Borderlands 2 first look for the Vita, temper your expectations

Based on word (from IGN among others) and video coming out of GDC (Games Developer Conference - i.e., the people who should know) Borderlands 2 is looking a bit of a stretch for the Vita's hardware. Now sure, its still in development, and there's time to fix things like slowdown, loading time and mapping issues (suspect that'll be easier with the new model with the smaller back-panel), but from what we've seen, it does the job!

MEMO TO SONY/TAKE 2/IRON GALAXY - Release a proper video to counteract the blurry random-focus mess that everyone's currently squinting at, with a voice track explaining what the developers have yet to polish. What were your PR people thinking?

Update: Sony has (as you'd expect) said the game will be refined before launch, and we should expect a release date within the next few weeks.



Even if there's a delay (it is due for a hardware bundle May release) for some extra optimisation, which I wouldn't mind, when it does arrive, don't expect the title trumpeted as the Vita's big release for 2014 to help the hardware platform massively. With no "new" games announced at GDC, I suspect it won't exactly start a splurge of new projects from big-name developers. Instead, a future as a dumb terminal for Remote Play seems the only way we'll enjoy big-budget, non-Japanese, games.

Still, if Sony keeps its promise there's plenty of classic revamps to come, and a hugely bright indie future. So, while the biggest names might not fall our way, the Vita's story still has a long way to run.