Borderlands 3 – Fl4k Rescues Ice-T Teddy Bear

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Borderlands 3 – Sanctuary Ship Tour Gameplay

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Borderlands 3 Adds Ice-T As The Voice Of An AI Who Is Trapped Inside A Teddy Bear


Key Points:

  • Borderlands 3 adds a celebrity voice actor with Ice-T.
  • The Law & Order actor plays the character BALEX, who is an AI trapped inside the body of a teddy bear.
  • Ice-T first teased a role in Borderlands 3 back in March.
  • The Borderlands 3 release date is September 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

As rumored, the actor, rapper, and heavy metal band co-founder Ice-T is voicing a character in Borderlands 3. Ice-T plays the character BALEX, an AI who is trapped inside of a teddy bear.

It’s all very strange, which is in keeping with the over-the-top and humorous themes of Borderlands 3. Check out the video above to see the section of Ice-T in Borderlands 3.

Ice-T is a longtime fan of the Borderlands franchise. Back in March, he himself started an internet rumor that he would voice a character in Borderlands 3. The game’s official Twitter account posted a joking reply, so it just a matter of time before this all became official as it now has.

It’s not immediately clear how prominent a character BALEX is to Borderlands 3’s story. GameSpot played a demo recently that introduced BALEX and saw players helping him take down his ex-wife, another AI.

One of the Borderlands franchise’s most recognizable characters, Claptrap, is now voiced by Jim Foronda (Dragon Ball Z Kai) after the original actor, David Eddings, left Gearbox amid a bitter dispute with his former employer.

Ice-T has been in the Law & Order: SVU cast in a recurring role since 2000. He also co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count.

He frequently tweets about his passion for gaming. He plays Destiny 2 on rainy days; he explores the world of Far Cry 5 while waiting in his SVU dressing room; and he believes the console wars are stupid. At E3 2011, Ice-T appeared alongside Cliff Bleszinski to hype Gears of War 3 and premiere a new song titled, you guessed it–“The Gears of War.”

Borderlands 3 launches on September 13 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. The PC edition is exclusive to the Epic Games Store until April 2020.

For lots more on Borderlands 3, check out GameSpot’s brand-new preview, “Why You Might Want To Play Borderlands 3 More Than Once.”

Why You Might Want To Play Borderlands 3 More Than Once

All four playable Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3 bring their own distinct flavor to the game, and not just in terms of their unique skill trees. In comparison to the Vault Hunters in previous games, Borderlands 3’s Zane, Moze, Amara, and FL4K talk a lot, constantly speaking their minds and responding to NPCs during conversations. Your choice of Vault Hunter won’t impact the final outcome of the main story at all, but it will influence how you perceive certain events and understand the relationships of specific characters–encouraging you to play through Borderlands 3’s campaign more than once.

“We wanted to make sure that if people said, ‘I want to play through this game all over again with a different character,’ that they would then feel rewarded,” co-lead writer Sam Winkler said in an interview with GameSpot. “Not just in terms of different mechanics but also a slightly different interpretation of some of the stories.” The emphasis on Sirens in Borderlands 3’s plot means Amara has a vested interest in the story’s events, for instance, and FL4K–a nonbinary AI–explores their growing sexual attraction to Ellie by flirting with her every chance they have.

Having played as all four of the Vault Hunters now, I love how much each one changes how many of the interactions go. Previous Vault Hunters have rarely felt like carbon copies of each other–their unique abilities mean each one handles in a distinct way. But within their respective stories, each one typically reacts to every event in a similar way to their teammates. There’s no new insight playing as Brick instead of Mordecai or Maya instead of Zer0. So it’s a nice change of pace in Borderlands 3, and I’m already eager to see how each Vault Hunter uniquely responds to the streamer-like banter and violent habits of the Calypso Twins–especially Tyreen, a Siren whose curse-like Phase Leech ability and horrifying backstory (if true) write her as somewhat of a tragic figure.

To also encourage replayability, several side quests in Borderlands 3 contain choices, allowing you to impact the game in different ways. Don’t expect world-changing events but, for example, you can influence how certain characters will appear depending on what you do. In Borderlands 3’s prologue, for instance, Claptrap loses his antenna, and–for the rest of the game–he’ll just wear whatever you decide to give him as a replacement. “Maybe it’s a tin foil hat, or a human arm, or something else,” Winkler said.

Aside from the more vocal protagonists and additional agency in how certain side quests conclude, the story of Borderlands 3 is fundamentally the same character-driven tale of crass humor, murderous mayhem, and silly puns that defined Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands. Almost every major character from the previous four games returns in this newest installment, though many have changed in the seven in-game years since the events of Borderlands 2. Because there’s been so much history in the franchise, Gearbox wanted to avoid making any of the previously established characters–such as Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, or Ellie–into playable Vault Hunters. It was important that players were forced to use characters who had never interacted with Pandora and its inhabitants before so the story would then have to reintroduce the franchise’s lore, helping out series newcomers.

“There’s that wonderful cadence of Borderlands where the previous rounds of Vault Hunters become characters in the world, and that allows you the opportunity to learn more about them and where they’re from,” co-lead writer Danny Homan said. “But as a result, with Borderlands 3, you need a new generation of Vault Hunters because you need to see an old world through a new perspective. It’s so useful when you have a new cast who have just made their way to Pandora and they’re asking all the [expositional] questions that the players may be asking, like, ‘What the heck is a Vault? What am I doing here? Who is Lilith? Why is this robot trying to insult me and also give me stuff?'”

“We never want Borderlands 3 to feel like you have to know everything about the franchise in order to understand why a character is important,” Winkler added. “We want it to be accessible to both new and old players.” Not every bit of information in regards to past events could be fit into Borderlands 3’s early chapters though. As a result, Borderlands 2–which hasn’t seen a story expansion since 2013’s Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep–got new DLC earlier this summer, just ahead of Borderlands 3’s release.

“Our biggest goal with [Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary DLC] was to canonize some stuff from [Tales from the Borderlands],” Winkler said. “A lot more people played Borderlands 2 than Tales, and so we didn’t want people to ask, ‘Where’s Helios?’ when they picked up Borderlands 3.”

Tales from the Borderlands is an outlier in the franchise, the only game in the series that doesn’t star Vault Hunters as the main characters and also isn’t a first-person shooter. However, it took Borderlands’ ludicrous humor to new heights, and it’s this level of ridiculousness that Borderlands 3 strives for.

“A lot of people would say ‘Don’t do an extended five-minute gunfight without any guns,'” Winkler said. “And yet Tales did it and I still see that [finger gun fight] all the time on the internet. That’s the energy we want to bring to Borderlands 3. Have people say, ‘Did you play that one thing? It’s insane.'” In this, Borderlands 3 certainly seems to fit the bill. On Eden-6 (one of the new planets you’ll visit in the game), you meet an Ice-T-voiced AI that’s been trapped in a teddy bear by its angry ex-girlfriend. The jokes that follow in that particular chapter go to places that are as shocking and unsettling as they are morbidly amusing. Borderlands 3’s story is definitely closer to the creative weirdness and pretty-much-anything-goes tone of Tales, as opposed to the unhinged attitude of the previous mainline games.

If nothing else, the story told in Borderlands 3 seems to be somewhat of an apotheosis for the franchise up to this point–rewarding fans with the answers to many of the series’ most long-standing questions. You shouldn’t expect to have everything laid bare though, as Borderlands 3 expands upon the franchise’s lore with brand-new concepts as well. “There are definitely events from previous Borderlands games that kind of reach an interesting culmination in certain ways,” Homan said. “The focus on Lilith from Borderlands 1 to Borderlands 3–there are some interesting stories that we’re telling there. People love the Borderlands universe and there are always more stories out there, and so when we’re trying to wrap up a story, we’re always trying to see new stories.” Winkler added, “Whatever Borderlands ends up looking like after Borderlands 3, I think that people will be able to look back and see one, two, and three as maybe a trilogy. But not necessarily with walls on either side of it.”

Borderlands 3 is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on September 13. On PC, Borderlands 3 has a limited-time exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store that lasts until 2020. Borderlands 3 will also be a day one title on Google Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming service scheduled to launch in November 2019.

PES 2020 Snaps Up Another Exclusive Team Licence

Konami continues to add more teams to its growing roster of exclusive licences in the upcoming eFootball PES 2020.

Argentine powerhouse Club Atlético River Plate is the latest team to appear exclusively in PES 2020, following in the footsteps of their arch-rivals Atlético Boca Juniors. River Plate’s name, logo, kits, and stadium will only grace the pitch of PES 2020 in this year’s annual release. As a result, the Buenos Aires club will now be called Núñez in FIFA 20, named after the neighbourhood the team plays in. This is similar to last year when Boca Juniors were renamed Buenos Aires in FIFA 19.

If you want to play out the intense rivalry of the Superclásico in FIFA 20, you’re going to be stuck with Núñez vs Buenos Aires. Of course, FIFA will still retain player likenesses for both teams, in much the same way as it has done with Juventus. The Cristiano Ronaldo-led Italian giants signed an exclusive deal with PES 2020 last month, resulting in the club’s name change to Piemonte Calcio in FIFA 20.

Unlike PES, FIFA players are unable to edit the names, logos, and kits of these unlicensed teams. This has lead to some frustration on behalf of FIFA’s most ardent fans, who have grown accustomed to each and every team being fully licenced. PES 2020 brand manager, Adam Bhatti, opened up about team exclusivity in a series of tweets last month, to explain Konami’s stance on the situation.

“I do understand those claiming exclusive licenses is bad for consumers,” Bhatti began. “I’d love a world where everything is shared, and the game does the talking. We have always had to deal with this continuous blockout–having the [Premier League] in PES would be great for example. However, the big teams want to feel they are in an actual partnership, not just bought to block out competitors. Everyone knows we cannot outspend EA, it’s the quality of recreation and commitment to being a true partner sharing the clubs values–that’s why we’re back.”

It’s a signal of intent for Konami after years of losing out to the EA juggernaut. The company previously signed a four-year deal with German club Borussia Dortmund, and the famous black and yellow kits were even included in promotional material for PES 19. Then, rather unceremoniously, the club prematurely tore up its contract a year early to exclusively appear in FIFA. This followed EA snatching up the Champions League licence from PES’ grasp after a decade of exclusivity for the Japanese publisher, and there are plenty of other examples of the one-sided contest between the two games, at least when it comes to licencing.

If you want to play as Boca Juniors, River Plate, or Juventus right now, a demo for PES 2020 is currently available, or you can read our feature on how PES 2020’s changes impact this year’s game.

eFootball PES 2020 releases on September 10 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

THQ Nordic Announces Updates for Saint’s Row, Dead Island 2 and TimeSplitters

THQ Nordic has announced that a new Saint’s Row game is “deep in development”, Homefront: The Revolution studio Dambuster is now working on Dead Island 2 and that it has hired TimeSplitters co-creator Steve Ellis to “plot the future course” of the TimeSplitters franchise.

In the ‘Looking Ahead’ section of THQ Nordic’s latest financial report, CEO Lars Wingefors covered the company’s ongoing projects from some of its many, many studios.

The first full Saint’s Row game since 2013 is being made by creator Volition, and is “deep in development”. It’s a welcome return to the series after the slightly less well-received Agents of Mayhem.

Continue reading…

Overwatch: Sigma Is Now Live, As Is The New Role Queue Feature

Today’s Overwatch update brings with it two major changes – a new playable character, and a fundamental shift in how heroes are chosen before a match.

The extensive patch notes for this update introduce Sigma, who has already been available on the PTR for some time now. Now he’s being rolled out for all players on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Sigma is a new tank, A 62-year-old astrophysicist with gravity manipulation abilities. He’s able to launch two “gravitic charges”, which can bounce from walls and have a large area of effect, or use a kinectic grasp ability to freeze projectiles, turning them into shields. He’s also able to fling barriers around for his team’s protection, and attack enemies by hurling debris at them. His ultimate, Gravitic Flux, lifts enemies within range right up before slamming them back down.

The other major change is the new role queue feature. Role queue means that in Competitive Play, you’ll have to nominate your ‘role’ before finding a game, whether that means being a tank, support, or damage character. This means that in every Competitive match, each team will have two heroes of each type, and thus have a balance between support, damage and tank. Opinion has been mixed on whether or not this system is a good idea; it’ll be interesting to see how things play out now that the update is live.

Elsewhere, this patch introduces a lot of changes, additions and tweaks. Mystery Heroes mode is back, wherein players are randomly reset to a different hero in-between each round, and characters have been tweaked across the board. Interestingly, there’s been a global 12% increase to the cost of ultimates, as they’re currently “coming up too often”.

Here’s a full list of changes being made to the other heroes of Overwatch in this patch:

Ashe

  • Reload time per round decreased from 0.3 to 0.25 seconds.

Brigitte

Inspire (Passive)

  • Healing amount increased from 100 to 130
  • Self-healing from Inspire is now halved

Repair Pack

  • Now has 3 charges
  • Healing amount changed from 150 to 120
  • Now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantly
  • If you throw multiple packs at the same person, the current duration will be extended by 2 seconds

Whip Shot

  • Out-going velocity increased from 60 to 80
  • Retracting time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3

Barrier Shield

  • Barrier health reduced from 500 to 200

Shield Bash

  • Stun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75

Rally

  • Ultimate cost increased 10%

D.Va

Call Mech

  • Pilot ultimate cost reduced by 12%

Doomfist

Melee

  • Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

  • Storm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5

Orisa

Protective Barrier

  • Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9

Reinhardt

New Passive: “Steadfast”

  • Reduces knock back effects by 30%

Sombra

Hack

  • Duration on enemy players reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

EMP

  • Activation time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 seconds

Symmetra

Teleporter

  • Now lasts an infinite duration until destroyed
  • Players can destroy their Teleporter with the ability 2 input
  • Cooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyed
  • Maximum range increased from 25 to 30 meters
  • Teleporter is destroyed if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exit

Tracer

Pulse Bomb

  • Damage increased from 300 to 350

Wrecking Ball

Minefield

  • Increased projectile speed from 10 to 12, causing the mines to spread out more
  • Reduced the activation time from 0.25 to 0.1 seconds