It’s the kind of heart-felt sentiment that warms the soul, though we wish it could’ve happened under better circumstances: Gearbox Software is placing a fan of the game into the upcoming Borderlands 2 game as one of the NPC characters, but he won’t be able to see it - the NPC is being made in his memory. The studio has also prepared a eulogy for him, via the antics of the much beloved ClapTrap.
It all started with a fan named Carlo who wanted to honor his friend, Michael John Mamaril. Michael has sadly passed away due to cancer at the young age of 22. Both Carlo and Michael were huge fans of the Gearbox title Borderlands, an exceptional title which had both gamers pouring many hours of gameplay into it. Thus, Carlo decided - longshot or not - that he would send Gearbox and email asking if they could get the Claptrap voice actor to perform a short, in-character eulogy to honor his friend.
When Gearbox recieved the email, it was spread around the studio quickly - not only were they willing to oblige the request, but they were going to add Michael Maramil into Borderlands 2 as an NPC. It’s a great example of a studio going out of their way in respect for a fan, and we applaud them in their response to the request.
Here’s the heart-felt Claptrap eulogy, and a memento from Gearbox, in what is a touching message from the developers:
