Xcom Publisher: Strategy Games Are Not Contemporary

[infohippie]

"if he would make music today it would still be Ray Charles but he would probably do it more in the style of Kanye West."

...I don't get it. Is he trying to say nobody has taste any longer?

What is this guy smoking? After how huge the Starcraft 2 launch was, after the great reception Civilization 5 got, he thinks "people today don't want strategy games." So he wants to take a license that a lot of people would go absolutely nuts over, and make another mediocre shooter in a market that's absolutely saturated with mediocre shooters? As a non-shooter gamer myself, I'd just like to raise a big middle finger to Mr Hartmann, when he eventually makes it back down to earth. And maybe remind him that the CoD crowd and the Battlefield crowd already have their preferred shooters - he's not likely to tap into these markets in any big way.
Even if I was thinking about maybe picking this up anyway, these kind of ignorant comments from the dev company just guaranteed I won't be buying it.

 

[Quazimofo]

first of all: hilarious typo.
second: that's by far the dumbest argument ever and the comparison is just horrible. it would only work if i invented time travel, went back to the past and kidnapped ray Charles so his music would never exist. What 2K is doing is digging up his corpse and making him dance to bad versions of Kayne West songs.

If you decide to dig up an old IP for brand recognition you just have to deal with the fact that with few exceptions no IP ever made a successful shift in genre. The x-com thin doesn't look too bad, if they went with another name it might have interested me.

basically this. it would be like saying making call of duty: Modern warfare a strategy game is a good idea because its the new hip thing (though if they market it right, they probably would sell millions of copies considering the fanbase). turn based games are far from outdated. they may be older because it was easier than making everything in real-time then, and board games are really really REALLY damn hard to play with everyone doing stuff at the same time (if not impossible) but turn based strategy has been around for ages, and will be around long after our time.
times do change, but not THAT fast. with the internet, things like music/game genres fade even slower if at all. xcom is only 15 years old, still has decent graphics, and is fun to play. the only genre that has even waned significantly is musical games (correct me if im wrong, but i havent heard much about them in a while, or know anyone who still plays rockband), because activision kept releasing the same damn one..... and the controllers are expensive and space consuming, and there are only so many instruments that are fairly easy to make controllers of (since so many string instruments use a bow, and many percussion instruments... well there arent that many that are not just a variation of a drum, and the current drum-set covers all the basics i know of)

correct me if there are any other waning/gone genres i dont know about. i dont know as much as i would like about games in general.

 

[Kenko]

Hooray! Another Generic Alien Shooter. Fuck you 2K, Fuck you very much. There's already better shooters on the market and better coming. This is not an X-Com game, it should have another name.

If they wanted to sell it as an X-Com game to attract the X-Com fans, then they've made a huge mistake as it's a very niché group.

If they are trying to weasel their way into the FPS market? Well, that will fail too. Hope 2K collapses as a company and that their lives turn to shit and that their children are born without eyelids.

 

[Yuri 'Arara']

People who waited for Duke Nukem Forever wanted a Duke Nukem 3D experience of silly humor, state-of-the-art graphics (DN3D was state-of-the-art for its time) and manly action. They were treated with a chimera of silly but disgusting humor, horrible graphics and modern regenerating-health, two-weapons-only, faux-strategic FPS. Result? You all know the result.

People who waited for a X-Com reboot wanted a X-Com experience, of micromanaging bases and troops, of downing alien ships and of strategic attack, of fighting overwhelming odds against better equipped, powerful aliens. They will be treated with a chimera of sci-fi with a silly storyline, no recognizable aliens or anything that would resemble the original series, and modern regenerating-health, two-weapons-only, faux-strategic FPS.

Result?

You all know the result.

I'd rather play Xenonauts anyway.

 

[benbenthegamerman]

I do believe Mr. Noah Antwiler put it best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF_Ca45JRFs

 

[octafish]

Contemporary gamers are morons and we make games for morons because morons buy games? Is that what this argument is saying?

Whatever, I don't care because I've got the two original games and now I have GOTY for 2011, Frozen Synapse (just beating out minecraft at the moment. I'll reconsider once minecraft is actually released, but there could be an upset in the cards.)

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Contemporary gamers are morons and we make games for morons because morons buy games? Is that what this argument is saying?

Whatever, I don't care because I've got the two original games and now I have GOTY for 2011, Frozen Synapse (just beating out minecraft at the moment. I'll reconsider once minecraft is actually released, but there could be an upset in the cards.)

Just sayin we shouldn't knock it till we try it, ok we totally should. Trollolololol

But im not puting any special place in my shelf for this until I see complete magic from it.

 

[JakobBloch]

That still doesn't explain why their Xcom game isn't even set in the same universe as the old ones. Or is futuristic sci-fi 'not contemporary', because there are plenty of games that'd disagree?

If it fails, which it might, then they can just say, it was a mistake and blah blah blah, and it won't hurt that world that gamers love and remember, just a game with a title is all it will be, because, the only heat they are going to take are from the people who are.... I don't want to say fan boys but I think your smart enough to see where I'm going here.

If it succeeds, then it will get sequels and 2k can do what ever they want with the series because they where right.

But, you know hey, it's not like we've seen them make a shooter into a strategy right?
or try to at least.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

If loving a game like X-Com: Ufo Defense (or Ufo Enemy Unknown to some... like me) makes me a fanboy i will wear that badge proudly. Few games in time has every deserved a rabid horde of fanboys as much as X-Com.

The problem I kinda have with this game taking on the name of the cult classic is that it may not pay enough tribute to the old game. Even worse if it bombs as the worst game since- say Custers Revenge the name X-Com will in a new generation not be remembered as a master piece of the early years of gaming but as a dreadful game of the dreadful FPS dark ages. This risk pisses me off.

 

[mrc390]

Ridiculous, I won't support a developer with that sort of attitude

 

[CD-R]

If the times they are a-changing, then why am I still buying way more strategy games than shooters? I mean, I get the fact that people buy more shooters, but I don't think pulling an IP known for its excellent turn-based strategy into the shooter genre is how to tap that market.

I can answer this for ya.

1) Times are a-changing, it's okay to be stuck in the past. Don't eve get me started on these kids now-a-days and their 'music'. It's okay to still like RTS (even tho X-Com wasn't a real time strategy, it was turn based), but it's not a huge seller. Sure, you get a good portion of the PC crowd to buy Civ and Starcraft ect, but a lot of companies think bigger than that.

2) The IP was known for 2 good games (or was it 3?) then it went on a horrible downward spiral that 'fans' conveniently ignore. This new game still has time pieces units, still has alien research, still has tactical elements. It's an FPS game at heart. Get over it!

As so called fans of the IP, I hope you all will still give this game a chance when it's actually finished and released NEXT YEAR. Plus, Susan Arendt said :

-'The demo we saw is closer to the spirit of the original games, while still staying active enough to woo new players that might be turned off by traditional turn-based strategy'-

You're not saying we shouldn't trust Susan, are you??

Here's the thing. It isn't just the fact that they are turning it into an fps thats pissing people off. It's the fact that they turned it into an fps and completely changed the look, style and setting so it has no resemblance or connection to the older games what soever.

These were the aliens you fought in the original X-Com

http://www.xcomufo.com/x1ufopaedia/aliens.html

None of those guys are in this one. Instead we get some weird geometry men who look like knock offs of the husks from Mass Effect. That's whats gotten people pissed off more than anything.

I would have been more than willing to give this game a chance if you could fight the sectoids. And why even go in this 1950's retro direction? X-Com had FLYING POWER ARMOR!!!!

http://www.xcomufo.com/x1ufopaedia/pics/big/shot0018.png

You have an excuse to add power armor that can fly and instead you give us fedoras? People give Bethesda a hard time for making Fallout more of a shooter but it at least sill looked like a Fallout game. It still had the vaults, the Brotherhood of Steel, the 1950's soundtrack and all the other stuff. This is like remaking Star Wars without the Empire.

 

[Treblaine]

Not sure why people aren't aware of the features in this game, here is a good interview (except for his "Ahh, Uhh" moments)

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-xcom/715991

It. Is. Not. Turn. Based.

It is not strategy.

At best it is FPS with some tactical orders thrown in.

Everything about this conflicts with Xcom canon, as a reboot it makes tolerable but now it is a prequel? Real Xcom aliens were like the "greys" not shapeless nanobots, how can the invasion begin with chronologically as more advanced and effective mechanism of assimilation? It just contradicts everything and shows zero respect for the original work.

Less ""Ahh, Uhh" moments and more "Wha... the fu... the fuck is the shit" moments

PS: notice the background in the 1950's mock up the clock is frozen at 4:20... I'm not surprised "stoner-culture" is heavily involved in this production. The devs' defences are clearly half-baked.

 

[chinangel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFye3Ic7m1w&NR=1


yeah I think that pretty much sums everything up. Though Spoony's now infamous screaming rant has been quoted a few times already, once more won't hurt.

there are very few games where genre-switching like this works. But the flippant and dismissive attitude they have will likely lead to violent backlash from the fans.

I could be wrong, but this game kinda seems like the equivalent of flipping X-Com fans the bird.

 

[mikespoff]

I dunno... either you care about the franchise fanbase or you don't.

If you care about the fans, give them what they like about the series (in this case turn-based strategy).

If you don't care about the fanbase, why the hell are you calling it Xcom?

Also, seriously, Ray Charles = Kanye West? There's just so much wrong with that claim I don't know where to begin.

 

[The3rdEye]

Many fans of Xcom were upset the series was being rebooted as a shooter, but 2K Games thinks that's what today's gamers want.

I said it before, I'll say it again. There's no big mystery, incentive or value behind the naming of 2K's version of "Xcom" aside from free marketing, supplied by news outlets who can now bat back and forth the question of "Is it still true to the franchise?" which of course has columnists tripping over themselves with "latest developments". It's not in the same genre, time line or universe. They called it X-com so that those of us who know and love those games would latch onto the hope of a revitalization of the series with years of suppressed joy and eagerness, only to launch some PoS license that 2K didn't think would be strong enough without a catch into the spotlight for what may very well be a mere moment of glory before we find out it's complete tripe. There is NO reason for them to dub this the successor to one of the most loved strategy games ever. It's the 1950's smashed into the outline of Mass Effect, Collectors and Husks included.

- PERIOD -

 

[Saviordd1]

I am very sad by this, very sad. Another cash in and this time on one of my favorite TBS games

 

[NotSoNimble]

snip

So what, you want a squad you can customize that you level up their different classes? You want to be able to choose to either capture alien tech and use it then and there or choose to take it back to your base and research it? You want tactics? You want to pull the camera back and see what's going on and use time units?

Would this make you happy??

I warn you.... he says Uh uhm a lot of times, but it's all in the game.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-xcom/715991

Give it up. People here just want to hate this game. They still love thier ancient turn based games. Fallout 3 had a lot of the same miguided hate. Maybe when the game is released they will see how this could be a really good game.

 

[Vibhor]

So what, you want a squad you can customize that you level up their different classes? You want to be able to choose to either capture alien tech and use it then and there or choose to take it back to your base and research it? You want tactics? You want to pull the camera back and see what's going on and use time units?

Would this make you happy??

I warn you.... he says Uh uhm a lot of times, but it's all in the game.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-xcom/715991

What I want is this,
-Destructible buildings and doodads.
-The hopeless and "you-are-fucked" atmosphere of the previous games
-I want my humans to be squishy and easily killed without armor
-I want a squad of absolutely normal humans.
-I want to sneak up on aliens and tase them.
-I want a deep research system that actually impacts your success rate.
-I want an organization that is not American but actually international
-And lastly, I want a story that actually makes sense and doesn't disregard every point the previous games were trying to make.

Also, you had no such thing as level up in Xcom, it was more like use to increase skill system but it didn't matter, the humans didn't survive that long to train their skills to max.

EDIT: Funny thing, the first thing on your list reeks mass effect not Xcom. Before you ignore my post/reply to me, I would like to ask, have you ever played Xcom ufo defense?