XCOM Delayed For More Probing

[vansau]

XCOM Delayed For More Probing

It's going to be a little longer before XCOM is released, probably because the developers are spending some time mutilating cattle in the name of "research."

If you were counting down the days until you got to take up arms and hold off the alien invasion in XCOM, get ready to be disappointed. Take-Two Interactive has revealed that the game's going to be delayed until the 2013 fiscal year.

Today, the publisher announced that it had some pretty stellar results for the second fiscal quarter of 2011. At the end of the list of financial accomplishments it's met since July 1st, though, was a small note stating that XCOM will be released after March 6, 2012, which puts it into the next fiscal year.

No official reason was listed, though when a delay like this happens it's usually because the developer needs a little more time to apply some polish.

However, the publisher did explain that the game's delay won't negatively affect its bottom line:

Take-Two is reiterating its financial outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 as set forth below. This outlook reflects the Company's better-than-expected second quarter results and strong outlook for the second half of the year, balanced against the change in the expected release date for XCOM from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2013.

The new release date will be somewhere between April 1st, 2012 and March 31st, 2013.

Source: Joystiq

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[Lunar Templar]

good for them? i guess? i honestly don't remember hearing about this game so .... yay for taking their time i guess

 

[somonels]

Gives time for xenonauts to use the nostalgia without all that hoity-toity 3D FPS gameplay.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Can they just put it back to a Sci-Fi TBS like it was supposed to be? Please?

 

[the spud]

Hopefully they will decide to delay this little reboot till two-thousand and never...

 

[teqrevisited]

"somewhere between April 1st, 2012 and March 31st, 2013."

God I hope it comes out on April 1st, then I can write it off as being an April Fools joke.

 

[Technocrat]

At this rate, Syndicate is going to have had a more recent release than X-Com!

 

[thiosk]

You know, as a long-time xcom fanatic, I've always found the reboot to be quite atrocious-- not because it is an FPS, but because it wipes out basically everything else about xcom that made xcom interesting.

Maybe the delay will give them time to put in the base management elements and procedural FPS gameplay, rather than scripted missions and segments.

 

[vxicepickxv]

You know, as a long-time xcom fanatic, I've always found the reboot to be quite atrocious-- not because it is an FPS, but because it wipes out basically everything else about xcom that made xcom interesting.

Maybe the delay will give them time to put in the base management elements and procedural FPS gameplay, rather than scripted missions and segments.

The only thing the two have in common is four letters at this point.


The entire statement basically reads as follows...

We fired more people than we thought we could get away with, so we can push our game back later to please our shareholders.

 

[sniddy_v1legacy]

This abomination should never see the light of day

...you know for once, I'm starting to hope the Mayans were right - 2012 apocalypse vs. this crap-tastic tarted up FPS being shoved out as 'We heard you liked Xcom but strategy games are SO last decade, here have more of this toot you all seem to love - it's contemporary!'

...[/end bitter rant]

 

[Chaos Marine]

Nah, they're just holding it off because they don't want this game's failure to mar their current 'trend' of games doing well which could affect their stock prices.

 

[Still Life]

Can they just put it back to a Sci-Fi TBS like it was supposed to be? Please?

I have actually enjoyed what I've seen in this title. I think for all those 'angry' fans of the old-school series, 2K should change the name of it and make it an original IP.

 

[Bishop99999999]

You know, I was really interested in this game. Not because of XCOM, but because I thought the aesthetic of 1950s g-men fighting modern interpretations of cosmic horrors and starfish aliens was an interesting design choice.

Sigh. If only they had just changed the name, or ignored the internet crybabies.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Can they just put it back to a Sci-Fi TBS like it was supposed to be? Please?

I have actually enjoyed what I've seen in this title. I think for all those 'angry' fans of the old-school series, 2K should change the name of it and make it an original IP.

And on that, I totally agree.

Have your edgey FPS as much as you want, just don't attach it to a franchise where people want a return to the original, and have it denied because "the market isn't ready".

Because now all "true" X-Com games are going to have to fight this one in litigation, and that's just not fair.

 

[SouthpawFencer]

I have actually enjoyed what I've seen in this title. I think for all those 'angry' fans of the old-school series, 2K should change the name of it and make it an original IP.

They made a HUGE mistake by calling it XCom. Non-fans of the original XCom won't be drawn to the game because of the brand name, and fans of the original game are, by and large, angry and insulted by what they perceive as the brand name of a beloved game being used as a cynical marketing ploy to sell a game that has almost nothing in common with the original.

Unlike Still Life, I have NOT been impressed by what I've seen so far. But I'm biased against this game, since I'm a fan of the original XCom. Had they called this something OTHER than XCom, I might have had a different attitude.

 

[LorienvArden]

Nah, they're just holding it off because they don't want this game's failure to mar their current 'trend' of games doing well which could affect their stock prices.

Bullseye, give that kid a cracker...

I was basicly raised on syndicate, Xcom and all those 90s games and from the looks of it, Xcom will not sell. Ever. It alienated the old fanbase, it can't hold down the FPS aspect and their "Tactical decision making during combat" is blantantly stolen from Mass effect. It's just recycled waste and the publisher knows it.

Whats curious is that they drag it out for so long. Unless the game is finished and all the staff laid off allready, delaying a game into the fiscal 2013 is quite expensive. By that time, the games graphics will not only look dated but grotesque in comparison and the game will stick to the shelve like spilled glue.Ugly,old and reaking glue at that.

Syndicates FPS ressurection seems better planed at least. More violent gunplay, less RPG but still borrowing heavily from DE:HR... if they keep the narrative cyberpunky and in line with the previous game(s), it won't be a bad game. I still want a proper remake, but gunning down corporate enemies as an totally amoral agent is a cool prospect I could enjoy for a while as well.

 

[Still Life]

Can they just put it back to a Sci-Fi TBS like it was supposed to be? Please?

I have actually enjoyed what I've seen in this title. I think for all those 'angry' fans of the old-school series, 2K should change the name of it and make it an original IP.

And on that, I totally agree.

Have your edgey FPS as much as you want, just don't attach it to a franchise where people want a return to the original, and have it denied because "the market isn't ready".

Because now all "true" X-Com games are going to have to fight this one in litigation, and that's just not fair.

I actually disagree quite strongly with 2k when they state that "strategy games are no longer relevant/contemporary". That's total bullshit and I'd beg those who think that to grow a fucking brain-stem.

Still, I can't help but notice the hypocrisy of some gamers. I'll take Fallout 3 as the most obvious example. Previously it was a turn-based RPG and yet, for the most part, has been tremendously successful in its switching of the overall the design principles.

What do you think separates X-Com from the current trend?

Quite honestly, I do stand by what I said about simply creating a new IP. I personally want to see new IPs as the market is seeing just a few too many sequels for my liking.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Still, I can't help but notice the hypocrisy of some gamers. I'll take Fallout 3 as the most obvious example. Previously it was a turn-based RPG and yet, for the most part, has been tremendously successful in its switching of the overall the design principles.

And if you look, there's an awful lot of people that have criticised that change. Not to mention the astounding levels of bugs, and effectively dragging in a new audience while shafting the old one.

What do you think separates X-Com from the current trend?

The same thing as Syndicate, the Transformer films and a lot of other "re-imaginings". They use the name only to promote their shoddy product while while throwing a few bones in.

Fallout came from Wasteland originally, which was a turn based RPG. Things can change format: The unfinished X-Com Apocalypse was a RTS/TBS blend; but Interceptor was...an interpretation, and Enforcer was a god awful cash in.

But, for the time, Interceptor and Enforcer weren't bad games. Like it seems XCOM and Syndicate aren't bad games.

So why sully them with an unwanted title. XCOM could quite easily be Zombies Ate My Neighbours 2, or Kolshack: The Night Stalker with ease - and still fit into the whole ethos.

The main thing XCOM does that is unforgivable though, is that it over-writes X-Com's history.

1999 WAS the first time we'd ever encountered aliens. The Globe was split up into separate areas. America could quite easily fall to the Aliens and you'd still keep going.

That's not just IP stealing, that's franchiside.

Quite honestly, I do stand by what I said about simply creating a new IP. I personally want to see new IPs as the market is seeing just a few too many sequels for my liking.

Solidarity brother.

 

[Nimzabaat]

From watching the trailers this should have been a Men In Black game. Otherwise, for those who actually enjoyed Xcom, there's always UFO: Aftermath etc on gog.com. I did enjoy the originals and won't be buying this game. Though my fondest memory is of having one of my squad arm a grenade, decide not to use it, put it back in the backpack, and boom! The flicker of his shields as they contained the explosion and his complete annihilation was kind of priceless.