Borderlanders Ahoy!

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Borderlands 20With a potent New Game+ and the recent releases of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, Borderlands has stayed relevant despite its curiously constructed, abrupt plot arc. Andrew Vanden Bossche’s GameSetWatch column, “Design Diversions: Anatomy of a Gun,” for instance, points our attention solely to the guns:

“Borderlands exudes style, character, and charm for a good half hour before dropping it. It’s regrettable since the game has so much going for it in this department: colorful characters, a vibrant but derelict landscape, and an alien society of corporations and vagrants. … After all, the most important characters in Borderlands are the ones players can never look away from: the guns. 1)http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/11/column_design_diversions_anato.php

Having beaten the game with people I’m great friends with, Borderlands became a frictionless experience as we decided to split up weapons and classes evenly from the get-go. My question to you is, then, how do you solve the sharing issues that the game, at its worst, can present? Let’s assume the worst-case scenario: Four players enter the game with the same class and weapon proficiencies.

Hopefully we can get a good enough tally of votes to draw some conclusions – please vote accordingly, and if you have any tasty stories, good ideas or general tips relating to the poll, do post those in the comments section! Finally, if you have any friends who you played with, please do forward the poll over to them as well. Thanks again, everybody!

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Slowdown Slowdown

While you have probably noticed the tell-tale signs of a steady stream of “Quote of the Day” posts (as fun as they are to post…!), I would just like to take a moment to clarify the situation somewhat: Richard, Nabeel and I have all been beyond busy lately. I’m telling you, it feels so good to be able to write that down, even if it doesn’t change a thing: Busy!

(Kinda dig the earlier one – it doesn’t read “TORMENT” all over it…)

To write about games, you have to think about games. To do that, you do have to read and discuss them, too. Doing that properly means you have to play them first. The problem? The above chain of events simply never even gets rolling when you’re pressed for time! We try to take each and every post seriously and this sometimes means more work and delays.

Right now, our @slowdownvg Twitter feed is slightly more active than the front page, as is my own @martynzachary – if only barely.

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The Screw PC Crew

Beyond an excellent pre-emptive counter-example in Piranha Bytes’ forthcoming, PC-first Risen (thanks Richard), this year has been a veritable desert of simultaneous, cross-platform launches – what begun in 2008 in the form of GTAIV and Mass Effect continues full steam ahead this year; for instance, over the past few weeks, we’ve learned of PC delays for Borderlands and Assassin’s Creed II. Below, you can find a list of PC games delayed and/or intentionally scheduled after their console counterparts (with EU market launch dates for consoles and the PC, respectively):

Crimes Against Humanity

  • Alan Wake
    • Spring 2010 – TBA?
  • Battlefield 1943
    • July 8, 2009 – Q1 2010
  • Braid
    • August 6, 2008 – April 10, 2009
  • The Force Unleashed
    • September 19, 2008 – Q4 2009
  • Resident Evil 5
    • March 13, 2009 – September 18, 2009

Major Offences

  • Assassin’s Creed II
    • 20th November, 2009 – Q1 2010
  • Colin McRae: Dirt 2
    • 10 September 2009 – December 2009
  • Mirror’s Edge
    • November 14, 2008 – January 16, 2009
  • Red Faction: Guerrilla
    • June 5, 2009 – September 18, 2009
  • Street Fighter IV
    • February 20, 2009 – July 3, 2009

Technical Oversights

  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
    • August 28, 2009 – September 18, 2009
  • Borderlands
    • October 23, 2009 – October 30, 2009
  • Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X
    • March 6, 2009 – March 17, 2009

Have you gotten used to the idea of the PC version always arriving late?

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