A few weeks ago I contacted Randy Pitchford, co-founder and CEO of Gearbox Software, for an interview regarding Borderlands, the upcoming DLC and the possibility of a sequel. Randy was nice enough to make time in his busy schedule (i.e. playing and making video games for a living – lucky bastard!), to answer some of the questions.

This is part two of that interview and covers the possibility of a sequel, some technical questions, and other random tidbits.

You can find Part I here.

[Sidenote: Read my on-going review/in-character/commentary series on the game, 'The Borderlands Chronicles':

• Part I: “Zed’s Red Baby!” or “Skag Skirmish”
• Part II: “9+3=12” or “Why Don’t They Call Him 3-Balls?”
• Part III: “Vending Machine Tycoons” or “Give ‘em Hell Bloodwing!”

Enjoy!]

:: ON BORDERLANDS 2 ::

Bronte (B): Mike Neumann has all but directly confirmed a sequel to Borderlands. Can you comment further?

Randy Pitchford (RP): I think Mikey just said that he can confirm that there’s a “chance” for a Borderlands 2.  I think he was playing around with the journalist there… He also said, “Obviously, nothing so far is planned. We’re working on DLC.”

B: Come on! You know you want to!

RP: I don’t have anything to announce at this time, but I’m really excited that you’re excited.

:: ON TECHNICAL ISSUES ::

Thank you for not allowing PC to be a bastard-child, secondary-citizen to the console generation. Do you feel a game designed from the ground up on the PC has better cross-platform development? Or vice versa?

RP: I think PC development has become more complicated and tricky over the years. But I also think we can do even more there. We’re looking at sales and looking at forums and we’re prioritizing things in our support of the game and are going to take influence from the data and the experience to affect our future decisions.

B: Halflife, Brothers in Arms, and now Borderlands. Do you feel getting hit IP’s that demand expansions and sequels stagnate a studio’s creativity or enhance it?

RP: We just try to make video games that we think are fun, cool and those we want to play ourselves.  I think that it’s important for us to spend time on things we want to spend time on. Sometimes, that’s new things and sometimes, that’s caring more for things with which we’ve already spent time. I think if we had a magic wand, we could magically create more time for ourselves because there are so many things we want to make and so many things we can spend our time doing.

B: Borderlands, for a lot of people, was a painful experience because of the troubles with online play and LAN issues. What steps is Gearbox taking to ensure these issues are sorted out for the upcoming content?

RP: I think that is the thing I wished was most different… And we’re investing more support in those areas. There are some awesome people here that really care, even after the launch, in correcting the troubles.  We’ve already deployed some updates, for platforms, that have addressed some of these issues and we have more deploying as soon as we’re clear to do so.  I think the connectivity issues that some customers are having will be soon cleared up and I think the experience has taught us and our publishing partner a lot which in turn will make the connectivity experience in our future games much better.

:: MISCELLANEOUS ::

B: Are you aware that your name’s initials also stand for “Role Playing” or “Randomized Pew-pew?”

RP: I am now.  Thank you for pointing that out.

B: Was it really you that killed those play testers?

RP: That was some funny thing that IGN did.  I had no idea that they had even done that, but after the surprise, I was highly amused by it.  I even dressed up like the fake me for our costume party at the studio during Halloween because what else could I be?

B: Are there any plans to bring that madman to justice?!?

RP: MAINSTREAM’D!

Marcus Kincaid in Borderlands, and Roman Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV.

I can’t be the only one who sees the resemblance…

Gearbox sign with some dude

If you have never heard of Gearbox Software, insert a witty variation of the crawl back under the rock pun. Halflife: Opposing Force, some obscure title, Counterstrike, I think it my have been, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, a little game called Halo, and more recently Brothers in Arms and Borderlands are just some of the titles Gearbox Software has produced over the years.

If you don’t know of Randy Pitchford, lift that rock you have been living under above your head… higher… a little higher… little higher still. Now let it drop. One of the four co-founders of the company, and the current President and CEO, his vision and leadership has made Gearbox Software a force to be reckoned with. With so many titles under his belt, one might say Randy is a magician. You’d be right, because prior to becoming a developer, he actually was a full-time magician in Hollywood!

I contacted Randy a few weeks ago for an interview regarding Borderlands, the upcoming DLC and the possibility of a sequel. Randy was nice enough to make time in his busy schedule (i.e. playing and making video games for a living – lucky bastard!), to answer some of the questions.

This is part one of that interview and covers Borderlands and the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC. Part II will focus on Borderlands 2, technical issues, as well as some miscellaneous comments.

Enjoy!

:: ON BORDERLANDS ::

Bronte (B): Borderlands is a lonely place. Aside from a few plot advancers and quest givers, even the main ‘towns’ feel devoid of human life. The bandit towns, on the other hand, seem brimming to the rafters with goons. Given the post-apocalyptic feel of the game, and the setting of Pandora, was this an intentional design choice?

Randy Pitchford (RP):  From a story point of view, we did want the place to feel that the lawful side of things had completely degenerated. We wanted the towns to feel as if they once were much more relevant and populated, but when you finally arrive, few are left and their future is bleak.  From a design point of view, we wanted the game to focus on the action and not on reading text or following character plots around. The most fun to be had in Borderlands is through adventuring, taking down bad guys and taking their loot. This is where we wanted much of the focus to be. As far as we felt, we could safely push  that part of the experience so; we downplayed the NPC and dialogue which is often associated with role-playing games.

B: Gearbox has made shooters for a long time. In a prior interview with Xbox Magazine, you said that Diablo’s near-obsessive loot-collection mechanic was a heavy influence for the game. Yet it feels that even the loot that drops from bosses is scarce compared to the loot flood we experienced in Diablo. What was the rationale behind this decision?

RP: I don’t think scarce is the right word for describing the amount of loot that drops from bosses in Borderlands. A typical boss will spew a bunch of things and you will also typically find other valuables locked away in chests nearby. In Borderlands, however, we tried to be careful about finding that right balance; too much loot and you’re spending more time sifting through it and making decisions than you’d like; too little loot and you get bored and lose interest because you’re not having enough opportunities to find new and exciting things.   I’m really confident we achieved the balance between those end points, especially considering how much we iterated the design and how much we tested it with test subjects. Still – there’s always room for improvement

B: Aside from Diablo, Borderlands is compared to MMO’s on occasion. Creatures re-spawn (in a logical manner, not materializing out of thin air, kudos on that BTW). There are dungeon crawls. You can grind the same boss for the perfect loot. It is almost as if Borderlands was an experimental foray into the treacherous waters of the MMO genre. Hint, hint?

RP: Yes, there are some MMO influences in Borderlands.  While we’ve definitely done something in creating the first great shooter-looter, there are certainly things we can do even better through iteration. Expect some developments in the future updates and in add-ons in which we’re heavily invested.

B: ‘Shooter-looter’, I like that term. I also noticed you didn’t really answer the question! Moving on! Borderlands had a very harsh, unwelcoming feel to it. The music especially added to the idea of isolation and the overall mystique. How elaborate was the sound design behind the game and how will you improve on it in the upcoming DLC?

RP: I’m really proud of what Raison and Mark accomplished with the audio design; those guys are incredible. Raison took tremendous responsibility for the music and most of the audio effects in the game. He did a great job capturing the feel of both desolation and wonder, and wrapping it all together which is a difficult task to accomplish.

B: One personal pet peeve: why does my vehicle (at least on the Xbox 360) have two steering wheels? You accelerate with one, and turn with the other. Was there a reason behind this counter-intuitive implementation?

RP: The vehicle control was modeled after Halo’s vehicle controls.  We made the assumption, for the Xbox 360 version, that most of our customers would’ve played Halo and would already be familiar with that method for driving cars. For those customers, who did NOT play Halo but are playing Borderlands, we figured they would be able to figure it out.  Maybe, in a future iteration we will support different methods for controlling the vehicles, however, control is so closely linked to camera and physics which is really difficult and risky to do when doing more than one thing.

B: I understand the game was built using UT3 technology. Some of the levels in the world felt cramped and small, especially given claims of Pandora being a massive planet. There are speculations that the aging technology may have forced the wraparound designs and dictated the size of locations. Your thoughts?

RP: Reading this question, I’m not sure if we’re playing the same game.     First, the version of Unreal Engine used for Borderlands is not aging.  In fact, the engine development team has been supporting the technology with amazing improvements well into the generation to ensure that it is the best engine in the world for this kind of game.  Furthermore, Gearbox built upon the technology with additional new features and lighting techniques that are as cutting edge as you can get; including, support for ambient occlusion on Xbox 360!   Secondly, the huge variety of spaces found on Pandora, from the most open and wide, to the most linear and cramped, are more about variety in the layout than they are about a technology limit.   The maximum size of the game spaces and the number of things within each game space are limited by the memory and performance of the platform.   We decided to break the world into chunks in order to support the cooperative game play so that we can be sure that cooperative players are likely to be playing in close enough proximity of one another.

B: Why can’t we shoot the shit out of Claptrap? He is annoying!

RP: Claptrap is a character, to be sure. Although, a ClapTrap shooting gallery could be fun.

:: ON THE ISLAND OF DR. NED DLC ::

B: Zombie filled DLC a week after Left 4 Dead 2. Ballsy!

RP: Hmm…  I didn’t really think about it like that. I think the DLC is for people who like Borderlands and want to see that experience improve and grow such as killing Zombies, Wereskags, Tankensteins and all kinds of crazy undead critters which have all been rendered like we’ve never seen before. Plus, you can play these 50+ new quests alone or with friends, all the while, collecting a ton of loot, leveling up and having a blast.

B: Dragon Age introduced launch day DLC’s that is only downloaded if you had a unique legitimate key. Would you experiment with something similar, at least for the PC, to ensure the rampant piracy on the platform is somewhat curbed?

RP: I don’t know. I’m not going to comment on what other people are doing, but I am happy to talk about what we’re doing. We released Borderlands worldwide in late October, but had to finish more than two months earlier than that in order to get through the certification, manufacturing and distribution process.  As we finished the game and started going towards certification, the developers at Gearbox had so many cool ideas that we just went all in and started working on DLC in order to add new experiences that could be launched as soon as we get them done.  Because of the passion, the motivation and the intense amount of effort the team has put in – between when the game was practically finished to now- we’re going to be able to launch the first DLC for Borderlands just a little more than a month after the first retail copy hit store shelves.  We think that’s really awesome and we hope that customers who love Borderlands support us and our motivation to make even more DLC.  The value is there! It’s an incredibly cool new campaign and is pretty large for what it costs.  I think people are going to love it. There are some concerns that despite being a great game, at times it felt like more of the same. What are some of the environmental and gameplay elements unique to the DLC?

B: There are some concerns that despite being a great game, at times it felt like more of the same. What are some of the environmental and gameplay elements unique to the DLC?

RP: Check out the screenshots – it’s like an entirely new game with new places that are totally different than the environments in the original game.  There are also new creatures and enemies that are really creepy, cool and just fun to fight and take down.   I love the Tankensteins, especially, the ones that carry loot chests on their backs.  Killing them and then looting the chest is really gratifying.

B: What about structure and storyline?

RP: You’re going to visit Dr. Ned’s Zombie Island, as the title suggests, but you’ll head out there and into the Jakob’s gun manufacturer’s facilities on the planet and get caught up in a cool and interesting adventure. There’s a nice set up for it that’ll kick off when you first fast travel to the area, so I’m not going to spoil anything for anyone. By the way, even if you haven’t unlocked the fast-travel network yet, we let you fast travel to the new area that comes with the DLC, right off the bat.  And, we’ve done some scaling of the content so that when you enter the area you  pretty much have a challenge, no matter what level you are in when you buy it.

B: Is Dr. Ned related to Dr. Zed? Neumann says no. I think he’s lying. That sneaky bastard.

RP: Nope, totally unrelated. They have nothing to do with each other.  It’s all just a big coincidence that their names sound alike.

B: We’ll make that two sneaky bastards then.

(Continued in Part II… coming soon)

 

Borderlands

1. Bronte: Borderlands is a lonely place. Aside from a few plot advancers and quest givers, even the main ‘towns’ feel devoid of human life. The bandit towns, on the other hand, seems brimming to the rafters with goons. Given the post-apocalyptic feel of the game, and the setting of Pandora, was this an intentional design choice?

Randy Pitchford: From a story point of view, we did want the place to feel that the lawful side of things had completely degenerated. We wanted the towns to feel as if they once were much more relevant and populated, but when you finally arrive, few are left and their future is bleak.   From a design point of view, we wanted the game to focus on the action and not on reading text or following character plots around.   The most fun to be had in Borderlands is through adventuring, taking down bad guys and taking their loot. This is where we wanted much of the focus to be. As far as we felt, we could safely push  that part of the experience so; we downplayed the NPC and dialogue which is often associated with role-playing games.

1. Bronte: Gearbox has made shooters for a long time. In a prior interview with Xbox Magazine, you said that Diablo’s near-obsessive loot-collection mechanic was a heavy influence for the game. Yet it feels that even the loot that drops from bosses is scarce compared to the loot flood we experienced in Diablo. What was the rationale behind this decision?

Randy Pitchford: I don’t think scarce is the right word for describing the amount of loot that drops from bosses in Borderlands.  A typical boss will spew a bunch of things and you will also typically find other valuables locked away in chests nearby.   In Borderlands, however, we tried to be careful about finding that right balance; too much loot and you’re spending more time sifting through it and making decisions than you’d like; too little loot and you get bored and lose interest because you’re not having enough opportunities to find new and exciting things.   I’m really confident we achieved the balance between those end points, especially considering how much we iterated the design and how much we tested it with test subjects. Still – there’s always room for improvement

3. Bronte: Aside from Diablo, Borderlands is compared to MMO’s on occasion. Creatures re-spawn (in a logical manner, not materializing out of thin air, kudos on that BTW). There are dungeon crawls. You can grind the same boss for the perfect loot. It is almost as if Borderlands was an experimental foray into the treacherous waters of the MMO genre. Hint, hint?

Randy Pitchford: Yes, there are some MMO influences in Borderlands.  While we’ve definitely done something in creating the first great shooter-looter, there are certainly things we can do even better through iteration. Expect some developments in the future updates and in add-ons in which we’re heavily invested.

1. Bronte: Borderlands had a very harsh, unwelcoming feel to it. The music especially added to the idea of isolation and the overall mystique. How elaborate was the sound design behind the game and how will you improve on it in the upcoming DLC?

Randy Pitchford: I’m really proud of what Raison and Mark accomplished with the audio design; those guys are incredible.  Raison took tremendous responsibility for the music and most of the audio effects in the game. He did a great job capturing the feel of both desolation and wonder wrapping it all together which is a difficult task to accomplish.

1. Bronte: One personal pet peeve: why does my vehicle (at least on the Xbox 360) have two steering wheels? You accelerate with one, and turn with the other. Was there a reason behind this counter-intuitive implementation?

Randy Pitchford: The vehicle control was modeled after Halo’s vehicle controls.  We made the assumption, for the Xbox 360 version, that most of our customers would’ve played Halo and would already be familiar with that method for driving cars. For those customers, who did NOT play Halo but are playing Borderlands, we figured they would be able to figure it out.  Maybe, in a future iteration we will support different methods for controlling the vehicles, however, control is so closely linked to camera and physics which is really difficult and risky to do when doing more than one thing.

1. Bronte: I understand the game was built using UT3 technology. Some of the levels in the world felt cramped and small, especially given claims of Pandora being a massive planet. There are speculations that the aging technology may have forced the wraparound designs and dictated the size of locations. Your thoughts?

Randy Pitchford: Reading this question, I’m not sure if we’re playing the same game.     First, the version of Unreal Engine used for Borderlands is not aging.  In fact, the engine development team has been supporting the technology with amazing improvements well into the generation to ensure that it is the best engine in the world for this kind of game.  Furthermore, Gearbox built upon the technology with additional new features and lighting techniques that are as cutting edge as you can get; including, support for ambient occlusion on Xbox 360!   Secondly, the huge variety of spaces found on Pandora, from the most open and wide, to the most linear and cramped, are more about variety in the layout than they are about a technology limit.   The maximum size of the game spaces and the number of things within each game space are limited by the memory and performance of the platform.   We decided to break the world into chunks in order to support the cooperative game play so that we can be sure that cooperative players are likely to be playing in close enough proximity of one another.

1. Bronte: Why can’t we shoot the shit out of Claptrap? He is annoying!

Randy Pitchford: Claptrap is a character, to be sure. Although, a ClapTrap shooting gallery could be fun.

Borderlands DLC:

8. Bronte: Zombie filled DLC a week after Left 4 Dead 2. Ballsy!

Randy Pitchford: Hmm…  I didn’t really think about it like that. I think the DLC is for people who like Borderlands and want to see that experience improve and grow such as killing Zombies, Wereskags, Tankensteins and all kinds of crazy undead critters which have all been rendered like we’ve never seen before. Plus, you can play these 50+ new quests alone or with friends, all the while, collecting a ton of loot, leveling up and having a blast.

1. Bronte: Dragon Age introduced launch day DLC’s that is only downloaded if you had a unique legitimate key. Would you experiment with something similar, at least for the PC, to ensure the rampant piracy on the platform is somewhat curbed?

Randy Pitchford: I don’t know.  I’m not going to comment on what other people are doing, but I am happy to talk about what we’re doing.  We released Borderlands worldwide in late October, but had to finish more than two months earlier than that in order to get through the certification, manufacturing and distribution process.  As we finished the game and started going towards certification, the developers at Gearbox had so many cool ideas that we just went all in and started working on DLC in order to add new experiences that could be launched as soon as we get them done.  Because of the passion, the motivation and the intense amount of effort the team has put in – between when the game was practically finished to now- we’re going to be able to launch the first DLC for Borderlands just a little more than a month after the first retail copy hit store shelves.  We think that’s really awesome and we hope that customers who love Borderlands support us and our motivation to make even more DLC.  The value is there! It’s an incredibly cool new campaign and is pretty large for what it costs.  I think people are going to love it. There are some concerns that despite being a great game, at times it felt like more of the same. What are some of the environmental and gameplay elements unique to the DLC?

1. Bronte: There are some concerns that despite being a great game, at times it felt like more of the same. What are some of the environmental and gameplay elements unique to the DLC?

Randy Pitchford: Check out the screenshots – it’s like an entirely new game with new places that are totally different than the environments in the original game.  There are also new creatures and enemies that are really creepy, cool and just fun to fight and take down.   I love the Tankensteins, especially, the ones that carry loot chests on their backs.  Killing them and then looting the chest is really gratifying.

1. Bronte: What about structure and storyline?

Randy Pitchford: You’re going to visit Dr. Ned’s Zombie Island, as the title suggests, but you’ll head out there and into the Jakob’s gun manufacturer’s facilities on the planet and get caught up in a cool and interesting adventure. There’s a nice set up for it that’ll kick off when you first fast travel to the area, so I’m not going to spoil anything for anyone. By the way, even if you haven’t unlocked the fast-travel network yet, we let you fast travel to the new area that comes with the DLC, right off the bat.  And, we’ve done some scaling of the content so that when you enter the area you  pretty much have a challenge, no matter what level you are in when you buy it.

1. Bronte: Is Dr. Ned related to Dr. Zed? Neumann says no. I think he’s lying. That sneaky bastard.

Randy Pitchford: Nope, totally unrelated. They have nothing to do with each other.  It’s all just a big coincidence that their names sound alike.

It has been a busy day, but at least I got some good news at the end of it. BioWare announced the latest DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, Return to Ostagar.

Ostagar is now infested with the Darkspawn as winter sets in. One of the survivors has escaped and is now seeking the Jedi’s Spectre’s Grey Wardens’ help. The official website lists the following:

• A return to the battlefields of Ostagar, now thick with darkspawn encamped amidst the snow
• An opportunity to reclaim the lost arms and armor of a king
• A second chance to add Dog to your party

The price tag is $5.

Dissecting this piece of news, I came up with the seven points:

1. Returning to Ostagar is intriguing. Although I am not sure why you could not do that in the first place.
2. King Maric’s armor looked dashing, pictured in the screenshot above. I would love to get it for my tank character.
3. Getting another opportunity to add Dog makes little to no difference to me. (Is there a way to lose the Dog in the original campaign. I have never used him, but he is in my camp and I can call on him if absolutely needed.)
4. The original game cost $55 (tax included) and, according to some accounts, gives 60-80 hours worth of gameplay if you explore the world in detail. A $5 content should subsequently provide me with about 6 hours or so of content. There are other factors that go into it as well, such as the quality of the content, or the progression of the characters involved. But overall, I am looking to be entertained for a good chunk of time.
5. What was the fate of the prisoner in the cage? One of the screenshots may have already ruined that part, but I am interested in knowing.
6. Is it possible that there could be another battle at Ostagar, perhaps not the same scale of the first one, but a large clash. More importantly, a clash you and your party could actively participate in and turn the tide. There have been some very memorable battles in Dragon Age: Origins so far, and a few (Redcliffe, for instance) had 20-30 individuals exchanging blows on-screen. But I want to participate in a war. Several hundred against several hundred. I think that would be quite marvelous actually.
7. I am maybe 25% through the game, so I am not sure if Duncan’s fate in the beginning is final. But a survivor? DUNCAN? Say it is so!

Click to Enlarge.

I predicted over a month back what the release dates for Icecrown (Patch 3.3) and Cataclysm would be, using some empirical analysis of past content release and gaps. Looks like I may have been right after all!

Read this: ““Cataclysmic” or “When it’s Done, Stupid!”“.

Then read this: “Patch 3.3 Not Live for “1 Month +”“.

Note: This is an ongoing series depicting the path of Bronte, a Hunter in the dark and cell-shaded world of Borderlands. It will attempt to paint a picture of what the game is like as well as provide commentary of some of the most spectacular moments from the game. Narrative is in black. Bugs and design flaws are in red. Memorable or ‘whoa!’ moments, and positive points are in blue. Enjoy!

Links:

• The Borderlands Chronicles: Part I.
• The Borderlands Chronicles: Part II.

Sid Meier’s Vending Machine Tycoon

I am in the Arid Hills. It doesn’t look much different from the previous areas, just looks like more of the same: drab, dry, dead. But there is a certain comfort in familiarity, so I trudge on, boomstick in hand, looking for pieces of some legendary sniper rifle and a mine gate key.

There are vending machines to my left where I can get rid of any unwanted items in my impossibly large backpack. I don’t understand how Dr. Zed and Marcus can be such successful vending machine entrepreneurs on Pandora. They seem to have vending machines in literally every corner of this world. How do they get them there? Who keeps them maintained? Don’t they get attacked when they come to restock, pluck out sold items and collect cash? And how is it that no one ever breaks into these machines?

Skag Scars

A skag roars in the distance. Sounds big. I go through a drain pipe to the first cross-section. There are several caves about 50 paces ahead of me, and quite a few of the skags are already on patrol. They are all either my level or a level above. But unlike my first few encounters with the bastards, I am much better prepared this time around. My sniper rifle does a whopping 145 damage per shot, and Bloodwing is maxed out to do the most damage per flight.

I spot an Alpha Skag in the group. They are well-armored, and take the most amount of shots to kill. Using a sniper is out of the question if it starts charging. But I have my trusty sub-machine gun with me, and despite a sheer lack of skill with the weapon, I know it can dispatch foes if they get up close and personal. Aim and accuracy matter little if most of your vision is filled with a skag’s teeth. But patience is a virtue, and instead of firing at the first skag I can track through my scope, I wait patiently, and inch forward one tiny step at a time. In time the Alpha spots me. He roars, opening its mouth in all directions, letting out a terrifying howl. I smile. Big mistake.

A single shot down its pie-hole dispatches my first foe without much trouble. I hear multiple howls, without wasting a second, I turn around and sprint to the drainage pipe I just came from.

Choke point.

I dispatch them one at a time. Single-shot precision kills. At least two of them go down mid-air, as they leap at me, mouth wide open, in an attempt to bite off a piece. I laugh as one skag literally explodes into chunks of smoldering flesh. “What”,  I say, “you didn’t like that?” And I start laughing. It’s a triumphant moment. I feel superior to the creatures that died by my hands in every conceivable way. But this is just the beginning, and I had the advantage of the choke point. That is more of an exception than the rule. This world isn’t all that forgiving.

More skags at the next ridge. Not too much trouble. The previous area had several barrels that I lure them to. The blue ones explode with a large amount of electrical damage, green ones are corrosive, whereas red ones simply explode. Quite handy.

My momentary high is short-lived as I spot a poor soul impaled on a large pike. Subtle.

Separation Anxiety

There is a bandit camp around the ridge. Two of them patrol a sniper’s nest up top. A quick succession of head shots alleviates that problem. But the camp is another story. In the blink of an eye, my shield is gone, as well as half my health bar. I missed the grenades that had been lobbed at me by the one of the raiders because my field of vision was severely limited through the scope of my sniper. Cursing under my breath I fire back at the rifleman. He has already taken cover, and with all the bullets slamming into me, I cannot seem to get off a clean shot. A midget shot gunner, however, is not so lucky.

Bloodwing stirs, and I set him lose. “Give ‘em hell, Bloodwing!” I yell. I tuck in to the right, out of the line of fire, my health nearly depleted. Bloodwing circles overhead once, then twice, and then continues the pattern. I am confused. Why isn’t he attacking? It isn’t clear to me then, but it appears Bloodwing is afraid of being too far apart from me, which limits him to a certain range. I am mildly irritated. Gonna have to train that damn bird better. He finally makes one last sweep overhead, and returns to me.

Keeping the rock outcropping between me and the barrage of endless bullets, I inch closer to my enemies, and then let Bloodwing loose a second time. This time he beelines to the crouching raider behind the barricade, ripping the poor bastard to shreds. Since I have focused on making Bloodwing a true agent of death, not only does he solve my problem with the raider, upon returning to me, he also restores a big portion of my health.

Revitalized, I switch to the SMG and come out of hiding guns blazing, lobbing two grenades at the remaining foes. It does not take too long, and within minutes they lie at my feet, fresh bullet-holes gaping like the unending depths of a dark, dreary abyss.

I hear something shriek overhead. Rokks. These guys have very little health, but in large groups they can swarm you, and rip your insides out in seconds. There is trouble ahead. I can feel it in the air. I better be careful.

Hugging Chemical Barrels is a Bad Idea

After clearing out another small camp, and inching close to the edges to keep my distance from the rokks overhead, I spot another sniper perch in the distance. I crouch, debating if I should send in my personal agent of death on wings, or dispatch him with a single bullet? Bloodwing would not be able to get him at that range. He has already established that any considerable length of distance between us causes him severe separation anxiety. And that is when I notice the corrosive acid barrel next to the lookout. A single shot explodes the barrel, showering him in acid. I watch his surprised expression through the scope, as the acid eats away at his body, literally devouring him whole. Good riddance.

The Fourth Piece of the Puzzle

My map tells me the four pieces of the legendary sniper rifle are in the next camp. I start shooting. Psychotic midgets, shotgunners, badass bruisers, they all succumb to the overwhelming firepower I pack, backed by the ferocious talons of my trusty companion. It’s a little odd they some of them come out of hiding only after the very last combatant on the field has been eliminated. I have a feeling if they all came at once, I would be swarmed, overwhelmed and killed. This all seems a little too… easy.

The sniper rifle has four parts I need to secure. I have found only three so far. I make several circuits of the camp, and my map indicator offers little help. I am a little frustrated, three other three pieces were essentially just lying about, why isn’t this one? It is then that I notice that only one of the buildings in the camp has an upward pointing arrow. And if that is not enough of a hint, there are three storage cabinets on the roof of the structure as added incentive. I jump above, and grab the last piece. But what truly annoys me is that this last piece was a good distance away from where my map marker suggested.

Sledge is a Cocky Bastard!

My map tells me the mine key is in Sledge’s Safehouse, which seems to be just up the hill from my present location. I take out my sniper rifle to scope out the area. The criminal hideout sits atop a small hill about 100 paces ahead of me. So ballsy are the inhabitants, that they have made no attempts to hide the entrance. In fact, upon closer inspection, the entry point prominently displays the words: “Sledge’s Safehouse.”

Cocky bastards! (See what I did there?)

Bloodwing stirs restlessly. He can sense the blood of the upcoming battle. I pet his head. I check my weapons, making one last round of the camp to pick up any additional ammunition. Satisfied that all my ordinance is in order, I start my short trek to the safe house.

Time to hunt!

Links:

• The Borderlands Chronicles: Part I.
• The Borderlands Chronicles: Part II.

Tweeted earlier today:

If I was a fan of Dragon Age: Origins, I’d be keeping my eye open for something cool coming tomorrow. Just saying.

Oh those cheeky bastards!

Here are a few tidbits that caught my attention for one reason or another this week:

• “If I had the instance piercing powers of a Turbine developer, I would be very interested to see how the amoebic entity of players reacts and splits against foreign invaders, especially ones like a Witch waiting for a good crowning.” – Ravious, Breaking From the Collective Tempo, Kill Ten Rats.

• “And like legendary Cassandra before him, though he prophesied truly, nobody believed him.”, Tipa, EVE Online: How to get shredded in W-Space, West Karana. [Bronte: Frustrating as it may be, this is the reason EvE is such a great game, you truly feel like you are carving your own path. Whether you fail or succeed, you don't have game mechanics to blame.]

• “I believe that there is a correlation between how well a fantasy MMORPG does relative to its contemporary competitors and how deep and interesting the fishing mechanism that is available at launch.” – Wilhelm2451, A Theory of Fishing, The Ancient Gaming Noob.

• “Knowing that being the odd spec can throw off your opponent, most players will assume that you are the most common or popular spec out there.” – Kaldeem, World of Warcraft, My Fire-specced Mage, I’m Talkin’ Games.

• “Nothing is more insulting to a gamer than impugning his ability to play videogames, and if you suggest that a reviewer lacks the required skills, then all his credibility is instantly shot and time itself will reverse to a point before the review was written, undoing its evil in a Quantum Leap-style situation.” – Jim Sterling, How to Respond to a Video Game Review, Destructoid.

• “Dragon Age explores well-defined mythic territory, so complaining about its formulaic nature is like whining about all the singing in opera.” – Michael Abbot, It’s an RPG thing, The Brainy Gamer.

• “Honest to god, playing the auction house around patch time has made me more goblin droppings than all of my farming tactics combined.” – iTZKooPA, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems: Start Hording For Patch 3.3, Project Lore.

“Well here we are, Patch, faced with the unenviable task of telling Aussies around the country that Left 4 Dead 2: the heavily edited Australian version (or, the ‘ruined version’, as we call it) isn’t worth the plastic the disc is printed on; that the game has been butchered so badly that we’ve found it hard to enjoy.”
Left 4 Dead 2: Edited Australian Version Review, IGN

The gore, mutilations, dismemberments and decapitations have been butchered from this version. Pun intended?

In Dragon Age: Origins, anyone else feel that inspired by your leadership, the “perks” your companions get are rather underwhelming? Increased points in their primary stat? That’s it?

I thought at least Shale would gain “curbstomp” as an ability! Pigeoncrap!

Bill Roper recently gave an interview to Jeux Online. It’s a good read, and you can find the full transcript here.

Some things stood out to me.

First, I understand that as a journalist, you have to be diplomatic about what you ask and say, partly to ensure you have a snowball’s chance in hell of being given the same opportunity twice, and partly to maintain a civil, unbiased tone. However, this does not imply that you cannot ask the hard-hitting questions or ask questions phrased in a manner to soften the blow or even detract from the truth of the matter at hand.

On to the interview and Roper’s answers. I appreciated the fact that Roper was candid about the state of the game. Some highlights:

• “[At launch we] definitely could have been much better balanced, especially in terms of overall difficulty curve and resource(in-game currency) allocation on day one.”
• “…retcon pricing was very out of line early on.”
• “The crafting system definitely needs a lot of attention, as does the auction house.”
• (Not a direct quote) There was also a recognition of leveling gaps and a lack of content for the endgame players.

From the sounds of it, Roper is at least well aware of the issues Champions Online faces at the moment, which is a refreshing and encouraging thought. However, the vagueness of the following statements left a bad taste in my mouth.

• “We definitely want to keep adding content into the game, both within the current leveling curve and also at the end game.”
• “We’re working on different game systems right now that will allow players to do a lot of different things over the course of their hero’s career.”
• “[New instances are] one of the many things we’re looking at doing.”
• “I don’t want to go into TOO much detail on unimplemented systems, but the best way to put it is that we’re focused on creating extensible game systems as opposed to only making new missions.”
• “Our goal moving forward is to combine the creation of new content with game play systems that together create many more options and hours of game play than we could achieve by making new instances or zones.”
• “Moving forward we’re going to continue to create scenario-based PvP maps as these seem to go over the best with our players.”
• “We’ll be making a pass through [the crafting system and the auction house system] at some point, but the sheer complexity of what’s there, combined with the work that is already on our “Master of all things Upgrades” is daunting.”
• “The game is just getting better and better, and that’s our focus moving forward.”

There were a few cool announcements as well. Nemesis: Confrontation definitely sounds like a lot of fun. I posted earlier today about Cryptic upcoming secret feature next week. I am 99% sure this is it. Part of the reason this new feature is so exciting for me is because the Nemesis system is sheer brilliance, and one of the most innovative elements of Champions Online. An improvement on the system can only mean a good thing.

• On the UNITY/Nemesis Crossover: “It’ called Nemesis: Confrontation. 5 heroes. 5 Nemesis. An epic villain of Legendary proportions bringing them all together in a distant locale. This is a repeatable Lair that has all-new rewards and threats. We’ve been spending a lot of time on it to make sure it’s challenging and fun for our level 40 heroes.”

Finally, they are also working on the next tiers of powers, the restriction being the next tier may reward specializing in one power tree. I am not sure if this is a positive step or a major blunder:

• “We are already working early designs for Tier 4 powers for exactly that reason – to give players a real reward and goal to push for.”

So there ya have it! Some cool new upcoming things, an admittance of flaws, and a whole lot of vague!

Mass Effect 2’s box art has been revealed.

Looks pretty cool, but what does it tell us?

• The game will focus heavily, perhaps more than the first one, on combat.
• There will be new alien species introduced, some apparently suffering from jaundice.
• Shepard may suffer from constipation.
• The background is interesting, it looks like a ravaged (nuked?) futuristic city, a visceral point of conflict that may steer a significant plot-line in the game.
• One of the developers (or at least graphics artists) has a secret crush on Olivia Wilde.
• Weapons, armor, all looks to be more of the familiar, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective and preference.
• Most significantly, at the time of taking this photo, something very exciting happened to the right.

Almost done with the first game. Can’t wait!

Champions Online apparently has a big feature coming out next week. What is it? We don’t know, because it is being kept a secret.

Cryptic does need your help play-testing though. So you can participate in a public test tomorrow on the PTS. the only hint is that you will need to being 4 friends in addition to yourself, all at level 40, along with a Nemesis.

Transfer your level 40 character, or on the PTS, ask a contact outside the powerhouse to level up your low-life-level champion.

Here’s to hoping!

MMORPG has a nice article up about the 5 additions Champions Online needs right now to be a great game.

Top of the list is zone-wide events. Now I have been quite critical of the Blood Moon event and how underwhelming it was. However, I have to agree with this article in that Blood Moon brought together the Millennium City zone community like nothing else. Prior to Blood Moon, the zone chat was filled with the infrequent announcements about a public mission getting underway or someone asking for help with a mission/instance.

Blood Moon kicked the chat in Millennium City into high gear. Players would call out gate openings and boss spawns over zone, several heroes would converge on the location to defeat the forces of evil.

I still stand by my assessment of Blood Moon. But I have to admit, the event did bring together the community like never before. Amidst all the criticism and rage over the lack of content and variety, at least Cryptic managed to

Werit had a nice post up yesterday about how the production values for Dragon Age can be seen applied to SWTOR.

But I wonder if all the irritating things will apply as well. A short list:

• You are a Jedi, or a Sith, but despite a being able to crush your opponents with a thought, you haven’t ever figured out how to jump.
• Or swim. In fact, you are hydrophobic. You hate water to the point that you can’t even so much as walk in water, let alone swim.
• Although you are a badass in the universe, and boast a complete mastery of the force, you can queue up only one attack at a time; multiple attacks cannot be queued. It hurts your brain to do that.
• Despite an “advanced combat tactics engine”, at times you will enjoy standing around, admiring the scenery, while your friends repeatedly plant their faces into oncoming fists. You know, for fun.

This is one of those few times I sincerely hope I am wrong. BioWare has crafted a masterpiece, but there are some minor nuances that make some aspects aggravating.

Maybe the folks at BioWare exude their own lethargy into the lack of athletic activities in their games? What is the average BMI at BioWare anyway?

“We’re definitely planning to add more and more ships to the game as we move on. It’s the nice part about designing an MMO – it’s never really finished.” – Cryptic, responding to additional ship types in Star Trek Online, post-launch.

*facepalm*

Could have been put better I suppose…

News item of the day:

According to the research firm The NPD Group, 76% of U.S. households have access to Internet connections. Whereas 14% of Americans now have one form of online gaming subscriptions or another.

Notice that ‘online subscriptions’ may include Xbox live subscriptions as well. That being said, it goes to show that ths genre will grow tremendously in the years to come.

You can read the full article here: 14% of Americans signed up to online gaming services.

A friend pointed this out… I thought it was hilarious, so I am sharing it.

I am going through subscription blues. I am currently paying for four subscriptions: World of Warcraft, Champions Online, and EvE Online x 2. However, with the recent release of Borderlands, Torchlight, Dragon Age Origins, Modern Warfare, and now Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed II, I haven’t had much time to log in and play my favorite MMOs.

In fact, it struck me yesterday that I haven’t logged into any of these MMO’s in well over two weeks. This inevitably led to a curious feeling of guilt. I make good money, but it is honest money. It is almost as if I am spending a good $65 or so a month to keep a subscription going even when I am not really playing the game all that often.

It is an interesting conundrum. I convince myself that I can log in if sufficiently bored, while simultaneously aware of the fact that those accounts sit rotting, burning $15 holes in my pockets, and, at least for now, I can’t be bothered.

You ever get to that stage? Halfway between guilty and uncaring? Never really comfortable with spending seemingly unnecessary money, but too apathetic to do anything about it. See I could log in tonight, just for the sake of logging in. But that would be wrong. I want to log in and play when I really want to, not because I am allowing my subscription money to twist my own arm.

With a new launch at work, I have been working endless hours lately. Given my unhealthy addiction to Dragon Age, I am barely finding time to write.

But this piece of news caught my eye as I read up on the gaming world over the weekend. Cryptic, the studio that has been on my hit list for some time, took steps last week to build a better sense of community with their player base. Champedia was launched, an online database that details every power, character, mission super-group etc.

Some aspects are quite useful, such as the super-group (read guild) management interface that even allows you to change the message of the day from the browser, among other things. The character search is also quite detailed, although I don’t like that everyone can see my inventory and virtually every other stat, even without logging in to the website. The mission search is rather simplistic, and just offers the quest text for the mission.

It’s a step in the right direction, especially if they enrich it with additional features in the future. Despite all my whining, I still have high hopes for Champions Online. Let’s see what the studio pulls off with their next content patch.