Gearbox making a run for Borderlands

Gearbox Software is busy. After putting the finishing touches on Ubisoft's Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC), the Texas-based developer will shift its attention to a shooter based on the Aliens films. (The company is also in predevelopment of a Heat game.) However, the latest Game Informer cover invokes another iconic sci-fi movie--Mad Max--when describing another Gearbox title, Borderlands.

The GI cover reveals the unnamed project Gearbox employees have obliquely referenced is, in fact, a hybrid sci-fi shooter and role-playing game. Though details on Borderlands are currently scant, the print magazine did let slip that it will feature four-player online co-op, as will Halo 3. The magazine also compared Borderlands to Blizzard's classic action-RPG Diablo, and said it will be coming to the 360, PS3, and PC.

The Game Informer cover, which shows off-road vehicles, and Mad Max references have led some to compare Borderlands to Rage (PC, PS3, 360, Macintosh), the recently revealed postapocalyptic driving/shooting game from id Software. Though no release date has yet been revealed for either game, they appear to be part of a growing number of high-profile titles set in a less-than-rosy near future. Also on the horizon is Bethesda's much-anticipated Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3), which resurrects the classic RPG series in the radioactive ruins of Washington, DC.