YouTube Video Hints XCom Shooter May Return

[Andy Chalk]

YouTube Video Hints XCom Shooter May Return

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The truth can only be erased for so long.

2K's XCom shooter pulled a Prey 2 last week, as its website suddenly disappeared [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123275-Troubled-XCOM-Shooters-Website-Disappears] without warning and its videos were pulled from 2K's YouTube channel, and while images of the game still appear on 2K Marin's site, the "official site" banner now leads to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. All in all, it's not what you'd call an encouraging sign for people looking forward to the unusual first-person take on the famed strategy property.

But is there more to all of this than meets the eye? A YouTube video entitled Russian Meteor Lies [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKJebhdzHsM&feature=player_embedded], posted by "Veritas MCMLXII," suggests that perhaps the truth remains out there.

"A meteor? That's what they want you to believe?" a heavily masked voice says over a recording of the purported meteor that exploded over Russia earlier this year. "We did it differently in my time. We didn't cover it up. We erased the truth. We told ourselves it was the right thing to do. The truth can only be erased for so long."

A little less fun (but a little more convincing) is the fact that some gaming sites, including VideoGamer.com [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3xqroeWX44&feature=youtu.be], have received press kits for something that maybe might be (okay, quite obviously is) the XCom shooter.

The question now appears to be whether or not it will remain an XCom game when it's finally re-revealed to the public. A rumor (piled on top of a rumor) is that when the game steps back into the light it will be with a new name, The Bureau, which fits not only thematically but also with domains 2K registered in February, including thebureau-game.com and thebureau-game.net. Perhaps it will be a subtitle, or perhaps a whole new game; or maybe it's just a bunch of nonsense made up by over-eager fans. Whatever the case, and whatever the name, I'm glad there's still hope that this thing is still kicking.

Via: Gameranx [http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/14176/article/x-com-shooter-may-still-be-on-the-way]

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[PunkRex]

< Just watched the Jimqisition + sees this = doesn't know what to think! GAAAH!!

Seriously though, I havn't gotten around to 'Enemy Unknown' yet but im going to and shooter looks quirky, like an episode of the 'X-Files' or the 'Twilight Zone', im up for it.

 

[Therumancer]

I actually hope the rumor is true and it starts a new trend... if you have a new idea, start a new franchise, don't tack on an old franchise name for an entirely differant kind of game.

Without it claiming to be an X-com game, it seems like it might be okay, but at the same time going for a bit too much of a "retro" vibe in trying to rip off the success of Fallout or "Destroy All Humans".

Time will tell how it's going to turn out.

 

[Product Placement]

shooter looks quirky, like an episode of the 'X-Files' or the 'Twilight Zone', im up for it.

See! This I can get behind. The "XCOM" shooter game looked interesting as hell, as an independent franchise. When I saw the original trailer, that was launched few years ago, I got the strongest X-Files vibe from it and got interested in it as a game that would embrace a similar theme. However, the moment the title came up my feelings for the game took a complete 180° turn from "interested" to "...wat".

Seeing these subtle hints, that they're gonna develop it as an independent franchise rekindles hopes for me.

 

[Tom_green_day]

'Veritas MCMLXII'
Veritas was the Roman god of truth.
MCMLXII is Roman numerals for 1962.
Very clever!
EDIT: Just posted that quickly so I was first to point it out
I actually think the bureau or whatever looks pretty cool. The 60's setting would be fun if done right as it is rarely done, and if they go for an X-Files style of story it would be great fun!

 

[1337mokro]

The Bureau is a nice name. They could even tie it back to X-com if they wanted it to by alluding it was the thing that got it all started.

The problem with all the fans was very simple. A franchise that they loved was taken away from them after lying in a dusty IP storage room for several decades and threatened to be turned into something it was never meant to be. Now we still have a commercial success of a game that stays true to the genre, so if they WANT to make this game X-com, I have nothing against it.

You see there is no rule that a franchise cannot have two genres of games made about them. As long as it stays true to the franchises origins.

 

[Bindal]

If this ends up as rebrand or not we'll have to see.
Who knows, maybe they only change the name but it is still a third-person-shooter set in the XCOM universe, still telling how XCOM was formed or at least caused nations to consider a project like it (after all, in every game so far, XCOM was usually 're-activated' and never 'formed') and we may or may not have even some elements of it.
That way, we may have a game that won't annoy zealots (I won't call them fans, those guys are way more thickheaded than that - the Enemy Unknown or basically any XCOM released after the original) because they called XCOM, but it still could draw attention to people that like XCOM because it is loosely related to it.

Either way, I hope the game comes out.

 

[Product Placement]

Now that a proper X-Com sequel exists, there's little harm in making a shooter spin-off.

I still don't agree with that thought. It's a much better idea to develop the concept as an independent franchise.

When I see this game in action, I don't see it as Xcom. I've never had. I instantly think of a covert agency fighting secret wars against aliens, like seen in X-Files, Dark Skies [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Skies] or even MIB. Xcom just doesn't fit into that theme. The theme of that franchise has always been about going all in, guns blazing, against an overwhelmingly superior foe, like seen in Independence Day.

The very first trailer looked ridiculously cool as a concept but when I saw the future development, it had lost allot of the covert secret agency look that I was hoping to see. It was trying to look more like Xcom, to placate the fanbase, because let's face it, the game didn't look anything like Xcom.

I want to be part of a conspiracy. A member of an agency that fights to not only ensure that humanity is safe from the alien menace, but also the knowledge of their existence. I want to fight aliens, then contain them and remove all evidence of them ever being there. I want to make witnesses disappear.

It wouldn't be a proper Xcom game.

 

[lancar]

Since I got my XCOM strategy game, I'm all for this shooters rights to exist now. They can call it what they want, it doesn't matter to me. If it's good, I'll play it.

 

[Doom972]

I hope that it does become a new franchise and hopefully a good one. I've had enough of those "reboots" that change everything that made the original franchise what it was.

 

[gigastar]

Without it claiming to be an X-com game, it seems like it might be okay, but at the same time going for a bit too much of a "retro" vibe in trying to rip off the success of "Destroy All Humans".

To rip off Destroy All Humans, you would need to play as the aliens, not the humans.

And to pull it off today requires a physics engine similar to Red Faction: Guerilla, where everything can be turned into flying chunks of anything.

 

[weirdee]

Is it appropriate to use what could have easily destroyed an entire city if it had happened slightly differently as a publicity stunt?

 

[Worgen]

Since we finally got a real Xcom game, I'm ok with a shooter offshoot of the series. My biggest complaint about it was that they were just doing another shooter and killing off its strategy roots but now that we have a strategy game, I'm ok with the fps one.

 

[Master_Fubar23]

Doesn't matter if the "x-com shooter" gets revived or not. They rushed and pushed out the new X-com because people threw a ***** fit over the shooter version. On top of that they received praise that is unwarranted. The game they rushed out was shit so I until I get an actual good ending, I'm not buying shit that resembles x-com.

 

[Product Placement]

Is it appropriate to use what could have easily destroyed an entire city if it had happened slightly differently as a publicity stunt?

...yeah, that's a good point.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

You see there is no rule that a franchise cannot have two genres of games made about them. As long as it stays true to the franchises origins.

It actually wouldn't even have been the first X-COM shooter:

The game they rushed out was shit so I until I get an actual good ending, I'm not buying shit that resembles x-com.

You're angry about the ending? The original X-COM didn't exactly have an ending you'd write home about.
The series never really had an emphasis on anything but strategic, emergent gameplay.

 

[Therumancer]

Without it claiming to be an X-com game, it seems like it might be okay, but at the same time going for a bit too much of a "retro" vibe in trying to rip off the success of "Destroy All Humans".

To rip off Destroy All Humans, you would need to play as the aliens, not the humans.

And to pull it off today requires a physics engine similar to Red Faction: Guerilla, where everything can be turned into flying chunks of anything.

Not really, I'm talking about the retro-sci-fi movie feel which both Fallout and "Destroy All Humans" used, despite being very differant games. The screens I've seen seem to be trying to create that kind of enviroment, and to me that's a "turn off" because retro-sci-fi seems to be getting overdone.

On a lot of levels this very much seems like "Destroy All Humans" except with you playing the guy(s) sent to stop Crypto's race.

If they want to really sell me on the idea I'd be more impressed if they went for a more contemporary setting to be honest. Instead of going with high camp, maybe trying to come up with something like "if the military actually was responding to UFO activity or involved in an alien cold war, this is what it might look like". Trying to say make it feel like your authentically pulling off a modern "Roswell" coverup or whatever, as opposed to trying to embrace camp and cheeze (which "Enemy Unknown" did itself).

I don't know with all of these "we are more real than real" military shooters out there, it might be interesting to see what would happen if they could actually keep the "Call Of Duty" vibe while having you fight aliens or whatever. Harder to do than you might think because everyone that seems to start out with an idea like that starts to turn into something like "Crysis".

Just a thought I guess, I suppose this kind of thing is more proven than trying to actually capture the old "Battle For LA" movie (I think I have the title right) as a game when it comes to the combat and vibe.

Also I admit the title makes me think of "Bureau 13" which is a property I think could be used for a lot of things (other than mediocre adventure games), that's very campy, and I kind of suspect having camp-fest calling itself "The Bureau" would reduce the chances of that ever happening, not that I expect anyone was thinking about it to begin with.

Of course then again I'm also the guy who has said a number of times I wish a lot of these guys trying to turn horror games into shooters would just finally bite the bullet and just make a "Delta Green" game.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Well, I think they bring out the game.

But it may not technically bet an "Xcom" game.

With Enemy Unknown they hit a big problem. They rebooted the franchise in a way that sold a metric ton of copies in a genre they thought was dead, while Syndicate was a shooter and failed miserably.

Now, what are you going to do about the shooter? The universes and stories of the games cannot be connected together without making massive plot holes in both, do to different art styles (Enemy Unknown had 50 styled aliens while the shooter had something more akin to Lovecraftian horror) and both would be claiming to be about the founding of XCom.

What do you do? Make a new franchise. Completely sever any ties with Xcom, and make another in the long list of "government agency which hides the truth" genre of stories.