The original UFO: Enemy Unknown is held in such high regard that it's easy to forget the series' tumultuous history. This is a franchise that has swapped hands around half a dozen times. A series with several canned sequels--and dodgy spin-off--that could have easily been left forgotten in gaming history.

When Take Two picked up the IP in 2005, the response from fans around the world was incredible. The passion for the classic games--combined with the growing apathy towards first person shooters--had fans demanding a turn-based reincarnation of the series. What they didn't know, was that a team was already hard at work creating that game; XCOM: Enemy Unknown will finally be released next week.

Whether you're a fan from the good old days, or a new gamer wondering what all the fuss is about, I hope this brief history of the games and the people behind them reminds you of just how lucky we are that a new XCOM game was ever even made.

NOTE: At 8:14 we incorrectly showed footage of the open-source XCOM inspired game 'UFO: Alien Invasion' when referring to the Hasbro title 'X-Com: First Alien Invasion'. We apologise for the error. For more information, or to download and play UFO Alien Invasion, please visit www.ufoai.org.

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