Rumor: Borderlands 2 Coming In 2012

Players may get to return to Pandora soon. Rumor has it that Gearbox Software is hard at work on a sequel to co-op shooter Borderlands and that an announcement is coming soon.

According to Eurogamer, Borderlands 2 will be released in 2012. Like the previous game, it's being developed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Those are the only details they divulged, though.

Borderlands is a first-person shooter with a few role-playing elements mixed in. Players choose a character class with unique abilities and develop them as they level up. The other way they grow stronger is through loot. The attributes of the weapons and items are randomly-generated, leading to millions of possibilities. Up to four players can team up online and battle through the harsh wastelands of Pandora.

Gearbox has never been coy about the possibility of sequels. Before Borderlands was even in stores, they were talking about a follow-up. Gearbox Software creative director Mike Neumann called a Borderlands sequel a "no-brainer."

A couple months after Borderlands' release, Gearbox trademarked the phrase "Borderworlds" in the United States. Borderworlds was interpreted as a possible title for the sequel. Eurogamer makes no mention of this title in their report, though. Keeping Borderlands in the title might be the smarter move for sales.

Whether or not "Borderworlds" ends up the name of the game, it did seem to suggest something important about the game. "Borderworlds" implies a larger scale than the phrase "Borderlands." Perhaps the game features multiple planets, instead of just one?