CapnKill Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 There's big news from Game Informer for all fans of the original X-COM game. Their February cover sports artwork from the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown title due out towards the end of 2012.Firaxis is working on an all-new, all-different and all-strategy X-Com remake entitled XCom: Enemy Unknown. It's fair to say that not everyone was thrilled by the news that X-Com was being "reimagined" by 2K Marin into an FPS. Given that the original X-Com is one of the most famous and beloved strategy titles in videogaming history, turning it into yet-another-story-based-shooter that appears to have no connection to the franchise beyond the name unsurprisingly rubbed some people the wrong way. But those people may now rejoice, or at the very least allow themselves a moment of cautious optimism: Firaxis, the studio that gave us Sid Meier's Civilization and one or two other games you may have heard of, is bringing the series back for real. As revealed by the February cover of Game Informer, the now-unhyphenated XCom: Enemy Unknown will bring the strategy classic back to life, "introducing a wider console audience to what made the storied franchise great in the first place." Enemy Unknown will be a "full-on strategy game" giving players command of a global military force battling invading enemies, keeping governments happy and the population reassured. "It's been a dream of ours to recreate X-Com with our unique creative vision. We're huge fans of the original game and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-Com," said Firaxis Games President Steve Martin. "We were careful to keep XCom: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-Com such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-Com fans and newcomers to the franchise." Isn't this exciting? I'm still looking forward to the XCom shooter and will enjoy it for what it is, but there's no getting around the fact that it's not really X-Com. And if sequels, remakes and "reimaginings" are what we're to be stuck with, then an X-Com do-over is long overdue. Details will be thin until the February issue hits but it will reportedly include "destructible tactical environments," turn-based combat framed in a real-time strategic environment and a whole lot more. XCom: Enemy Unknown is slated to come out this fall for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I'm so excited! Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/...al-X-Com-Remake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thanks for the heads-up Capnkill - I've tweaked your post slightly and added some of the cover artwork whilst leaving all the credits in-tact so it all display correctly on the site homepage EDIT: Kernel was actually first to post the news, but I've had to move that post out of the Strategy News forum since it would show on the homepage and I'd already edited CapnKill's for the homepage. Kernel's post is now here until we get a new forum up for the new game: https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/Firax...know-t9377.html I've changed the title of this thread now as a compromise. Sorry for the butchery of the threads guys. Kernel's article points to another news piece on the new game on RockPaperShotgun: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/05...-enemy-unknown/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullAuto Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thanks to Kernel and CapnKill for posting. So, new year off to a decent start... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Official 2K press release on the Firaxis website (worth a read): https://firaxis.com/news/news_detail.php?id=2011 - it's good to read that the two studios aren't doing the same thing, or necessarily working in the same "universe" as each other. ...said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. “With Firaxis’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown and 2K Marin’s upcoming XCOM, 2K Games will be offering two different gameplay experiences drawing from the classic X-COM universe. Each game offers a unique XCOM experience in different genres, as envisioned by two different studios with unique creative visions.” Some more information, sparse as it may be, can be found here: https://firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=81 and here: https://www.xcom.com/enemyunknown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKF Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Finally, something to look forward to again! Again. Again. Having it released on a good number of different systems is also going to be a major plus. - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I'm optimistic. With Firaxis you know they're going to be pouring their hearts and souls into it and they've got a good track record, though not necessarily in this particular type of strategy gaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 How did I miss GameInformer's more detailed article outlinging the fact that it will be turn-based combat? It's quoted in the very first post, but just for completeness' sake, here's some more info: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive...my-unknown.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKF Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I'm wondering about this hyphen phobia that's going on lately. Sure the first game didn't have it originally, then it was established in every other title since, now it's getting dropped again. A clever way to patent something under nearly the same name? -NK-F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hot22shot Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 This could be a nice game. But I'm still afraid of the PC/Xbox/PS3 thing.Good news is, hopefully we won't have to wait for too long to play this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnKill Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 No worries at all Pete, its the message that counts not who posted it Seriously, I nearly shat myself when I saw this news!! FINALLY a TRUE re-make by a reputable company and its not even that far off, I mean 1 year, give or take delays and such, holy crap!! Can't wait to read more of the details when that issue drops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7h30n Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 What a wonderful way to start a new year. One of my 2 favourite games is actually in a position of getting an excellent sequel (the other favourite game being Prince of Persia '89)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorondor Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Simply fantastic! Can't wait to see some more of it. :: Now, what does "action strategy game" mean again? *dodges rockets* Just kidding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki-tat Chung Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Am certainly excited. Any and all X-Com news always makes me come crawling back here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunflash Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I just saw 'consoles'. Seriously? I mean, REALLY? I hate to be the doom and gloom hipster but that's like suggesting a Wii Sports with a mouse and keyboard... Bah. Hope I get to eat my words, but I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullAuto Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Well, as a counterpoint, there are plenty of good strategy games available for consoles. While not bandied about as a major selling point, stuff like Disgaea, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vandal Hearts, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem etc are really rather good strategy games that offer considerable depth. The reputation of console gamers as retarded mouth breathers is slightly undeserved, and were I to offer a counterargument it would be that the FPS, that genre which has come to be a bane to gaming and also largely associated with consoles, started and became popular on PC. The problem lies in the perception of console gamers as idiots by publishers, rather than any actual idiocy. Don't judge us, Sunflash. /holds out a daisy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exarch Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Well, as a counterpoint, there are plenty of good strategy games available for consoles. While not bandied about as a major selling point, stuff like Disgaea, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vandal Hearts, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem etc are really rather good strategy games that offer considerable depth. The reputation of console gamers as retarded mouth breathers is slightly undeserved, and were I to offer a counterargument it would be that the FPS, that genre which has come to be a bane to gaming and also largely associated with consoles, started and became popular on PC. The problem lies in the perception of console gamers as idiots by publishers, rather than any actual idiocy. Don't judge us, Sunflash. /holds out a daisy Don't forget X-COM: UFO Defense was released on Playstation as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Wow that was...unexpected. Can't wait to see what comes out of this. If anything, they couldn't have picked a better developer. I also really hope this project is successful, it might be a turning point for the industry. When was the last time we saw a AAA publisher release a turn based squad level game ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Voyager Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Wow that was...unexpected. Can't wait to see what comes out of this. If anything, they couldn't have picked a better developer. I also really hope this project is successful, it might be a turning point for the industry. When was the last time we saw a AAA publisher release a turn based squad level game ?ALL very true. Incredible! I do want more details on that turn based combat though, I hope they do something about the huge time consumption of battles in the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 There is a mention of real time strategy as well for in between missions, but I am thinking in this case they're just talking about the Geoscape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Voyager Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Sounds like it. I wouldn't want the battles to be real time though, just one of the vastly less time consuming sort of battles. SAS system of UFO:After... or Frozen Synapse's simultaneous system are both very nice for instance. Going back to soldier per soldier use of time units or whatever is just not an option to me any more. I'm getting older and my time is becoming precious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azrael Strife Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Interesting mash of names, isn't it? IIRC the original was called UFO: Enemy Unknown in the UK and X-COM: UFO Defense in the US. Exciting Though I can imagine these are not so welcome news to some people, recall we have quite some remake or spiritual successor games which are certainly going to get hurt by this. I mean, would you rather spend money on Xenonauts and UFO: Extraterrestrials 2 or would you rather get X-COM, an official remake of one of the best strategy games ever, made by a great company of proven game developers? It is really interesting that we do not have one, but *two* XCOM games coming out this year, and one for every taste! I am looking forward to the strategy action as well as the strategy alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunflash Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Well, as a counterpoint, there are plenty of good strategy games available for consoles. While not bandied about as a major selling point, stuff like Disgaea, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vandal Hearts, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem etc are really rather good strategy games that offer considerable depth. The reputation of console gamers as retarded mouth breathers is slightly undeserved, and were I to offer a counterargument it would be that the FPS, that genre which has come to be a bane to gaming and also largely associated with consoles, started and became popular on PC. The problem lies in the perception of console gamers as idiots by publishers, rather than any actual idiocy. Don't judge us, Sunflash. /holds out a daisy I wasn't trying to suggest that console gamers are idiots, but that strategy games on consoles are rarely a good thing! :X More to the point I suppose, /real-time/ console strategy games. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from when I tried C&C on the N64(?). A control pad and buttons are too slow for pretty much any strategy game nowadays that uses real-time elements. Also I love Advance Wars, but are we really calling handhelds consoles? (Also that's completly turn-based anyway.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullAuto Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 24 things RPS want from the new X-Com. Some are good, some are idiotic. You've got a valid point concerning control schemes, but I recall X-Com EU on the PS1 not being that bad (although nowhere near as ergo/economic as the PC version), the RT elements in particular never required great speed or delicacy, so it was fine. Also I love Advance Wars, but are we really calling handhelds consoles? That's how they're defined, baby. Handheld or portable 'consoles'. From what Firaxis have said, I'm guessing they're going for something very similar, if not the same, as the original, with a sexier, more detailed global view and sexier, more detailed TB combat. I'd expect the globe to be a bit more UFO-style, with bases and their detection radii, aircraft patrol routes, etc shown, and combat to be along the lines of a more versatile JA2. I can dream, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kernel Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Sorry for the butchery of the threads guys. No problem Pete. I did post it in rather a hurry during my excitement at hearing the news. I actualy first heard it from Notch's (the creator of Minecraft) twitter post... I think he got rather excited too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 There's big news from Game Informer for all fans of the original X-COM game. Their February cover sports artwork from the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown title due out towards the end of 2012. *yawn* while I hope something nice will come out of this, the idea of a new X-COM game has kinda turned into the truth about Roswell - every once in a while someone makes another explanation for the crash and the story keeps changing, without anything real actually coming out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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