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As every gamer knows, the end of the calendar year brings many things; colder temperatures, retrospective lists of the year's best games, and publishers re-selling major titles with DLC included as 'game of the year edition.' Borderlands 2 is no exception, and the Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition that was previously rumored to be on its way has been officially announced.

In keeping with their fun-loving attitude, Gearbox Software has released a trailer for the upcoming release in which the cast of the game let their hair (or alternate head adornment) down, turn the music up, and celebrate another successful installment in the series.

The cast of Borderlands 2 may not be the only ones celebrating the announcement, however; while most major video game releases are re-packaged as a 'GOTY Edition' at some point, the idea of a single purchase scoring gamers not only the core Borderlands 2 experience, but the plethora of downloadable expansions available since launch makes this version more appealing than most.

That's due largely to the fact that few development teams have remained as committed to supporting their games post-launch as Gearbox, who have taken the basic gameplay down some strange narrative paths, simply in the name of keeping fans entertained. As such, the GOTY Edition includes the additional campaigns 'Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty,' 'Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage,' 'Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt,' and 'Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep,' along with the additional character classes Krieg the Psycho and Gaige the Mechromancer.

That's all without mentioning the host of custom skins, weapon add-ons and fine-tuning that the developers have added since the game launched. And since the GOTY Edition includes content that wasn't actually included in the Borderlands 2 DLC Season Pass, the edition represents the most comprehensive version of the game to date.

It's not often that gamers who managed to avoid being tempted by a specific series are rewarded this extensively - the Borderlands 2: GOTY Edition offers much more than $100 worth of content - but for those who have only shown mild interest in the Borderlands series to this date - but wonder what all the fuss is about - Gearbox has done a good job of tempting them to take the plunge.

So, will you be picking up the game if you haven't already? Or is the trailer enough to convince the series' most devoted fans to once again show their support of Gearbox's DLC supremacy?

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Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition should be arriving at retailers any moment for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.