I must post in all xcom related threads that come out at the same time. Also, I must write "ain't" in every post today at least once.

Three cheers for wounded weeping! Its true, I wept like a tiny little child whose parents took her candy away, and I threw a temper tantrum and threatened to dump everyones elerium-115 in the toilet.

In my opinion, the FPS shooter looked lackluster, and didn't seem like a hit. Seemed like a snoozer. Might as well not waste a potentially hot property (there ain't nothing out there like X-Com) so hopefully a few concepts go back to the drawing board and we get a much improved FPS companion to the strategy titan.

A sudden delay of over a year?

That sounds like whatever they had wasn't ready to go on a disc. Outside of Valve and Acti-Blizzard there aren't any developers (or publishers) that can afford to just sit on a game for a whole year and twiddle their thumbs. If the delay's this big then obviously X-Com fps was never going to hit a release this year, or it would have been crap if it did.

Although a remake of X-Com 1 is good, time to get a whole new generation living in fear of the Chryssalids...

Good. As if niche markets/franchises need to lose anything more.

How about, and this is just a thought, they look at Xenonaughts, Apocalypse, and all the other reference points on the background and actually....you know...look at the history of the game.

Then decide whether it needs "rebooting in a gritty shootery way", or maybe - what was the quote -

"Turn-based strategy games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth," Hartmann said. "But this is not just a commercial thing - strategy games are just not contemporary."

Not contemporary, are we?

"That's what we are trying to do. To renew Xcom but in line with what this generation of gamers want," he said. "The team behind it is asking themselves every day: 'Is it true to the values of the franchise?' It's not a case of cashing in on the name. We just need to renew it because times are changing."

That burning you feel? It is shame

Maybe they're thinking of actually putting recognizable elements into it instead of having you shoot random geometric shapes. I'm not completely against the idea but they could at least have put effort into connecting it with more than just the name.

Yes, after 14 years, the deserve to get the REAL sequel first.

I'm calling this a win for common sense. They should look at rebooting Interceptor before they make X-Com a shooter.

I don't really care what they call the shooter as long as it still comes out at some point. In all it's probably a good thing it's getting renamed, so we can stop focusing on the expectations the franchise brings to the table and start focusing on the fact that it looks like it could actually be pretty cool as what it is.

Good hopefully now it will at least look like X com. I'm not opposed to making an X-Com fps. I'd love to be able to zip around in flying power armor, level entire buildings with blaster bombs, and kick sectoids off rooftops. What I don't want to do is play Mass Effect 1950's edition. Which is exactly what the X-Com fps was shaping up to be. Seriously the enemies looked just like the husks from Mass Effect and the sqaud abilities were basically a carbon copy of the biotic abilities.

Dammit, I was actually really looking forward to this. As someone who has never played the original X-com, i'm not that fussed about the franchise (Although I hear it is really good, so fans please don't burn me)

The game itself sounds like a First-Person Mass Effect, but set on Earth in the fifties.... Sounds awesome, right? Well to me it does, we won't be left with Bioware's stodgy animations, cruddy PC ports and lackluster weapons meshes and textures(Half the guns in Mass Effect 1 are the same guns, just with a different colour texture)

Oh well, at least this way the game might get some polish and a decent PC port. Here's hoping.

All I know is that I'm looking forward to the strategy reboot, the screens I've seen for it make me hopeful but I need some gameplay to really get hyped for it. The shooter annoyed me since it was called xcom but had nothing to do with xcom so I'm not planning on shedding any tears for it being delayed.

Great news! Now if only it could be cancelled too!

It was such a boring, ugly, very linear game, which could only rip-off Mass Effect for all it's ideas. The FPS game wanted nothing to do with X-COM.

Here's a video showing how bad the game looked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=PL05D7E3C3D824BC91&v=-SH19sgisEk#t=1451s

Now if only EA could do the same maybe thing will be better.

I'm genuinely interested in XCOM: Subtitle Unknown but it doesn't deserve the XCOM name, just rename it for goodness sake and stop trying to exploit the reputation of a classic strategy games series that it is simply too far removed from. The fans whom that name means something, will not appreciate this.

Call it... I don't know... G-MEN: Subtitle Unknown, or something like that.

2K made a god awful terrible decision trying to use the XCOM name in what is essentially a completely new IP. What is wrong with this industry where they have an essentially brand new idea but they HAVE to hold up the pretence of it being a remake. This obsession qith sequels and remakes is dangerous, a serious lack of great new IPs.

Even the new IPs like Red Dead Redemption you can see them arguing to shareholders "no no NO! it's not new, it's very safe. It's Red Dead Revolver sequel with GTA4 template. Don't worry, there isn't too much innovation".

LavaLampBamboo:
Okay, cards on the table: I've never played the original X-COM game. That said, I thought the new X-COM shooter looked really exciting. There was still an element of strategy and micromanagement, and I think it provided a nice 60's backstory to the universe.

I'm also quite interested in the new Enemy Unknown game. I think it looks like it could be a lot of fun. However, I think it would have been nice to see both games existing side by side in a shared universe.

Personally I hope that X-COM Shooter is not cancelled, but who knows?

The problem is that the back story has been fleshed out as much as it can. It even specifically stated the invasion started in the 90s, not the 60s. It wasn't until WELL into the future did X-COM fall on its last legs in X-COM: Apocalypse. There is little room for any kind of spin off or sequel. The ending was pretty tied up in Apocalypse.

Its like trying to add more story to the star wars movies. There is no where else to go.

Well, I guess I fall squarely in the minority of posters here, but I couldn't care less about "XCOM-ifying" it. I was loving the idea of 60s G-men fighting abstract space horrors in suburban America. The original footage of the game was wonderfully sinister, and I get the impression that it sold a bit of its soul to appease the XCOM fanatics. Shame that four little letters could cause so much trouble...

So someone in management finally took a look at how xcom looked like in the old days and realized "Holy damn, our FPS has NO CONECTION to the original IP..." I seriously hope they bring the FPS in line with SOME traditional elements before they throw it on the market.

Who knows, might be a hit after all if it ties in with the new TBS.

I haven't been roaming The Escapist too much lately, so this is only the 2nd thread I've seen about this game. Anyways, a delay is a huge let down but at least is still better than yet another FPS reboot. I was just looking at the trailers for the Syndicate game, which is exactly what this is.

Given, that game looks pretty cool in its own right, I just don't see the need to make use of the franchise, since I would much prefer a remake of the same type of thing. But then again, no matter what you reboot as an FPS it will be successful if done right, just look at Fallout 3. I really wished that it would stick to turn-based combat because Fallout Tactics was an absolute gem, but can't complain with what we got in the end.

Bishop99999999:
Well, I guess I fall squarely in the minority of posters here, but I couldn't care less about "XCOM-ifying" it. I was loving the idea of 60s G-men fighting abstract space horrors in suburban America. The original footage of the game was wonderfully sinister, and I get the impression that it sold a bit of its soul to appease the XCOM fanatics. Shame that four little letters could cause so much trouble...

Actually the majority of those 'xcom fanatics' were just fine with the FPS once they announced the strategy version.

If they are remaining faithful to the series but also adding to it that is perfectly fine, trying to reinvent it to appeal to the COD kiddies isn't.

As long as this doesn't mean that the remake doesn't get rushed and is crap as a result, I don't care about the delay. I just want my proper XCOM game and I want it to be good.

GreatTeacherCAW:
I really wanted to play an X-Com FPS. I hate RTS games, especially on consoles. And I don't play PC games. So... bring this back, please.

Cheer up. Enemy Unknown will actually use turn-based combat, just like the original. Oh sure there will be real time elements in the geoscape, but that's just for administrative busywork between sorties. Also it will be released on consoles as well...again, just like the original.

I really doubt listening to fans has anything to do with it, you don't put off releasing a game once it's done; it's just too big an investment. More likely they decided that something needed a major overhaul... or more worryingly they're thinking of canning the project altogether.

Personally, so long as Firaixs get the /real/ sequel out the door I'm not going to fret overmuch. The early screen shots look promisingly true to the X-com heritage (right down to icons for the number of aliens sighted on the tactical map). I anticipate being very happy when X-com "untitled" hits the shelves :D

If they hadnt called that FPS XCom it wouldnt of recieved all the hate, it would of been judged on its own credentials but taking what many would call a strategic masterpiece of its time...

...and changing it into yet another FPS title in a time where there is a absolute flood of FPS titles, is just asking for trouble.

Its like if Doom4 was announced, and a few months later it is revealed as a tactics turn based game, set in an alternative history mode where the Brazilians rule the world and you must lead the Samoans in trying to topple the Brazilian empire... it is so a Doom game because one of the weapons is the 'Shotgun'.

The other issue is that fans of XCom would be happy to play a FPS XCom spin-off AFTER XCom itself has been brought back, then the idea of shooting sectoids and exploring crash sites in a FPS would be appealing... but dont try change the franchise into a FPS, and expect the XCom fanbase to be happy.

I now fucking hate all the people who complained about the shooter. I read up on it and it was going to be pretty sweet, now we'll probably never see it. Thanks a lot guys.

*coughcoughcoughvalvecough*

Seriously, I'm surprised nobody made the comparison. You think pushing back a game a year is bad? HL2E3 has been 5 years in the making and still no signs of anything.

Treblaine:
THQ made a god awful terrible decision

Yes they did... several of them recently... but the XCom shitfuckery is 2K Games.

Andy Chalk:
What led to the change of heart? It's possible that all the wounded howling led 2K to decide that rebooting the franchise as a shooter was a big mistake, but I'm not convinced that giving the internet what it wants is a good idea, particularly when you're talking about bringing a 20-year-old strategy game to consoles.

Yeah but on the other hand, sometimes it makes sense to listen when you've told people 'this is what you want' and a shitpot of them go 'no. no it isn't. go fuck yourself with a splinter broomstick.'

Unfortunately, that means my dream of a reboot of Crusader as a rhythm game must go unfulfilled.

And if that is the case - if 2K has decided that strategy is the future - then does a shooter really fit into that plan? I wouldn't be at all surprised if further XCom-related shenanigans are in the offing.

If it turns out that Sid Meier used his janitor costume from the Civ V CivAnon ad to infiltrate the HQ of 2K Games and took them to task for the 'strategy games just aren't contemporary' by viciously beating 2K execs around the head with the Civilization franchise's sales numbers, I can die happy. I won't but I can.

I seem to recall some issues with the staff working on the Xcom fps, people quitting and so on. I get the feeling this is more to do with those kinds of issues rarther than x-com fans getting a real win over them.

It suggests to me that the xcom fps is likely in development hell. With this situation they seem to have realised that it is in their best (financial) interest to take focus away from the fps.

I am glad they are making a strat game, I hope it turns out well, I'd love to see some more and indeed new strat games hitting the market with bigger funding.

[Sarcasm]What a terrible shame![/Sarcasm]

RhombusHatesYou:

Treblaine:
THQ made a god awful terrible decision

Yes they did... several of them recently... but the XCom shitfuckery is 2K Games.

DOH! Got this mixed up with the THQ cancellation story.

TO THE EDIT!