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The makers of Bioshock might be making a new X-Com game!
Irrational Games Developing X-COM Title? [02:23 pm]
112 Comments - Chris Remo
Irrational Games, developer of System Shock 2 as well as the upcoming BioShock (X360, PC), may be working on a successor to Microprose's PC tactical sci-fi classic X-COM: UFO Defense. Evidence suggesting the new game's existence comes by way of a resume found on the official website of law firm Fierst, Pucci & Kane, LLP. It was listed in the CV of firm partner Frederick U. Fierst, which states that among Fierst's clients are "Ken Levine and Jonathan Chey, founders of Irrational Games LLC." The current version of the document has had the pertinent reference removed, but a cached version of the document lists the following games as being credited to the Boston, Massachusetts- and Canberra, Australia-based developer (emphasis added):
System Shock 2, Tribes 3, SWAT, X-Com, BioShock, Freedom Force
Fierst, Pucci & Kane is no stranger to the video games industry, with clients including Shiny founder Dave Perry, The Behemoth, High Voltage Software, The Tetris Company, Paradox Interactive, and everybody's favorite copyright protection service, StarForce.
X-COM has spawned several sequels since the original game's release in late 1993, though the franchise has not seen a new entry since 2001's action spinoff X-COM: Enforcer. Studio head Ken Levine is known to be a diehard fan of X-COM. He has referred to the game as "sort of like my first love," and frequently mentions it as an example of strong design that stands the test of time. He has cited X-COM as the single greatest influence on Irrational's Freedom Force series as well as a more minor influence on the upcoming BioShock. Developer MicroProse was acquired in 1998 by Hasbro, and the development studio was closed soon after; in 2001, Atari (then Infogrames) acquired Hasbro. Coincidentally, original Microprose co-founder Sid Meier now heads up design at Firaxis Games, which is owned by Irrational Games parent 2K Games (in turn a label of Take-Two Interactive).
Levine declined to comment on Irrational's potential developments when contacted by Shacknews. At the moment this can be taken only as a rumor. Further inquiries have been send to 2K Games and Irrational Games.
Update: Shacker baron calamity points out that Take-Two Interactive acquired the X-Com property in full from Atari in 2005, just a few months before Irrational Games was acquired by the publisher.
It was alluded to in the discussion of UFO:Afterwhatever I believe, but there's not much to comment on. It's possible for a company to hold the rights to something for a long time but not do anything with it after all.
Given that Irrational doesn't seem to be afraid of doing niche games (ie, Freedom Force), I think there's a good chance of when they do something with it, it'll actually be a turn based game and not another real time game with pausing.
They made more X-Com games. They sucked. The only one anybody still plays is X-Com.
Meh.
I think a big part of this is because Terror from the Deep and Apocalypse lost a lot of the atmosphere the original did. Fine from a game mechanics point of view, in fact I prefer the engine changes made in Apoc like going prone or choosing how much burst you want to use. But they just didn't have the same feeling of "we could be sooo fucked" you get stepping out into the monthly terror mission at night.
Now keep in mind that Irrational made System Shock. Theoretically they could make a faithful but modern X-com game where EVERY single alien, hell, every single TREE AND ROCK would make you freak out like when you saw that the Snakemen brought along Chrysalids. My common lament about JA2 and other turn based tactical strategy games has been that they don't approach X-Com in terms of mood and atmosphere but the thought of the twisted minds that made zombies that begged for you to kill them in combat and that were able to make polite requests to help you jump out of your seat by attaching them to kamikaze protocol droids is already terrifying me.
I also found TFTD to be much harder than the original, increasing the dread in the atmosphere.
It was. I didn't actually lose many squad members, though, in part because of the larger maps with more room for them to spread out. And in part because after my first few missions, I took it dead slow until the very end of the game. With my team just inching its way across the ocean floor, using explosives very liberally on any position likely to harbor alien vermin, and especially any nook, cranny, or crevice that could possibly be inhabited by one of those fucking floating brains.
Did have to bug out of a few missions though, with healthy squad members carrying wounded, unconscious comrades on their back. Took out a couple bases that way, just said fuck it, blew the alien control room and pulled out with our casualties.
I enjoyed it, but once I beat it, I never started another campaign. X-Com 1 has a lot more replay value.
I hope that this rumour turns out to be true. Irrational is one of the few developers that I believe would handle the X-COM franchise "correctly". With a bit of luck this is a leaked rumour that's meant to gauge the eventual interest of a new X-COM game.
I'll love it to bits so long as you still develop the same level of attatchment to the dudes who survive beyond their first couple of missions. The idea of sending an elite veteran guy with every group of 3 or 4 shit dudes to give them some serious firepower and to stop them from fleeing is still something that I haven't experienced in another game, where you're either better off/stuck with one or two total badasses or a horde of grunts. In this game, you send a seargent or captain with the squad not because you are forced to by game mechanics, but simply because it's a good idea.
I found myself imagining the veteran guys wearing necklaces of alien skulls and having massive facial scarring, which is pretty good for a game with no voice acting or character development of any kind beyond the drama that results from your strategic choices.
In fact, now I'm praying that they don't include voice acting or character portraits, because such things stop you thinking of the characters as "your guys" and forces you to think of them as "the game's guys that you happen to be commanding". It's the same problem with book to movie adaptions, instead of your own imagination creating the voices and look of characters, you have to deal with someone else's vision of those things and you just can't get into it on the same level.
Voice acting done well would have to take into account the characters development from useless recruit to hardened badass/nutjob, and all in all would be pretty hard to do. I could allow character portraits if they got modified with awesome scars if they barely survivd an explosion or started wearing trophies if they took down 4 or 5 aliens by themselves in a close assault because man that would be the shit.
They might have to include voice acting though, otherwise IGN will mark it down.
bananabread on
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0
Dr_KeenbeanDumb as a buttPlanet Express ShipRegistered Userregular
edited February 2007
Honestly, and I know this is likely sacrelige, I wouldn't mind a squad-based FPS set in the X-Com universe.
Seriously, creeping through a dark house during a terror mission only to round a corner and find myself face-to-face with a chrysilid (I doubt I spelled that right)...That's a change of pants right there.
It would have to be done right though. Base management still, but when you hit the ground it suddenly becomes (the original) Ghost Recon for the PC...managing squads in real time all tense as fuck.
I really sucked at this game when I was younger. I would try it again if they did release a new version.
DeaconKnowledge on
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I still suck at this game, but I still load up Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense every once in a while.
It really is surprising a new XCOM hasn't been released to match the original. All they had to do was copy+paste and chuck it into an updated graphics engine.
This news makes me happy. UFO Defense was a great game and I have to agree on the atmosphere aspect. The fact that these are the guys who were behind SS2 inspires confidence they can do credit to it however. I just hope that they either keep the scale of missions reasonable or include the option of realtime (note emphasis on the word "option").
I no longer crave alien base missions that require hours upon hours to clear. In fact, I didn't really enjoy them in TFTD after the first two or three. It took me forever to beat that game for the simple reason that I knew the four Lobster Men bases on the map equated to 10-15 hours straight of enemy base clearing.
Never really played Apocalypse because the realtime thing kind of turned me off. After playing Falllout: Tactics and realizing how much time having that option can save I very much regret that choice though. Wish I could still find the CDs from the boxed set.
Honestly, and I know this is likely sacrelige, I wouldn't mind a squad-based FPS set in the X-Com universe.
Seriously, creeping through a dark house during a terror mission only to round a corner and find myself face-to-face with a chrysilid (I doubt I spelled that right)...That's a change of pants right there.
It would have to be done right though. Base management still, but when you hit the ground it suddenly becomes (the original) Ghost Recon for the PC...managing squads in real time all tense as fuck.
And with todays graphics engines...mmmmmm
There was an attempt that this some years ago, one of the many spinoffs they tried to push. I don't know if this one actually ever finished though.
Honestly, and I know this is likely sacrelige, I wouldn't mind a squad-based FPS set in the X-Com universe.
Seriously, creeping through a dark house during a terror mission only to round a corner and find myself face-to-face with a chrysilid (I doubt I spelled that right)...That's a change of pants right there.
It would have to be done right though. Base management still, but when you hit the ground it suddenly becomes (the original) Ghost Recon for the PC...managing squads in real time all tense as fuck.
And with todays graphics engines...mmmmmm
UFO:Alliance was supposed to be that way, the story was about a science cruiser that got itself teleported into another galaxy where the crew had to fight the old enemies from the first X-COM game in a teambased FPS. One thing that reall appealed to me about that game was that you only had a finite number of crewmen so you had to be careful during the missions or you could end up without enough people to perorm the missions.
Who knows, maybe we'll get something similar in the future.
Silpheed on
0
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited February 2007
So how similar are the X-Com games to Rebelstar Tactical Command(GBA)? I really liked it(one-of-a-kind hardcore, that's for sure), and I'm wondering if the X-C games are more of the same, or something completely different.
I just remember someone saying they were really close. (Developed by the same team even?)
So how similar are the X-Com games to Rebelstar Tactical Command(GBA)? I really liked it(one-of-a-kind hardcore, that's for sure), and I'm wondering if the X-C games are more of the same, or something completely different.
I just remember someone saying they were really close. (Developed by the same team even?)
If I actually FOUND the damn game, I could say something definite, but as is that one slipped under the radar once it was released, despite a few nice previews. But it should be pretty similar from my understanding.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited February 2007
There's still a few copies of it where I work. This might sound ridiculous, but check Kmarts. It came in a huge Christmas displayer of $14.99 'budget' GBA games, and among them were like four copies of RTC.
I just know I've never played an SRPG quite like it. Not facing the enemy? They can come right up from behind and kill you in one hit and you'll never know they're there.
Creepy.
Not to mention the UFOs later on... (I never did finish that evil game.)
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Given that Irrational doesn't seem to be afraid of doing niche games (ie, Freedom Force), I think there's a good chance of when they do something with it, it'll actually be a turn based game and not another real time game with pausing.
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They made more X-Com games. They sucked. The only one anybody still plays is X-Com.
Meh.
I think a big part of this is because Terror from the Deep and Apocalypse lost a lot of the atmosphere the original did. Fine from a game mechanics point of view, in fact I prefer the engine changes made in Apoc like going prone or choosing how much burst you want to use. But they just didn't have the same feeling of "we could be sooo fucked" you get stepping out into the monthly terror mission at night.
Now keep in mind that Irrational made System Shock. Theoretically they could make a faithful but modern X-com game where EVERY single alien, hell, every single TREE AND ROCK would make you freak out like when you saw that the Snakemen brought along Chrysalids. My common lament about JA2 and other turn based tactical strategy games has been that they don't approach X-Com in terms of mood and atmosphere but the thought of the twisted minds that made zombies that begged for you to kill them in combat and that were able to make polite requests to help you jump out of your seat by attaching them to kamikaze protocol droids is already terrifying me.
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The terror missions in the first mission were better, though. Damn cruise ships.
Portable Jagged Alliance and X-Com will keep me busy for a looooong time.
It was. I didn't actually lose many squad members, though, in part because of the larger maps with more room for them to spread out. And in part because after my first few missions, I took it dead slow until the very end of the game. With my team just inching its way across the ocean floor, using explosives very liberally on any position likely to harbor alien vermin, and especially any nook, cranny, or crevice that could possibly be inhabited by one of those fucking floating brains.
Did have to bug out of a few missions though, with healthy squad members carrying wounded, unconscious comrades on their back. Took out a couple bases that way, just said fuck it, blew the alien control room and pulled out with our casualties.
I enjoyed it, but once I beat it, I never started another campaign. X-Com 1 has a lot more replay value.
http://www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/
9 days. Unless it gets delayed.
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Man, you can so eat my ass. I read shit like this when I'm at work and now my boner won't go away.
I have a presentation to give, you ass.
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I found myself imagining the veteran guys wearing necklaces of alien skulls and having massive facial scarring, which is pretty good for a game with no voice acting or character development of any kind beyond the drama that results from your strategic choices.
In fact, now I'm praying that they don't include voice acting or character portraits, because such things stop you thinking of the characters as "your guys" and forces you to think of them as "the game's guys that you happen to be commanding". It's the same problem with book to movie adaptions, instead of your own imagination creating the voices and look of characters, you have to deal with someone else's vision of those things and you just can't get into it on the same level.
Voice acting done well would have to take into account the characters development from useless recruit to hardened badass/nutjob, and all in all would be pretty hard to do. I could allow character portraits if they got modified with awesome scars if they barely survivd an explosion or started wearing trophies if they took down 4 or 5 aliens by themselves in a close assault because man that would be the shit.
They might have to include voice acting though, otherwise IGN will mark it down.
Seriously, creeping through a dark house during a terror mission only to round a corner and find myself face-to-face with a chrysilid (I doubt I spelled that right)...That's a change of pants right there.
It would have to be done right though. Base management still, but when you hit the ground it suddenly becomes (the original) Ghost Recon for the PC...managing squads in real time all tense as fuck.
And with todays graphics engines...mmmmmm
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
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It really is surprising a new XCOM hasn't been released to match the original. All they had to do was copy+paste and chuck it into an updated graphics engine.
Seriously.
Dismayed By Humanity Since 1992.
I no longer crave alien base missions that require hours upon hours to clear. In fact, I didn't really enjoy them in TFTD after the first two or three. It took me forever to beat that game for the simple reason that I knew the four Lobster Men bases on the map equated to 10-15 hours straight of enemy base clearing.
Never really played Apocalypse because the realtime thing kind of turned me off. After playing Falllout: Tactics and realizing how much time having that option can save I very much regret that choice though. Wish I could still find the CDs from the boxed set.
Dune II was made by Westwood.
I was in love with Majesty as well. /dreamy
There was an attempt that this some years ago, one of the many spinoffs they tried to push. I don't know if this one actually ever finished though.
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Who knows, maybe we'll get something similar in the future.
I just remember someone saying they were really close. (Developed by the same team even?)
If I actually FOUND the damn game, I could say something definite, but as is that one slipped under the radar once it was released, despite a few nice previews. But it should be pretty similar from my understanding.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
I just know I've never played an SRPG quite like it. Not facing the enemy? They can come right up from behind and kill you in one hit and you'll never know they're there.
Creepy.
Not to mention the UFOs later on... (I never did finish that evil game.)