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Borderlands screenshot

VideoGamer.com: So how long is it going to take to finish development?

RP: We're coming in 2009. We're very far along but we have a lot of work to do. But you saw the game, it's in really good shape. We have to add some more reactions and behaviours to our human characters. We're also kind of still teasing. The game's really big. There's lots of things in the world. I'm really looking forward to some of the next opportunities to really unveil it all. But I think right now it's a great way to introduce people to what we're hoping to accomplish and what we've already done, what's strong about it. But yeah, it'll come in 2009. We'll probably get more specific about our date when we reach alpha. One thing that's true about Gearbox is, we're going to make great games, you know. Some of what we're doing is inventing and with invention there is a bit of uncertainty, so we do have to adapt a little bit to that. We're going to fulfil the promise we make and we're going to meet and exceed expectations if we can. So that makes it always weird for me to talk about dates before we're sure.

VideoGamer.com: Is this a shooter that's going to take gamers a long time to complete given that it's got RPG elements? What kind of hours are we looking at?

RP: It depends. If you want to blast through the quests I think it'll be about the same... we want it to feel, for people who just want to consume it like they consume shooters, we want it to feel not too short but not too long. For people that really just want to develop characters they can play it over some time.

VideoGamer.com: What's the sweet spot then?

RP: I mean, I think Call of Duty 4 got really lucky. I think that game was too short, but they got away with it because it's pretty good. I think 20 hours is too long for a narrative shooter, so for me somewhere around the 10,12,15 hour mark is a sweet spot depending on how varied this experience is. I think though, a lot of quests and a lot of the opportunities in Borderlands can mean you can spend 50 hours in this world - if you want to go off to the side and level up, do the side quests or do this challenge thing over here. There's a lot of choice here. I don't know if you played Diablo, but when I played Diablo II I finished the game and I was like level 40 something, and so I took that character and started again - then I was about level 60 something. Then I joined some friends and we did Act III three times in a row because Act III was so good. You know what I mean? Eventually I was like level 99 and I was like "Sweet!". I think there's going to be some gamers who want to do that. That's the kind of gamer I am and I'm going to be doing that in Borderlands.

VideoGamer.com: So you'll be able to do that in Borderlands? You'll be able to finish and then take that character and start again?

RP: Your character is persistent. You can be half way through your game and then you convince me to buy it and I'm like level 0, and you say you'll help me out. You can join my game with me over the internet and we can play together. You'll have your character with your skills and your level and all of your equipment and you're going to be a bad ass because you're half way through, and we're going to melt through the beginning of the game. I'm going to be like "Oh crap, this guy's tough!" and you'll be like "Blam!" and gib that guy to bits. And I'll be developing stuff and as we play long enough together you'll find some new things maybe, some better equipment here and there, and you'll certainly get some experience and develop some skills. That character is yours, so when you go back and continue your game, you're going to have all that stuff you had when you were playing with me. And the two of us could go together and join and play with her, in her game for a while. You can create new instances and start again. You can create one instance where you're like half way through the story, one where you're starting at the beginning and one where you're at the end, and you can take your character - your character is persistent, very much like Diablo.

VideoGamer.com: So how many players can play at the same time together?

RP: Four on the internet. It's four-player cooperative. It's like Diablo (laughs).

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