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The technical improvements of Borderlands 'General Knoxx' photo

Gearbox could have taken the easy way out. It could have released some DLC packs for Borderlands where you get a new story that lasts a couple of hours at best, and some new items. Instead, Gearbox pushed itself to come up with expansions that fans would love and really enjoy. Not only are they doing these expansions for the fans, but they're also doing it for themselves.

Steve Gibson, V.P. of Marketing at Gearbox Software, tells us that "every DLC is an improvement of [the Gearbox] team. As well as extending the story and the content for everyone else, we look at each [DLC] as not only an opportunity for you guys to get new stuff but also for [Gearbox] to improve our team so we can get better at it too."

So how has Gearbox improved? With "The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned," Gearbox improved the story telling a bit. With "Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot", they improved the scripting stuff. Now with "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx," Gearbox has pushed the boundaries on everything. Steve goes on to say that it's "taken what we already had and managed to squeeze things into what was already an existing infrastructure. We keep improving all the things we can within that baseline we've built."

One of the big technical improvements in "General Knoxx" Gearbox achieved is that players who have the new content from the upcoming DLC can play together with people that don't have the new stuff yet. Players that don't have the new DLC will be able to see all the gear their jerk friend is taunting them with as they work together.

Check back a little later today as I'll be bringing you a full preview of all the hot new stuff in "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx."








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18 comments | showing # 1 to 18
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Reien's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 14:43
Reien
How about fix the Mad Moxxi bug that deletes a player's shield, grenade mod, and class mod?
PappaDukes's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:02
PappaDukes
I have yet to beat the regular fucking game, and haven't even stepped foot on zombie island. I don't really care about the mad moxxi dlc, but this new shit sounds amazing. I really need to beat the main campaign.
jamesesdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:17
jamesesdad
Or how about they release a patch that updates any number of the significant bug fixes gearbox has failed to address on the pc since the games launch? What about De-activating DRM for gamers playing the game through the steam platform, considering steam in and of itself, is a form of DRM. It only took them ohhhh, about 4 or 5 months to fix the netcode so that users didn't have to manually open ports on their routers for the pc version (the fact that I had to even do this just to play a strictly multiplayer game online is obscene) . I really enjoy this game, but I'm so glad I didn't give gearbox or 2k any money for this broken excuse of a pc game. Is bioware and valve the only cross platform developers that don't develop watered down ports of conosole games for pc these days? I am not one to advocate piracy, but considering how little effort goes into pc versions of games, and the insane amount of DRM that gets thrown into pc games these days, its no wonder people steal games. Borderlands was released extremely buggy and broken on pc, and includes securom DRM (one of the worst) for both the game and the DLC. People that stole the game are able to install and run the game without any potentially harmful DRM, while people who are interested in legitimately buying the game are driven away because of these issues. Just to be clear I am no pirate, have over 55 games I paid for on steam, but none of them are buggy, drm riddled ports of console games.
Sean Carey's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:24
Sean Carey
After liking the story of Dr. Ned but hating the lack of new items/levels/skills/gameplay, loving the first part of Mad Moxxi then hating the grind of the last three challenges, I'm really ready for General Knoxx.

It looks like it will offer all the things I was hoping for out of the first 2 DLCs!
Mr Andy Dixon's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:28
Mr Andy Dixon
Dude. I wish I could ride a skag :(
DJP3DRO's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:31
DJP3DRO
"Gearbox could have taken the easy way out. It could have released some DLC packs for Borderlands where you get a new story that lasts a couple of hours at best, and some new items."

Which is exactly what they did, minus the new items part.
RudyChan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 15:35
RudyChan
Too bad the PC version is full of bugs and doesn't run like it should even though I recently spent 1,200 on a gaming PC.
Br0th3rGr1mm's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 16:20
Br0th3rGr1mm
Wait...the game doesn't work, is a piss poor port from the console versin that has undesirable DRM....so that makes it ok to steal it? Your logic astounds me, sir....
epidemico616's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 16:38
epidemico616
you know... if you pirated this game... then you ARE a pirate. should go without saying. you complain about the quality of this game based on a pirated version, and yet site that as the reason you don't own it. the justification of "if its good, ill buy it" is bullshit. you buy it and if its bad you return it, or if thats not possible sell it second hand.

steam kinda kills the whole second hand market, but you can get the boxed version and register it on steam, at least that way u can return it if you dont like it.
psycho terror2's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 16:46
psycho terror2
@ jamesesdad

just to be clear, i had literally no problems with borderlands for PC. if you didn't buy it, then why are you complaining about it?
psycho terror2's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 16:52
psycho terror2
@ epidemico616

hate to double post, but what's more bullshit: downloading a copy of the game to evaluate the product before purchase, or being hyped and swayed by misleading advertising into paying for a game that you don't actually like?
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 17:30
mix
Once I hit lvl 50 in the Zombie DLC and did every single mission in it the game got super boring. I want to trade it in but my GF wont let me even though she never plays it.....
MCChampaignMillionaire's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 18:36
MCChampaignMillionaire
Very very cool
Chris Carter's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/19/2010 22:02
Chris Carter
I feel like they're Molyneuxing it, here.

Fable I wasn't that great. Buy Fable II! Fable II wasn't that great. Buy Fable III!

Zombie Ned wasn't that great. Buy Mad Moxxi! Mad Moxxi wasn't that great, buy General Knoxx!
jamesesdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2010 00:01
jamesesdad
@BrotherGrim: I never said it was ok to steal anything, I just said that its not surprising the number of people that do steal games (especially this one) considering the number of bugs, the amount of time its taken them to fix said bugs, a large number of bugs remaining, awful securom DRM even in the steam version, and controls and user interface mapped straight from the console port. Why would you want to pay for a product that doesn't work out of the box as advertised? I had to spend over an hour figure out how to set my computer up with a static IP, and open ports on my router just so I could connect to other users to play the game. THAT IS BULLSHIT. No one in their right mind would pay for a movie that didn't have post production effects finished, or didn't have bits of dialog recorded yet. I received the game for Christmas as a gift, I would have been furious if I had to pay money out of my pocket for a broken game like that, fortunately I didn't. Publishers need to find a better DRM solution (such as steam) so that they aren't treating legitimate customers like thieves. I downloaded the pirated version of borderlands because it it was cracked which allowed me to run the game without installing SUCKUROM. It runs the exact same as the full retail release, except I didn't have to install potentially harmful software on my computer.

@ Epidemico616:You are a complete moron. For starters, show me one game store where you can return a game because 'you didn't like it'. Second, show me one game store where you can even return and opened pc game. Every major retailer that sells computer game software has a strict no return policy on opened items. This was another gem on your part "the justification of "if its good, ill buy it" is bullshit. you buy it and if its bad you return it, or if thats not possible sell it second hand. " Once again epic fail. We as consumers vote with our dollars, IF A PRODUCT IS GOOD I PURCHASE IT, IF ITS BROKEN, BAD, DEFFECTIVE I DON'T. I buy new games for retail price all the time, but I'm not some moron uneducated shopper who just buys everything and then returns what I don't like. The cracked version of the game runs the exact same as the retail release, the only difference being securom isn't running the background when I play. All the bugs, netcode problems, and shitty console interface are persistent across the pirated and retail versions. 2k games is notorious for slogging their pc releases with securom, and I for one will not spend any of my own money (or ask for any of their games as gifts), until they stop treating paying customers like criminals.
jamesesdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2010 00:07
jamesesdad
@Psycho terror: I agree with your second comment as well. With there being such a vast differential in pc hardware, and system requirements listed on the box not always being an accurate metric to judge how well it will run, I think there is nothing wrong with downloading a game to see how well it runs before you purchase it. If the company doesn't offer a demo, how will I know how well a game might run on an older machine that is at the lower end of system requirements. I almost bought borderlands at launch but waited for christmas, and am glad I did since it took them so long to patch the game, and still has many bugs.
Kaden101's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2010 01:50
Kaden101
I'd still like a patch on the PS3 version so that when you play 2 player splitscreen & one of you goes into a menu the other persons framerate doesn't drop to around 4.

Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but it need a little bit of fixing.
Jetrockite's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2010 02:55
Jetrockite
Good things in this one, is that you get to create your own car, and the level cap is raised to 61.

I'll be buying this asap.
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