearbox's panel just ended. We heard about the plans with Homeworld earlier, but the studio's cash cow for the past several years has been the Borderlands series, so of course there would be news about? it.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is getting its third DLC pack this Tuesday, January 27, and it is a sixth playable character. Joining Jack's doppelganger and the rest of the original crew is Lady Hammerlock, also known as Aurelia, also known as ??the Baroness, also kn??own as Sir Hammerlock's older sister.

Lady Hammerlock's action skill is lets her toss out a "frost diadem shard," which seeks out enemie??s, freezes, and damages them. Her three skill trees are Huntress, Cold Money, and Contractual Aristocracy. Huntress focuses on sniping, Cold Money increases her cryo abilities, and Contractual Aristocracy is all about hiring a teammate as a temporary servant to gain bonuses for either player in the contract.

She sounds like she will be fun to play with, especially considering the importance of the cryo element in The Pre-Sequel, but the real good news for me is that the first three DLC packs are out of the way, leaving only the last one, which is supposed to be actual story content. Gearbox gave only a little information on the fourth piece of downloadable content: it will be set inside the mind of Claptrap. It sounds a bit like the premise for Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, in that it could allow players to visit locations and fight enemies that they normally ?would not be able to within the confines of the story canon. New characters haven't been enough to get me back into playing, but a new mini-campaign would definitely draw me bac??k.

The post Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s new downloadable character is out this Tuesday appeared first on Destructoid.

As decided by the fans

Per the official Borderlands Twitter account, Krieg, Claptrap, and Tiny Tina are the series' most popular characters amongst Borderlands fans. There's no clear indication which character rec?eived the most votes, but I wager Claptrap is a pretty safe bet.

In many ways, this is the biggest story of 2015 for me. The story in Borderlands has never been my thing -- too irreve??rent for my taste -- but a lot of people really enjo??y the lore and this is a fairly concise insight into what exactly people find so resonant about this franchise.

Anyway, if I had to pick a character from Borderlands to award, it wo??uld probably be Dr. Zed. He's got a solid drawl to him, and I like his attitude! What about you gu?ys, anybody stand out to you?

Borderlands [Twitter]

The post These are the most popular Borderlands characters appeared first on Destructoid.

Help Dr. Nakayama with a secret project

[Update]: In an email to Destructoid, 2K has confirmed that the Handsome AI bonus mission wil??l be included for free as part of the update adding Ult?imate Vault Hunter Mode, not part of the Holodome Onslaught DLC pack that retails for $9.99.

This one might be a bit tough to talk about without people crying foul for spoilers, despite that the promotional material made publicly available divulges the information. Suffice it to say, if you haven't finished Borderlands 2, played Tales from the Borderlands, or seen anything on the Internet about the two, you should stop reading now (and probably stop clicking on articles about Borderlands, yeah?). There, I think I used enough space that nothing important will show up in th?e preview text.

When Tales from the Borderlands was first announced, we caught a glimpse of a hologram of Handsome Jack, the now-dead antagonist of Borderlands 2. Later, writer Anthony Burch clarified that "Handsome Jack is dead and he's not coming back, but there are contingencies." Most who could read between the lines took that to mean that he implanted his mind into an artificial intelligence, which we see in Tales.

To give more background on the origin of that AI, a bonus mission is being added to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. It involves Dr. Nakayama attempting to immortalize his idol (because of course it would). The mission should be available on December 16, when the next round of DLC releases.

It is not immediately clear from the Gearbox blog whether this bonus mission will be part of the $10 Holodome Pack (DLC 2) or part of the free Ultimate Vault Hunter update. Destructoid ??has reached out to 2K for clarification.

The post Bon??us mission for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel ties into Tales appeared first on Destructoid.

Welcome to the Holodome

2K Games announced today the second DLC pack for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and as with the first pack, it is commendabl?e in s?ome ways but disappointing in others. In The Holodome Onslaught, Axton and Gaige join the crew in Sanctuary, but having missed Athena's first two recounts of the events on Elpis,? they ask to hear an abridged version. This version only includes the violence, with none of the exposition.

Or in other words, it's like Horde Mode.

The good news is that Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode (UVHM) is releasing for free alongside The Holodome Onslaught, so any who have maxed out characters at level 50 now have another 10 levels and a third playthrough for the main campaign. It will be interesting to see how the difficulty in UVHM is handled here; the main crux of any successful strategy in Borderlands 2's UVHM was the use of slag, which is unavailable in The Pre-Sequel.

So yeah. Once again, I feel for you if you purchased the season pass expecting four pieces of substantial story DLC like there were in the last two Borderlands games. Instead, you have a c??haracter and wave-based combat so far. At least the level cap increase is free?.

The post Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s second piece of DLC is out December 16 appeared first on Destructoid.

But he leaves it on anyway

I frown on the idea that additional Vault Hunters are being offered for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's season pass in place of story DLC (rather than in addition to it, as Gaige the Mechromancer and Krieg the Psycho were in Borderlands 2). That said, I wi?ll still probably play as Jack the Doppelganger eventually, especially since he looks like a decent solo character and I know my interest in playing?? will remain after most of my usual teammates move onto other games.

2K recently released the interactive skill tree for Jack, and while it does not look game-changing, he has some tempting skills. The video above outlines a few of the Doppelganger abilities, with chief focus going toward his ability to summon two Digi-Jacks to fight alongside him. Personally, I'm more interested in his?? Free Enterprise skill tree, with a capstone skill that makes me drool over the idea of huge damage output when switching between two Jakobs weapons.

The Handsome Jack Dopp??elganger pack is out today, and it is i?ncluded as DLC #1 in the season pass.

The post Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s Jack the Doppelganger is too sexy for his shirt appeared first on Destructoid.

Glad I skipped this one

Over the weekend, details came out of PAX Australia regarding the first downloadable Vault Hunter for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. At first, it looked to me like a commendable gesture for a series that receives a lot of criticism on its downloadable content policy. To include a new character in addition to the originally promised content for those loyal enough to buy a season pass seemed worthy of applause. However, that image was based on a misinterpretation of the official blog post's line that refe?rences "all four of the up??coming add-on content packs," and a few other (incorrect) assumptions.

As it turns out, the Handsome Jack Doppelganger Pack is DLC #1 for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (November 11 is upcoming, after all??), and I could only feel more disappointed by that revelation if I had actually purchased this iteration's se??ason pass. My condolences go out to those who did.

To be clear, I was never one to complain about how Gearbox handled Borderlands 2's season pass. Where many would rail against the developer for producing content that was not included in the season pass (or even the Game of the Year Edition), I always saw it from a more measured viewpoint. Borderlands 2's season pass promised four pieces of story-based downloadable content, and it delivered four pieces of story-based downloadable content along with a bonus level cap increase that those without a ?season pass had to purchase separately. I bought it in good will before the game came out, and I felt like I got my money's worth.

The fact that Gearbox continued to produce content for Borderlands 2 after the season pass had run its course never phased me. People wanted more stuff to do on Pandora, and were wil??ling to pay for those experiences. The extra characters and Headhunter packs were far from essential ?to the experience, and they were never stated to be included in the season pass to begin with. As an informed consumer, I did not feel cheated.

However, there were those who did feel cheated, and that might have contributed to this current mishandling. Many in the Borderlands community complained that BL2's season pass/Game of the Year Edition did not include all of the post-release content, and according to Gearbox Product Manager Chris Faylor, this move is an "[attempt] to address that."

So now, instead of four story-based DLC packs that are included in The Pre-Sequel's season pass, along with other pieces of downloadable content that are available for additional fees, it sounds like the total amount of content is being reduced in order for it all to be included in the season pass. Worse yet, if we take the official Borderlands blog post's words literally, we can expect "another character, a level cap upgrade, a new campaign, and more," which lays down a particularly dismal tentative DLC schedule. Where previous games in the series featured four additional story pack??s, are we really meant to expect only one this ti?me?

Looking back at the Pre-Sequel season pass announcement, it is not that 2K lied or even blatantly misrepresented what players should expect in the season pass. So little information is there that the developers have quite a bit of leeway with it. Even on the official blog post, there is never any mention of what type of DLC is planned. The only information given are the phrases "new characters," "new challenges," "new missions," and "new experiences," which in hindsight are incredibly vague. All that is concretely stated is that there would be a s??eason pass, that ?it would include four undefined pieces of content, and that buying the season pass would cost less than buying all four pieces individually.

The problem here is one of expectation. Borderlands featured four pieces of downloadable content, and all four were story-based additions that included new areas to explore, new enemies to fight, and new missions to take on. Borderlands 2 continued that tradition with its four main DLC packs, along with a bevy of other content. I am certain that I am not alone in having made the assumption that the four add-on packs promised in The Pre-Sequel's season pass would follow that same pattern.

I do not mean to belittle the amount of work that must be necessary in the design, balance, and playtesting of an entirely new character or even something like Borderlands 2's Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode (Playthrough 3). I do not doubt that the teams behind those additions feel that they put a lot of effort into producing something worth selling for ten bucks, and I do not begrudge them for it. However, while those add-ons may require comparable amounts of work, the value of thos?e additions for the consumer is much lower than that of the traditional story packs.

So even though no promises are technically being broken, and 2K plans to deliver four digital additions to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel for the price of three through the season pass, I cannot blame any who bought it for feeling cheated. The content fits the requirements laid out, but the value is not there. Even if the plans were to change from here onward and the season pass ends up including one new Vault Hunter and three story DLCs, the value of the pass over purchasing content piecemeal hinges on the quality of all three packs, and the series does not have a perfect track record on that front.

Ev?en for somebody who did not purchase the season pass, this news is disheartening. With a shorter base campaign and the possibility of only one story-based DLC pack, the lifespan of this game looks to be much smaller than those of its predecessors. It's like walking into a shipping container expecting a pizza party, only to find that the pizza is a hologram and the shipping container ??is about to be shot out of a cannon at the moon.

In the months after Borderlands 2's release, there have been many in the community expressing extreme disappointment when it comes to the handling of post-release content. However, for those who complain that there exists content not included in the season pass, the intended solution was never to reduce the total amount of content in order for it to fit. Though it might have been an attempt to appease disgruntled fans, Jack's Doppelganger as DLC #1 for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has only bred more contempt in th??e community.

The post Borderlands: The Pre-S??equel illustrates the danger of nebulous season passes appeared first on Destructoid.

Lots of exploding pumpkins, basically

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's free, limited-time mini event Bloody Harvest Celebration just launched a couple hours ago. The teaser image has several pumpkin-flavored pieces of art, but little extra information??. I jumped into the shoes of my trusty Enforcer to check out what i??s new.

To access this content, you will need to go to Regolith Range. It does not have its own Fast Travel station, but it can be reached by fast traveling to Serenity's Waste (the first area Vault Hunters explore upon landing on Elpis) and taking a vehicle to one of the two entrances. I recommend the exit in the southeastern part of Serenity's Waste, because it leads to the pa??rt of Regolith Range closer to Undeadlift, the local boss fight.

Upon entering Regolith Rang??e, the event's slight differences show up. Most of the Scavs have jack-o'-lanterns on their heads, all of the exploding barrels are replac?ed with Bloody Harvest Barrels, and it might be my imagination, but the area itself feels like it has an orange tinge to it instead of its normal blue/red palette.

Most of the content does not affect gameplay significantly. The pumpkin-headed enemies give them much larger hit boxes for critical damage, so landing headshots is easier. Otherwise, they act just like their normal bandit selves. The candy cash is purely cosmetic, replacing the dollar bills with hard candy without giving it any additional function like the candy pickups found in last year's Bloody Harvest DLC.

When ruptured, Bloody Harvest Barrels will explode initially, then after about one second a few pillars of fire will burst upward from the gro??und in the i?mmediate vicinity. Neat.

The boss fight with Deadlift is unchanged, aside from the facts that he too is wearing a pumpkin on his head, and he is ?billed as Undeadlift no?w.

Undeadlift does have a chance (not a guarantee) to drop a unique weapon ??called the Jack-o'-Cannon. Depending on whether the player is in Normal Mode, True Vault Hunter Mode, or True Vault Hunter mode post-Sentinel, the gun (and the enemies in the area) will be around level 4, level 30, or level 50, respectively. For long-term benefit, this event seems most helpful to those who have already played through twice.

The Jack-o'-Cannon is a To??rgue shotgun, so it naturally has a relatively low fire rate and deals explosive damage. It is s??hiny orange and has a cartoon vampire face painted on the side. It requires two ammo per shot and fires pumpkins that explode on contact with enemies or surfaces. The pumpkins are slow-moving and follow an arced path, but they appear to have a fairly large explosion radius and good damage.

So that's what you can find in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's Bloody Harvest Celebration event. It runs through November 2, so players have the weekend?? to? check it out. For a free bit of content, it's pretty cool. I hope they do more stuff like this, in addition to the more meaty, paid DLC that is down the road.

The post Here are the details of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s Bloody Harvest Celebration appeared first on Destructoid.

Deals on Beyond Earth and Sunset Overdrive too

Deals brought to you by the crew at Dealzon. FYI: sales from certain retailers go toward supporting Destructoid. Spot something good that we didn't see? Let us know and we'll add it! Post formatting is a work in progress, so suggestions are welcomed. 

Ring in the weekend with a plethora of gaming deals. With all the money save?d, you'll be able to buy even more games (that you'll never get aroun?d to playing). That's uh, totally how saving money works, right?

Released earlier this week, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel digital download is discounted to $48. This is a Steam Play title, so it'll work on PC, Mac, and Linux. Beyond what we've listed below, there are several alternate deals available for the game here (including the Season Pass).

The late September release Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor on the PC is also discounted by 27% off at GMG. This deal runs through Monday, October 20th at 8 am PT. Solid deal for a t??wo week old game.

Next week's Civilization: Beyond Earth can be pre-ordered for up to 25% off. There's an unknown expiration date for this particular deal, so if you're planning to play on Day One, we'd recommend grabbing ASAP. The download comes with the pre-order bonus of six Exoplanet maps. (There's also a classic bundle available but the deal is kind of meh to be honest??).

On the console side of things, the Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive is now available on Microsoft Store. As a pre-order incentive, you'll receive a $10 Xbox gift card, good for adding money to your Xbox account. Furthermore, you&r??squo;ll get free guaranteed release day delivery if you order by October 24th at 2 p.m. Pacific. The $10 Xbox gift card deal is pretty typical as a pre-order incentive? for Microsoft Store, but the free release day delivery is usually only reserved for the more popular Triple-A titles.

Update 10/20: We've added a few more deals for the week and have strike-through the expired deals. Happy browsing!

Top Deals

• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Steam Pay) — $46.80  (list price $60)
  Use coupon: SPOOKY-TREATS-GMG20X
• Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth (Steam) — $37.49  (list price $50)
  Must login to see price, doesn't work in AU/NZ
• Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) — $59.99  
  Free $10 Xbox gift card & free release day delivery

Expired deals:

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam) — $36.50  (list price $50)
  Use coupon: DEALZO-NMORDO-R27OFF
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam) — $33.33  (list price $50)
  No coupon require??d, li?mited time Bundle Stars deal 

Recent Releases

Use coupon: SPOOKY-TREATS-GMG20X 

• 10/14: The Evil Within + Season Pass (Steam) — $51.47  (list price $70)
• 10/14: Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne (Steam) — $11.70  (list price $15)
• 10/14: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Season Pass — $23.40  (list price $30)
• 10/10: Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition (Steam) — $23.40  (list price $30)

Upcoming Releases

• 10/21: F1 2014 — $40  (list price $50 - already out in EU)
• 11/4: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Steam) — $50.99  (list price $60)
• 11/7: Football Manager 2015 (Steam) — $40  (list price $50)
• 11/11: LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Steam) — $21.60  (list price $30)
• 11/11: The Crew (Uplay) — $50.99  (list price $60)
• 11/11: Assassin's Creed Unity (Uplay) — $50.99  (list price $60)
• 11/18: Dragon Age: Inquisition (Origin) — $47.99  (list price $60)
• 11/18: Far Cry 4 Limited Edition (Uplay) — $50.99  (list price $60)

PC Game Deals

• Battlefield 4 Premium (Origin) — $37.49 (list $40)
• Might & Magic X Legacy Deluxe Edition — $7.49 (list $30)
• FIFA 14 (Origin) — $6.80 (list $20)
• Mortal Kombat Bundle (Steam) — $6 (list $30)
• Hunt??sma??n: The Orphanage - Halloween Edition (Steam) — $4.24 (list $10)
• Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition (Steam) — $4 (list $20)
• Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection (Steam) — $2 (list $10)
• Hotline Miami (Steam) — $2 (list $10)

Expired deals:

• Europa Universalis 4 (Steam) — $10  (list price $40)
• Hitman: Absolution - Elite Edition (Steam) — $9.99  (list price $20)
• Thief: Master Thief Edition (Steam) — $8.25  (list price $33)
• Tomb Raider Survival Edition (Steam) — $6.25  (list price $25)
• Unity of Command Trilogy Bundle — $6  (list price $30)
• Rome: Total War Collection (Steam) — $3.25  (list price $10)
• Skullgirls (Steam) — $3  (list price $15)

Console Game Deals

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4, Xbox One) — $49.99 (list $60)
• Destin?y + Free Call of Duty Ghosts (Xbox 360, PS3) — $49.99 (list $60)
• MLB 14: The Show (PS4) — $29.99 (list $40)
• inFAMOUS Second Son (PS4) — $29.99 (list $30)
• Bound by Flame (PS4 Used) — $19.99  (list price $42)
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• Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare (Xbox One Used) — $17.99  (list price $40)
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (Xbox One Used) — $14.99  (list price $30)

Expired deals:

• Metro: Last Light (Xbox 360 Used) — $12.99  (list price $26)
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PS Vita Deals

• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS Vita) — $9.99  (list price $20)
• Resistance: Burning Skies (PS Vita) — $9.99  (list price $20)
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• ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PS Vita) — $9.99  (list price $20)

Hardware Deals

• Xbox One Console Standard Edition — $429.99  (list price $500)
  Bundles with Destiny + Xbox Live Gold 1 Year Card
• PlayStation 4 Console + Choice of Game — $419.99  (list price $460)
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  Core i7-4710HQ, GeForce GTX 860M 2GB, Full HD 1080p, Hybrid 1TB + 8GB SSHD 
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Gaming Hardware, Accessories, & Electronics Deals

• Asus Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 Video Card — $349.54  (list price $390)
• Razer 2014 B??lack Gaming Keyboard + DeathAdder 2013 Mouse (Refurb??) — $119.99
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• SteelSeries Siberia Elite Gaming Head?set Prom??o Code — 25% Off  (expires Oct 20th)

The post Price Chop: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel & Shadow of Mordor appeared first on Destructoid.

He's a polygonist

Max and I continue to grope around blindly in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Hear us talk about space-related camp movies, and make NBA Jam references. Then Max gets really horny abo?ut videogames. ??Oh, and we shoot psychopaths or whatever...

The post Max ??got?? turned on by my sexy cowlady in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

Because the best things in life aren't free

Fools. You poor, poor, poor, poor fools. It's almost as if you don't even like winning at life.

I mean, I guess there's nothing wrong with choosing Athena, Claptrap, Nisha, or Wilhelm as your go-to character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Just like there's nothing wrong wi?th eating Taco Bell for all four mea??ls every day.

But that doesn't make it right, either.

You know what is right? Paying to win. That's why I'm calling dibs on [DLC Character #1].

[He/She/It] has a tangible value

How much is Athena worth? What about Nisha? Or Wilhelm? Claptr?ap?! Nothing. They're free. Which is just a nice?? way of saying they're worthless.

People, there's a reason characters like [DLC Character #1] cost [$10/$15]: because they're fucking worth it! What did you expect, that Gearbox was going to just give you the best character in the game? For free? Keep dreaming, Jack.

That's why I'm putting my money where [DLC Character #1]'s mouth is. And you can bet your a?ss I'll be decking [him/her/it] out in [DLC Outfit #1] while I'm at it. Because nothing screams "Pa??ndora" like making it rain all over their cheap asses.

[Nolan North and/or Jennifer Hale]'s voice acting really brought [him/her/it] to life

No offense to whoever the hell voiced all those other Borderlands characters, but they ain't got shit on [Nolan North and/or Jennifer Hale] and we all know it. Simultaneously sexy and sadistic, witty, and heroic, [Nolan North and/or Jennifer Hale??] brought Anthony Burch's words to life in a way I've never before seen in any form of media, let alone videogames.

If you've been waiting all your life for the Citizen Kane of videogames to emerge like I have, you'll be happy to know that [DLC Character #1]'s voice acting is the "Rosebud" for a new generation. Because games are art and things like this are import?ant to talk about.

[His/Her/Its] new [Skill Name] skill is a literal game-changer

I never could have imagined what a difference the [Skill Name] skill would make to not only a Borderlands game, but the FPS/RPG genre as a whole. Hell, it's literally changed the way I think about every videogame ever!

I mean, it's so simple, and yet so perfect; how ??has nobody ever thought this up before?! Every other game ??developer ever should take note, because I have glimpsed the future, and what I saw was beautiful.

Gaming will never be the same.

I've had impure thoughts about [him/her/it]

And I'm not ashamed to admit it! I am a sexual being, for Christ's sake, and I'll be damned if the art design for [DLC Character #1] doesn't rub me in all the right places. (But mostly just my sex organ.) You certainly can't say that about any of the other characters on displ?ay (Well, maybe Claptrap. But still.)

I haven't had these kinds of thoughts about a videogame character since I was 15 and playing the original Tomb Raider; I only wish there was a third-person camera mode so I could take it all in (so t??o speak).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my bunk. You know??, taking a nap or something.

The post You fools! I have dibs on [DLC Character #1] in Borderl?ands: The Pre-Seq?uel! appeared first on Destructoid.

If it ain't broke...

_{[Disclosure: Anthony Burch, one o??f the writers for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, was previously employed at Destructoid. As always, no relationships, personal or ?professional, were factored into the review.]}

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I can imagine that mantra circulating the 2K Australia office as the team worked on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Gearbox had a huge hit on its hands with Borderlands 2, and there is not much reason to mess with ??a winning f??ormula.

To be clear, a lot of what matters is new. The story, playable characters, environments, dialogue, and physics are all new. Despite that, it all feels very familiar. Where a number of core systems were significantly upgraded between the first and second games in the series, The Pre-Sequel's additions are much less pronounced.

One odd aspect of some of the new content that this entry brings to the vault hunting universe is that it feels more like Borderlands than Borderlands 2 in some ways, for better and for worse.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Linux, Mac, PC [reviewed], PS3, Xbox 360)
Developers: 2K Australia, Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: October 14, 2014
MSRP: $59.99
Rig: AMD Phenom II X2 555 @ 3.2 GHz, with 4GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700, Windows 7 64-bit

There is a symmetry to be appreciated in The Pre-Sequel's in-between feeling, given that it is chronologically set between the first two games. Specifically, it is set after the events of The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, but before Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, the third and fourth pieces of downloadable content for Borderlands, respectively.

Taking place largely on Pandora's moon Elpis, the first regressive parallel to the original title in the series reveals itself: the moon is largely made up of desolate gray-blue rock dotted with industrial complexes. In the same way that our first adventure to Pan?dora spent entirely too much tim?e in vast brown deserts, the first half of the romp across Elpis occurs in areas that are indistinct from one another. Getting lost is easy at first, even with the minimap and its waypoints.

Eventually, the story works its way back to Helios, the Hyperion space station, and the environments become a bit more diverse. Even with the additional biomes found on Helios, the number of different looking areas to explore pales in comparison to Borderlands 2's tundra, temperate, desert, tropical, industrial, civilized, volcanic, and other environments??.

Other small oversights pop up in the level design here and there. Expansive areas meant to be traversed in a moon buggy lack vehicle stations at every entrance, sometimes causing the player to have to trek on foot when backtracking or if the rover is destroyed. There are natural progression blockers that are not completely functional once the requirement has been met. Specifica?lly, there is a gap early on that can only be jumped in a vehicle, but even with four wheels?? and a rocket booster, I found myself falling into the lava chasm beneath the ruined bridge about half the time.

Some of the smaller areas have no Fast Travel station, an annoyance compounded by side missions that require returning multiple times. On top of that, not every area has vending machines near the entrance, which makes dumping junk loot a bit of a pain when visiting the offending locales. One area in particular (Stanton's Liver) has e?verything going against it: unmemorable environmental art design, no Fast Travel, no vending machines, and several optional missions pointing toward it.

Generally, these are minor quibbles regarding the level design. A lot o??f the time, traversing the environments is made easy through circuitous layouts and the new freedom afforded by the low gravity of Elpis and the Vault Hunters' ability to double jump. Other times this freedom is a double-edged sword, where the new ability allow for more verticality, but highlight the need for ??a more thoroughly upgraded map. It now shows whether enemies are above or below the player, but still represents only two dimensions, despite that a lot of the areas now make extensive use of the z-axis.

Indeed, one of the most touted new features of fighting on Elpis as opposed to Pandora is the use of the moon's lower gravity. On paper, it does not seem like a big deal, but i?t surprised me to find out just how much it affects gameplay. In addition to bei??ng able to jump higher, the double jump allows for a lot of aerial control, and the new Gravity Slam move is both satisfying and useful.

The double jump functionality is a lot deeper than it initially seems. Depending on when the second jump is activated, it can be put toward additional jump height, ?additional jump distance, increased traversal speed, or increased maneuverab?ility.

The slam damages nearby enemies, typically with an elemental effect, but one of the key features of it is that it does not interrupt other abilities like activating an Action Skill or reloading. This opens up the viability of a lot of weapons that were previously too cumbersome to use regularly. Weapons with long or frequent reloads like Jakobs shotguns or Scav (The Pre-Sequel's version of Bandit) rocket launchers can now be used more frequently, with firing punctuated by crow?d-controlling slams.

For instance, my Enforcer currently wields a Jakobs Quad -- a shotgun with huge damage, high ammunition expenditure, and frequent reloads. Most battles I get into are frenetic affairs, where I summon Wolf and Saint, double jump toward an enemy, slam to stun him, fire two shots into his face, mentally change targets, and double jump toward that one while reloading. It all happens quickly, and it is incredibly satisfying. Speaking strictly about combat, this is the most fun the series has ever been, and it owes most of that to the low gravity and?? co?rresponding abilities.

In fact, the low gravity combat is so fun that I became noticeably irritated when the story takes the Vault Hunters back to Helios, where there is more standard, Pandora-like gravity. It is not that the standard combat is bad, it is just that the moon combat is so good.

To expound a bit on the story, it opens in Sanctuary as it floats among the clouds. Clearly taking place after the events of Borderlands 2, Athena is forced to tell the st??ory of the time she helped Handsome? Jack years before. The playable portion of The Pre-Sequel is all told as Athena's flashback, regardless of which of the four available Vault Hunters is in play.

What Athena describes is meeting Jack, a middle management Hyperion employee who saves her life and eventually the lives of countless people living on Elpis. Players get to see firsthand why Jack considers himself a hero, and they?? get to watch his slow decline into depravity, and his eventual transformation ?into Handsome Jack, the man wearing the mask.

It is an interesting arc to watch, although it is still difficult to be sympathetic toward Jack's character through most of the story. The logical and moral leaps he makes, even when fueled largely by self-defense and paranoia, are still the product of a deeply disturbed individual. Even so, The Pre-Sequel does a great job of showing exactly why Handsome Jack despises bandits as much as he does, and it ends in a way that highlights the moral ambiguity of Borderlands as a whole.

Without spoiling too much, the ending upset me initially. I felt betrayed, and I felt like it would not have and should not have happened like it did. Upon further reflection, I realize that while?? it caused me to see a cha??racter in a different light than I previously had, it perfectly encapsulates a major theme in the series. The bad guys are at least a little bit good and the good guys are at least a little bit bad. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which is which.

There is one extra thing regarding the story that more serious players will appreciate. For the first time, there is a believable narrative explanation for the second playthrough, True Vault Hunter Mode. There is additional dialogue to go with it, so players have more incentive to go through the higher level content. It is a small thing, but it is a welcome touch. I would have really appreciated a slightly different or expanded ending for those who make it all the way through twice, and the narrative would have allowed for it, but that is not the case. At about 25 hours to get through the campaign once, The Pre-Sequel runs shorter than Borderlands 2, but provides a good amount of entertainment.

On the downside, the plot left open a few points that I was expecting to be addressed. Clearly, Athena is alive and in Pandora's vicinity between the point of her introduction in The Secret Armory and some indeterminate point after the events of Borderlands 2, so she lives through the Pre-Sequel, but the story never gives an explicit explanation on her whereabouts during Handsome Jack's tenure as CEO of Hyperion. Considering she was there to witness his insidious rise to power, there should be a good narrative reason that she would ????not help to bring him down.

The Eridian race is also a bit of a mystery. They are present on Pandora during Borderlands, present on Elpis during The Pre-Sequel, but absent during Borderlands 2, and fans? are left to continue speculating on the reason. In ??fact, the story presented here even fuels the fire of speculation by introducing more variables to the question of why they cannot be found later in the timeline.

The writing as a whole maintains the classic Borderlands charm, though it does seem a little less wacky than that found in Borderlands 2, again striking a balance between the two previous titles. A few familiar faces show up; most current characters have at least small speaking roles. There are several new characters as well: the eastern Eur??opean Nurse Nina, the not-quite-as-annoying-as-Tiny-Tina child Pickle, and my favorite new character Ja?ney Springs.

Springs is one of many denizens of Elpis, most of whom are the Australians to Pandora's Americans. She is immediately endearing, and has some of the best lines in the game. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, and overall the writing is smart and snappy. There are no Internet memes, except for one easily missed reference to an old Destructoid mantra that 99.9% of players will gloss over without a second thought. There are a number of shout-outs to other works of fiction, including Star Wars and Pokémon.

One of the best new developments for the writing in Borderlands was the decision to have the Vault Hunters participate in conversations, giving each one more personality, and offering a non-gameplay reason to play through with multiple characters. This is especially important through Jack's campaign to save Elpis, as each character will react differently to his methods and evolving morality. Although Athena is my girl, the morally bankrupt s?adist Nisha has some of the most hilarious retorts and insults.

Weapons received a major overhaul between Borderlands and Borderlands 2; comparatively, the differences here seem slight, but their consequences reach further than it may initially appear. Slag weapons do not exist yet, since the first vault was only recently opened and the engi?neers are just beginning to study it. In its place is the cryo element, which slows enemies, damages them over time, and can eventually freeze them solid to be shattered into hundreds of shards.

Lasers also appear as a separate weapon type, rather than being reserved for the relatively rare E-Tech weaponry found on Pandora. There are several different flavors of laser weapons, including Ghostbusters-style streams, Star Wars-esque blasters, and powerful railguns. Most useful is that laser weapons generally have low recoil and good hip fire accuracy. This pairs extremely well with the aforementioned low gravity combat. It is common to double jump across a pit and headshot an enemy with a railgun from the hip in the process, and it feels totally rad to do it. Where combat in Borderlands was like Call of Duty in a lot of ways, the fighting in The Pre-Sequel feels more akin to Halo.

One other welcome addition to the loot system is the Grinder, which turns out to be a double entendre of sorts. By feeding it three items of the same rarity level, it has a chance to spit out an item with a higher rarity. Any three items can be fed in, but best results seem to come from matching equipment. For instance, grinding three common pistols will usually result in an uncommon pistol. I found myself keeping various weapons that I had no intention of using, because they would go well in the Grinder and return something I may want. With enough of a collection, several common weapons can be combined to eventually produce a rare item. Sadly, rare items cannot be us?ed to create legendary items.

The Grinder can ??feel random at times, and I wish there were more structure to it. Feeding it three Jakobs sniper rifles can produce a Maliwan sniper rifle, or feeding it three incendiary lasers can result in a cryo laser. It seems weapon type is the only attribute conserved in the grinding process. The Grinder also functions through a sort of recipe system, but there is no in-game method for tr??acking which recipes have been tried, what worked, and what did not. The Grinder is a great idea to deal with all the unwanted loot in Borderlands, but it could have been taken the extra mile to function well without outside support.

Of course, some of the most fun in Borderlands comes with multiplayer, and The Pre-Sequel has made some strides to make this even more interesting. While each of the four Vault Hunters can be ??built to play solo, Athena, Wilhelm, and Claptrap have skills that benefit the whole team in unusual ways. Now, a well-formed gr??oup of four can be much greater than the sum of its parts.

An obvious example of this is that many of Claptrap's Action Packages will affect the entire team, but a more subtle effect emerges when playing with ??Athena. As the group's shieldbearer, I acted as the tank, soaking up incoming damage that would have otherwise gone toward glass cannon Nisha. Although previous games have had similar abilities (Salvador could draw aggro and buff his defense), the character diversity and focus on team abilities allow for the potential to be more tactical?? than ever before.

A lot of the best multiplayer moments have come from raid boss fights. Introduced to the series in the General Knoxx DLC, they have required some of the most intensive team interactions, and Gearbox learned a lot about making interesting raids over the course of the Borderlands 2 DLC schedule. 2K Australia has a lot to learn on that f?ront, because the raid boss included ??in the core game is just a disappointing retread of the final boss fight, except that it has more health and deals more damage.

Another arena in which The Pre-Sequel falls?? short of its predecessor is in general polish. A lot of common, benign bugs can be found, like enemies clipping through environment geometry (see above) or shields that glitch such that they recharge immediately and infinitely, rendering the player effectively invincible until restarting.

I ran into a few more off-putting bugs over the 60 hours I spent playing. The most egregious resulted in one of my characters not being able to progress the story, just one area before the final boss fight. 2K has assured Destructoid that this particular?? bug has been isolated and addressed in a day one patch, so retail versions will be free from it. Regardless, it was heartbreaking to put 40 hours into one character only to be stopped just short of completion.

At least two missions show up in the menu, but point toward the wrong location to accept the mission. One even points toward an area that the player might not have even found before, existing as an ever-present missed connection, with no guidance on how to actually take it on. In Borderlands 2, side missions were generally discovered organically, placed in the main path where they could not be missed. Here, ??many side missions require backtracki?ng just to take them on, and that is backtracking that the player would not do naturally.

Otherwise, there are issues with form and functionality that do not technically qualify as bugs. For instance, Wilhelm has a skill that sets up a healing aura around a point on the map, but that aura is denoted by a perfectly horizontal circle on the ground, centered at one point on the surface. In areas where the terrain is not completely flat (i.e. most of them), part of the circle is hidden from view. Other areas feature terr?a??in that hides it entirely.

In case it is not already obvious, I love the Borderlands series. I have followed it since its debut in 2009, and I have put hundreds of hours into using bullets to make numbers pop out of bad guys, digging into the lore, and hanging out with friends. Loving the series means knowing just how good it can be, and it means alw??ays measuri?ng it against those high standards.

2K Australia nailed the combat with The Pre-Sequel. It is fast, fresh, and more tactically interesting than ever before. The writing hits the right notes, al??though the overarching plot is not quite as emotionally powerful as other entries have been. For many, that is enough to be a great experience. I had a lot of fun playing through, and I anticipate I will keep playing for months as more friends obtain copies.

Despite that glowing praise, I am torn, because I also recognize that it is far from perfect. The environmental art direction gets dull too quickly, the level design is lacking in basic conveniences, and a general sloppiness is present when looking closely. Some of the cool new features like multi-leveled areas and combining weapons could have been enhanced further if the user interface and systems had been updated to play to those strengths. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a solid ent??ry to the series, but I hope t??hat the development team takes some of the failings to heart and delivers excellence in the future.

The post Review: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

Sorry, she's mine

Two years ago, Chris, Tara, Conrad, and Andy each called dibs on a Vault Hunter for Borderlands 2 before I ever could, and so I was never able to pl?ay it. All I could do was sit there looking at my copy, wishing I had called dibs first. I will not make that same mistake twice.

I have dibs on Athena. Simply put, Athena is the best. Don't worry, there are three other perfectly okay Vault Hunters for you to ch?oose from. You should be all right, I guess. Anyway, here's why Athena is the best and I call dibs on her.

She has a sword.

When the bullets run out but the fight is still on, melee attacks become crucial. Sure, smacking somebody with the butt of a gun is practical, and cracking a whip across someone's face is showy, but you know what is terrifying? About two feet of bloody, sharpened steel.

Athena is a trained assassin, so she knows how to use her Xiphos? blade. In fact, she has an entire skill tree dedicated to causing pain with it. If that isn't enough, there is a skill that allows her to apply a unique status effect to enemies: she can make them bleed. You might be content with burn??ing, electrocution, corrosion, and freezing, but I will have those and the ability to cause exsanguination.

Also,?? later on, ??when an bleeding enemy dies, he explodes.

She has a shield.

What is the peanut butter to a sword's chocolate? That's right, it's a shield. Athena's Kinetic Aspis is not just a regular old "protect you from damage" shield though. It protects her and her friends from damage, then sends that damage back to the enemies twofold. Also, it explodes. Up to five times in one throw. Mister Torgue would totally ap?prove of Athena's arsenal.

In addition to the fact that throwing an explosive shield is rad on its own, the Kinetic Aspis is the most different action skill from any previous Borderlands game. Wil??helm's Wolf and Saint drones act a lot like Gaige's Deathtrap, Nisha's capability for raw gun damage output is comparable to Salvador's Gunzerking ability, and Claptrap literally just copies other Vault Hunters' abilities with his VaultHunter.EXE.

With Athena, the focus can be shifted from damage output t?o damage protection. With this, interesting interactions emerge during cooperative gam??es. Instead of a group of four lone wolves fighting near each other in the same manner that they would when fighting alone, the Kinetic Aspis assigns Athena the specific role as a defender, allowing her teammates to specialize further in other abilities. Athena is a great friend to fight alongside. In fact...

She is the most important teammate to have.

Yes, my Kinetic Aspis can protect you fro??m taking damage, and you should be very grateful about that alone. But that's only a small part of why Athena is the best. Tara touched on it when she called dibs on Maya, but the ability to revive a teammate instantly at range, as opposed to having to be nearby and spending precious seconds in a vulnerable state, ranges between ve??ry helpful and utterly crucial.

Athena's "Clear!" ability is similar to Maya's "Res," except that it can affect multiple teammates at once. Imagine three other Vault Hunters, lying in pain at the feet of a raid boss, largely due to their own hubris and poor judgment (because they left Athena's motherly protective embrace), only to be mass resurrected by the wise shieldbearer. Considering the Borderlands series' focus on high level, post-game content, "Clear?!" will absolutely be the single most important sk?ill for any serious group looking to take on raids.

Sure, Claptrap has a skill tree devoted to buffing teammates, and Wilhelm has some skills sp?read around that do the same, but none of those hold a candle to Athena's ability to keep her friends in the fight, especially against bosses where death would lock them out of it. You can thank me now, since I have dibs on Athena.

She doesn't end up dead. Probably.

Look at that picture. That's Nisha: a total badass who strangles puppies, at least until Salvador and company come along to wreck her day in Borderlands 2. Then, she's just a dead body that flopped onto the ground in the most absurd position. She joins Wilhelm, who is killed even earlier under Handsome Jack's reign. Claptrap? His entire product line was obliterated before Borderlands 2 even begins.

But Athena? We don't know what she did after the fall of Atlas. We don't know where she was when the events of Borderlands 2 were occurring. Her story is completely open-ended. She has the most space?? for growth, change, betrayal, ??sadness, and ultimate victory. Her story is innately more interesting because we don't already know how it ends.

Assuming Borderlands 3 eventually comes into existence, Athena will probably be there. It is entirely possible that she dies in the events of the Pre-Sequel, which could explain why she is absent throughout Borderlands 2. Even if that i??s the case, finding that out is still more exciting than knowing how it ends right from the start. But that??'s probably not the case, because Athena is the best, and the best can't die. Probably.

She has a functioning moral compass.

Nisha strangles puppies. Wilhelm shows no mercy if the price? is high enough. Cl??aptrap just does what he is programmed to do. Athena actually knows right from wrong as she is impaling Scavengers and exploding dangerous creatures.

Sure, an assassin's job description is technically "kill for money," and that kind of makes her like Wilhelm, whose job as a mercenary is? also precisely to "kill for money," but Wilhelm's motivation is the promise of lavish riches. Athena needs money to feed herself. She is basically like Aladdin, except that she canonically snaps people's necks sometimes.

Where Nisha is lawful evil, Wilhelm is neutral evil, and Claptrap is chaotic neutral, Athena is the only truly moral character as a chaotic good. I would even say that she is not just chaotic good, she is chaotic best. Because she is the best. Dibs, by the way.

Dibs on Athena.

Seriously, dibs.

The post To any Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel players out there: I ha??ve di?bs on Athena appeared first on Destructoid.

Guns, guns, guns!

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel comes out next week, and 2K Games has now released the final episode of the four-part series behind the scenes at Gearbox and 2K Australia. Episodes One (To the Moon), Two (From Pandora to the Moon), and Three (The Good, the Bad, the Terrible, and the Claptrap) can be found at those ?links, for those who have some catching up to do. This one is subtitled "Weapons and Beyond."

A lot of the discussion of the weapons here focuses on the decision to make manufacturers more distinct in Borderlands 2, but the interviewees do eventually get to the lasers that are emphasized in The Pre-Sequel. Joel Eschler, producer at 2K Australia suggests that lasers have never been in a Borderlands game before, though most fans who have dug deeply know that isn't strictly correct, but it is true that the Pre-Sequel takes laser weapons much further than eithe?r of the previous titles d??id.

The "beyond" part of the subtitle sadly does not refer to anything regarding the eventual Borderlands 3, but instead looks at the DLC plans for the Pre-Sequel. It does not get much more specific than that, but does highlight Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep as one that the series has done well, and smartly stays far away from mentioning by name the poor Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt. If we get four pieces of DLC on the level of Tiny Tina, then Borderlands fans should be pretty pleased.

The post The final ‘making of’ video for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel looks at ‘Weapons and Beyond’ appeared first on Destructoid.

No, I will not high five you

Back when I spent way too much time playing with the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel interactive skill trees, I?? admitted that I was not really sure what to do with Claptrap's highly random play style. This video shows off some of that randomness, though it stays far away from the Fragmented Fragtrap skill tree (as I did). Still, it demonstrates something that previously might? not have been obvious.

The narrated gameplay video takes Claptrap and Nisha through a mission on a derelict spaceship as the Bosun taunts them from afar. In it, we see a few different Action Packages that Claptrap can summon at random: Clap-in-the-Box, Gun Wiza??rd, and Mechromagician. Clap-in-the-Box gives Claptrap a huge bomb to carry around, Gun Wizard increases fire rate but decreases accuracy, and Mechromagician increases gun damage but decreases accuracy (while also releasing a tiny Deathtrap robot).

What is only briefly mentioned is that ??a lot of Claptrap's Action Packages will affect everybody on the team, so while Gun Wizard and Mechromagician were in play, Nisha was also benefiting/suff??ering from the effects. I can only imagine the insanity of a team of four Claptraps, all popping their Action Skills at the same time.

The post Ten minutes of Claptrap ruining everything in this Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel ??video appeared first on Destructoid.

A gladiator, an enforcer, a lawbringer, and a fragtrap walk into a bar...

In case you have not yet heard, the full, interactive skill trees for all four of the Vault Hunters in the upcoming Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel have been released for public consumption.

Some of the mathematics governing the skill trees has been tweaked for the Pre-Sequel, so in contrast with Borderlands 2, th?ese new Vault Hunters will be able to reach the end of two of their three skill trees before hit??ting the initial level cap of 50.

Most people looking forward to the title had already decided on which character to main, but now we can all make more educated decisions. In my case, I am sure I will eventually play them al??l. So after reading every skill carefully, imagining how it will all play out on the battlefield, and spending far too much time tweaking skill points, I have come up with proposed builds for how I expect to play each of the new characters.

Athena the Gladiator

Action Skill: Kinetic Aspis. Press F to raise your Aspis and absorb all frontal damage. The Aspis can store a finite amount of absorbed damage as energy, based on your level. The Aspis is thrown at the end of the active duration, or if you press F again. The ?Aspis creates an e??xplosion upon impact, dealing base damage plus double the stored energy, before returning to you.

Skill tree: Phalanx
Focus: Defense for Athena and team
Notable skills:

• Prismatic Aegis: The Aspis now stores the elemental damage type of absorbed damage. Multiple elemental damage types can be stored and all stored damage types are dealth by the Aspis when thrown.
• Clear!: When thrown, the Aspis' explosion grants Second Wind to friends within range. In addition, you gain a Damage Bonus while in Fight For Your Life.
• Wrath of the Goddess: The Aspis will ricochet to up to four additional enemies, each taking less damage than the last. The Aspis will return to you after it hits the final enemy.

Skill tree: Xiphos
Focus: Melee damage
Notable skills:

• Rend: Your melee attacks cause enemies to bleed, inflicting damage over time. The damage is increased against higher Health targets, and the damage also benefits from your Melee Damage bonuses.
• Epicenter: Slam Alteration Skill. When you Slam you now create a singularity, pulling nearby enemies closer and dealing damage to them.
• Blood Rush: Melee Override Skill. Press V to dash toward an enemy and strike them with Xiphos with increased Melee Damage. This ability has a cooldown. If this attack applies a Bleed to a target that isn't Bleeding, or kills a target, the cooldown is immediately reset. Perform a regular melee attack when Blood Rush is on cooldown.

Skill tree: Ceraunic Storm
Focus: Incendiary and shock elemental damage
Notable skills:

• Maelstrom: Dealing Incendiary or Shock damage causes you to gain stacks of Maelstrom. All Elemental Damage dealt is increased for each stack of Maelstrom. Stacks will decay over time, and this rate of decay increases as you accumulate more stacks.
• Smite: When you are airborne, shooting an enemy will Smite them, causing Incendiary and Shock Damage in a small area. Smite damage increases as you accumulate more stacks of Maelstrom. This ability has a cooldown.
• Zeus' Rage: When you throw the Aspis, a devastating Fire and Lightning Storm will spawn at the target location, doing area damage for several seconds. The damage of the storm increases based on the amount of damage absorbed by the Aspis.
• Hades' Shackles: Slamming links you to nearby enemies with a Shock Tether for a short duration, electrocuting them. The tether is broken if you lose line of sight to the target. Any enemies still tethered at the end of the duration, or who die while tethered, release an Incendiary Nova, and you gain bonus Maelstrom stacks for each enemy affected. This ability has a cooldown.

My planned build (click for interactive version):

I plan to play Athena when I play cooperatively, and this build is all about supporting teammates, at the cost of a lot of skills that woul??d increase Athena's damage output. Vanguard and United Front help to keep teammates' health and shields up, and Hold the Line supplements those by increasing the duration of those effects. Given the usefulness of instantly reviving teammates (especially for raid ??bosses or other high-level content), Clear! is a must-have skill for team play.

One point in Prepare for Glory? brings aggro to Athena, making sure the Aspis is charged full??y for the secondary abilities like Zeus' Rage. With the shock damage from Smite, Superconductor, and Hades' Shackles, Athena can take down enemy shields quickly, allowing teammates to specialize in incendiary or corrosive to wear away at flesh or armor.

Wilhelm the Enforcer

Action Skill: Wolf and Saint. Press F to summon Wolf and Saint, your trusty combat drones. Wolf will roam and attack enemies, while Saint will stay close to you and replenish your Health. Saint ?h??as a protective shield, but Wolf can be damaged by enemies. Press and hold F to recall Wolf and Saint and have some of your Cooldown refunded.

Skill tree: Hunter-Killer
Focus: Wolf's damage output
Notable skills:

• Laser Guided: When you activate Wolf and Saint, or press F while they are active, Saint will Paint the target under your reticle. Wolf will focus attacks on the currently Painted target, and the target will receive increased Damage from all sources. If a target is killed while Painted, time will be added to Wolf and Saint's Duration.
• Kill Switch: Wolf Ability. Whenever Wolf is recalled, runs out of Health, or expires, it will dive bomb enemies with explosive effect!
• Omega Strike: Wolf Ability. Wolf periodically launches a deadly missile strike against its targets.

Skill tree: Cyber Commando
Focus: General abilities augmented through cybernetics
Notable skills:

• Power Fist: Cyborg Augmentation: Arm. Melee Override. Press V to perform an explosive punch with extended range. This ability has a cooldown.
• Shock Absorbers: Cyborg Augmentation: Legs. You can shoot while Sprinting. While doing so, you gain bonus Gun Damage, and suffer no accuracy penalties.
• Vengeance Cannon: Cyborg Augmentation: Weapon. Whenever your Shield becomes depleted, you activate your shoulder-mounted Vengeance Cannon. The Vengeance Cannon fires Incendiary Laser Blasts in tandem with your equipped weapon and lasts for a short period of time. Your Shield must fully recharge between activations.

Skill tree: Dreadnought
Focus: Saint's protection abilities
Notable skills:

• Termination Protocols: Fight For Your Life is replaced by Termination Protocols. During Termination Protocols you can walk at a reduced speed, fire your weapons, and you constantly shock nearby enemies. If the timer runs out, your power core goes critical, releasing a Nuclear Explosion.
• Zero Hour: Saint Ability. When Saint is recalled or expires, he explodes, deploying a Healing Zone underneath you. You and your friends Regenerate Health while standing in the zone.
• Overcharge: Saint Ability. Immediately after being summoned, Saint will release an Energy Wave that will Overcharge you and any nearby friends for a short duration. Overcharged players gain increased Movement Speed, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Ammo Regeneration.

My planned build (click for interactive version):

Wilhelm's drones Wolf and Saint make him an ideal solo play candidate, so this build maximizes the abilities of the ??Surveyor b?ots. Fire Support, Venom Bolts, Kill Switch, and Omega Strike all increase Wolf's offensive capability, while Energize, Zero Hour, and Overcharge improve Saint's healing and shield buffs.

Fortify, Man and Machine, and Scramble all help to ensure Wolf stays alive to keep fighting. Laser Guided, Auxiliary Tanks, and Rapid Reinforcement extend the amount of time? that Wolf and Saint are active, and decrease the amount of time waiting for them to recharge.

Nisha the Lawbringer

Action Skill: Showdown. Press F to activate Showdown, causing you to Automatically Aim at enemies and gain increased Gun Damage, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, Accuracy, and Bullet Speed with all gun types. Holding Mouse??-2 and flicking Mouse in a direction allows you to quickly cycle to another ta??rget. Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers do not receive the damage bonus. 

Skill tree: Law & Order
Focus: Gaining strength as damage is taken
Notable skills:

• Order: Every time you take 15% of your maximum health in damage you gain a stack of Order. Based on your number of Order stacks, you have a chance to instantly heal double the damage taken. Order stacks are quickly lost when outside combat.
• Rough Rider: Slam Augment. Your Slam attack's damage is increased by 25%. Dealing damage with Slam grants you five Order stacks per enemy damaged. This skill also raises your Order Stack Cap by five.
• Discipline: Upon reaching 10 Order stacks, your Shields are restored to full. Also, while at 10 or more Order stacks you gain improved Melee Damage, Gun Damage, and Shield Recharge Delay for each Order stack. This skill also raises your Order Stack Cap by five.
• Blood of the Guilty: When you or an ally kills an enemy, you gain a stack of Order and have 5% of your health restored. This skill also raises your Order Stack Cap by five.
• Thunder Crackdown: Melee Override. Your Melee Attack causes a large cone-shaped Shock Burst, dealing increased damage for each Order stack. This skill also raises your Order Stack Cap by five.

Skill tree: Fan the Hammer
Focus: Increased non-elemental damage and Showdown ability
Notable skills:

• Short Fused: Kill Skill. After killing an enemy, all your shots deal bonus Explosive Damage for a short time. The closer the enemy is to you, the higher the damage.
• Pickpocket: Your Melee Attack steals up to six bullets from your enemy and instantly loads them into your current gun's magazine. There is a cooldown for this skill. Does not work with Rocket Launcher ammo.
• One for Each of Ya: When using a Pistol, you get an exact copy of that gun in your offhand. While using Ironsights, you shoot with your main hand only.

Skill tree: Riflewoman
Focus: Shooting from the hip
Notable skills:

• Fistful of Bullets: Increases your Magazine Size with all gun types by three.
• Impatience: Killing an enemy grants you a stack of Impatience, increasing your Reload Speed by 20% for each stack. All stacks are lost after reloading. Stacks up to 21 times.
• The Unforgiven: During Showdown all shots that hit enemies ricochet toward other nearby enemies, dealing 10% weapon damage per hit. Also, showdown ending triggers an Explosion on all enemies who have been shot by you.

My planned build (click for interactive version):

Show?down looks great for dealing a ton of damage in a short period of time, and with Nisha's cowgirl aesthetic and One For Each of Ya ??skill, I picture her wielding Jakobs pistols (high damage, no elements, quick reload) almost exclusively. This build plays to that idea with a lot of straight gun damage increases like Magnificent Six, High Noon, Quick Shot, Crack Shot and Tombstone.

Interestingly, some of the single-point skills are neglected here. Fistful of Bullets is left out because it works against the synergy b??etween Magnificent Six and pistols. Impatience is not used because One for Each of Ya encourages use of pistols, and most pistols (Jakobs revolvers in particular) would not benefit much from it. Four points are allotted to Bona Fide Grit as the only health recovery skill outside the Law & Order skill tree, but if Nisha is paired up with an Athena, Wilhelm, or Claptrap with group-healing abilities, those points could easily go into Saddle Up for additional speed and gun damage.

Claptrap the Fragtrap

Action Skill: VaultHunter.EXE. Press F to run your VaultHunter.EXE program. It will analyze the situation, determine whic??h Vault Hunter would do the best job, and then?? load an ACTION PACKAGE allowing Claptrap to fight in that manner for a short period of time. It also gives you Full Health and Health Regeneration. VaultHunter.EXE is still in beta and its definition of "Vault Hunter" is questionable at best. Warning: VaultHunter.EXE is currently classified as malware. Your allies may be affected. 

Skill tree: Boomtrap
Focus: Explosive damage
Notable skills:

• Second Wind (by Tediore): When you enter Fight For Your Life, throw a digistructed copy of yourself which explodes like a grenade, and you continually emit Explosive Novas.
• I Am Rubber, You Are Glue: Kill Skill. Whenever you kill an enemy, bullets have a chance to reflect off you and towards enemies for a short time. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE Torgue Fiesta. Torgue Fiesta: Whoops! Drop a large amount of grenades that damage enemies and friendlies.
• Livin' Near the Edge: Increases Fire Rate and Reload Speed. The lower your health and shields, the greater the bonus. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE Pirate Ship Mode. Pirate Ship Mode: Turn into an AWESOME PIRATE SHIP! With CANNONS!

Skill tree: I Love You Guys!
Focus: Healing and increasing stats for all teammates
Notable skills:

• Kick Him While He's Down: While in Fight For Your Life, you draw aggro from nearby enemies. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE Clap-in-the-Box. Clap-in-the-Box: Digistruct a giant bomb that hurts everything around it when it explodes.
• You're... GOING TO LOVE ME!!: Killing an enemy creates a Friendship Nova centered on the enemy, Healing you and your friends in the radius. Allies who are low on health are healed for more. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE Gun Wizard. Gun Wizard: You and all allies gain drastically increased fire rate and reload speed.
• It's a Trap... Card: When your Shield becomes depleted, you release a Mega-Nova centered on yourself that heals you and your friends, but hurts enemies. Targets low on health are healed for more. Your Shield must fully recharge between Mega-Novas.
• HIGH FIVES GUYS: Hold V to request a High Five from your friends! A successful High Five increases your and your awesome friend's Gun Damage, Fire Rate, and grants Health Regeneration. Woo! If you don't have any friends, or they leave you hangin', gain increased Gun Damage and Health Regeneration for a few seconds, because screw you guys!

Skill tree: Fragmented Fragtrap
Focus: Unpredictability?
Notable skills:

• All the Guns: Gun Subroutines. You randomly pick a Subroutine focused on a gun type, making you more effective with that gun type, but less effective with all others. Upon selecting a Subroutine you gain 100 Frag Stacks, which decrease over time. When you run out of Frag Stacks, your Subroutine will be replaced with a new one.
• Safety First: Defensive Subroutines. You randomly pick a Subroutine focused on either Health or Shields, which grants increased Capacity and Regeneration for the chosen attribute. The catch? You deal reduced damage with all gun types. Upon selecting a Subroutine you gain 100 Frag Stacks, which decrease over time. When you run out of Frag Stacks, your Subroutine will be replaced with a new one.
• Rope-a-Derp: Melee Subroutine. You randomly pick a melee-focused Subroutine, which grants you a massive melee damage bonus but reduces your damage with guns.
• Tripleclocked: Multiplies the Bonuses and Penalties of the current Subroutine by up to three. The fewer Frag Stacks you have, the greater the multiplier. Defensive Subroutines always receive Triple Capacity regardless of stacks. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE One Shot Wonder. One Shot Wonder: Every shot empties all bullets from your clip.
• Element of Surprise: Elemental Subroutines. You randomly pick a Subroutine that Increases Damage with a chosen element, but Decreases Damage with all other elements. Upon depleting your shield, filling your shield, or entering Fight For Your Life, you release a Nova of the chosen element.
• Rainbow Coolant: Whenever you initial a new Subroutine you emit a Rainbow Nova. The Nova consists of all elements, humongous in size, and makes your team super happy. Also, unlocks ACTION PACKAGE Laser Inferno. Laser Inferno: Shoot lasers in all directions at nearby enemies.

My planned build (click for interactive version):

Hmm. I will admit, I had some trouble deciding what ??to do here. Though some of the skills in the Fragmented Fragtrap tree sound pretty great, the Subroutine idea that the tree is based on sounds really difficult to optimize, especially in a multiplayer game where pausing to rearrange equipment loadouts in the middle of battle is not an option.

Most of the skills in the I Love You Guys! tree were chosen to best benefit the team as a whole. In particular, Through Thick and Thin works well to allow teammates access to more reliable Action Skills more quickly, but requires Claptrap to use his own Action Skill. To supplement that, all of the additional ACTION PACKAGES from both the Boomtrap and I Love You Guys! trees are unlocked. Even with? this build, Claptrap is a wildcard, but he can at least explode a lot of people and really buff up teammates.

So these are ??my initial reactions are to the full skill trees, but of course, the mark of a well-designed skill tree is its adaptability to different play styles. I built Athena to play a support role, Wilhelm to let his drones do all the work, Nisha to deal as much gun damage as possible, and Claptrap to make his teammates more awesome and not get too much in the way. Feel free to share your builds with what you would do differently.

The post A quick guide ?to all four Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel skill trees appeared first on Destructoid.

Part three of four in the behind-the-scenes series

Gearbox Software has been slowly releasing a four-part behind-the-scenes series of videos on the making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, leading up to the title's October 14 release. Episode One looked at the initial announcement, while Episode Two focused on the gameplay features that resulted in settin??g it on Pandora's moon Elpis. Today, Episode Three released, and it highlights the four playable characters.

In the video, various Gearbox and 2K Australia employees discuss how the four characters were decided upon, and how they feel to play. Special attention is given to Claptrap's nutso disco ball, which is only one of many possible action skills he can sport.

Given the rate at which these are releasing, we can probably expect the final video in this series, tit??led "Weapons and Post-Launch," to show up just a few days before the game itself.

The post Get a closer look at the fou???r playable characters in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

'This is so stupid!'

PAX Prime 2014 is winding down, but that doesn't mean those of us at home can't pretend like we are there, stalking Max Scoville as he roams the show floor. I was going to give a detailed play-by-play of the video here, but I? have decided that just pasting the notes I took while watching will suffice. Hope you like animals!

• Andy, Hamza, Jordan, and community member Muddbstrd as Mr. Destructoid
• Max Scoville looking for animals
• Guy on elevator gets creeped out
• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel oxygen bar
• "This is so stupid!"
• Blake
• Indie MEGABOOTH
• Somebody asks for Tara, but is so uninteresting that the video editor fast forwarded it
• Evolve monster crotch extreme closeup
• Max walks through a fart
• "Let's go look at Pikachu's asshole!"
• Paul who gets swag
• Woman who smiles knowingly about Max looking for a tank's asshole
• Laserzone

So there you have it! The experien?ce of walking the show floor with Max Scoville, and you didn't even have to personally walk through a fart.

The post You aren’t at PAX? Let Max Scoville give you the tour appeared first on Destructoid.

It's Gearbox, you knew a Season Pass was coming

Another Borderlands, another set of DLC.

Today, Gearbox announced their plans for the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Seas??on Pass, which yet again includes four add-ons. They will b?e comprised of new missions and characters, and although each pack will run you $9.99, the pass can be picked up for $29.99.

If you pre-order the game from select retailers, you'll get the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit bonus mission -- from the description, it sounds like anot?her challenge arena. It?? won't be in the Season Pass, but you can buy it later if you want.

The post Gearbox announces Borderlands: Th??e Pr??e-Sequel Season Pass info appeared first on Destructoid.

Who is that mysterious woman?

2K Games has been trickling out information about the playable characters in the upcoming Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, but while it has featured Athena the Gladiator, Wilhelm the Enforcer, and Nisha the Lawbringer, the publisher has been pretty tight-lipped about the funny little robot who has been around since the beginning. Today, Claptrap gets the spotlight, a??nd he uses it to dance, among ot??her things.

Though one frame would suggest that Claptrap uses an advanced algorithm to assess the situation and produce the most appropriate response, previous comments from Gearbox seem to suggest that his action skill is selected randomly among a pool of possible abilities, running the gamut from really?? cool to apparently useless. The trailer above names a few: Torgue Fiesta, Funzerker, Laser Inferno, Shhh?hhhhhhhh...trap, One Shot Wonder, and Rubber Ducky. Additionally, we see him with a pirate ship mast and four cannons, and also sporting some Siren wings. "Lunacy" just about describes it.

Another notable bit from the trailer is the informal introduction of an unknown woman. Though we have not ever seen her before, she is featured fairly prominently, shown to be running away from somebody or something. My guess? That is Handsome Jack's wife, whose fate is hinted at in Borderlands 2, but never explicitly spelled out. We may just find out exactly what happened to her before the events of Borderlands 2.

The post Claptrap shows? off his action sk??ill(s) in this Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

Go, or risk being a Zer0

San Diego Comic-Con has no shortage of special events to keep con-goers' schedules completely packed. Videogame publishers find the show a perfect opportunity to get their up-and-coming titles in front of a massive audience. 2K's taking advantage of that with an affair that?? has a lot of big names attached to it.

To promote Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, 2K and The Nerdist are holding a laser tag match in a pro ballpark that's hosted by famous cosplayer Jessica Nigri. Nigri's going to be dressed as Moon Moxxi, one of the first looks at Mad Moxxi in The Pre-Sequel.

The festivities kick off at noon on Saturday July 26 at Petco Park. While laser tag is damn fun in its own right, hopefully 2K brings a giant bouncy house to play in. You know, to simulate the low gravity of space. Or really a?ny excuse to play in a giant ??bouncy house.

You've got Moxxi, kid! Jessica Nigri hosts Borderlands cos??play meetup at Nerdist laser tag [The Nerdist]

The post Jessica Nigri’s hosting a Borderlands laser tag match at SDCC appeared first on Destructoid.

Thunder butts and meat popsicles

I got my hands on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel recently, and I've got some hot info on the new mechanics, and one of the new player characters, Athena the Gladiator. The game's new Stingray vehicle has a neat trick to it, there may be smart-targeting laser guns in this new iteration, most importantly, Athena is definitely ??a badass.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel releases in North A??merica on October 14th, 2014; with the worldwide release following on the 17th.

The post Video: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s new Stingray vehicle, Athena breakdown, and smart guns? appeared first on Destructoid.

Vault Hunters cosplaying as Jack's minions

Over the weekend at GaymerX, Gearbox announced that it would be releasing free Borderlands 2 customization options tomorrow. The idea behind them came from the prolific Borderlands cosplay community, so the Borderlands 2 characters would be dressed as various Pre-Sequel characters. Thanks to Gearbox forum user Norrin Radd, we ??have the above off-screen image of the Vault Hunters sporting the ?new skins and heads.

It looks like Gaige is dressed as Moxxi, Salvador as Wilhelm, Axton as Athena, Zer0 as Claptrap, and Maya as Nisha. Even though I have been following Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel fairly closely, I cannot seem to plac?e Krieg's costume. Any ideas out there?

The new customization options should show up as a free t??itle update, but rather than being simply granted to players, they will be included as rare loot drops. It looks like it i??s about time to start grinding with my Siren again. That cowboy hat is too good to pass up.

The post Fre?e Borderl??ands: The Pre-Sequel skins coming to Borderlands 2 on Tuesday appeared first on Destructoid.

Several, in fact

In this nearly 15-minute demonstration of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel at E3, 2K and Gear?box show off how the game's oxygen mechanic works. Running low? Replenishment is just a geyser or maybe an enemy away.

The downside to The Pre-Sequel's lack of air is the constant need to keep your supply full. The upside is the incredible verticality it adds. Platforming in Borderlands has never looked so fun.

As an added bonus, we get to see what one of Wilhelm's capstone abilities is. Called the Vengeance Cannon, it activates a ?laser beam-shooting artillery once your health drops below a certain threshold. Unfortunately, it's never used in the video, but it sounds like it would just absolutely wreck everyone around.

The post Borderlands: The Pre-??Sequel took a breath of fresh air at E3 appeared first on Destructoid.

Meet Wolf and Saint

Since its reveal, we have known that the four playable characters in the upcoming Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel would be Athena the Gladiator, Wilhelm the Enforcer, Nisha the Lawbringer, and Claptrap the Fragtrap. Up until now, we have only seen Athena in action, with her Captain America-esque shield.

Capping off its week of coverage, IGN showed off Wilhelm's special ability, and it should not surprise many who fought and killed the cybernetically-enhanced henchman in Borderlands 2. Wilhelm will be able to summon two Surveyor d??rones; Wolf is built for assault while Saint is meant more for defens??e and healing.

The footage shown focuses on Wolf, which differs from Gaige's Deathtrap robot in that it appears to have better artificial intelligen??ce, following the player around and focusing fire on Wilhelm's targets rather than just going for the nearest enemy.

Only one of Wilhelm's three skill trees (Hunter-Killer) is shown, and most of the skills highlighted pertain to Wolf. To take a step in the direction of speculation, I expect Wilhelm's second skill tree (Cyber Commando) to focus largely on buffing Wilhelm himself, and will relate most strongly to him becoming the cyborg we see in Borderlands 2. The final skill tree, whose name is illegible, probably powers up Saint and specia?lizes in defense.

Hopefully 2K lets us see the full skill trees of all four characters in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel soon. We need some time to start calling dibs, after all.

The New Skills of Wilhelm the Enforcer [IGN]

The post Wilhelm’s action skill in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has been revealed appeared first on Destructoid.