There are two types of Collector's Edition for Borderlands 2. There's the $99.99 Deluxe Vault Hunter’s Collector's Edition for those who really like Borderlands, and the $149.99 Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition set for fans who really, really REALLY like Borderlands.

The cheaper box comes with a Marcus Kincaid bobblehead, a map of pandora, a download code for the digital comic, an art book and some stickers. The ultra-box is modelled in the style of a red Borderlands loot chest (minus the randomised megaguns), and comes with a set of lithograph postcards, some Sir Hammerlock field notes, a "steel book case" and big ID chart that lists all of the creatures you'll encounter in Pandora. Also, most importantly, there's a cloth map. In case you've never held a cloth map, it is the best sort of map a map could hope to be.

Both editions also come with access to the premiere club, which is also available to everyone who pre-rders an ordinary edition of the game. That'll give you access to a series of DLC downloads at launch and beyond, including a Gearbox Gun pack and access to the fifth Mechromancer class when it's eventually added sometime after Borderlands 2's release on September 18. Have a glance at our Borderlands 2 preview for more, or check out the Borderlands 2 site.

A fifth playable class will be added to Borderlands 2 after release. Early designs cast the new character as a small cyborg girl with the ability to control a small army of mechanical "Deathtrap" robots, which will serve as more killy incarnations of Borderlands' jabbering Claptraps. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has told Gametrailers that the "Mechromancer" DLC is currently in the design stages, and will be worked on properly once the core game has been polished off.

Pitchford guesses that the Mechromancer will be added a couple of months after Borderlands 2 comes out, and tells GT that it'll be free to those who pre-order the game to gain access to the Borderlands 2 Premier club. You can check out the pre-order deals on the Borderlands 2 site, though there's still plenty of time to decide whether or not to lay down some early cash. It's not out until September 18 in the US, and September 21 in Europe. Check out our Borderlands 2 preview to find out more about the four new classes we'll be levelling up in the sequel.

We've had a chance to chat to Gearbox vice president of marketing Steve Gibson about the extra bits that the PC version of Borderlands 2 will be getting to make it feel extra special. Sharper resolutions, remappable keys, LAN support and native multiplayer matchmaking are a few of the features we can look forward to when Borderlands lands on September 18 in the US, and September 21 in the UK.

We were overwhelmed by Borderlands - once we got past the initial levels and finally clicked into the bizarre, nine-toed genius that merged FPS and RPG with such gleeful disregard. It’s a hard act to follow, but developers Gearbox are aiming to go above and beyond the original with Borderlands 2. Writer Anthony Burch and concept designer Scott Kester chatted with Gamasutra about the upcoming sequel, specifically changes to the setting and characters.

Borderlands 2 has a new antagonist in the handsome form of Handsome Jack, and in the five game years since Borderlands he’s fundamentally changed the game world. He’s taken over the Hyperion weapons company, and claimed responsibility for finding the original game’s vault. In true James Bond-baddy style, he’s built an orbital base near Pandora’s moon - in the shape of a giant “H”, no less. “You can never forget that Handsome Jack is screwing over the moon,” said Burch.

Each of Borderlands 2’s new protagonists is going to have a specific reason for hating Handsome Jack, which will be explained as the game goes on. The advantage of bringing in a new gang of protagonists means the old ones’ back stories can be explained in more detail, too. “You get to learn about who the Vault Hunters are as characters now because you're not controlling them,” said Burch. “So you can see like, ‘Oh, how did Roland bounce off?’, or ‘What's Mordecai's story?’ or ‘What's Brick's story?’”

One of our principal complaints about the first was that no matter how cel-shaded and comic-book-paletted the deserts were, they remained very deserty. The changes Handsome Jack has made to Borderlands 2’s world add much-needed variety. “It doesn't feel like I'm walking into the same desert, on the same bus, and dealing with all that kind of stuff,” said Burch. “You have these beautiful new arctic tundra areas, and these grasslands and stuff, and it feels completely new; all you mostly saw in the first game was just dust and dirt and all that stuff.”

But Borderlands 2 isn’t suddenly going to go all Crysis on our arses. “It's still harsh -- everything around every corner wants to kill you, but it's just to stay true to the nature of what the game is,” said Kester.

Keen eyed players of Borderlands might have noticed that the Steam version recently updated itself, bringing Steam Cloud save synchronisation and something called BTest. According to the update, BTest is a stat tracking system that will record what guns and areas are most popular with players, in order to help Gearbox improve their games. The software also includes a leaderboard at Gearbox Labs, which will let you compare your stats to other players.

With Borderlands 2 announced for April next year, it seems likely the data collected will have some influence on the development of the sequel.

2K have given us yet another reason to be super excited about Gamescom next week (as though we needed one). CVG have spotted a post on the 2K Games site announcing that they will be streaming the first Borderlands 2 footage live from Cologne on their uStream channel. The show kicks off next Friday at 8:00 PT / 17:00 CET / 16:00 BST. Questions from fans will be answered throughout the demo, you can submit your own by tweeting @2KGames or @GearboxSoftware, or by dropping a post on the Gearbox or 2K forums.

If you're sending in a question, don't ask "will I be able to play as a stumpy maniac who can dual wield any weapon in the game?" because we know the answer to that question is already "yes." Borderlands 2 will have four new playable characters, and brand new weapons. It's due out next year, some time after April 1.

The playable heroes of Borderlands 1 will return for Borderlands 2, but only as NPC characters. Game Informer reveals that we'll be taking charge of four completely new heroes when the sequel is released next year.

Gearbox have also decided to scrap all of the weapons from Borderlands 1. The randomly generated guns of the first game gave rise to thousands of mad scope/ammo/manufacturer combinations. New manufacturers will bring their own visual twists to each weapon, and players will now be able to add custom decals and enhancements to their favourite pieces.

Of the four new characters, only one has been revealed so far. He's a stumpy "Gunzerker" called Salvador. He can dual wield any weapon and improve his abilities using the familiar three-branch skill tree of the first game. He'll be able to choose from a wider selection of vehicles (ie: more than one), and use the new currency, Eridium, to buy new items or upgrade his armoury.

Gearbox also promise greatly improved enemy AI and more varied environments. Also, for better or worse, Claptrap's back!

Bordlerlands 2 is due sometime after April 1 n 2012, check out the official Borderlands 2 site for more.

When Torchlight was released in 2009, it wore it’s Diablo influence proudly on it’s sleeve. It’s [..]

The Steam Thanksgiving holiday sale has kicked off. A new selection of games will be on offer every day until November 30th. On top of that, 30 users each day will recieve the top 5 games in their wishlist.


Today's selection of offers expires in seven hours at the time of writing, and includes some pretty fine deals. There's 75% off the Deus Ex Collection and Alpha Protocol, and 50% off Borderlands and Prototype. You'll find all of the deals displayed over on the Steam store. While you're browsing, it's worth putting together a wishlist. There's a chance that you could be among the 30 Steam users picked each day to win copies of their top 5 most wanted games. To be considered for the offer you have to have at least ten games in your list. I've already hastily put together my top ten, but more importantly, what's in yours?

Last week we mentioned that Borderlands was about to receive an update that would raise the level cap, adding even higher level monsters and even more ridiculous loot. The update is now live! If you have Steam the update will apply automatically the next time you boot up the game. If you have the Windows version of the game, you can download the patch manually from the Borderlands site. Now you'll be able to take on level 58 Badass Loot Midgets and battle even harder Skag monsters. It'll all be worth it when that level 58 rocket-loaded shotgun drops.