gearbox-software posts

Gearbox Software remains very busy as the Dallas-based game developer is working on finishing up Borderlands for release this fall and Aliens: Colonial Marines . . . someday. However the company has also got more than one game under development that they have not yet announced and one of them may (or may not) be called War Hero.

Gearbox was discovered to have trandmarked four different variations of that title and according to what Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told Shacknews the title War Hero represents "a bit about our interests in the development of another original intellectual property." However that's all we are getting from the company right now as Pitchford stated, "we're certainly not ready to talk about it publicly at the moment." In fact it's so far out that War Hero isn't one of the three mystery games Gearbox has posted on their official site.

Earlier this year rumors hit the Internet that Sega had decided to put two game projects based on the Aliens movie franchise on hold in favor of a new Aliens Vs Predator title. Now comes word that both games are still in production but question remain about one of them.

Kotaku reports that Gearbox Software is still working on their FPS Aliens: Colonial Marines. However the title, which was first announced three years ago, won't be released in 2009. Meanwhile while our sister site Joystiq is reporting that the other Aliens title, under the code name Aliens RPG, is still in development according to Sega questions remain as to whether the game's announced developer, Obsidian Entertainment, is still working on the project.

We got to see Gearbox Software's original first person shooter Borderlands at last year's E3 and at that time it looked like it would be a cool game in terms of mixing FPS gameplay with action-RPG elements. The art style of the game, set on a desert like world, looked fine. But it didn't jump at you and scream, "Look at me." either.

That is not the case anymore. At 2K Games' meeting room at E3 2009 this week we got a chance to see the new art style of Borderlands in a live (but hands-off) demo. And it pretty much looked incredible. The cel-shaded (or concept art style or whatever you want to call it) look of Borderlands looks like you are seeing a 3D comic book come to life and it certainly makes the game stand out (in a good way).

Dallas-based Gearbox Software remains one of the biggest independent game developers around and now the company is once again giving a number of local residents a chance to both work and learn at the studios. It's called the Contractors of Gearbox Software (COGS) and they are taking applications for their summer 2009 session.

Basically it's a paid intership working at Gearbox for three months for any personal who has not worked at a professional game developer before. Gearbox began the COGS program in 2004 and since then many of its students have left the program and got game development jobs both inside and outside of Gearbox. The application deadline is May 20.

You can call the look "Concept Art Style" as developer Gearbox Software does. You can call it an "Illustrative Style". A few might still use the term "Cel-Shaded Style". Whatever the term you might use, the new batch of screenshots from Borderlands look like little else on the market today.

The six new visuals from the upcoming FPS (with RPG elements) are certainly impressive but of course what matters most is how the game plays. Publisher 2K Games first announced the game in 2007 for a fall 2008 release. However it's possible the switch in art styles contributed to the game's delays. We hope to see Borderlands in live-action for E3 next month for a fall 2009 release.

We've been waiting for this moment for a week and finally Gearbox Software has released the first screenshot that shows off the "new look" for Borderlands, their long-in-development FPS. As we reported last week the game has changed its art style from a more grim-and-gritty look to a still gritty but more illustrative style.

Gearbox head man Randy Pitchford has labeled Borderlands' new look "Concept Art Style" since the art team is trying to match the look of the concept artwork for the game to the actual graphics as much as possible. More info on Borderlands' new look will be revealed in the next print issue of PC Gamer magazine which should be on newsstands late this month.

If you were waiting for the promised Monday relaunch of the Borderlands web site with new images of the long awaited FPS game . . . well, you will have to wait a little longer. Apparently at the last minute developer Gearbox Software decided to push back the relaunch of the site until sometime on Thursday.

In the meantime Gearbox's head man Randy Pitchford is hyping up their newly revealed change in the game's art style on its message boards. As an example, Pitchford says that concept art released for a game rarely looks like the final in-game visuals. However for Borderlands, he states, " . . . the artists and programmers at Gearbox Software put a stop to that. They developed technology and techniques to render the concept art look for the game in real time 3d." Pitchford terms the new Borderlands visuals as having a "Concept Art Style" and adds, "It looks cool in screenshots. It looks astonishingly cool in real time. You'll see soon." We hope "soon" in this case means Thursday.

While Gearbox Software has announced that Borderlands won't have a cel-shaded look for its art style it's pretty clear that the more realistic "grim-and-gritty" look in earlier versions has been abandoned for a more illustrative art style. At least that's what it looks like on the cover of an upcoming issue of PC Gamer that Gearbox has posted on its Gearboxity web site.

The June 2009 dated issue should go on sale in early May and the issue cover image shows a game that looks closer to a comic book than the typical game image. We should get more insight into Borderlands' new look when the game's official web site relaunches on Monday.

Looks like the term "cel-shaded" is not the one that should be used for Borderlands after all. After a post on Gearbox Software's message board seem to confirm that the upcoming FPS was switching to a more cartoony art style the developer's head Randy Pitchford has chimed in himself. He states flat out, "Borderlands is not cel-shaded."

But he also states that the art style for the long-in-development game has indeed gone through some changes since its last public appearance, saying " . . . we have made big advancements with the art direction and the technology to support the art and have produced some pretty impressive, even shocking results." Pitchford is being a bit cryptic about all of the changes but states that the official Borderlands web site will be getting a revamp this coming Monday. That revamp will show some new media from Borderlands and Pitchford says, " . . . that will expose how far we've gone with the art."

It's been a while since the public has seen anything of Borderlands, the upcoming first person shooter with some action-RPG elements. The development team at Gearbox Software has been keeping quiet about the game for a while but apparently a new issue of PC Gamer magazine reveals that the title has switched its art style. Instead of a more realistic and gritty look the game now is cel-shaded, giving it a comic book look.

So why the switch? In a post on Gearbox's message board the company's community manager states, "it fits the game and creates a more visually interesting experience." He added, "The game world is no less gritty, dirty, or harsh - all of the detail is there, and the environments have even more atmosphere. We solicited feedback from our focus testing initiative, which consists entirely of a very large pool of gamers from all walks of life, and in the end, the choice was clear for us.." The actual gameplay of Borderlands has not been affected by this change in the visual style. The game is due out this fall from publisher 2K Games.

Update: According to a new message board post from Gearbox head man Randy Pitchford the game's art is not cel-shaded after all but remains cryptic on what changes have indeed been made to the game's graphical look.

[Via Borderlands Guide]