please dont suck, please dont suck, please dont suck, please dont suck, please dont suck.

Witzbold

@ethic: i AGREE....while i am eagerly awaiting fallout 3 I cant but help to miss the original gameplay of fallout 1.

Snukadaman_

Here's to hoping the rumors are true. I have been aching for a true X-Com sequel since TFTD. I know Apocalypse was a solid game but I didn't like it myself, I found the base and world map systems of the world game far more enjoyable than sending troops through the subway or a car to some particular place. I wasn't a big fan of the whole alliance/rival factions thing. It just made the game far too complex for my age at the time (UFO/X-Com was a part of my childhood).

Also there was something about the Apoc graphics which I didn't like when compared to the previous games (despite the obviously higher resolution and what not). Maybe I just liked the comic/cartony (?) style of the original two games.~

But I digress -- I just hope they make a proper near-remake of the original games (or at least an RTS or turn-based) and not some crappy FPS/Flight Sim spin-offs like some companies did to milk the franchise back in the day which ended up killing the series.

Sneakiest

Yes, please!

I don't know how many hours/days/weeks of my life I wasted on X-Com 2, but I want to do it again!

PissedPS3Fan

It better be just x-com with better graphics, but same mechanics. More weapons, enemies and stuff is ok... I don't have high expectations...

Waka in Japan

I still play X-Com :)

Sure, I have to disable DirectDraw to play it, but its worth it!

Snuffbox

Oh GOD please let this be true! This, not Starcraft 2, would be the game to make me sell my macbook and buy a computer with muscle in it.

Blinded220

@ethic: Agree completely, and it should be on the PC.
XD I'm getting a little too excited about this rumor u.u

Hades

That's me dying from heart failure from the geekgasm. Some rumors deserve to become truths...

XivGNP

False! Ken Levine went to Japan to work with Kojima on a new Zone of the Enders!

Kojima has been hiding the clues in the new trailers. If you listen carefully you can hear them say the letters of Ken Levine's name while they speak.

Black-Dog-Howls

holy christ the last I heard form X-Com was that 3DO were making a game before they went bust...

28121986

better be a non-fps!

ethic

Man we need a new, good X-Com game. The clones have been kind of fun but none of them has matched the original.

Cutedge

i cant even beat x com ufo defense with infinite money :(

Dimipapa

Ah... lots of UFO: Enemy Unknown and X-Com: Terror From the Deep fans here I see. Enemy Unknown is still my all time favorite game.

Please let this be a turn based strategy game.

Mr Levine, don't let us down on this one!

Prodigy_BE

@Witzbold:

I remember how pissed I get when one of my experienced soldiers bit the dust. The new recruits were terrible!

Snuffbox

I'll kill a kitten if they dumb it down for consoles.

*joins Witzbold in the anti-suck chant*

ImmortalZ

I so did love in Xcom how new recruits could shoot the ground right infront of them. Or miss an alien 1 square by shooting off 90 degrees to the side.

Witzbold

The XCOM games - good memories. I remember one very dramatic scene from TFTD when the last enemy on the map chased a soldier of mine down a structure in one of the beach resort terror missions. There was no chance for him to get out of there alive, but the guy managed to blow both of them up with a grenade. What a victory. Plus he was one of the new recruits so it was not so much of a loss. ;)

I´m not sure anyone noticed, but I always thought that the first two XCOM games had great pathfinding strategies. My troops somehow managed to always find their way around the map, even in half-destroyed spaceships. I can´t think of one Y U WASTIN MY MUVMINT POINTZ moment in both games.

Let´s think, what do those games really need to work today? For me they just need better balancing (TFTD was pretty hard), some physics (floating treetops and roofs may look strange nowadays) and maybe some kind of campaign with more story milestones.

But no realtime, please. o__O

SenorKaffee

Just give us a HD remake for PSN/XBL and we'll be happy!

Garo

Holy shit. If this is true then I will eat my dick. X-Com is the standard by which I judge all other tactical RPGs. A well-deserved continuation of the franchise has been a long time coming.

darksteel1989

The original is still more rich and complex than most anything called a strategic game today. All attempts at sequels have been shoddy compared to the first. I wouldn't hold my breath. Only a polished remake with some new features would really pique my interest.

Mavwick

Wow... that pic brought back SO MANY MEMORIES... time to fire up DosBox, I guess...

Shiryu

I`d bet money they won`t go turn based. Too niche a market nowadays.

It`ll be RTS, and it will be good.

Dasyatis

Oh man, how I hope this is true. X-Com needs a good shot in the arm. The tactical combat in that game was some of the best ever. Second only to maybe a few turn based squad level games.

Cameroo

@ImmortalZ: Oh, I think that if they can, they will.

Bioshock was horribly dumbed down for consoles. They had the mechanics of System Shock 2, arguably one of the best games ever made in the history of this industry, and the stripped out all of the fucking excellent RPG mechanics and made the "spiritual sequel" a standard (if beautifully executed) FPS game.

Atheist Jew

This has the potential to either be one of the greatest or WORST things ever. They could make a really fantastic game...or they could horribly murder a classic franchise.

Lets pretend X-COM Interceptor doesn't exist when we consider that last statement, yes?

Atheist Jew

BTW, I remember that they changed some sound effects in XCOM with one of the later patches. I always wondered why, because the sounds are still very popular. I just recently heard a lot of them on a Sound Ideas collection.

SenorKaffee

Must...not...get...hopes...up

FlashIV

If there's any truth to this at all I hope it results in a turn-based game. If it's just another real-time squad game I'll be so damn sad.

zebber

@Atheist Jew:I'd like to debate you on that point. Even dumbed down (And if it's on consoles you know it's not going to be complex), a new Xcom done properly could really, really kick ass.

Foxstar Sixtail

XCOM isn't the normal genre I play, so I'm crossing my fingers that this sucks me in like the first one did back when I'd try to sneak onto my brother's computer without him knowing... ah, good times...

MelodyKitn

@Foxstar Sixtail: Well yeah! That was sort of the point I was trying to make with my Bioshock comment, but I guess I wasn't lucid enough.

While I feel that Bioshock was seriously flawed due to its dumbing-down, it was still a fantastic game. Not on the level of SS2, but then what is? If they are working on a new X-Com, and they do dumb it down (how can they not?), I'm sure they'll still be able to deliver a great game. It just won't be as great as the original, of course, which is a shame. I think if they were developing the game only for the PC they could keep the complexity of the original in there, but to be a success in today's console-centric industry, "complexity" doesn't help sales.

Atheist Jew

Blaster Bombs will be had, and many alien corpses will litter the battlefield, and I'll sell those excess corpses for a few thousand dollars, because its nice to sell dead bodies for $$$!

Salen

Cydonia or Bust!

Shiryu

I WISH we could get a good x-com game, I don't think anyone can replace the old x-com. At least not in my opinion.

I still play the original X-COM/UFO. It does have numerous flaws, which if released today, without any prior exposure to the game I and many others would probably find too grating to deal with. The interface is clunky, there were bugs in every version released, and most people(not me) would find the graphics ugly.

Every sequel, and spiritual successor to X-COM/TFTD has failed as far as I'm concerned. Most of us got used to the clunky interface only because it was a good game despite it. And because we're used to it now, we still play it despite many of us not having the patience for it in modern games. I could never get past the interface in Apocalypse or really, any of the spiritual successors to be able to enjoy them as much as x-com.

The bugs, oh the bugs. I know there were buggier games released, but still X-COM/TFTD had some doozies that were never really fixed. I honestly don't remember much from MS-DOS x-com. I did play it, but I was much younger and I lost those disks and bought the collectors edition when I was older. It was only at this point that I could appreciate the bugs. The Collectors edition remake, made for windows, years after the original release actually introduces NEW, different bugs one of which makes basically useless one of the most useful weapons in the game, the proximity grenade. TFTD wasn't immune either, it had at least one game killing research tree bug. If you reasearched something wrong, there was no way to advance to win the game without cheating.

The graphics are ugly to most people. I still like them though. Of course I play ascii based rogue-likes, so that's just me. I wouldn't mind an update in graphics as long as it doesn't hurt gameplay. One thing I've hated about the newer games is that with 3d, you basically have to rotate the camera or else you might miss something. In the original x-com you really had little need to rotate the camera and in fact, they didn't let you.

A couple of last comments. It MUST remain turn based in order to be a good x-com game. Real time is fine, give us the option if you want, but do a good job on turn based. I think that killed apocalypse. They offered a decent real time option and a crappy turn based option so that you basically had to use the real time game just to play a decent game.

To all the people who hope they don't dumb it down for consoles. Remember, X-COM was released for the Playstation in basically the same form as for the PC. (Well, they added cutscenes to replace the still slideshows of the pc.) If they do it right, there's no reason to dumb it down.

I really would like a sequel to X-Com I could enjoy, but I doubt it will happen. People have tried but there's just something in nostalgia you can't emulate. At this point, I think only a re release of the original, with bug fixes(and no additional bugs), could make me happy.

sluissa

What i actually liked about xcom was finding technology, researching it and slowly watching your organization grow from some regular army dudes to psionic super cyber badasses with alien armor, weapons and aircraft. The strategic layer impressed me FAR more than the tactical one. As long as the tech tree is ginormous and the paths you can take along it are long and flexible and leave a real imprint on your playing style, they can do whatever the hell they want as far as i'm concerned.

Sunjammer

I always thought Rebelstar was the closest I'd ever get to a "modern" X-Com game. Oh boy.

futurebiblehero

X-Com without any involvement from the Gollop brothers ain't X-Com as far as I'm concerned.

Meanwhile, fans of dumbed-down console versions of the X-Com games might want to check out Rebelstar: Tactical Command on the GBA, which had Julian Gollop as the designer and Nick Gollop as the lead programmer.

tossrStu

Let's take the original 2 games, add in destroyable environments that can actually collapse if their supports have been damaged or destroyed(take out an entire building of hostiles! :D ), and then even add in some late-game goodies by continuing the game on a new world, where you are effectively the invaders and have to take over the aliens. Maybe even by trying to free a previously captured world from the bad guys.

But for the love of everything good, don't use any of the newer clones as a baseline. Forget they even exist. They're not worth anything to anyone! I felt sorry for even downloading the damn things, they were so bad!

SilverStar95

@tossrStu: I've actually been looking for a legit copy of that game for [i]years[/i]. Don't have a GBA rom holder, although I suppose an emulator would work.

Atheist Jew

Echoing what others have said: I want a prettier X-Com / TFTD. Heck, have a game where I can do land and sea missions, combining the best of both.

Add new aliens, new weapons, that's fine. But don't mess with the core game mechanics. Keep it turn-based, keep it grid-based, keep the destructable environments, keep the base building. Keep the really nifty globe that you could spin around.

As for the PC elitists, don't listen to them. Far more complex game UIs have been put upon the console, and effectively.

Heck, I'd even pay good MS points for a XBLA HD update to the games...

BigWeather

X-COM is that type of game that has a legion of followers, even after a zillion years of his release. TONS of people have tried and failed to capture what was that cool in X-COM, even original developpers failed, for one, or another reason. Is the tech tree? is the tactical combat? is the strategic side?. There has ben like 4 comercial games, and 2 no-commercial proyects triing to get the feeling of X-COM, but no one as conquered that hill.. yet. And maybe never will.

Tei

I played so much X-com when it came out - I really hope that they carry over the real flavor of the original. It's all about the team, the tech tree, and gaining experience.

jayntampa

BEST NEWS OF THE MONTH!(goes back to playing gta iv)

Grumps

Oh lord I hope this is actually true or the rumor gets quashed quickly because my heart couldn't take being teased on this one. Xcom was such a huge part of my life it's scary. To this day I can email someone with "So and so has panicked" and receive a follow up stating "So and so is under alien control " rofl. My brother and I still play the first two games now and then.

Maluvin

@Garo: I second the HD remix treatment idea!!!!

Or heck, I'll take a hacked up Wii virtual console port of the Dos version . . .

Tubatic

And oh yes, I'd just like to say:

THE BLASTER: The Most Lethal Weapon Known To Man.

Jazhuis

Knowing the way developers work these days, they'll make an FPS-based X-Com for the 360 and PS3, then make the turn-based, tactical version for the PSP.

I hope not, though. I don't want to be forced to buy a PSP. Because I would be. :(

(Seriously people! Just port the originals to the DS just as they are!)

Jazhuis

@Black-Dog-Howls:

Kojima working on a new ZoE would make me salivate about as much as the mere POSSIBILITY of a new and true X-Com game.

Turn based strategy or GTFO.

Tubatic

For all you old school just wanting a fix from the old X-com with better graphics I found the game for you :

[www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com]

It's basicly a clone (up to almost the same tech tree) of the game we love. Check it out.

dullin

Wow, where do you go with the series at this point?

Turn-based will turn off about 2/3 or more of the gaming market.

Real-time will destroy credibility with the long-time fans.

No win situation.

Caduceus

Wow, if true this would be pretty awesome. X-Com 1 was amazing. The second one though was damn near impossible, or maybe I just sucked at it.

Gray665

I'd be just as happy with an original IP from Ken Levine. That's a lie, no I wouldn't. I mean, it'd be awesome, and I'm all for new ideas, but it's hard to trump the idea of a AAA game designer reviving a franchise I enjoyed so much as a child.

Oh, and that picture? Hi-larious!

Absent Blue

Interesting, because if you followed 2K Australia and Boston between 2002 and 2005 when they were Irrational Games then you may have noticed fans of their game, Freedom Force, kept wishing for some X-Com inspired features in a sequel. Various members of the team commented and expressed interest. I suppose that's what got them moving towards this idea, but could there be a new Freedom Force following new X-Com?

EvilJerk

If Levine's team really does this, I'll buy.... even if it is an FPS.

mkernan

W-what...? There might be a God?

Mister Adequate

"Holy shit. If this is true then I will eat my dick. "

...

Okay, that's it - I don't want to be a hardcore gamer anymore.

dreamshade

@dullin:

In my opinion that game fails to capture the same feeling x-com has. Just my opinion though.

sluissa

X-Com is truly one of the greatest games ever made. The feeling that you get playing that game, the ominous music, the excitement you get when you go to investigate an alien appearance...

But as we have seen time and time again, this game CANNOT be remade. Many, many people have tried. And even if someone were able to make an enjoyable game out of it, it still wouldn't be X-Com.

I stopped at Terror from the Deep - that game was 100x harder than the original if I recall, and just not as much fun. After that, Microprose did Apocalypse I think, and it all went downhill from there.

I'd love to see a STRAIGHT remake of X-Com, with same gameplay and better graphics (and more variety of land).

Spoony Bard

@Witzbold: And yet, they could all throw like Major League pitchers...

Slatz_Grobnik

This would be spectacular if done properly. I still play the original all the time thanks to Gametap.

gtabacchi

Man, the history of the franchise since about 1995 onwards is one of the most depressing stories in the gaming world--

Hasbro basically set things up to totally expand the franchise, including what sounded like an extremely compelling sequel, but it all fell apart shortly after Interceptor. Worse: they had the gall to release Enforcer as the last X-Com title and expect fans to be happy. Kind of like the Fallout series, but at least twice as heartbreaking.

Again, like the Fallout series, there's a huge worry that a sequel by anyone but the original designers would be lacking--because the original designers are still active game designers (without a whole lot of respect in the industry, for some strange reason). Just like it must be a kick in the face to Obsidian that Bethesda gets to make Fallout 3 because they have more money, I'm sure it'd be a kick in the face to CoDo (the Gollop brothers' company) that 2K gets to make X-Com 4 (or 3 or 5 depending on your count) because they have more money.

Google "X-Com Genesis" and "Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge" for the most heart-breaking moments in the franchise history.

Rohsiph

@Garo: Now, with that I'd be happy. They could just redo some graphics and call it a day, and I'd have my MS points ready.

Still, the prospect of a full-blown sequel (ignoring that enforcer bad apple) to the originals sounds mighty tasty.

Grive

Wow. Take2 is now the re-creator of my two most favorite franchises.

Levine and co's experience with Freedom Fighters gives me confidence. Although it wasn't turn-based, it was still fun, and I could see that translating well to the X-Com universe.

stevesan

Sounds like great news. I only played UFO Defense (The Playstation Port), so I may have missed out on the other games you guys have mentioned. Any recommendations?

Magic Emperor Anima

I got chills. This is undoubtably one of the best gaming franchises and I don't think there could be a better guy behind the helm.

SwimOdin

Oh Em Gee. That would be sweet.

Me and a bunch of friends would convene everyday after school to play this together back on the PSone.

Each of us would make our own guy and play using only their guy. Good times. =)

def PD

I'm a huge X-Com fan, but I can see where this is heading.

FPS with RPG elements in a squad setting and one level before the end you'll be presented with a surprise twist: Shodan is controlling the supply of Elerium-115 and Artifacts all over the universe trying to wipe out the human race, the player will be presented with a choice... join Shodan or save the Human Race.

Ugh... I love 2K, I do, but they need to break away from their formulas.

zoesch

Yes. Please.

dont suck.

Derigor

Finally, I really hope they don't make it an fps it needs to be a strategy rpg like it was in the past.

Kounji

(applause)

X-Com was f**king great. Never got a chance to play the sequels, mostly because friends told me they sucked. But I totally support any and all efforts to continue the series.

Highlander Wolf

OH MY SHIT.

artofwar420

*Joins the please don't suck chant*

I love the original X-Com, I've played that game more than any other. I've played it from start to finish well over 50 dozen times. I played the online PVP fan-adaptation to death, I bought UFO:ET for its shinier 3D ripoff to feed nostalgia. I visit [ufo.yaa.dk] month after month hoping that this fan-remake will be done. Oh 2k better not screw up X-Com or I will forever blacklist them and anything they are involved in.

AngelsPlague

IF they remake it, they better do it right. This game has been ranked as the best game of all time many many times, by many different outlets and I agree. It's part RTS, part Tactical shooter which appeals to me on every PC level. I just reinstalled this to run it in DOSBox and got into it just as hard as I did in 8th grade.

Nothing is as satisfying as getting the "Ultimate Craft" and being able to finally chase down every UFO on the screen and shoot them down into the ocean. Or the blaster bomb, one of the more ingenious weapons.

\Please oh please let this be true

phimuskapsi

Honestly I think an XCom sequel will end up with Fallout 3 syndrome. The truth is that the original 2 games were so brilliant in originality and execution that every attempt to follow up has failed.

And somehow I don't think there could be a sequel that could hold up - time has turned those games into nostalgia, and a sequel wouldn't have to be as good or better than the originals, it would have to be as good or better than our memories of the originals, which is an impossibly high bar.

I personally would rather the name not be touched. Then the XCom games will always be the sort of thing you bring up with old friends and everyone has fond memories of a truly unique experience.

Sort of like the original Star Wars movies - to some extent the modern prequels have greatly degraded the value of those movies in my memory (and many others I have talked to.) Given the choice of not having the new movies made and Star Wars never getting another movie, I would take that over the current situation.

All good things come to an end, and attempting to prolong them will only turn them to bad things, and taint the memories of the good.

The_Inquisitor

@Atheist Jew: It's been a while since I beat Systemshock II, but how exactly was Bioshock "dumded down"? It didn't add much of anything to the formula, but I was overjoyed that it had what it did and got the reception it did.

Ehardergardens

I'm wondering if they would make something like this for portables like the PSP.

Has the originals been ported to the psp(or DS for that matter)?

I have found that I enjoy a lot of oldergames in a portable format, that I probable wouldn't bother with trying on my PC.

Ehardergardens

I have the OXM issue and it doesnt say shit about "X-COM" it just says something about an "X" game. Could be X-Men, X-Files, Xenogear, etc. People need to STFU about X-Com and let it die like the rest of ancient gaming.

Rammstein

@Dasyatis: Oh, I don't know. I think Atlus and Square have a few things to say about that assertion.

I love X-Com. A re-release would make my year, and I could die a happy man. However, we all have to admit: the tactical gameplay kind of sucked, especially when viewed in hind-sight.

Do you know what would be perfect? Combining the first X-Com's impeccable strategic layer with the depth of the Jagged Alliance 2 tactical combat engine. Now that is a game that I could happily play for the rest of my life. I would need no other forms of entertainment.

Barring this development (doubtful) or a decent X-Com remake (slightly less doubtful), I will happily take a new Jagged Alliance-style game (slightly more likely). Someone make this happen.

JustThisGuy

@Ehardergardens: It took the same formula as SS2 and subtracted things from it, specifically the RPG elements. Choice in plasmids and tonics was there, but SS2 had much more choices over picking out skills. You couldn't be psi-hacker-gunbunny, on any level other than easy. You had to pick and save to spend your points the way you wanted to. It took care, and there were no comebacks to it like in BS.

Simple things like inventory screens mean a lot as well. The whole sense of scarcity that was critical - in the thinking of anyone I've talked to about the game - SS2's success was absent. Every gunshot required a cost/benefit analysis. There was also a little more layering to the plot, and more threads to follow.

Now, I don't really mind, at least as much as a lot of people do. I mean, to some degree, these are the same things that prevented SS2 from being a commercial success as well as a critical one. But it's equally unquestionable that if X-Com happened, a lot would come out of it.

Slatz_Grobnik

I want this so bad. Then I think of all the promises the Sensible Soccer people made over the years, never recapturing the magic of the original.

Rozelle’s Bagman

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. The creators of X-Com have a multiplayer game at [www.lasersquadnemesis.com] that's been around awhile now. I break out a game with a buddy of mine every now and again. Great fun. You plot your orders for a turn as does your opponent and you see what happens. Being able to play by email means I can game even with my busiest friends. If you played Robosport you'll really dig this game. You'd also be awesome because you've played Robotsport!

Phaelog

Wow, I hope it does go through. I haven't heard any X-Com rumblings since X-Com: Alliance & X-Com: Genesis

Acid Raven