gearbox-software posts

Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford must be flying high on the critical and sales success of their first person shooter Borderlands. And he's not afraid to speak his mind on any number of subjects. A few weeks ago we reported that he made statements that were high critical of Valve, saying their ownership of the Steam download platform was a conflict of Interest and that smaller developers were being exploited. Smaller developers who have worked with Valve to get their games on Steam quickly defended Valve, saying their distribution terms were better than others.

Now Pitchford has reportedly taken a few more shots at Valve's expense. Industry Gamers reports that Pitchford, quoted in a new issue of the U.K.'s Official PlayStation Magazine, stated, "Valve think their own stuff is the only stuff that matters, to the point where they have their own distribution platform." While he does feel Steam itself is a good system he added, " . . . . at the same time they're reliant on the rest of the world. They had to do that [Left 4 Dead] deal with EA. When I see the L4D ad on the television I don't see a Valve logo, I see an EA logo, and when I bought it, I bought it at a store." It's pretty clear that Pitchford would like to see Steam be handled as a separate business with no connections to Valve.

Earlier this week we reported that the Steam version of Borderlands had accidentally allowed its Australian users access to a "low violence" of Gearbox Software's shooter game via a pre-load. Since the game hasn't been officially released this technically wasn't that big of an issue at the time

Games On Net now reports that publisher 2K Games has fixed the problem but there's a hitch. Those Australian players who want the full unedited version of the game must now delete what they downloaded before and then pre-load the title all over again. That means a file of 8 gigs must be downloaded. For folks who have an ISP in that country with a bandwidth cap that could mean some real trouble.

It looks like a few folks are dealing with a rather serious issue in Gearbox Software's just released shooter Borderlands. 1Up.com reports that all three versions of the game have a bug that can set back player's skill and weapons points back to zero while either joining or leaving a multiplayer match. This issue is apparently only affecting a few players at this point.

Gearbox is apparently aware of the problem and is working on a fix. A post on their message board states, "Unfortunately there isn't a fix just yet, but when one is available we hope to be able to repair as much of your character data as possible." In the meantime we would suggest just playing the game in single player if you don't want to risk losing your character progression.

Oh, Australia. You with your shrimp on the barbie, your Great Barrier Reef and your wonky government run game ratings system. However, the latest game screw-up in your country has nothing to do with your ratings system. However it does show that even digital downloads get things wrong.

Games On Net reports that Australian users of Steam were accidentally given a "low violence" version of Gearbox Software's just released shooter Borderlands for the game's pre-load installation. However the country's ratings board gave the go-ahead for the unedited version of the game to be released. Since the game isn't due to be released internationally for a few more days there's still time to correct the issue before Borderlands unlocks for Australian games. And having started to play the final and full version of Borderlands . . . well, trust us Australia; you really do want all the added violence.

Earlier this week we reported that a few people managed to purchase legit copies of the PC version of Borderlands. The problem is that the street date for Gearbox Software's FPS-RPG is supposed to be on Monday, October 26 and due to the game's DRM set up those folks who got early copies cannot play the game early. Even Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford told us there was nothing that could be done on his end to solve this issue.

Now a new post on the message boards of 2K Games from the publisher's community manager has the somewhat sad truth that there is nothing they can do either. According to the post, "Less than 1 (percent) of all copies were sold, and if we unlocked the game today, illegal versions would most likely appear on torrents by the evening. I am sure all of you want our PC launch to be as successful as possible, and we simply won't be able to manage that any earlier than already planned." So for those of you in the US "lucky" enough to get the game early, your copy will be available to play at midnight ET on Monday. International owners will have to wait until Friday, October 30.

When news hit that the PC version of Borderlands would have its release delayed six days after the console release, we figured the game wouldn't actually be in stores until that day. Not true. According to reports on Gearbox Software's message boards a handful of legit PC copies of the first person shooter have made their way to people. Unfortunately the game's DRM is keeping folks from playing the game until October 26.

A message on 2K Games' forums by the publisher's community manager states, "I'll let you know when I have more to tell you, but as of right now I'm looking in to things!." Big Download also contacted Gearbox head Randy Pitchford who told us,"I don't know if something can be done to unlock copies for people that somehow get a copy before the street date.. I certainly can't do anything about it, but I understand and am sympathetic to the frustration. I remember getting HL2 from Best Buy before street date and being *really* frustrated that I had the game in-my-hands, but that I wasn't going to be allowed to play for a few more days. I know how that feels. I'm sorry it's happening to customers of Borderlands and I wish there was something I could do about it."

Gearbox Software's head man Randy Pitchford's statements in a recent Maximum PC magazine interview (recently reprinted on the mag's web site) about his objections to the PC game download service Steam continue to be commented on by in the game industry. Pitchford stated the he feels the ownership of Steam by game developer Valve is a big conflict of interest. He also felt that Valve was exploiting smaller game developers.

We've already reported on what Steam user Tripwire Interactive has said about the service (basically if there was no Steam there would be no Tripwire Interactive). Now Ars Technica has collected some more thoughts from some other smaller dev team. The main consensus is that while there could be conflict of interest, Valve has yet to abuse their power. 2D Boy rep Ron Carmel stated, "Quite the contrary, Valve offers the most developer-friendly terms for digital distribution in the industry." Dylan Fitterer, the creator of the hit indie rhythm game Audiosurf, launched the game via Steam last year and has had massive sales success. He states, "If this is exploitation, more please."

Earlier this week we alerted folks in the Dallas-based area for a launch party for Borderlands that will be held on Saturday night. But let's say you can't make it that day because of some prior arrangement. Well, you still have some time to meet up with some of the development team at Gearbox Software on the occasion of the launch of their FPS-RPG hybrid.

The night of the game's launch on October 19 for consoles you can go to one of two Texas-based GameStop locations to meet up with Gearbox team members. The locations are at 2201 Preston Road in Plano (where they will have a Borderlands four player LAN set-up at 9 pm) and 6245 Rufe Snow Drive in Fort Worth. Lines to buy the game at midnight on that day will begin at 10 pm

Zombies. The undead. The Walking Dead. Whatever you call them they are still super hot in pop culture. Today 2K Games announced that the upcoming FPS-RPG hybrid game Borderlands from developer Gearbox Software will explore that them in the first of several planned downloadable expansions to the game.

The expansion is called The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and it will be released sometime later this year for $9.99. The plot is all about . . . oh come oh, you don't really care about the plot do you? You just care if there's going to be zombies to shoot at. Well look above this post. Zombie-fied enough for you? We thought so. Oh, look for some rare loot items as well.

Oh all right if you insist. Here's the plot summary: "Tasked with keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, Dr. Ned (who is not related to Dr. Zed from Fyrestone) does his job a little too well, creating zombies and other abominations that now run rampant in this region. Players will have to work alongside Dr. Ned as they embark on a quest to cure the inhabitants of Jakobs Cove . . ." Happy?
[via email press release]

Live in the Dallas, Texas area or are going to be there on Saturday? Then Gearbox Software wants you to sign up to attend their Borderlands launch party on Saturday night at the Granada Theatre in Dallas. Normally these kinds of events are limited to the development team but Gearbox wants some of their fans to come and party with them to celebrate the launch of their FPS-RPG hybrid game.

Yes, the full version of Borderlands will be available to play at the event along with lots of partying with the Gearbox team members. The Gearbox Software web site has more info about the launch party along with a sign up page for anyone who wants to RSVP. Naturally you have to be 18 years old or older to join the fun.