Scarce Borderlands Weapons Scratch That Old Diablo Itch
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`Gus Mastrapa
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`10.20.09 04:45 pm
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`Scarce Borderlands
`Weapons Scratch That Old
`Diablo Itch
`
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`If the colors purple and orange make you feel all tingly inside,
`
`then Borderlands , a new game for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3
`
`and PC, has a million or two sensations for you.
`
`Borderlands is a hybrid of shooters and role-playing games
`
`that transports players to a rootin'-tootin' alien frontier world
`
`where treasure hunters fight rowdy bandits and indigenous
`
`predators while scouring the wasteland for loot. And that's
`
`Supercell
`Exhibit 1011
`Page 1
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`

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`where the pretty colors come into play.
`
`The game contains millions of unique weapons and upgrades,
`
`each classified by a rarity system cribbed from Diablo and
`
`World of Warcraft. A gun with white lettering is nothing
`
`special, but a purple one? That's worth getting excited about.
`
`Gamespot forum user "slayer_man408" describes the
`
`hierarchy best :
`
`White- Meh.
`
`Green- Pretty cool gun it shoots baddies and doesn't afraid of
`
`anything.
`
`Blue- Makes even better pew pews.
`
`Purple- Zomg Rare
`
`Orangish Gold- Zomg super rare
`
`Orange Orange- ZOMG ULTRA RARE
`
`Red Orange- *head explodes*
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`The idea of color-coding weapons may not seem all that
`
`exciting to the uninitiated. But if you've played any games that
`
`have used this system before, you're been classically
`
`conditioned to salivate when those specific colors hit your
`
`pupils.
`
`My early hours with Borderlands were compelling and
`
`familiar. Shoot, loot, rinse, repeat. I'd hoof out into the scrub
`
`with my Siren (mage with guns) and Phasewalk into the
`
`middle of a pod of loitering Skags (mutated canines with
`
`skulls that explode open like something from The Thing ).
`
`The Phasewalk ability allows Sirens to slip over to a
`
`neighboring dimension and run at high speed. When she busts
`
`back into the proper dimension, a blast of energy stuns and
`
`injures nearby enemies. I'd then pepper the nearby skags with
`
`pistol fire, punch a few of them until they succumbed then
`
`begin scanning the ground for money, ammo and medicine
`
`that those skags dropped.
`
`There's even a nice bit of logic around such loot. Skag piles –
`
`steaming green piles of scat – contain the bones and
`
`belonging of unfortunate waste-landers that the creatures
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`devoured.
`
`I scored my first decent gun from Nine Toes, a bandit leader
`
`with a pair of trained Skags at his heels. The Clipper is merely
`
`blue, but its better than the green Lady Finger I was sporting. It
`
`merited a spot on my hip if only for the fact that it set enemies
`
`on fire.
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`Supercell
`Exhibit 1011
`Page 2
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`

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`With that upgrade, I was hooked. If the jump from blue to
`
`green is that satisfying, I'm thrilled to see what happens when
`
`I stumble upon my first purple.
`
`Borderlands is available Tuesday. My review is coming later
`
`this week.
`
`Image courtesy 2K Games
`
`See Also:
`
`Why Designer of Gory Diablo III< Lets His Daughter Play
`
`The Mystery of Diablo III's Final Character Class
`
`Blizzard: New Diablo III Monk Class Gets 'Old Juices Going
`
`...
`
`Diablo Creator Heading Up Marvel Universe MMO
`
`Hands On: Diablo III Simplifies Everything
`
`#Console Games #PC Games #World of Warcraft #MMO Gaming
`
`#video games
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`Supercell
`Exhibit 1011
`Page 3
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`Supercell
`Exhibit 1011
`Page 4
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