Naming the brave souls on the frontline battling the alien invasion in XCOM 2 is just the first step in deeper customisation that Firaxis is developing. We can also affect gender and nationality, including voiced accents. Not every accent will be represented, admitted senior producer Garth DeAngelis, but there'll be a good selection with "more English accents" too. Want a Chinese solider with a thick Scottish bark? Sure!
The 'aliens have taken over the world' premise of XCOM 2 is a pretty cool one, but it does kind of invalidate our hard-earned victories in the first game. In fact, as it turns out, expansion pack XCOM: Enemy Within didn't happen at all. "It's funny, because we talk about lore in Firaxis games, and the narrative isn't exactly what compels us forwards," Xthe game's senior producer Garth DeAngelis told PC Gamer. "But when we do talk about this timeline, again, it's like Enemy Within never happened. Because you lost. You lost within the first third of the game."
Firaxis gave IGN a seven-minute look at the new, resistance-themed gameplay of XCOM 2 at E3 2015 yesterday, and the game's looking like a smart new spin on XCOM: Enemy Unknown's already excellent combat. It looks fantastic, and I'm particularly impressed with the way the developers have managed to twist the setting. Rather than a humanity's last defence, your squad of rag-tag troopers are now public enemies, despised by a brainwashed public fully in thrall to the alien leaders.
XCOM 2 is coming to Steam this November as a PC exclusive, complete with snake-headed mutant enemies and a new post-invasion setting that places the poor human race even further into the role of unfortunate, plasma-gunned underdog. Given the success of the previous game's run on consoles, it's something of a surprise that developer Firaxis has chosen to release the sequel, at least initially, solely on PC.
Put away your probes and take off those tinfoil hats. 2K Games has just beamed into our minds the knowledge we've all been searching for: Firaxis is working on XCOM 2. What's more is that it's PC exclusive. It's a full sequel to 2012's highly lauded XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Things haven't turned out so great for humanity, and the XCOM initiative has had to go dark as the Advent Government rises.
Designer Jake Solomon has tweeted a clarification about how things went down at the end of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's something of a spoiler obviously so best not paid any attention unless... If you've gotten to the end of the fantastic reboot of XCOM with Enemy Unknown then perhaps you'll want to know exactly what Soloman and his team at Firaxis meant with that ending.
2K Games announced today that it's working on the re-imagining of XCOM, one of gaming's most beloved franchises. The game is currently in development at 2K Marin, the studio behind BioShock 2. Exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC, XCOM combines the strategic core of the franchise with a suspense-filled narrative and first-person shooter experience.
Yes, technically 2K Marin is developing the first-person shooter reboot of the turn-based strategy XCOM, but not the team behind BioShock 2. Instead it's being held at their Australian offices, which is also regarded as 2K Marin. Why the odd pairing? Don't know and 2K won't say yet.
No specific date was attributed to the reboot of XCOM when 2K unveiled it back in April, but now they want it known that next year is their target. This new XCOM title is to be a first-person shooter for Xbox 360 and PC. It ditches the turn-based strategy formula of the veteran PC franchise.
Part IV of our exclusive feature completes our look at games we're looking forward to for next year.
Take Two has tweaked their release schedules a little for the upcoming XCOM reboot and Spec Ops: The Line. Both are now due sometime in fiscal 2012. There's "no update" from Take Two on Rockstar's Max Payne 3. XCOM and Spec Ops are now due sometime between April 2011 and March 2012.
Fiscal year 2011 for publisher Take-Two is flush with cash thanks to a year-on-year net revenue growth of 49 percent to $1.14 billion; a profit too. There was no $108.1m loss this fiscal now passed; instead they made $53.8m. Red Dead Redemption has sold 8.5m copies since launch. What's next?
Aliens giving Earth a hard time won't be confined to just Xbox 360 as 2K Games announce XCOM will be releasing also on PS3 and PC early next year. In fact they were kind enough to really chisel in a date as North America gets this first-person shooter reboot for XCOM March 6th, and the 9th internationally.
Story is a big focus for 2K Games' XCOM says Jonathan Pelling of 2K Marin. His studio's strength lies in their "storytelling and narrative abilities." The game is built around a "central narrative thread" with side missions, and other distractions. This year they're showing how "big" its story is.
If 2K’s Christoph Hartmann's wants to justify making a first person shooter version of XCOM, he's not going to convince many people, and he may cause more hard feelings towards the game.
Publisher Take-Two is a "very attractive investment for anybody," thanks to their stellar line-up of owned intellectual properties, boasts COO Karl Slatoff. They're "continuing to invest" in the "best IP out there" like GTA and BioShock. Take-Two is "fantastic" on its own, and great for "any kind of investor".
XCOM series creator Julian Gollop reveals the planned remake they had for the PC strategy IP back in 2000, and it was "eerie" in similarity to Valkyria Chronicles. It was "looking very promising" back then and was planned for PC and PS2, and was to use the Havok physics engine and they were "one of the very few" using it.
2K Games' Christof Hartmann raised a lot of ire this past July when he proclaimed that strategy games weren't "contemporary". In an interview with site Beefjack, Sword of the Stars 2 producer Chris Stewart refuted this, and expressed a desire to develop an XCOM strategy game himself.
An anonymous source has tipped off that there have been layoffs at 2K Marin, with up to 15 staff members being fired. 2K Marin developed BioShock 2 and is currently developing the XCOM first person shooter reboot.
Take 2 held an investor call to announce that the company had suffered a profit loss of $47.3 million in the second quarter of 2011, which was a considerable decline from 2010, when it enjoyed an $8M profit thanks to Mafia II, Civilization V and Red Dead Redemption. However, the most interesting note came from one of the last items mentioned during the call: the first person shooter reboot XCOM would be delayed til the start of fiscal year 2013, which means no earlier than April 2013. The original release window for the game was March 2012.