The Jon Venture

After a release date had finally been revealed for the second round of downloadable content for 2K Games and Gearbox Software’s role playing shooter Borderlands, mercenaries all over Pandora and SFX-360.com headquarters were buzzing with excitement. Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is slated to be released on December 29, 2010 for Xbox 360 and January 7, 2010 for PS3, offering three new Riot Arenas and a (highly desired storage) bank.

New details concerning Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot reveal in an official press release that two additional skill points earned as quest rewards to add onto your skill tree are also available. Can’t decide between shotgun and combat rifle specialization for your soldier, or just play legitimately and don’t already have your skills all maxed out? Gearbox has you covered. Gearbox Software’s CEO Randy Pitchford also assured gamers that “This is an ENTIRELY NEW GAME MODE.” If you’re familiar with Randy Pitchford’s genuine Borderlands enthusiasm, you know those words in all caps are not a typo. “Think ODST’s ‘Firefight’ or Gears of War’s ‘Horde Mode.’ Cash, prizes and competition!” Pitchford continued. “It’s like Smash TV in coop FPS, but in the Borderlands.”

Those details are not nearly as enticing as what had been revealed in an MTV.com interview with Gearbox’s Jon Hemingway, Lead Designer on Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot. Mad Moxxi’s M.O. involves throwing in a few new rules while the action is going strong that change the scene dramatically. These ‘Moxxi Maxims’ include such tweaks as a ‘Vampire Rule’, causing players to constantly lose life but granting a health boost with each kill. “Now all the players are like, ‘Holy crap, I have to play amazingly aggressive,’ so you have to charge in before you basically bleed out.”Another ‘Moxxi Maxim’ example was the ‘Shotgun Challenge’ “where all shotguns do bonus damage and all other guns take a penalty.”

If Mad Moxxi took any notes from Dr. Ned, this dlc should be easily burned through in one afternoon. Thank the Angel that’s not the case this time around. Gearbox’s Jon Hemingway continues the interview by mentioning how hardcore these new tournaments are, lasting anywhere from one hour for the smaller tournaments to a full six hours for the big tournaments. “You can’t save your progress, you have to do it in one sitting, but you can stop, walk away from it and come back. It’s really hardcore.”

I know, I just did too. Give me a minute.

(Note:Love the sig, Steve!)

Looks like Borderlands will finally have its own worthwhile multiplayer mode outside the co-op campaign. If the scaled enemies in playthrough 2.5 are any indication, the waves of enemies in Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot should provide worthy competition… so long as no one whips out a modded Rainmaker and lags the game to hell. No word yet on a cap increase or new drops, but the features mentioned alone justify another 800 Microsoft Points or $10 given to Gearbox. We forgave you after The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, and PC gamers didn’t completely abandon you after almost a month delay in their release of the first DLC. You’ve still got us, Gearbox, don’t fail us now.

We will continue to release details as they are made available, and you can expect a full review of Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot when the expansion is released on Xbox 360 on December 29^th.