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X-Com confirmed for 360/PC, Firaxis working on turn-based sequel?

3D artist's resume indicates 2K Games was working on installment in sci-fi series as early as January 2007; less substantial speculation has storied strategy studio working on second new entry.

Source: Increasingly notorious information amalgamator Superannuation.

2001's X-Com: Enforcer was the first--but possibly not the last--shooter set in the X-Com universe.

2001's X-Com: Enforcer was the first--but possibly not the last--shooter set in the X-Com universe.

What we heard: In November 2007, rumors surfaced that 2K Boston was developing a reboot of the classic X-Com series. Since then, only a few breadcrumbs of information have leaked out. In March, studio head Ken Levine expressed his admiration for the tactical sci-fi franchise and admitted to recently playing its poorly received last installment, the 2001 shooter spin-off X-Com: Enforcer (pictured top). In August, job listings indicated that 2K Boston is working on an unidentified shooter, raising the possibility of another action title set in the X-Com universe.

Such a scenario appears to have been confirmed this week, when Superannuation dug up the resume of a 3D artist who worked for 2K Australia from January 2007 until April 2008. The resume lists the artist as working on two projects during that time: "Bioshock (Xbox 360, PC Game)" and "X-Com (Xbox 360, PC Game)."

The resume's cut-and-dried confirmation was obscured somewhat by subsequent Twitter messages from Superannuation's proprietor that pointed to a second X-Com in the works. The tweets read: "Apparently, there's a rumor that X-Com is being developed by Firaxis, which I wouldn't find hard to believe. I swear that I read they're working on a sci-fi game somewhere...The rumor is that there's two X-Com games--[an] FPS from Irrational and [a] turn-based one from Firaxis."

The 1993 original X-Com: UFO Defense created a sci-fi tactics dynasty.

The 1993 original X-Com: UFO Defense created a sci-fi tactics dynasty.

As it turns out, rumors of a Firaxis-developed reboot of X-Com go back to 2001. That's when Atari parent Infogrames bought X-Com publisher MicroProse, the birthplace of the wildly popular Civilization series cocreated by Firaxis cofounder Sid Meier. During a 2004 video interview promoting the relaunch of Pirates, Meier told GameSpot that Firaxis had entered into a long-term agreement with Atari to retain the X-com IP. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the X-Com license transferred to Take-Two when it bought Firaxis in 2005.

The official story: "No comment." -- A tight-lipped 2K Games rep.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that 2K Boston is working on a new X-Com game of some sort, with a shooter spin-off being a strong possibility. As far as a second turn-based X-Com game from Firaxis is concerned, it would be the stuff of old-school gamers' dreams. And, as Fallout 3's massive sales proved, a critically acclaimed reboot of a classic franchise can reap massive rewards.

103 Comments

  • QuatrixJ

    Posted Apr 14, 2010 1:14 pm GMT

    I hope the guy is being prosecuted appropriately for violating a non-disclosure agreement.

  • xMusHx

    Posted Mar 17, 2010 4:20 pm GMT

    "As far as a second turn-based X-Com game from Firaxis is concerned, it would be the stuff of old-school gamers' dreams"

    Load of BULL!!

    X-com enemy unknown/defence with the new civ5 (released this year) engine would be the best game since...well X-com enemy unknown.

    Come on firaxis, your the king of turn-based gaming... get working on it!!!

  • uberjannie

    Posted Jan 3, 2010 1:11 pm GMT

    @valent1n : I would have understood if you said Terror From the Deep, but Enemy Unknown? I liked Enemy Unknown, but i didnt waste nearly close the amount of hours I wasted playing Apocalypse.
    It would be sorted in this order for me :
    1.Apocalypse
    2.Terror from the deep
    3. UFO Defense

  • valent1n

    Posted Jan 3, 2010 9:39 am GMT

    @uberjannie : I must say "no" , the greatest one was/is "X-COM UFO - Enemy unknown"

  • uberjannie

    Posted Jan 2, 2010 7:00 pm GMT

    @valent1n : Actually the best X-com (imo) game was real-time (Apocalypse). Well, you could play it turned based, but with real-time working as flawless as it did, I dont see why you would.

  • uberjannie

    Posted Jan 2, 2010 6:59 pm GMT

    The Unreal 3 Engine would be the perfect fit for a new x-com game. Its flexible enough to make it a third/first person shooter or a top-down tactical game.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Dec 1, 2009 1:02 pm GMT

    All it nds is the Dragon Age engine, so you can zoom in over shoulder zoom up to the old x-Com look and being able to move the camera around. That's all I need! Alternatively, the Total War engine, but just having 20-30 soldiers and aliens with really good fog balancing to you have to find themm like in the original!

  • valent1n

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 2:19 am GMT

    they just need to improve the graphics and maybe to add more things like weapons, buildings etc in the original X-COM UFO and that's it a very very very great game. X-COM is the king of TBS games

  • meloas

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:15 am GMT

    Did anyone ever tried making the same ufo game but with improved graphics and tweaks ?? that should be a good start ...... (i would buy it). And then, maybe, and i repeat maybe, implement new stuff.

  • Visitor_basic

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 8:28 pm GMT

    Well, obviously "Dreamland Chronicles" did not come out and was cancelled, or whatever happened to it after all the reporting. Now, I hope you people are not assuming to lead us on like some 'hunk of spacealien meat' and actually know what you are reporting about with a new X-COM game that could be really scary and really fun to play. Afterall, you really do not know if a few million years ago, you are mutant humans from another spacealien's species if you look up Ancient Mama Ardi. Well, I hope they do come out with another updated but different X-COM. The Gallop Brothers did an excellent job making the game better with Apocalyse X-Com game but with only a city to defend, it was limited by ms-dos back then. The original X-Com:UFO Defense in ms-dos was much better than the Windows Collector's Edition version in 1999. 2009 would be a good year to come out with a new version.

  • ZakMcKracken

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 5:04 am GMT

    I've been hearing news about this in regards to UFO as well as Jagged Alliance for ages. The only thing they have to show for it is weak idea after weak idea. I've given up.

  • TucoBenedicto

    Posted Nov 1, 2009 7:52 pm GMT

    Funny thing is: there have been so many attempts to make a good X-Com sequel and the better one stills the first one. No contest.

  • RavenXavier

    Posted Nov 1, 2009 10:37 am GMT

    Firaxis BETTER be doing a Traditional Turn Based X-Com game. Enforcer sucked balls!!! They better not ruin one of the best classic game franchises of All Time!!!

  • Xuix

    Posted Oct 30, 2009 12:13 am GMT

    NO NO NO NO NONONONO

  • Plethora22

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 10:46 pm GMT

    UFO: Afterlight more or less got it right, definitely worth playing if you've beaten xcom and xcom tftd more times than you'd like to recount like me... unfortunately it took a dedicated design team 3 entire games to get roughly to the same point as the original xcom was at to begin with...

  • arronizmiguel

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 6:14 pm GMT

    UFO Defense = Turn-Based... simple math... it's the gameplay what makes a game, if they are not going to keep the roots, then, please give it any other name... And obviously I would be in line the first day it comes out! Cheers!

  • abbajabba4

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 11:05 am GMT

    An X-COM FPS could actually be pretty awesome if they made it a good tactical FPS (e.g. SWAT, America's Army, Rainbow Six) instead of a straight-up "Run 'n gun" like X-com Enforcer was.

  • streetgame

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 2:49 am GMT

    Absolutely, keep it the same as the original. I mean update it, graphics and stuff. If its going to xbox 360 i'd love to see a coop online feature. Cant wait, hopefully this one makes it and doesnt get twisted in the process.

  • forhekset

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 1:35 am GMT

    The original X-com is relatively simple, but it works perfectly. Why is it that every single attempt at recreating its greatness is mired by all this idiocy? How many crap UFO games are there now?

    Just stick to what made the original great and focus on that, shesh.

  • trinity_rdp

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 12:54 am GMT

    Man I loved this game!! Cant wait for the sequel to come out. Its about time!!!

  • Rekunta

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 11:36 pm GMT

    Hell, I'd be perfectly happy with a remake of the original with new visuals, physics, etc. It will be hard to top the original, that game was near perfect. This is great news, here's hoping it won't suck.

  • b_ux

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:13 pm GMT

    X-Com: UFO Defense.

    The best turn based game I have ever played, coming from the so much missed company-Microprose.

  • Vikingfbm

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 4:40 pm GMT

    I'm hopeful about this.

  • JimBurber

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 3:39 pm GMT

    I'd rather see more turn based X-Com action than a shooter... and I love FPS games! But you just couldn't beat the original X-Com format! Even when it was making me want to beat my monitor with my keyboard because of team killing troops that didn't know how to aim! lol

  • SDBusDriver1979

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 2:12 pm GMT

    That is one down, now wheres Wing Commander

  • Ultramarinus

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 1:16 pm GMT

    The shooter has to incorporate the macro-scale strategic management and be highly tactical with reliance on AI squad members at the very least to be interesting. I'm still very excited about the possibility of a proper sequel or even a remake of the old games though.

  • crunchb3rry

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 1:13 pm GMT

    I'd be excited, but the last handful of X-COM games sucked ass. UFO Defense and Terror From The Deep should be remade for Xbox Live or the DS. If they are attempting to reboot the series, they should use the Bioshock engine but keep it thirdperson and turn-based.

  • Elbowsmash

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:45 pm GMT

    Now if only we could get Heroes of Might and Magic 3 on the 360

  • monson21502

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:42 pm GMT

    another great game coming to pc and 360 only.

  • Oxymandias

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:30 pm GMT

    I'd love a turn based X-com game like the grear Chronicles of Valkyire but I suspect this is a bogus rumour.

  • zhivago_x

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:29 pm GMT

    I love UFO Afterlight. One of the most underrated games in the last few years. Although a UFO shooter would be a more appropriate for console "hardcore" gamers.

  • ForTheNoobs

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:20 pm GMT

    I think a reboot is great idea, and it's been proven already that it can be done. Anyone who loves X-com should check out UFO afterlight. They have a demo on their site. The story does not tie in but it's an awesome game.

    I absolutely love X-com, still play it from steam every now and then. What I don't understand is why Apocalypse never got any love. I thought it was great and I got back to that game too.

  • centuryslayer

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:16 pm GMT

    ooh, I'd like an XBL remake of the old X-com game/s. turn based and no blocky or detail lacking 3D. I can dream, right?

  • enevharaldarion

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 11:13 am GMT

    Funny how everyone is talking about X-Com on the PC and not the PSX version. I played it that way and loved the original game. Terror From the Deep on PSX was not as good, but still alright. And since those two were released for a console, I wonder what the odds are that either could make it to PSN, Virtual Console, or X-box Live?

  • razorback187

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 10:48 am GMT

    Because there just aren't enough FP shooters for the consoles. Agree with Murrdox - except it doesn't have to be turn-based. Some sort of RTS would have been great too. Low expectations for this.

  • Awful_Cleric

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 9:47 am GMT

    "And, as Fallout 3's massive sales proved, a critically acclaimed reboot of a classic franchise can reap massive rewards."
    Yeah if it is done right!

  • Murrdox

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 9:39 am GMT

    Why the hell would you make a FPS X-Com game.

    The original X-Com's strengths were:

    1) Tactical Combat - Over 10 years later it is still the turn based tactical combat blueprint by which all others are made

    2) Research / Manufacturing - Management of your research and manufacture of alien equipment

    3) Global overwatch - Manage relationships with nations to ensure funding, build bases in strategic locations.

    You could argue a few more.

    However, #1 is the reason people are still playing X-COM all these years later. Not plot, not the awesome "world" X-COM created, not characters, iconic monsters, or anything else that you can translate into a First Person Shooter.

    Tactical. Turn-Based. Combat. That's it. An X-Com sequel without that just isn't an X-Com game, no matter what title you slap on the box.

  • cjasko94

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 9:25 am GMT

    wow

  • 3KindgomsRandy

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 9:06 am GMT

    Color me skeptical. The original X-Com is one of the greatest games in the history of gaming. The rest of the series is spotty at best, so we'll see what happens.

  • thedarklinglord

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 8:59 am GMT

    I freakin' loved the original X-Com. I remember buying it and Microprose's Master of Magic (also a hell of a good game) from an Office Depot bargain bin for something like $10...

    I had a crappy, outdated computer that wouldn't play any of the newer, cutting edge games that I looked at longingly with a heavy ache in my heart... I think my dad felt bad for me, and he pointed out the bargain bin and asked if there was anything in there I might be able to play on my computer. So, I got X-Com and Master of Magic...and that was probably the best $10 I ever spent, and the best value I ever got, on computer games.

    I'd love to see them do a new tactical, turn-based strategy X-Com... Just as I'd love another Final Fantasy Tactics, and a computer/console version of Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures tabletop skirmish game, or a similar turn-based strategy game set in the Warhammer universe - all of them with destructible terrain, one of the coolest features in X-Com. Seriously, how freakin' awesome was it that you could see an aliens scuttle by a window in a building across the way and then, on your turn, blow down an entire wall to get at them? Or target gas pumps and kill half a dozen beasties in a single blast? Or have the AI do the same thing to you. Good times...

    Sadly, they just don't seem to make those sort of games anymore.

  • hfriscia

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 8:01 am GMT

    Please, Please, Please, let it be true!

  • Yakuz-A

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:53 am GMT

    I still regularly play X-Com 1 with all the bugs fixed using fanmade patches(There are a ton of bugs in the Windows version that aren't fixable, but pretty much all the big bugs in the DOS version can be fixed!)

    One of the best games of all time IMO.

  • Yakuz-A

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:52 am GMT

    Civ Rev 2 can suck a c*ck, what I want is a new X-Com STRATEGY game!

  • shawn7324

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:46 am GMT

    Seen title & thought possibly a Civilization Revolution 2 was coming, now that would be something to get excited for.

  • phimseto

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:28 am GMT

    I actually wrote Sierra about Live Arcade and their old adventure titles. Never heard anything back. :-)

    Great to see this. I wish Bioware would do something similar with the Mass Effect property. Tactics game + Bioware storytelling = win.

  • StarvingPoet

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:24 am GMT

    Oh God, please not another Enforcer - But everyone remember the first fps meld that was supposed to come out for X-COM? Squad-based FPS combat like in SWAT 3. Was it X-COM Insurrection?

  • shawise

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:20 am GMT

    Big Up! on that one Caemyr.

  • Caemyr

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:08 am GMT

    Allright! About time. I am a major fan of the X-COM series. I have played all the the games in it (UFO Defense, TFTD, Apocalypse, Interceptor), and, unfortunately Enforcer (ick!) I have been waiting for a re-make of the game, and I hope they stay true to the nature of the originals (turn based combat, research of alien tech, etc) UFO aftermath was a temp fix only, not a bad game though, but definitely NOT X-COM.

  • shawise

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:03 am GMT

    Mannnnn.... I still have my XCOM UFO Defense. I'll follow up on this one.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 6:52 am GMT

    Cool, though I'd rather see the dust get blown off of the Alpha Centauri series... or maybe resurrecting PC classics like Deadlock, or, like dgnr82cool suggests, the Sierra point-and-click adventure games.

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