Supposed marketing survey reveals game now being pitched as team-based third-person shooter; may launch as $30 downloadable game.
Little has been heard of 2K's new XCOM shooter for some time, and that may be because the project has undergone a major overhaul. Kotaku today posted images and information supposedly stemming from a marketing survey about the game, which indicate the project is now a team-based third-person shooter that may not release at retail.
The game was originally billed as a first-person shooter set in the 1960s. The images show that the time period will remain the same, but players will now control a team of agents, as opposed to batlling enemies on their own.
The survey also reportedly indicates that while the XCOM shooter will be available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it may not release as a traditional boxed product. Instead, the survey is gauging interest in the game releasing as a $30 downloadable title.
A 2K representative told GameSpot, "We have not made any new announcements regarding the XCOM title currently in development at 2K Marin, and it is our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation.”
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Unless they include an OPTION for permadeath or something similar to that, I'm just bored with the old school format of FPS. When a character dies in a game it shouldn't just be a matter of simply resurrecting and try again, there has to be some kind of penalty for failure (sort of like what you find in L4D where others have to heal you or find you when you die, otherwise the mission ends or you can't play until rescued). Failure in most games is too lenient, but I suppose for those who enjoy God mode or downloading mods that give you unlimited ammo or the best weapons, it's Ok.
Lets hope it gets delayed indefinitely so we never have to watch this bastardization see the light of day. I was ready to puke when I heard about it. I really wish nothing but failure for 2k for even attempting this. Its shameful.
Im still pissed off they canceled that other one. so what if it used a beloved brand name?! the investigation shit sounded cool as hell. people get wayyy too attached to things. its a piece of software, not the bible.
I would have liked to play it as an fps. everything needs some variety, starcraft should have gone through with ghost. now some strategy to fps games do suck, namely C&C tried and failed. you cant combine the elements of both games without a good interface. C&C didnt have this and the game was a disaster because it wasnt planned thoroughly and it was basic in its abilities. 2K has made some fantastic games, bioshock and etc and I would think they would make a great xcom game.
They probably saw or played the XCOM: Enemy Unknown demo or videos and thought, "Crap now no one is going to play our game!!". Seriously, a XCOM FPS?!?! I didn't like the idea in the first place. It was more of a betrayal to the series than XCOM: Enforcer. Screw this game and anyone supporting it. Like the gaming world needs another rushed crappy FPS or third person shooter. I'm saving my money on the squad based strategy and true XCOM game.
I've been a part of the gaming world for a long time now, and what experience has taught me is that when a game gets delayed and just plain misses launch dates as much as Xcom (especially when it's a reboot of a series) is that the game will suck. Like Duke Nukem Forever, it get's halted, reworked, re-imagined and re done so many times that what you get is a sort of frankensteins monster for a game, and not the good kind.
I SO hope the rumors aren't true!!! I've been hella stoked for this one for a long time now!!! If they change it to 3rd person, I'm probably not even gonna bother with it:( ESPECIALLY if its a squad based game!!! If this is true, and they go through with it, the majority of gamers who were hyped before are gonna be let down like me I imagine. I can't fathom why they would make such drastic changes, the game was looking great I thought. I was bummed when that last X-COM installment came out cause I thought it was supposed to be this one. When I saw it was 3rd person I flipped. Then, once I realized it was totally different I was content....now this?! I'm gonna have to go through the motions all over again. Ha ha ha
This FPS/TPS of their's, was a silly Message of Tolerance that wanted nothing to do with X-COM. This was horrible and very sad for me, because I really wanted a FPS Strategy, like Dungeon Keeper, Carrier Command, BattleZone 2, Dragon Commander, or even A Game of Dwarves. But this game was just a boring, linear FPS/TPS, that didn't want to try anything new. I mean, they were willing to have this "controversial" South Park plot, but they couldn't even try the smallest of changes to the gameplay? :(
this game looked like shit from the get go, first or third person, it didn't matter. I doubt it'll even see a downloadable release. Just cancel it already.
Uh oh, sounds like a death knell if I ever heard one. The game gets delayed a few times and is now becoming a $30 download!? Yikes. Too bad because I was actually interested in it. :|
While I did not like their use of the name X-Com I actually thought the game itself looked promising, not so much anymore. But we have to actually see the game in action before passing final judgement.
These changes probably stem from the fact that XCOM: Enemy Unknown has been gathering a lot of attention and praise; I wonder, however, if they are planning on releasing this one on PC, seeing as a squad tps is considerably closer to the original XCOM than what it was before.
Gears of XCOM incoming, woot woot - another successful attempt to ruin a franchise, well done guys.
Who's bright idea was that ? The investor's, the publisher's or the developer's ?
I mean it was already bad as a first person shooter for a sequel, so not that I'd care, I wasn't going to buy it anyways.
The last good XCOM was "Apocalypse", it's what I still play these days in DosBox. (that and the first ones, "UFO: Enemy Unknown" and "Terror from the Deep")
Looking forward to an Indie game developer's attempt to take the first 3 XCOMs, polish them up and add features to it instead of removing them to better suite the casual gamer crowd.
Of course it cannot be called XCOM then for obvious reasons, but I'd put money down for that in an instant.
The project "Xenonauts" is kind of getting there and I invested in it, but is still lacking some of the "cool" features and is still pretty buggy. (but also still in development)
Honestly, I was a huge fan of UFO defense, terror from the deep and apocalypse. I have always firmly believed that UFO defense is one of the top 10 greatest games ever made. I was however really excited for the XCOM FPS. I have it preordered and everything. However, this shift to third person is bull. There are just far too many TPS's out in the marked and IF they go this way, they risk loosing what drew a lot of people to this re-imagining in the first place. On top of that, the fact that the release of a PC version is conveniently missing from the description is crap too. I have it preordered on PC. All that said, if official word comes out that these rumors are true, I am canceling my preorder. I have no desire to play a generic cover based TPS that has been bastardized from its original vision. So, I REALLY hope that this is just rumors and nothing more.
Bah, first they make you happy with a new twist to the franchise and after some crybabies started raging they make it another generic piece of crap. Really was looking forward to this game because it showed some real promise but now they turned it into another GoW clone I'll just wait for the review and hope for the best.
I wish they weren't doing this, but it still looks appealing to me. I personally liked what 2K Marin was originally doing with X-COM. I think it stinks that a bunch of loud mouth fanboys of the original game made 2K Marin lose a lot of their creative leeway that they had when they chose to make this game. If it wasn't for 2K Marin originally deciding to develop this XCOM game after they finished BioShock 2 I highly doubt we would also be gettin XCOM: Enemy Unknown from Firaxis. People should be thanking 2K Marin rather than what they have been doing since XCOM was announced.
@ElectronicMagic "I personally liked what 2K Marin was originally doing with X-COM. I think it stinks that a bunch of loud mouth fanboys of the original game made 2K Marin lose a lot of their creative leeway that they had when they chose to make this game."
If 2K Marin had the creative leeway that they wanted, then this would be a boring, linear FPS/TPS, with a moral message of tolerance. I was one of those "loud mouth fanboys" and I asked them, over and over again, to try something new, to not go for something old and safe.
@PodXCOM I didn't think BioShock 2 was boring and safe. I thought that was a great follow up to the original. They made that so 2K decided to let 2K Marin choose their next project and they wanted to bring back XCOM but they knew that their skills were best suited for FPS rather than what the original XCOM game was.
@ElectronicMagic But I heard that they took out backtracking in the sequel.I know it was pointless to go back the first level, but it was fun and made the game feel more alive and open.
And BioShock 2 was just sequel, it was a rip-off of the first game. This new XCOM was there big chance to show what they got, and the best they can do is rip-off Mass Effect!
@ElectronicMagic You really think that this game is was what made Friaxis make a new XCOM game? Reaaaally? You think they saw 2K's game and they just busted out XCOM:EU in that time frame?
That's just not the case. Firaxis has been making theirs and 2k has been making their own and in the end it's bad timing for 2K as XCOM:EU looks like it's gonna capture most of the market for a new XCOM game before 2K can get theirs out.
Also yes the fan's of the original did not want a FPS so you can't blame them for not showing interest in this one.
@Unholy123 It isn't bad timing. People got outrage about 2K Marin's FPS XCOM and their publisher 2K decided to get Firaxis to make something the fans of the original would like to shut that minority's loud mouths.
@Unholy123 Ummm.... 2K is publishing both XCOM games. Firaxis is just developing, they aren't publishing anything. So both XCOM games are coming from the same publisher so 2K is "capturing" the market with EU and 2K Marin's XCOM.
@ElectronicMagic If it weren't for those loud mouthed fanboys, they wouldn't have revisited the franchise in the first place. As much as people love Nintendo (myself included) no matter what they do(myself not included), all hell would break loose if the next Mario game announced was a FPS.
@FallenOneX 2K owned the franchise, they had been planning on bringing it back. When they decided to do it 2K Marin had finished development of BioShock 2 and they got the choice to make XCOM. They decided to make it a FPS game because they just finished making a damn good FPS game. So their skillset was clearly geared towards that genre. You can't blame them for not making a game they aren't likely to make well. That's why Firaxis was brought in to make EU after the loud mouths got all whiney over 2K Marin's FPS XCOM. Firaxis has been making games like the original XCOM for awhile now, so their skillset is much more suited to that type of genre.
@ElectronicMagic@FallenOneX The market's already cluttered enough with FPS's as is. Even if you're under the impression that we somehow need more, we don't need it under the name of turn-based strategy and/or role-playing franchises. One "Shadowrun" was enough. I can understand the concept of using a franchise label for the sake of marketability, but if that's the case then this was a misguided attempt. Anyone who recognizes the XCOM brand is going to do so as a fan of the series, and this is one game that fans of the series never, EVER wanted.
I'm not a massive fan of the previous games, but I can imagine if I was how annoyed I would be at this.
First they tell you they're completely overhauling the genre of the game for sales purposes, then they tell you that they're not even treating it like a real game and it's going to be a $30 downloadable? After all these years???
It looked terrible at first then they said squadmates with different types of powers and that didn't look very good either but better, hopefully whatever they do with it now will be another improvement
I thought i had killed this game way back when i got them to ditch the roving black slime aliens... The charge was lead that no one want's to shoot at slime that crawls all over the place... The developers would not have gone through this many changes if they also didn't really feel 100% about the game.
@00J I was actually hella excited to shoot "slime that crawls all over the place", and that takes other forms etc. And the developers do what their publishers tell them to, and the publishers want the biggest profit margin which means, if enough of the old fans complain enough, they are either gonna do there best to change it into something the old fans would like, or ditch the entire project....whichever either makes the most mula, or results in the smallest loss. The game is dictated by the developers, dictated by the publishers, dictated by the market, dictated by the buyer...in the end, if the developers original artistic vision is not seen buy the buyer, then it will most likely become a convoluted piece of mediocrity as a result of the developers lack of creative freedom.
they need to just let this die. Steampunk 60s has NOTHING to do with the original XCOM games. With a true re-imagining of the original out there, your studio just looks like it is trying to play off of the franchise name.
These folks should be embarrassed for even entertaining this idea.
I think this game could have been more promising if they had just called it ANYTHING other than XCOM. Associating that name with this game already puts lofty expectations upon it, if not hatred before a single screenshot is viewed because of the genre escape. I bet it isn't all that bad of a game, but touting this game as an XCOM game already makes it a failure in most people's minds because of their passion for the TBS strategy game from the 90's.
Gee, everyone knew when that game was first announced that it's going to be a disaster. Whoever thought that it would be a good idea to turn one of the most iconic strategy games of the 90s into a First Person Shooter should not be allowed to make games anymore.
@Deckard2323 A license is a license. Lego used one to create Harry Potter Legos and maid a fortune. Then Warner Bros. decided to turn the Lego License into a game, and they made a fortune. ...a license within a license. ...I love Legos, I hate Harry Potter, and Warner Bros. is ok.....does that matter at all? The end product is still something entirely different from Legos, Harry Potter, and other Warner Bros works. ..another example, Marvel Comics. None of the movies do any of the comics any justice, but some of them were pretty good, and they pretty much ALL made the pockets of some producers and directors happy.
@gaonsbsaj Core gameplay didn't change between Fallout 1-2 and 3. It's still an RPG. Only one is a 3rd person isometric view, while the other is 1st person.
X-com and the shooter that 2K Marin's was working on are two different genres of games.
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