Borderlands dropping in October

In March 2008, a rude surprise was dropped on gamers looking forward to Borderlands, the ambitious open-world, postapocalyptic driving/shooting game from developer Gearbox Software. As part of a lackluster earnings report, Take-Two Interactive--which is publishing the game under its 2K Games label--announced that the game had been pushed back to sometime during the company's 2009 fiscal year.

Now, GameSpot has confirmed that the game will make its aforementioned launch window--but only just. During a preview session today, Gearbox staff writer Mikey Neumann said that the game will "ship this October." Take-Two's 2009 fiscal year--which Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II were just pushed out of--ends on October 31.

Described as an RPS (role-playing shooter) by Gearbox, Borderlands is a sci-fi action RPG that combines driving and on-foot action. Set on the desolate and hostile world of Pandora, the game sees groups of treasure seekers--known as "Vault Hunters""--who scour the ruins of a collapsed civilization for more than 500,000 unique weapons. Using combat vehicles, the rival bands fight each other in an attempt to secure the ultimate prize: an all-powerful alien artifact.

Check back later today for GameSpot's hands-on preview of Gearbox, straight from the Electronic Entertainment Expo show floor. The brand-new trailer for the game, which shows off its revamped, semi-cel-shaded graphics, is below.