Gearbox Software (Borderlands, Brothers in Arms, Duke Nukem, etc.)

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We have a thread for Monolith, so why not?

I just got back from the Gearbox Community Day in Dallas, and it was fucking awesome (though I missed out on the strippers and booze since I'm under 21 ). I am totally in love with this company; nothing but cool, funny people as far as I can tell. I got at least 12 people to sign my copy of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (including Jon St. John and George Broussard, lol), as well as one of the Duke shirts I bought while I was there. Totally badass.

They showed off some never-before-seen (by the general public) gameplay of both Aliens: Colonial Marines and Furious 4 (and said that they'd punch out anyone who tried to film any footage), and I just want to say that both look like contenders for GOTY 2012. The graphics in Aliens were jaw-dropping (granted, they were playing the PC version on max settings), and the sound design was equally impressive. The atmosphere was so much better than AVP 3!!! There were so many little nods to the movies in it, and apparently Ridley Scott even worked with them on keeping things authentic. Of course, the gameplay looked excellent, as well (four player co-op should be a blast; single-player might actually be scary). Randy Pitchford even said that the game was accepted by 20th Century Fox as part of the canon ("the true sequel to Aliens is in the best form of entertainment of all time: video games!"; everyone cheered at that) and revealed that the Wii U's controller screen would indeed be used as a motion tracker.

As a fan of the original games, I was apprehensive to watch them play Furious 4, but it completely blew me away. It's going to be an absolute fucking blast! Explosions everywhere, endless carnage, four-player co-op, hilarious writing... it's all there. You can even get exploding bear traps and there are Nazis with jetpacks (I hope you acquire your own later on)! It was also confirmed that it would have competitive multiplayer and that single-player would be like Left 4 Dead rather than like Borderlands. They also said that this was just a spin-off, and that they were excited to continue the story from the earlier games in the future (it was UbiSoft's idea to call it BiA, not theirs), so my fears were put to rest.

Another great quote by Randy Pitchford (not exact, but whatever): "What's the point of reviewers? I don't even see why we have critics anymore. They're pretty much worthless." Biggest applause I've ever seen after that. He also brought up that they would like to work with Ridley Scott on making a Blade Runner game sometime in the future (once they're a bigger studio with more money, basically).

So, yeah, discuss this awesome company and their awesome games, from Half-Life: Opposing Force to Samba de Amigo.

[Spark Of Spirit]

True sequel to Aliens is the best news I could have heard. They need to retcon the rest of that shit out.

More co-op stuff sounds sweet, though. Furious 4 and Aliens were already on my radar, but to hear that they offer such wildly different experiences should be a lot of fun with my gaming crew.

ANY word on Borderlands 2? I'm assuming they're waiting until next gen for that.

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ANY word on Borderlands 2?

Someone asked Randy about them trademarking Borderworlds last year. His response went something like this: "Well, that's a cool title for a game, isn't it? "

They then later revealed that anyone with the PC version of Borderlands would be receiving a patch sometime in the next few weeks which would grant them access to improved/changed elements to help them see audience reaction for stuff they might implement in the sequel. They referred to it as part of their new program called "B-Test."

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sweet. The only two changes I really want are randomized dungeons and full character customization. The first game was phenomenal otherwise.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I really need to play some of their games. I haven't gotten Borderlands yet, but I'm not too big on RPGs (it looks good, though), but I definitely want to play Aliens when it comes out.

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Low quality shot, so you can't really read many of the signatures (my cell phone camera sucks). There are some more on the back, as well!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Damn, you got that thing covered with signatures. I wish I could've gotten signatures from game developers on some of my favorite games (an Itagaki-signed copy of NGB would be my most prized possession).

I need to try some of Gearbox's games. Right now I'm not in the mood for an RPG so I'll hold off on Borderlands for a bit, but I might try renting Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway when I get a chance.

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Getting a Gearbox game signed by Randy Pitchford, Mikey Neumann, and (even if he didn't work on BiA) Jon St. John is seriously a dream come true for me... and the rest of the signatures make it even more amazing. All of the guys were really friendly and I actually got a chance to talk with most of them! I'm still completely elated about this, honestly.

Hell's Highway is an excellent game. The prequels are just as good if not better, but I don't think they're backwards compatible on Xbox 360 (they could be, I have no idea). The best WW2 games ever made, IMO. Excellent stories with heavy input from real veterans and challenging, tactical gameplay.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Jim Sterling gave DNF a 2/10.

I dunno. It looks fun to me.

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Jim Sterling gave DNF a 2/10.

Vanquish - 5/10
Sonic Colors - 4.5/10
Assassin's Creed 2 - 4.5/10
The Witcher 2 - 6/10
Etc.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hmmmm....I never liked Assassin's Creed myself, and the sequels always just looked to be more of the same, so I never played them, myself. But those other scores are definitely way too low.

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Hmmmm....I never liked Assassin's Creed myself, and the sequels always just looked to be more of the same, so I never played them, myself. But those other scores are definitely way too low.

Well, I don't like the series, either, but they're actually fairly well-made games. It deserves at least a 7, I think.

His DNF review was really unfair and -- as usual -- blew small things out of proportion. I'm not saying he's not allowed to have an opinion, but if it's anything like the demo, it definitely is not as bad as he makes it out to be.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Reviewers like him are really ruining gaming. I'd say read his reviews for any semblance of reason why he shouldn't be reviewing them, but then it would give them clicks.

Also, I love Deadly Premonition, but in his review he made it sound like it was awesome because it was "so bad it's good" and he completely undersold everything about the game so he could stand out from the crowd with a 10/10 for being a "glorious mess". Insulting stuff, really.

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Also, I love Deadly Premonition, but in his review he made it sound like it was awesome because it was "so bad it's good" and he completely undersold everything about the game so he could stand out from the crowd with a 10/10 for being a "glorious mess". Insulting stuff, really.

Well, some of the cutscenes in that game (especially near the beginning) definitely enter "so bad it's good" territory, and I don't think I ever would have bought that game without his recommendation. Regardless, DP got even worse reviews than Duke Forever is getting, and that ended up being one of my favorite games this generation. I liked the DNF demo and the little bit of multiplayer I got to try at the Gearbox event, so I think I'll get plenty of enjoyment out of it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Really, does any sensible gamer even care about review scores these days, anymore. I pretty much ignore whatever critics have to say, and I feel that game critics are focused on things that most of them quite frankly don't even interest me (usually stuff they criticize doesn't bother me, and a lot of times things they praise seem to get over-praised for odd reasons). There are a few good reviewers in the litter of bad game critics, but overall if I want to find out whether a game is worth playing or not, I generally listen to common user feedback which, more often than not proves to be far more useful in whether I decide to buy a game or not. There are times when people overreact to some games that are actually good for what they are worth but they just don't please fans for some reason and common gamers, and in those cases I'm usually aware of it, but for the most part if people like me seem to enjoy a game, then I couldn't care less if every critic out there gave it a 9/10 or a 2/10, their scores are irrelevant at that point because I know that I want to play the game (of course if they are all giving it a 9/10 in addition to users liking it, then it may just give me a smidge more incentive to try a game out, but only a little). Of course, if the vice versa happens and every critic is giving the game a 9 or 10 and a lot of people with tastes similar to mine find it to be vastly overrated, I'll often-times ignore the game. If Assassin's Creed taught me anything, it was this valuable lesson (I should have listened to the warnings from other users that I knew at the time who knew my general tastes).

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents on what I think of game reviews.