xcom posts

Publisher Take Two Interactive's latest financial results are now available for the company's quarter that ended on December 31, 2010. The company exceeded its own guidence with revenues of $334.3 million, slightly lower than the revenues of $360.4 million for the same period a year ago. Take Two had a profit of $40.86 million for the time period, which is slightly higher than the profit of $37.92 million for the same period a year ago.

The company's press release had no major changes to its release scheduled other than today's addition of 2K Games' The Darkness II for fall 2011. Duke Nukem Forever is still due for release on May 3. Spec Ops The Line and XCom have a more vague release window of "Fiscal 2012" which means anytime between April, 1 2011 and March 3, 2012. Finally BioShock Infinite is still scheduled for release in the calendar year of 2012. The long awaited Max Payne 3 still does not have a release date although the publisher has confirmed the game is still in the works.

Big Download has now come to the end of its coverage of E3 for its 2010 installment. We went to cover and for the first time to film tons of activities at or near the Los Angeles Convention Center. We saw some good game demos, saw some that, well, didn't wow us and saw some really odd stuff along the way.

While other web sites and media outlets like to give out awards to games at the show, our philosophy is that giving awards like "Best RPG" to unfinished products is a little silly, especially since very often the final game doesn't turn out as well as its E3 demo. So as we did last year, we are giving awards in categories that are a little different and also showcase what it's actually like to attend the event for those of you who can't go. As always we hope you like it.

The X-Com game franchise remains one of the most loved in all of PC gaming history. The original X-Com UFO Defense from the now defunct publisher Microprose is still a very good example of addictive turn-based strategy gameplay. The X-Com trademark is now owned by Take Two Interactive via their 2K Games brand and after several years of waiting the franchise is now coming back to life but in a very different version.

Yep, there's a reason why the new game is called XCOM (with no hyphen). The title, which is being made from developer 2K Marin's Australian offices, has shifted its focus from a strategy title to a first person shooter. Many fans of the original X-Com games have already cried foul claiming that this is not their idea of a new X-Com game. And we agree with them up to a point. This is definitely not what we pictured a new entry in the series would be like. At the same time, that doesn't mean this new title has to be a bad game. We got a chance to see a live demo of XCOM in action during E3 2010 and at the moment we think it could be a solid game title in its own right.

Today's spotlights include a first look at XCOM's reboot as a first-person shooter, a tour inside the personal starships of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and look at Medal of Honor and what it means to have an epic sized beard. We also practice some swordplay with Shogun 2: Total War, protect Metropolis in DC Universe Online and get some spy vs spy action going in The Agency. Let's not forget some fabulous booth babe action.

For press conference highlights, check out Episode 1 and for more E3 2010 action, check out Episode 3 and Episode 4.

So you have been waiting to see what the new first person shooter-based XCOM game is supposed to be like in motion? Well IGN has managed to get the first trailer for the 2K Marin-developed game that's supposed to be a (sort of) successor to the terrific X-Com 1990s turn based strategy titles from the now defunct Microprose.

We will say this about this revamped XCOM; the aliens are a bit more frightening than those slightly goofy gray aliens from the original games. They are all black and liquid like a BP oil slick (and how ironic is that?). Hopefully we will see more of this quasi-1950's world when we see the game in action at E3 2010. In the meantime the IGN trailer can be seen after the jump.

Download HD XCOM Trailer (247MB)
Check out all XCOM downloads

The PC Gamer magazine article on the newly announced XCOM game has now been posted up on GamesRadar for everyone to check out, effectively making this the first lengthy preview of the upcoming first person shooter revival from 2K Marin's Australia offices. It also has a number of new screenshots for this reboot of the X-Com franchise.

The new screenshots show that the game takes place in 2K Marin's version of the 1950s with the appropriate amount of paranoia and suspicion that was the product of the time. Don't expect the aliens of the original X-Com to show up either; these new enemies seem to be unlike any that have been made for a game before. It's clear that this new game will get a lot of attention at E3 this June.

A few weeks ago we got news that the X-Com game franchise was getting a reboot with XCOM, a first person shooter that's being developed by the Australian branch of 2K Marin. Now the new June 2010 dated issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has a new cover story on the game with some of the first details of the title. In fact the mag has two XCOM covers; one for subscribers (shown to the right) and the other for newsstands.

The NeoGAF message boards have posted up an extensive look at some of the info revealed in the OXM preview. We won't reveal too much here for anyone who wants not to be spoiled but here are a few tidbits. One is that the X-Com world map has been changed to one of the US but you can still choose which missions to take on in the game. You also get some fellow agents to help you out in the field against the aliens but you have no direct control of them. Finally it's still not know if the game will have a multiplayer mode.

This week's announcement of the 2K Marin-developed XCOM has generated some mixed results as fans of the original X-Com turn-based strategy game have wondered why publisher 2K Games decided to make this official revivial a first person shooter.

Hoever, fans of the original X-Com certainly have seen their share of games released that are "spiritual successors", from UFO: Aftermath from Altar Interactive and its two sequels, Aftershock and Afterlife, to Laser Square Nemesis, designed by the original creators of X-Com, Julian Gollop and Nick Gollop. Now comes word of a new game, Xenonauts, that's under development by Goldhawk Interactive. This group of former Crysis modders state on their official web page that "almost everyone on the team is a huge X-Com fan and has spent years awaiting a game that did the original justice." Whether or not they can make that game themselves remains to be seen. They claim that they have been working on Xenonauts for nine months and plan to release it sometime this year.

Remember all those rumors about how BioShock developer Irrational Games was supposed to be working on an X-Com revival for 2K Games? Well as it turns out the rumors were half-right. 2K Games is reviving the alien invasion game franchise but it's being made by 2K Marin, the development team behind the recent sequel BioShock 2.

The revival game is being titled simply XCOM (no hyphen) and instead of a turn based strategy game this new title will be a first person shooter (although it will apparently have some strategy elements). The press release sent out early this morning states you will be playing the role of an FBI agent who will be in charge of taking out the unknown enemy. 2K Games states, " . . players will be able to feel the tension and fear that comes with combating a faceless enemy that is violently probing and plotting its way into our world."

One screenshot from the game has been released which you can check out below. A teaser web site is also live. No release date has been revealed.

Gallery: XCOM Screenshots