XCOM: Enemy Unknown Launch Trailer: “Our Last Hope” Keeps Those Aliens’ Days Numbered…

Posted on October 5, 2012 by geelw

2K Games and Firaxis are about to make a ton of gamers happy campers indeed with this upcoming reboot of the turn-based strategy classic and this should be one of those games that becomes highly regarded among new and old genre fans. Sadly and not so amusingly enough, rumors have it that the highly stylized FPS origin story (which has vanished off the radar for far too long), has been whined and focus-grouped dined into a watered down (and probably DLC-only) version of the turn-based game above with squad-based third-person gameplay. Talk about a developer not being able to do the game they set out to do in the first place. Great. Score another “victory!” for those who want to piss on creativity because they think one genre is “inferior” to another or ONLY caters to ONE type of player. System Shock, Thief, Half-Life, Arx Fatalis, Anvil of Dawn and other excellent POV titles are more that solid examples of smart “shooters” that were classics of their times is all I’ll say…

Anyway, I hope we at LEAST get something like a demo pr something PLAYABLE made available of the old version of this game before it got sent to development hell. Granted, it probably would have been dead at launch only to be rediscovered as one more “Hey! This game isn’t bad at all!” bargain bin special, but I guess 2K doesn’t want to deal with that factor (even after so much has already been spent on development). Feh. Sometimes, fans aren’t the smartest sticks in the shed because they hate things that may actually work well in a certain context they can’t wrap their heads around until they actually PLAY it. Same old hamburger and fries again? Sure!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown “Last Stand” Trailer: Well, You’ll Be Sitting Down While Playing, Right?

Posted on July 27, 2012 by geelw

Things seem to be humming along quite nicely over at Firaxis in terms of their XCOM game ticking off all the boxes fans expect and I’m hoping the game does well enough at retail to convince the more stubborn dopes that the other XCOM game (where it’s been too damn quiet in terms of update news) will work as well. Hopefully 2K isn’t going to cave into the entitled whiners who complain too much about stuff they won’t buy, only to turn around and snap it up when it hits the bargain bin and end up liking it a lot more than the imaginary game they had in their heads based on a few screen shots and low-res movies of a work in progress that has a ways to go before completion.

As usual, we shall see…

E3 2012: XCOM: Enemy Unknown Trailer: It’s Your Turn Soon Enough…

Posted on June 7, 2012 by geelw

Even with all those big name , bigger deal AAA shooters out there, turn-based strategy gaming has never really gone away, but it’s just nice to see it getting more notice with higher profile releases such as Firaxis’ upcoming relaunch of one of the best PC games in the genre. I can most definitely recommend giving this one a go even if your only dip into the genre has been something along the line of Advance Wars or other lower stress SRPGs. If this new game is as deep and fun as the original, 2K has a surefire hit that will be played and replayed for ages.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Deep Dive # 2: Know Your Enemy (Which Would Make Them LESS Unknown, Right?)

Posted on May 22, 2012 by geelw

Hokay, kids… I’m still buried under a bunch of games and stuff, so here’s an XCOM developer diary to ogle. October 9, 2012 is the release date for Firaxis’ turn-based strategy game and yes, it’s looking cooler by the moment. Granted, trying to please EVERY fan of the classic game series (or any series) for that matter in a total impossibility, but as someone who was around for the original game, I’m happy with what I’m seeing here and elsewhere. And hey 2K! Keep that other XCOM game in the pot, cranky comments from elsewhere or not. You spent a ton of loot making it, so you may as well finish it and get it shipped, I say. As long as it’s FUN, I won’t mind anything else…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Update: Art Direction, Directed Artistically…

Posted on April 28, 2012 by geelw

Here’s a look at another “making of” featurette for Firaxis’ upcoming reboot of the classics tactical sci-fi RPG. I have to hand it to the team for not jumping on the retro bandwagon in terms of the visual style. As much of a fan of the original X-COM and a few of its spin-offs and sequels, the fact is going too old school would have been a bad idea unless the team was doing a portable version that implemented a rotating camera like Rifts: Promise of Power on the N-Gage (one of those games that needs to be redone for handhelds or consoles just so gamers could see that, yes, there were some great games on the much-berated device). I don’t think 2K has anything to worry about other than a few cranky fans who never even plan to buy the final version still going ape about stuff they don’t like (even if it’s well implemented and make the game more enjoyable)…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Update: Classic To Current, Not Lost In Translation

Posted on April 19, 2012 by geelw

Hey 2K! While this very cool progress update on the tactical version of XCOM is fantastic, let’s also hear about the other game as well. I’m actually one of those fans of the PC classic that’s NOT going bat crap crazy against the first-person origin story at all as I want to see how it turns out. Besides, it’s time that developers and publishers stood up a bit more steadfastly to the constant whining about every damn thing getting in the way of otherwise interesting design decisions.

Sure, keeping fans happy is ONE key to success, but it’s also important to have the freedom to take any IP in a different direction even if there’s some resistance. I think it’s time for some of these angry kids to shut it and eat their broccoli – hell, they may just find that it’s not as bad as they’ve been hearing…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Deep Dive #1 – The Best Stuff Always Comes From The Bottom…

Posted on March 7, 2012 by geelw

Firaxis and 2K Games present an excellent look at the upcoming reboot of the classic sci-fi turn-based squad strategy game. I’m a huge fan of the original (as well as Gerry Anderson’s UFO TV series, the source material for that original XCOM), so I’m liking what I see here quite a lot. Of course, I’m also really intrigued by the upcoming XCOM shooter just to see how it deals with the beginnings of the franchise when the UFO threat was somewhat smaller (but no less deadly to humanity). Now, if ONLY those rabid haters of all things FPS in their XCOM could just get a nice brain wipe so they’d at LEAST accept the other game for what it gets right, we’d all be happier campers (the “we” in this case being me, 2K and the dev team busting their asses on both projects). It’s all about respect, people…

2K Games Announces XCOM: Enemy Unknown In Development At Firaxis

Posted on January 5, 2012 by geelw

Well, well, well… I’m actually not as surprised about this news because I kind of predicted it last year, but there’s no doubt this will quell somewhat the overblown nerd rage significantly against the other XCOM title in development SO many want to hate without having even played it. Still, I have to ask if this is also being done to appease investors who went nuts based on any doom and gloom forecasting about the potential low sales of the more controversial game.OK, maybe that’s my tinfoil hat sparking too much with conspiracy lightning, but it does strike me as odd that this is Game Informer’s HUGE exclusive in a year that’s going to be packed to the gills with memorable releases…