Borderlands, The Animation? Borderlands The Animation!

The Academy of Art University, pictured above, is officially partnering with Gearbox Software and 2K Games to create a short animation for Borderlands.  Students in the current Spring semester at the university will be forming teams to create storyboards and short stories set in the game’s universe.

One of these teams will be chosen by a panel of judges made up of employees from 2K Games and Gearbox as well as staff from the Academy of Art University as the winner and will be given internships at 2K Games as well as having their story made into a short animation.

The Academy hopes to promote the career advancement of their own students by giving them a chance to show their skills to industry veterans and, of course, by earning the winning team their internships.  The benefits to Gearbox and 2K are obvious enough, with the list of games that have genuine animation outside of their games to expand and promote being exceptionally small.

The rest of us, of course, get to see Borderlands given life in an entirely new way.  Given how much fun it is just watching the games, it’s hard not to get excited about the possibilities.