While there is some confusion on whether this is an 19-level increase for those who don’t have General Knoxx, what Borderlands fan doesn’t have arguably the best DLC? **EDIT***  Botman (gbx employee) confirmed that it is simply 8 levels.  Cap is 58 without Knoxx.   Another interesting statement I noticed from Randy Pitchford is that “the vast majority of our customers have not reached the level cap”.  Come on people, max it out!

Perhaps the GOTY Edition Strategy Guide that surfaced last month will release along side this excellent value for anyone who hasn’t experienced Borderlands yet.

Not much information other than the above has been announced, though several sites are reporting that a huge map of Pandora will be included.  See inside for what IGN is showing as the boxart, and the official Press Release.

——————————————————————————————————————

MEDIA ADVISORY

2K Games and Gearbox Software Bring Carnage and Mayhem

to Video Game Consoles this Fall with Borderlands™ Game of the Year

New York, NY – August 30, 2010 – 2K Games and Gearbox Software announced today that the superextravasplosive, mega-hit Borderlands™ will offer a Game of the Year edition this fall. Borderlands™ Game of the Yearwill be available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for $59.99 and Windows PC for $49.99 starting October 12, 2010.

This new addition to the critically acclaimed Borderlands experience will provide fans with the ultimate outlet to lock, load and face the madness. More than 17 million unique weapons and loot empower gamers to blissfully blast their way through all of Pandora’s inhospitable environments and leave behind a bloody wasteland of indigenous monsters, zombies, Claptraps and evil corporate mercenaries. Level up with the Borderlands experience seamlessly by playing alone or with friends through extensive split-screen or online co-op integration for the most ultimate Role-Playing Shooter fun ever created.

Borderlands Game of the Year edition will come with tokens for download of the recently announced add-on pack, Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, as well as the three previous best-selling destructive downloadable adventures – the living dead-filled The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, the ultimate video game survival of the fittest test Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, and the utterly fantastic The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. Also included, will be a complete and comprehensive map of the Borderlands territories.

With this definitive collection, gamers will now have the perfect chance to join in and experience what millions of Borderlands fans already adore. They’ll find a highly addictive video game that calls for unleashing furious anger upon a sinister corporation’s well-armed armada and Pandora’s local inhospitable inhabitants, while searching for the secret of The Vault that is chock full of extra bonuses and add-ons.

Borderlands, rated M for Mature by the ESRB, is currently available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and PC. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned*, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot* and The Secret Armory of General Knoxx* add-on packs are all available separately on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 for 800 Microsoft Points and on the PlayStation®Network and PC for $9.99.

2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

For more information, please visit www.borderlandsthegame.com.

* Requires standalone Borderlands product in order to be played.

Update: Release date confirmed for September 28th

The DLC will be called ClapTrap’s Robot Revolution, and it charges players with the task of taking down a rebellious robot known as the Ninja Assassin. An army of ClapTraps wages war against the Hyperion Corporation, and players are stuck in the middle. The DLC will release on September 28th for 9.99 and players will get:

• 20 new missions
• 2 extra skill points
• 3 additional backpack slots

For those of you who must know more, the most recent PC patch for Borderlands included a TON of spoiler information about the DLC.  I have not looked too deeply through this, as it is mostly information on the actual quests and characters you will be seeing, so it is about as SPOILER HEAVY as you can get.  Read at your own risk: http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=108873

Screenshots:

Borderlands PC Update 1.30 Notes

360: This update will be deployed automatically on 2/23

PS3: This update will be deployed automatically on 2/25

PC: This update will be available on 2/25

Addressed issues:

• Invalid weapons or items can no longer be loaded into the game
• Brick’s Centurion class mods now regenerate health correctly
• Brick’s Bombardier class mods now regenerate rockets correctly
• Roland’s Tactician class mods now regenerate shields correctly and display the correct bonus values
• Roland’s Rifleman class mods now apply damage increase to all machine guns
• Certain powerful legendary item names should now be displayed in the appropriate color
• Opening the bank in the Mad Moxxi DLC no longer prevents other players from moving
• Multiple copies of DLC missions can no longer be obtained
• Corrected some incorrect icons in the ammo vendor
• Fixed a crash caused by killing the final boss while zoomed in with a scope
• The “Careful, he bites” achievement should now properly unlock when playing in French
• Added icons to the server browser that indicate which DLCs the server has installed
• The server browser now displays the name of the DLC a server is playing instead of the plot mission
• Adjusted scrolling in menu options in long server lists
• Added a notification if a player attempts to continue a game saved in DLC that is no longer installed
• Fixed DLC notification dialogs that were not closing properly
• Alt-F4 no longer closes the game if it is not in focus (PC Only)
• Fixed an issue which resulted in corruption in saved games (360)
• Added support for allowing multiple user login on PS3, so that friends can play on another player’s system in splitscreen. (PS3)
• Fixed graphical distortion and crashes some PS3 users may be experiencing (PS3)
• Zombie Island achievements now unlock properly in splitscreen (360, PS3)

Balance adjustments:

• Chests in New Haven have been adjusted to contain more appropriate loot
• The duration of daze effects has been reduced to 6 seconds, and the amount by which it decreases the speed of enemies and their projectiles has been reduced
• Damage from shock elemental effects has been increased
• Repeater pistol damage has been slightly increased, accuracy slightly decreased
• Sniper Rifle critical hit bonus has been increased

• No release date yet.  ”Very Very Soon”
• 10 bucks – Standard DLC price
• The level cap has been confirmed at 61.  Turning it up by 11
• Skill points will accumulate from all 11 levels.
• Weapon Proficiencies are not raised
• You can play in first playthrough or second.
• There are 44 new missions
• There are 10 new achievements for 250 more Gamerscore.  Check them all out HERE
• There are new weapons, and a new weapon coloring called “pearlescent”
• New weapons go up to level 60
• A level 64 boss enemy “Crawmerax the Invincible” appears after you complete the main story, and has a higher pearlescent drop rate.
• People without the DLC will be able to see the new items from friends, but not use them.
• NPCs now have better, more lifelike animations.
• The DLC continues the story of Borderlands, picking up right after the ending.
• The new area is called “The Parched Fathoms” and is a dried out lake.  Dry, sandy, more of the same
• The Atlas Corporation is pissed at you, and sends the Crimson Lance after you.  Expect lots more Lance battles.
• The goal is to get to the Armory and defeat General Knoxx
• Athena is a Crimson Lance defector that helps you similar to the guardian angel
• Scooter and Marcus return, as well as Moxxi from DLC2
• There are three new vehicles, all earned through quests.
• Vehicles only work in the new DLC, you can’t take them to other areas
• One is a 4-person vehicle called “The Lancer”.  The positions are  Driver, Gunner, Mine-layer, and a “Blast Seat” to knock off close range enemies.
• A second is “The Monster” and is a “souped up version of the runner”
• Third vehicle is a racer built for speed.
• There are “20-30 new enemies”.  I figure this means 8 or 9 all with variations.
• “Lance Assasins” are one new enemy.  Fast acrobatic ninjas with swords.
• “Lance Probe” is a flying sentry enemy and poses higher threats to vehicles
• “Lance Combat Medic” new enemy can throw down healing turret to heal other enemies.
• “Lance Rocketeer” is a jetpack-equipped flying asshole.  Oh noes.
• “Lance Shock Trooper” uses shock weapons and is resistant to shock element.
• “Lance Pyro” has a flamethrower, resistant to fire element.
• All new enemies have Badass variations
• New chest variations are available
• Lance Chest is twice the size of Red Chests, and have a higher chance for the best drops
• New “Drifter” enemy looks just like a HL2 walker.  Dangerous to vehicles.
• Midgets have domesticated skags and now ride them
• Riders are two enemies in one.  Kill one, the other must be killed as well.
• “Badass Skag Rider” = Badass Skag + Badass Midget.  Run.
• “Skag Rapporee” is an Alpha Skagg with THREE midgets riding it.  Yes.
• “Devastator” enemy is a large mech.  Looks tough.
• One boss is named “Ajax”, flies on a jetpack.

Screenshots

GameTrailers Preview Videos

Giant Bomb Preview Video

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/borderlands-the-secret-preview-of-general-knoxx/1880/

Making a Monster 10
Build the New Car: Monster

Athena, Out 25
Rescue Athena

Depot Demolition 25
Destroy the Lance Depot

Vincible 50
Kill Crawmerax the Invincible

Sneaky Little Buggers 25
Kill each of the loot midgets

Speed Kills 25
Destroy a Lancer while in a Racer

Ding! Overleveled 15
Reach Level 51

Ding! Overleveled to 11 40
Reach Level 61

Completionist 25
Complete all missions in Secret Armory

Secret Achievement 10
Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement.

Kotaku reports in an updated post via word from Randy Pitchford:

Gearbox Software says that Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is “not just new deathmatch areas.” CEO Randy Pitchford notes “This is an ENTIRELY NEW GAME MODE.”

“Think [Halo 3] ODST’s ‘Firefight’ or Gears of War’s ‘Horde Mode.’ Cash, prizes and competition!” Pitchford said in a statement from Gearbox. “It’s like Smash TV in coop FPS, but in the Borderlands.”

Gearbox reps say the new Borderlands downloadable content “expands greatly on the possibilities of combat as well adding a ton of new rules such as vampire mode or low gravity mode…”

MTV MP Blogs reports that the harder arenas might take six hours to complete:

It’s all about this crazy Moxxi character, and she’s running these tournaments. You go in and fight waves and rounds of monsters, and then she starts changing it all up. She throws out what are called ‘Moxxi Maxims,’ these rules that dramatically change the way the game play. She’ll be like, ‘Vampire Rule!’ which makes it so that the player’s health is constantly draining, but every time you get a kill you get a whole bunch of health back. Now all the players are like, ‘Holy crap, I have to play amazingly aggressive,’ so you have to charge in before you basically bleed out. Another example, she’ll go ‘Shotgun Challenge,’ where all shotguns do bonus damage and all other guns take a penalty.”

There’s a small tournament and a big tournament. The small tournament takes probably about an hour, and most people will be able to get through that. The big tournament…one of the things people have been asking for is for something that challenges them, and that’s what the big tournament is. I think the last time I went through it, it took me six hours to get through a big tournament. You can’t save your progress, you have to do it in one sitting, but you can stop, walk away from it and come back [Ed note: You just can't turn the system off]. It’s really hardcore. To get through the big tournament, you’ll have to get some friends who are very good and you’ll all have to plan out what people are going to do and what weapons you’re bringing.”

There are also three screenshots total now, see them all below (click for larger versions)