Tweet
As long as the load times aren't horrendous, I guess that's good news.
-
Tiny Tina is Ash from hey Ash Whatcha Playin', I thought that was kinda coolComment
-
cant wait for my ultimate loot chest to get hereComment
-
-
Meet Borderlands 2′s Ellie: The “opposite of how most females tend to be represented in games”
This is Ellie. You may have seen her in the latest Borderlands 2 trailer (unless you were distracted by the dangerously high levels of a-whimoweh), but up to now we didn’t know much about the series’ new NPC. I recently had the opportunity to send the Gearbox team a few questions about Ellie’s design, origin, and role — read on to find out who she is, how she came to be, and how Gearbox seeks to defy stereotypes.
These written answers were a group effort by the Gearbox team.
Who is Ellie? What role does she play in the story?
Gearbox: Ellie is Scooter’s sister. From a pure purpose level, we needed a character to introduce our new Bandit Technical vehicle, and since we were already using Scooter elsewhere in the game, it didn’t make sense for him to do it. Still, Scooter is “the car guy” in our universe and it felt like anyone who introduced a new car should still be connected to him in some way. Thus, Ellie was born.
The narrative goal with Ellie was to have a character who hits all of the tick marks of a good Borderlands character (funny, unexpected, looks as if they could probably kill you in thirteen different ways if you got on their bad side), while also making an independent female character who looked the exact opposite of how most females tend to be represented in games. We also wanted to make sure that, through her dialog and visual design, we never cast her in a light where the player is encouraged to pity, laugh at, or mock her because she doesn’t look like Jessica Rabbit.
How did her design come about?
GB: Ellie is one of Moxxi’s daughters from Borderlands 1. Being that she was Scooters sister we knew we had a challenge coming up with a character that wouldn’t be dwarfed by his over the top personality.
Originally this led us to a design where she was hugely muscular and tough playing off the idea of a woman who was more manly than Scooter was. This muscle-bound incarnation ended up being a bit too abrasive and bandit-y so we decided to keep her large size but at the same time soften her body shape. In this way she ended up being a strong woman with her own unique silhouette and style
Who voices her?
GB: Jamie Marchi, who is awesome.
Was animating such a unique character a particular challenge?
GB: She certainly had some challenges unique to her size! We went through five iterations of neck fat and positioning so that she could make eye contact with you without her neck looking wrong. Making her balance look believable also required some special positioning; we had to lean her entire model back further to compensate for her chest size. Speaking of that, Ellie is one of two female characters in the game with custom chest animations. Our animators have a general rule that cup sizes over “D” cup get custom chest animations. The other character with “special” animation work is Ellie’s mom, Moxxi.
Does she ever bludgeon anyone with that giant wrench?
GB: No, but she does straight-up murder a dude in a really gory way less than ten seconds after you meet her. So, there’s that.
Comment
-
I love the last response of that interview.
Comment
-
I REALLY hope they fix the issue with headsets on the PS3 before this game hits.
I already have rage issues online (sorry Twigg) and that's the #1 that gets me to lose my shit more than anything.Comment
-
It's so weird. It seems like the more people you have the better it is. When we had all four it was perfect.
Comment
-
Link: Borderlands 2 has a 58-hour campaign, says Gearbox
Don’t think you’re going to be rattling through Borderlands 2 in five minutes. The shooter sequel’s going to last nearly 60 hours on a single play-through, if Gearbox comments are to be believed.
“What we like to think about it is, Borderlands is a hobby. Some guide guys just did a playthrough of Borderlands 2 and they reported back to us that it takes 58 hours to play through the campaign – and that’s just one playthrough with one character,” Gearbox marketing VP Steve Gibson told Gamerzines.
“We look at it as a hobby, and that isn’t even counting the new Badass Points system and how that’ll affect every character you do. We want it to feel like you get more for your money. We’re happy for people to pay their money once and feel that they get ongoing value.”
Borderlands 2, which features four new characters and many new features of the shooter-RPG original, is emerging as one of the most anticipated games of 2012. It releases on September 18 in the US and September 21 in Europe.
Comment
-
-
That makes sense. I know doing EVERY quest in Borderlands 1 it took my cousin and I around 50 hours on our first playthrough I believe.
Comment
-
Borderlands 2 Is Done. So Gearbox Is Working On DLC.
Today Gearbox announced that they're officially done with work on Borderlands 2. The full game is in certification, so that leaves Gearbox's hands free to work on the first downloadable content, introducing a new character class: the Mechromancer you see above (note: they're just sketches for now).
This mech-friendly character will be available roughly 60-90 days after the game releases. If you pre-order Borderlands 2, you'll be part of the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, giving you access to her for free.
Comment
-
Comment
-
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Did TeflonDonny take 1 second away from DC Universe Online to "Thank" a post???
Lucky MedI give rep not thanks
My Audio Blog (Whoring)Comment
-
TeflonDonny should just change his PSN name to ...is playing DC Universe Online
Comment
Comment