AWESOME Borderlands 2 tip: Go here and watch that space! It seems on the weekends, Gearbox posts 'Shift' Codes that you can redeem for Golden Keys!! They only have a two hour window of use, but still...

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**For those NOT in the know, here's a reprint of a post from the official Gearbox Forums on the subject of Golden Keys and the Golden Treasure Chest!**

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So, you’ve got a Golden Key. Maybe you pre-ordered Borderlands 2 from a Premiere Club retailer or maybe you were lucky enough to snag a code from a Gearbox event or giveaway -- there are a variety of ways to get a Golden Key, and somehow you nabbed one.


“But how, O handsome Gearbox developers,” you ask, “does the Golden Key work? Exactly? Also you are very handsome.”


Firstly, thank you for the compliment. Secondly, the Golden Key is a rare item that unlocks a special Golden Chest in the friendly city of Sanctuary. Here’s what that Golden Chest looks like:

So, you’ve got a Golden Key in your profile and you start up the game. What happens next?


Firstly, you’ll have to get to the city of Sanctuary. This should take you about three hours (two hours to play through the missions leading up to Sanctuary, and one hour for physical recovery after you injure yourself laughing at the impeccably written dialog).


Then, you’ve got a decision to make. See, the loot inside the Golden Chest is always of “very rare” (purple) quality and scaled to your character’s level at the moment you open the chest. If you’ve only got one Key, you need to consider: do I want some high-quality loot right now, or do I want to wait until I’m closer to the (considerably more difficult) end of the game? Do I want my Level 21 Maya to open the chest, or should I switch to my Level 33 Axton?


Keep in mind that you cannot trade or sell Golden Keys, and once you’ve used a Key to open the Golden Chest, that Key is gone for good. So, you know. Choose carefully.


Whatever your decision, the loot you get from the Golden Chest is like any other piece of loot in the game – you can trade it, stash it, or sell it at your own discretion!

travo said:

I tipped Moxxi ten thousand and got an achievement.... Whoo!

phantom_leo said:

Keep on giving her the tip(s) and she'll give you an assortment of guns, including her FAVORITE...

SPOILERS!

It's a Bright Pink gun called Moxxxi's Good Touch; it VIBRATES when the clip is full and increases in strength when you zoom it in and out. At first I thought there was something wrong with my controller, THEN I got the joke... then I rested it in my lap and contemplated the humor of it all a bit more!  

END SPOILERS!

travo said:

  how much? 100 grand?

phantom_leo said:

No idea, lost track. I was constantly giving her the tip(s)...

phantom_leo said:

By the way, for anyone just tuning in: THE GAME IS ---FULL--- of Hidden Tricks and Easter Eggs just like that and FUNNIER --AND-- it's chock full of gaming and geek culture references, as well!

Sorry I got side-tracked there. I started playing about 45 minutes before you even signed on; I was trying to find that certain place I mentioned when we were playing. Then I got stuck in that damn area and was wandering around trying to find my way out once you did sign on!

At least we saved Dukino! Took longer than I thought, but at least our Skag Pup is safe!

I'd like to get serious for just a moment and pass this on:

Sometimes you can tell how great a game will be by the devotion it's developers has to it's fans. Knowing you are making something for people who will truly appreciate your efforts makes you go that extra mile and you can just tell in its design. It's a symbiotic thing too; the greater the fans love, the harder the developers will toil. The more work devs put into a game, the more its fans will love it and so on.

Great games, in turn, bring people closer together, either in playing or just by having something in common to chat about. Such was the case with Micheal John Mamaril and his friend Carlo.

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Read this:

"This morning, we received an email from a Destructoid fan named Carlo who shared a story about his late friend Michael John Mamaril. Last month, Michael passed away due to cancer at the young age of 22. Both were huge Borderlands fans, so Carlo thought a great way to honor his buddy's memory would be to shoot Gearbox Software an email asking for a short eulogy to be read by the game's smart-mouthed robot mascot Claptrap. Not only did Gearbox comply with the request, it also promised to insert Michael into the upcoming Borderlands 2 as an NPC.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most heartfelt and generous acts of fan appreciation ever. For Gearbox to extend such an honor demonstrates how serious the company is in forging meaningful relationships with the people who play its games. This certainly isn't the first time Gearbox has gone above and beyond, and I guarantee it won't be the last.

You can listen to Claptrap's eulogy for Michael below. And thanks for sharing this touching story with us, Carlo. You have our deepest condolences."

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As if the Eulogy wasn't enough to prove their devotion to their loyal fans, Gearbox decided to memorialize, and thus immortalize, Mamaril by putting him in the game as a Rare-Loot-Sharing, Vault Hunter as well.

Imagine the honor of seeing yourself in the very game you loved sooo much. It's a shame Michael cannot now, but as fellow gamers, I am sure it is something we can ALL appreciate ourselves.

It's one thing to acknowledge a GREAT game while playing it, but sometimes the depth of just HOW great it is cannot be experienced until you step back, see the LOVE the developers put into it, HOW MUCH other fans appreciate it and just what happens when the two feed off of each other. Magic can truly happen when they do.

Borderlands 2 isn't just great because it is an AMAZING game, it's great because it is representative of mutual RESPECT between Developers and Fans!

Play the game. Don't play the game. It really doesn't matter in the long run, but let this serve as a reminder to honor your fellow gamers, remember the fallen gamers, and cherish the last few developers out there that still TRULY love what they do! They are sadly a dying breed in this day and age, but it is comforting to know there are still some out there.

Here's to Michael Mamaril and Gearbox Software!

Everytime you hear a negative story about gamers or gamers behaviors just Google "Michael Mamaril" and marvel at the outpouring of respect and emotion. It's a glimmer of hope in a pretty sarcastic and seemingly uncaring world.

Here's a PERFECT example of a positive and heartwarming article. Good to see a gamer get some respect and be honored for a change.

Kotaku Says:

"Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty certainly has a healthy amount of extra missions, but they are more reminiscent of the fetch side quests in the first game than the creative ones of the second. Fortunately the writing is so superb that it won't matter that you've been asked to deliver that bottle of whiskey or a bunch of pirate peg legs when you're giggling over having to deal with the menace that is a pervy robot or laughing at a deluded old man's love letters to the foxy Scarlett.

...

Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty feels like a continuation of that legacy that Gearbox has built for themselves. When you pop in a Borderlands game, you expect to have dialogue with quirky characters and to exchange your reliable elemental weapons for a shiny new purple one. And that's exactly what you get with this new add-on. The first DLC is well worth your time, even if it's just for that amazing sand skiff and some really impressive new weapons."

Captain Scarlett, lol. Seriously? If there are no Captain Scarlet references then Gearbox SUCK.

No Problemo, Travo!

I was really just tinkering around anyway, doing some of Zed's Side-Missions.

I saw you sitting on the title screen for a while (it seemed)... Were you downloading anything, by any chance?

I'm not going to spoil anything here, but there are MORE Easter Eggs in the Scarlett DLC. One --VERY COOL-- one involves Cameos from two characters from another one of 2K's games! Can't wait to see it myself!