The off-the-wall Borderlands games wouldn't feel out of place as part of some alternate-reality, sadistic, Saturday-morning cartoon lineup, but both Gearbox and 2K want to make that scenario a reality. Partnering up with the Academy of Art University, the companies are launching a Borderlands Cooperative to invite the school's animation students to storyboard and produce an animated Borderlands short film for release later this year.
Teams of students will submit story ideas for the consideration of a judge panel made up by 2K, Gearbox, and university faculty. The winning group gets to work on the film as part of an internship at 2K, so it isn't quite the "get cracking, crowdsourced content slaves" scenario that I initially thought.
It'll be interesting to see what zany plot the students will think up in the already zany Borderlands universe—perhaps a Mr. Bean-style comedic adventure entitled "Salvador goes out for a haircut," except with lots of screaming Psychos instead of a befuddled Englishman. You're welcome, students.
