GameSpot has gathered intel from 2K Games confirming an October 20th North American ship date for Gearbox Software’s PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 “role-playing shooter” Borderlands. An October 23rd date has been set for the UK, Europe, Australia and other international territories. GameSpot also interviewed 2K’s president, Christoph Hartmann, who seems confident about launching the game — a brand new IP, remember — during the holiday season:
“I don’t think we have to be afraid of competition or shy of what’s out there,” said Hartmann, confidently. “I think this holiday season is a little bit lighter in triple-A games than last year. It’s actually a good holiday to put something out. … There’s always risk and opportunity. The risk is you have a hard time standing out against established IP. The opportunity is you have a lot of traffic here and it can be a much bigger product at retail than it would be otherwise.”
Gearbox always makes quality games, so I’m confident Borderlands will deliver a satisfying experience. But as a new IP I do worry about it getting lost up against this holiday’s glut of sequels to established franchises, like Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2, to name a few. I have a feeling it’ll end up like EA’s new IP holiday launches last year: Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. Both games did well enough, but perhaps would’ve performed even better earlier in the year against less known competition. Only time will tell…
But whatever, all’s I really care about at this point is playing the game and seeing how it turns out!
Borderlands lands Oct. 20 [GameSpot]
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As usual … too many games coming in a short timespan …
Yeah, I’m not quite seeing how this year’s holiday lineup is any less packed than last year’s like a lot of folks are saying now. A couple games like BioShock 2 and MAG got pushed to next year and ever since I’ve read so much about how this holiday’s lineup is becoming thin. I can list off just as many big games I’m excited about this year as I was last year, Borderlands definitely being one of them.
I agree … I just look at my primary interests – Red Faction Guerrilla, Wolfenstein, Borderlands, Alpha Protocol, Dragon Age, Divinity 2, Risen, possible Age of Decadence (indie) … and who knows what else …
Yep, I’m looking at all those, plus the ones listed in the story and even a bunch of other stuff like Demon’s Souls, the new Ratchet & Clank and Dead Space Extraction. And we haven’t even factored in what’s coming to DS, PSP and downloadables on PC/PSN/XBLA!
PLEASE MAKE IT STOP !!!
hehe … have we even caught up with 2008 yet?
I sure as hell haven’t! Just within the past month or so have I finally been able to sneak in bits of Dead Space, Burnout Paradise and Too Human for the first time.
Oh, and I just remembered Splinter Cell: Conviction. That’s another big one!