Gameinformer adds somestuff

ot quite—but the developers at Gearbox Software have recently announced its ambitious FPS/RPG/Gunporn hybrid “Borderlands” is heading in a new direction artistically. That direction is—you guessed it—cel-shading.

While fans on Gearbox software’s forums were initially shocked by the news, the development studio’s community manager “Ennui” promises the decision to go with the new look was not easy:

“We do care about all our fans, no doubt, and the decision to alter the art style was assuredly not one taken or made lightly. It also wasn't made without gathering plenty of information and feedback - we've been doing extensive focus testing throughout development.”

Ennui went on to say that despite the ways cel-shading has been used in the past, “The game world is no less gritty, dirty, or harsh - all of the detail is there, and the environments have even more atmosphere.”

It’s safe to say we were still skeptical—until pictures started surfacing of what the game supposedly looks like now. The pictures are apparently scans from an upcoming magazine feature being done on the game, and all we can say is that if they’re legit, fans have no reason worry—they look pretty darn awesome.

Ennui has promised that the media blackout on Borderlands will be ending soon, and that all of the custom guns and armor are better than ever—the game is now up to 650,000 unique weapons thanks to programming that allows the game to create its own weapons, and the developers sound like they are surprised on a daily basis by cool new combinations they never would have thought of themselves. Just when our excitement for this game was waning, they pull us back in…

We’ll be sure to post the first legit screens of Borderlands’ new look as soon as we can.