Sounds like they're just using the name and tossing out what made the franchise so good. It's still possible it'll be good... but it won't be XCom unless there's a strategic element.

Well apparently when to reload and when to switch weapons is all the strategy a console player can handle.

True that. Even aiming is a bit of a challenge.

While I'm willing to postpone judgement on the new X-Com a bit (though I AM worried), I really do wonder whatever happened to these genres. Would it really be commercial suicide to build a game with the same mechanics/in the same genre but with an update to graphics, balance, skills, design etc? I mean what makes X-Com a classic is not the graphics, it's the gameplay.

But instead everything seems to be evolving towards a same-ish FPS shooter movie genre kind of game which is usually ok to play but not very intricate. There is still a lively indie scene, of course, so that counterbalances some of the more generic bid budget titles. In a way you could say it's like the movie industry: the masses like blockbusters - they often know they're not the most brilliant movies ever but they're entertaining and they know what to expect. For people who expect more of their films, there's a huge indie scene.

In gaming it seems that as it is opening more to the masses (instead of just 'gamers') you get the same shift towards blockbuster games being relatively dumbed down and stripped off most complexity. The big difference is that in gaming, these games are often still met with positive or outrageously positive reviews. If Generic Shooter 5 isn't the best game ever, that's ok because it still has nice graphics (for example) and gets an 85% for trying. In the movie critic scene, a similar movie gets a 30% rating at best.

So, in gaming you create an atmosphere where every blockbuster title is doted with a good to amazing review score AND panders to the masses at the same time. That success might explain how we ever move towards a more generic Joe Sixpack Console Player standard of games, one that neither of us here really fits in.

/rant over

ah, but many of those reviews are bought and paid for by the game companies. If they just spent 5 years and x million dollars making the game, what another mill in kickbacks to game reviewers. Besides, gaming is still young... it's been mainstream for well under a decade. Movies have been mainstream since... the 40s? Maybe it's only a matter of time before we start seeing poor reviews of these blockbusters as well.

An X-Com fps COULD be awesome, though, if they maintained the strategic part. Building bases, managing research, etc... but when you go to an invasion sight, you go fps with a squad that you can command. Something like Ghost Recon or something, where getting shot is deadly.

Well the move to FPS is not new actually, there was an attempt quite some time ago called Xcom Alliance i think.

And i agree with both of your rants. The reviews make no sense and most of the time i read them to see if there are any killer bugs.

Anyway the Xcom universe is rich enough to actually use the backstories and stuff to create a game in the said universe without touching the Xcom alien combating organisation. Furthermore i believe that lots of games suffer from being built for easy cash purpose or even outright scam purpose. And the games fail to deliver an emotion the player can relate to. How many of us can relate to being a bad ass who hauls a truckload of guns on his back to a gunfight.

The future looks sad where those who have money want to create simplistic crap for the masses and those who have brilliant ideas lack the funds to succeed. And should they finally succeed they have run out of ideas and start producing crap as well.

I remember when they were talking about it, but the game never happened, did it? Once of those 'in production' games that eventually fizzled and went away. Like a truncated version of duke nukem never-ever.

First trailer for the Xcom game

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06 ... more-31824

It's (obviously) not top down and TBS anymore, but I think it looks awesome. Very stylized, and a creepy-but-cool atmosphere. I'm optimistic about this so far.

interesting. I'm not sure if I should be excited or not, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Alan Wake resurfaced from Rapture?

Yeah, I read a comprehensive review in my gaming magazine already on it, which was (together with the stylised trailer) one of the reasons for my optimism. It may not be a TBS classic anymore, but it sure seems to try hard to be more than a shooter. ENough to give it the benefit of the doubt for me.

Hands off preview. I am quite intrigued actually.

holy resurrection, batman! The last post was almost a year ago. Christ. funny I mentioned Duke Nukem Forever, and that shit is coming out in a week.

The article is kinda blabbering and makes me nervous. I really want this to be a good game. I love X-com, but I'm such a graphics whore I can't play the old ones. Need New Version!

To be honest, I'd love an x-com 1 remake, with the "real-time" of apocalypse, but in true 3d and with high-rez graphics. Please! And maybe make it not quite so hard for nubs. Because I think for every 10 games I started of X-Com, I got wiped out in the first 2 missions on 9 of them.