Riotous multiplayer action game Borderlands 2 is re-releasing for PlayStation 4 as virtual reality game in December.
Reconfigured as a single player game, with updated special abilities and completely new first-person driving, Borderlands 2 VR is heading to PlayStation VR on Dec 14, 2018.
There will be an all-new slow-motion ability and movement will use a syncopated point-to-point system rather than the free-roam style seen in its 2012 predecessor.
Some skills have been reworked to accommodate the lack of a multiplayer mode, while others now hook into the BadAss Mega Fun Time slow-motion mode.
Developed in-house at Borderlands franchise studio Gearbox Software, the inclusion of a new first-person driving perspective may offer an insight into Borderlands 3 development, but direct info on the unannounced release was noticeably absent.
The PlayStation announcement also demonstrates that Gearbox is not averse to console exclusivity deals, whether temporary or permanent, which may factor into marketing and promotion for Borderlands 3.
It's the second time that 2012's Borderlands 2 is being made available on PlayStation 4, having debuted alongside its 2014 follow-up, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, inside Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2015.
As for Borderlands 3, Gearbox's publisher Take Two Interactive had previously put a marker down for a “highly-anticipated title from one of [subsidiary] 2K's biggest franchises” between April 2019 and March 2020.
That unnamed project, thought likely to be Borderlands 3, “had been planned for release during the current fiscal year” but is now expected “during fiscal 2020 to allow for additional development time”, Take Two said during a May 2018 investors' call.
Take Two's other publishing label is Rockstar Games, whose Red Dead Redemption 2, due Oct 26, is of such heightened commercial significance that otherwise blockbuster releases Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Fallout 76, Battlefield V and Hitman 2 have cautiously left a two-week buffer either side of the epic-scale Wild West adventure.
Red Dead Redemption 2 itself had been delayed from late 2017 to first half 2018 before settling on its October launch, and would have created an undesirable face-off with Gearbox's Take Two labelmate, should Borderlands 3 have been that highly-anticipated title. — AFP Relaxnews