Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 was officially announced on August 3rd, 2011. The expected release date is September 18, 2012 for the United States, September 20, 2012 in Australasia and September 21, 2012 internationally. Borderlands 2 is being built in Unreal Engine 3

Plot synopsis
Set five years after the events of Borderlands, Handsome Jack, the game's main antagonist, has taken over the Hyperion Corporation, declared himself Dictator of Pandora and stolen all of the credit for finding the Vault, going so far to claim responsibility for killing the Destroyer. Jack has also blotted out much of the light on the planet by having a giant orbiting H-shaped base set in front of Pandora's stationary moon. The new team in Borderlands 2 is tasked with killing Jack and returning peace to Pandora.

Borderlands 2 begins with the protagonists fighting to the death to win a priceless cache of loot in a gladiatorial tournament run by Handsome Jack for his personal amusement. The players succeed and gain notoriety, but Handsome Jack sees this as a threat to his popularity with the people. At the tournament's end, he denies the reward and leaves the Vault hunters for dead in a tundra. The mysterious Guardian Angel then contacts them and explains that Handsome Jack must be killed, directing players to rescue the four original Vault hunters from Hyperion's clutches to accomplish this. 

All four original player characters will make appearances in the sequel as NPCs, each with their own backstory. They will each give the new Vault hunters missions to complete, furthering the main storyline.
 * Anthony Burch of "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'" wrote the story for Borderlands 2

Classes
Borderlands 2 initially has four player characters:
 * Axton (Commando)
 * Maya (Siren)
 * Salvador (Gunzerker)
 * Zer0 (Assassin)

DLC characters:
 * Gaige (Mechromancer) - Releases on October 16, 2012

NPCs

 * Brick
 * Claptrap
 * Dr. Zed
 * Ellie
 * Lilith
 * Mad Moxxi
 * Marcus Kincaid
 * Mordecai
 * Patricia Tannis
 * Roland
 * Scooter
 * Sir Hammerlock
 * Tiny Tina
 * Crazy Earl

Notable Enemies

 * Handsome Jack
 * Terramorphous the Invincible

Common Enemies

 * Arctic Bullymong
 * Bandits
 * Marauder Bandit
 * Nomad
 * Crystalisk
 * Hyperion Personnel
 * Loaders
 * Rakk
 * Skags
 * Spiderants
 * Stalkers
 * Thresher
 * Varkid

Vehicles

 * Bandit Technical
 * Buzzard
 * Party Truck

Locations

 * Arid Nexus - Blight region.
 * Caustic Caverns - An area with thick, sometimes hostile, flora and natural bridges spanning corrosive pools of acid.
 * Eridium Blight - Blight region.
 * Frostburn Canyon - Arctic region.
 * The Highlands - Highlands.
 * Lynchwood
 * Opportunity - Urban region.
 * Sanctuary
 * Sawtooth Cauldron - Blight region.
 * Thousand Cuts - Highlands.
 * Three Horns - Arctic region.
 * Tundra Express - Arctic region.
 * Wildlife Exploitation Preserve - A nuclear-ravaged area populated with aggressive fauna and Hyperion robots.
 * Creature Slaughter Dome - GameStop pre-order bonus. An Underdome-style arena that pits players against the toughest monsters in Pandora. Includes Moxxi’s Rocket Launcher as an added bonus. Experience and gear gained in this arena will transfer over to the main game.

New

 * Bandit brand weapons - Bandits themselves have started making their own weapons. Their weapons sport the largest magazines in the game.

Returning

 * Jakobs weapons will fire as fast as the trigger is pulled.
 * Tediore weapons have a different feel for Borderlands 2, having been described as "Cheap, plastic pieces of crap" and "Wal-Mart guns" by Randy Pitchford himself during a demo presentation. Instead of being reloaded, Tediore weapons are thrown away and explode like grenades; the more ammo left in the clip, the bigger the explosion. A fully-loaded gun regenerates in the user's hand after the expended weapon is discarded. Due to their explosive capabilities, there is a chance they will explode in the user's hand before throwing it away.
 * Vladof continues with their tradition of weapons with extremely high rates-of-fire. . Vladof weapons have variable numbers of minigun-like barrels and feature fire rates that increase as the trigger is held down. The more barrels the weapon has, the faster it will fire.
 * Torgue weapons will feature Gyrojet ammunition which, similarly to BL1's Carnage, trade area-of-effect damage for low projectile velocity and reduced magazine capacity.
 * Dahl's guns will focus on stability, precision and burst fire, and feature camouflage coloring. All Dahl guns feature a full auto fire rate without scoping in, while scoped in the gun shoots in bursts.
 * Hyperion weapons will retain their customary high accuracy, with a "sci-fi" styling, featuring glowing elemental effects and bold stripes. Unlike other weapons, the accuracy of Hyperion weapons will increase the longer the trigger is depressed.
 * Maliwan weapons will retain their focus on elemental damage.

Not Returning

 * S&S Munitions is not returning, their company having been replaced by the new Bandit manufacturer.
 * Atlas will not return in Borderlands 2. The company was put out of business when the Vault Hunters defeated General Knoxx and the Crimson Lance invasion force during The Secret Armory of General Knoxx storyline.

Miscellaneous Features

 * Character customization - New gear, skins, and "heads" will be made available as drops from bosses and certain enemies and as mission, challenge, and levelling rewards, and will feature varying grades of rarity.
 * E-Tech - A holdover from the original Borderlands' Eridian weapons E-Tech is a barrel modification technique that works with all brands of weapons.
 * Badass Points - Used for tracking overall ranking. The harder the challenge is, the more Badass Points are racked up.
 * Optional objectives - There are now objectives that the player can complete that are not required (like keeping an ally above 50% health). Rewards are being tabulated.
 * Elemental nerfing - Whereas in Borderlands an elemental-based enemy (e.g. a fire skag) could be killed with sheer bullet damage from a similarly based elemental weapon (e.g. a Hellfire SMG), in Borderlands 2 enemies will take significantly less damage from weapons utilizing elements they have a resistance to.
 * Multiple Choice Quests - Some quests will feature a choice in how they will be completed. For example, after retrieving questionable photos of Moxxi for Marcus, Moxxi makes a counter-offer to deliver the photos to her. These choices are largely for entertainment but Gearbox has hinted that decisions made during some of the quests can significantly affect the storyline. The player will also have choices in mission rewards.
 * Trading Interface - A trading system will allow players to formally trade or sell items. Players can also wager items to be dueled for.
 * Traps - Some normally loot-dropping items (chests, plant pods, etc.) will contain traps (monsters jumping out, corrosive goo spraying, etc.).
 * Adaptive Shields - Some shields will grant the elemental resistance of whatever damage type they were last struck by.
 * One Point Wonders - "Game changer" skills that can change available options and gameplay style but only require a small investment to unlock at a basic level.
 * Eridium - A new element that can be used to augment other elemental powers. It is also a currency that can be used to buy the most powerful weapons and upgrade backpack space capacity and weapon ammo capacity.  Enemies can use their own Eridium, this can be shot out of their hands before use.

Promotions

 * Premiere Club - Pre-Order bonus includes:
 * The Golden Key - "Unlock a rare item in the mysterious Sanctuary Loot Chest."
 * Vault Hunter's Relic - "Play solo or team up with friends and boost your gear hunting fortune with the Vault Hunter's Relic."
 * Gearbox Gunpack - "A package of unique Gearbox Golden Guns to help you start your journey on Pandora."
 * Consumers who pre-order Borderlands 2 will receive the Mechromancer DLC free of charge when it becomes available.
 * Consumers who pre-order from GameStop (US), EB Games (AU/NZ) or GAME (UK) will also receive access to the Creature Slaughter Dome. Consumers can also submit their idea for the name of a gun to be included in a future add-on content pack on GameStop's Facebook Page
 * Borderlands 2 Special Editions
 * Borderlands 2 Season Pass - 4 DLCs (not including pre-order packages)

Gameplay/Media
See this video for some Borderlands 2 gameplay:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQF7GQjTjsM

Media
Video:Borderlands 2 Teaser‎|Official Teaser Video:Borderlands 2 Launch Date Trailer|Doomsday Trailer Video:Borderlands 2 PAX 2012 LiveStream - Salvador Gameplay|Salvador Gameplay Video Video:Borderlands 2 PAX 2012 LiveStream - Maya Gameplay|Maya Gameplay Video Video:Borderlands 2 ZERO Gameplay Walkthrough! 10 Minutes of Assassin Gameplay|Zer0 Gameplay Video Video:Borderlands 2 AXTON Gameplay Walkthrough! 10 Minutes of Commando Gameplay|Axton Gameplay Video Video:Borderlands 2 Sir Hammerlock Trailer|Sir Hammerlock Trailer