Borderlands 2 Is Really Real, Due 2012

Eurogamer had already called it, now 2K and Gearbox have officially announced it: Borderlands 2 will be revealed at Gamescom later this month (I'm just about to pester them for an appointment) and released at some point beetween April 2012 and April 2013. Almost no details whatsover - this is how the games industry rolls - but there will be a"ll-new characters, skills, environments, enemies, weapons and equipment, which come together in an ambitiously crafted story. Players will reveal secrets, and escalate mysteries of the Borderlands universe as they adventure across the unexplored new areas of Pandora."

All of these things are good things, though it puts paid to that rumour a couple of years back that 'Borderworlds' was the direction Gearbox were heading in. A PC version is confirmed, by the way, as well as the inevitable playboxes. The first image from the game is below.

That's Game Informer's next cover, because Game Informer has the exclusive because this is a new game from a major publisher. That's how it works now. High-res version here.

More things I would like to see in the game:

- A better realised story - which is what 'ambitiously-crafted' hopefully means.
- Expansion of co-op, both in terms of how you play through the campaign and how you work together.
- A vibe that's more like the DLC than the original.
- More expansive vehicular elements.
- More life in the towns/hubs.
- Auto-cash collection, instead of clicking over and over.
- More emphasis on the guns being truly distinct, rather than variations up on a few themes.
- Guns! Experience points! Guns! Experience points! Guns! Experience points! Gunperience points!