After months of secrecy, XCOM's release date has finally been declassified by publisher 2K Games. The first-person relaunch of the XCOM series will arrive on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 9, 2012, according to 2K. The nearly nine month window between now and then does, of course, give plenty of extra time to delay it, should that be necessary. Not that we hope it gets delayed, but it does stand to reason that we won't see BioShock Infinite in the first quarter of 2012 if XCOM sticks to the release date, as 2K Games is unlikely to drop two major shooters so close to each other.

The game's E3 2011 trailer was also loosed, showing off a much more direct example of XCOM's first-person action gameplay. A press release accompanying today's release date news speaks to the game's setting as well, explaining that XCOM will put players into the shoes of Special Agent William Carter who, employing a crack team of veteran XCOM officers, will "strike surgically against the alien menace" in an effort to turn the tide of war against them. It's kind of like Halo, basically, except in 1950's America. And no Master Chief (as far as we know). And the aliens are way more inky, of course.

Okay, it's not that much like Halo. Fine.