The 'great firewall of China' has been a big mystery to us outsiders for a long time now. The Chinese government censors a huge number of different media, and a few of these censors have us scratching our heads. Video games have suffered at the hand of this censorship campaign, and while some games might feature violence or anti-government messages, I'd like to think that they won't change anyone's personality too much. I'm not going to sit here and guess why China has such a tight stranglehold on its internet, but it's interesting to think about.
In some news announced this morning, it appears that China may actually be loosening this grip. Borderlands Online was revealed to the public, and is a made-for-China game. There's a really untouched market of gamers in China, who have fallen victim to the government's harsh censorship. It appears that Shanda, who develops the game alongside Gearbox Studios, has worked to make sure the title follows any guidelines that the Chinese government requires. 2K Games has set up support teams for the game in Shanghai ahead of an undisclosed time in 2015. Though, if they're gearing up on-location, then you can expect the game earlier rather than later.
While not much is known yet, gamers will be to able to choose from four different classes: soldier, hunter, siren, and berserker.
Other 'Online' titles that haven't yet reached a full retail status in China yet are: Call of Duty Online and Monster Hunter Online. So, here's to hoping that Shanda has developed to follow the strict rules set before them.
Borderlands Online will be available on PC and will be released on multiple mobile platforms.