XCOM: Enemy Unknown Message Board older than one year ago

Last night a mysterious entry appeared on the South Korean ratings board website – something called XCOM: Enemy Within. And that was all that was known. Technically, that is still all that is known, except that now we know it’s for real. Publishers 2K have confirmed to Eurogamer that it, whatever it might be, will be revealed at Gamescom later this month.

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A listing on Korea's Game Rating Board site indicates that a game by the name of XCOM: Enemy Within exists. The classifications board listed the game for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Whether the as-yet-unannounced game is a stand-alone product or extension of last year's XCOM: Enemy Unknown is, well, unknown. We also wonder what said enemy is within.

Klei has put marks on ninjas and avoided starvation (for now), and it’s all been pretty great. But now that all of that’s out in the open, what’s next? How do you follow gloriously precise stealth and maddeningly demented survival? Why, with turn-based tactical espionage, of course. Otherwise, there just wouldn’t be enough adjectives. I sat down with Klei co-founder Jamie Cheng for a brief chat about Icognita, which he’s billing as a more information-centric cousin to modern XCOM. Somewhat fittingly (though also frustratingly), he kept many details hidden away beneath his figurative trench coat, but we were able to discuss the broader strokes: espionage, the game’s upcoming paid alpha (ala Don’t Starve), procedural generation, and PC as the primary platform. Give the chat a quick read after the break.

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I've spent the past few days zapping aliens and maneuvering troops in the iPad version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and I'm happy to report that it's XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iPad, which is really all that you need to know. Also, it costs $20, which is alarming until you realize that you're getting a $20 version of portable, touchscreen-optimized version of a game that came out in October for $60. So, yes. Kotaku's Game of the Year 2012 is out for iOS today, and it's excellent. The touchscreen controls work quite well—you can pinch to zoom, slide your finger to move the camera around, and tap/double-tap to move and assign commands. Everything runs perfectly smoothly on my iPad 3 with two exceptions: the lipsyncing is way off and the framerate sometimes stutters. That said, I believe both of those were technical problems on the console versions of XCOM as well. If you haven't played XCOM before, go read Luke's excellent review. In short, it's a wonderful sci-fi strategy game that tasks you with managing a base, balancing troops, and saving the world from aliens. You'll spend the bulk of your time in turn-based combat on a series of battlefields across earth, moving soldiers around wreckage and trying really, really hard not to let them get murdered by aliens. Worth noting: this is a 3.2gb download, so prepare your time/space accordingly. Also worth noting: this game is fantastic and well worth that time/space. XCOM: Enemy Unknown Genre: StrategyDeveloper: FiraxisPlatform: iOSPrice: $19.99 XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iTunes

Firaxis Games' reboot XCOM: Enemy Unknown is now available on iOS. We certainly enjoyed our time with the $20 touch-enabled port, which you can read all about right here. And while the iOS game doesn't include multiplayer right now, it's been promised as a free update later down the road. Good luck, Commander!

This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. XCOM: Enemy Unknown seems like it was built for iPad. The touch-screen controls on the iOS port are so good that the game feels like it was lovingly crafted specifically for touch devices from the get-go.

These controls are easily the highlight of the iOS version of XCOM (which also runs on the iPhone, by the way). With a redesigned HUD full of chunky buttons, completing actions in the game is a cinch. I actually prefer the touch scheme to wielding a controller. It's a simpler, more intuitive process, and the meat of the game is every bit as good as its console and PC counterparts.

Firaxis, developers of Enemy Unknown, the latest installment in the long-standing XCOM series of tactical RPG/strategy games, recently announced that the game's iOS port will be arriving in just three days' time, on Thursday. Enemy Unknown for iOS will be a universal app featuring GameCenter and iCloud support; "the complete XCOM experience of the console and PC version of the game, optimized for the touch interface of iOS devices." A head-to-head multiplayer mode will also be included after release, in a free update. Firaxis has supplied a screenshot to give us a sense of what the game will actually look like: XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS will launch on June 20.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown will be available on iOS devices this Thursday, June 20, for $19.99.

...developing...

GameFly has a pretty legit sale going on right now for PC games on Steam and Origin -- deals that, when coupled with this 20-percent off coupon, can lead to some decidedly redonk savings. BioShock Infinite, for instance, can be yours for $28 after using the coupon code. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead, Hitman: Absolution, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Torchlight 2 and Sleeping Dogs are all available for less than $10, and that's before the coupon.

Borderlands 2, Mass Effect Trilogy, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and a whole mess of others are in there as well at varyingly steep discounts. This may be the excuse you've been waiting for to finally justify Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Obviously we don’t do video on RPS, because we are Old MenTM.

Only now I’ve done a video, for some reason. It’s in the vein of those Let’s Play things that are all over YouTube, tt’s my first one ever, and I’m well aware it’s pretty shonky on both a content and technical level. I wanted to give this a shot regardless of outcome, to see what it’s like and to see what I can learn. In it, I play one mission from the current build of Goldhawk Interactive’s indie X-COM homage Xenonauts, which is out now on Steam Early Access. I also talk pretty much non-stop for about 17 minutes, which I don’t believe is something I’ve ever done before in my life. My mum’d kill to have a conversation that long with me.(more…)

Next week, when the PlayStation Store updates on June 11, three new games will be added to the PlayStation Plus free Instant Game Collection library: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and LittleBigPLanet Karting.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will include the full single-player campaign for PS Plus subscribers and the free-to-play multiplayer side. Both XCOM: Enemy Unknown and LBP Karting are their full retail offerings, joining a June that has already yielded a free copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and will later gift Saints Row: The Third.

Did you know that while developing last year's Game of the Year-winning Xcom: Enemy Unknown, the team at Firaxis played the original X-COM every week and made new hires complete the entire game? I did not know that. Here are three "fast facts" about XCOM from the people who do Lore in a Minute.

The iOS version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown will launch with the full single-player experience seen on consoles and PC, with multiplayer modes following later.

"We're sort of focusing our design resources on the single-player experience. We're certainly going to provide [multiplayer] after launch," XCOM: Enemy Unknown designer Jake Solomon tells Joystiq. "The single-player is what we really - we know that for it to feel like XCOM, the single-player needs a lot of our focus. So we're playing, giving feedback, making sure it feels nice and polished. It's just we're focusing our resources on single-player first."

2K Games is tentatively slating XCOM: Enemy Unknown for launch on iOS sometime this summer. Pricing is still being determined, though Solomon says the game will exact an up-front fee and won't hinge on in-app purchases.

"This isn't just like a port to a new platform," XCOM: Enemy Unknown designer Jake Solomon tells me over the phone. "From a development angle, this is one of the - and I honestly can't think of another experience except for The Walking Dead - where it's a game, a AAA game that we just put out on consoles, and we're putting the whole thing out to tablet. This is something that I can't take any design credit for, but turn-based strategy games work really well on mobile devices. It's sort of a happy accident, in that sense."

The project can be traced back to the time when Firaxis was finishing up its work on XCOM: Enemy Unknown for PC and consoles. 2K China presented a version of the game running on iOS, and from there Firaxis would work with them on the portable incarnation due this summer. It features the full functionality seen on other platforms, thanks to the Unreal foundation that has played nice with iOS since late 2010.

"Without Unreal, it certainly wouldn't have been possible," Solomon says.

Amazon is bundling together three of Firaxis Games' most recent at a really low price. For $20, you can snag PC download codes of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Civilization 5: Gold Edition - a definitive version with Gods and Kings and a bunch of other DLC - and Civilization 4: The Complete Edition, also including a host of DLC and extra goodies.

The Firaxis bundle headlines Amazon's Digital Mayhem promotion, with other discounts spanning Telltale's The Walking Dead, Battlefield 3, BioShock, Mark of the Ninja and many more. The sale ends on May 31, so feel free to take your time perusing the hundreds of eligible discounts.

Wowee, this is something I need to magic up a fortnight for. Since 2009, the OpenXcom project has been unhurriedly continuing in its quest to make the original X-COM more contemporaneous, – a standalone version that doesn’t require DOSBox, that makes the interface a little more modern, that offers more rule-tweaking for those that want it, that finally kills some of the bugs which have dogged the original for the past two decades, and even one that scales up to mega-resolutions impressively convincingly. As of the new version 0.9, it’s basically got everything working, and you basically get an in theory improved, but faithful, X-COM to play right now.(more…)

“Slow news day, eh?” Only in your underpants, loser. For all four of the Mac gamers who read RPS, this is a very, very, very, very, very fast news day. Because one of last year’s best games, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, has arrived on their shiny, overpriced, hard to upgrade PCs-with-different-software.(more…)

I need to set aside a couple of hours to have a thorough read of Julian Gollop’s ongoing design plans for his Chaos remake – he’s sharing a remarkable amount on his Gollop Games blog. Today though, I take the easy route – monkey see previously unrevealed concept art for the original X-COM/UFO, monkey must post about it. Because said concept art features, as well as some very different looks for X-COM’s familiar rogues gallery (e.g. what I think might be an Ethereal design has big thighs) there are some never-before-seen additions. Including what appears to be a giant mutant rabbity thing.(more…)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown art director Greg Foertsch conducted a GDC 2013 panel called Art Direction Autopsy: XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Foertsch shared a few internal videos chronicling the different directions considered by Firaxis Games, and was kind enough to share those videos with Joystiq.

Above, you can see a video with a more survival-horror slant - a prototype with methodical pacing, centered around a lone farm house wrapped in dark atmosphere. Jump past the break for two more prototype videos.

XCOM Commanders,

2K and the development team at Firaxis Games are excited to announce the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for PlayStation 3 on PlayStation Network in North America and Brazil on Tuesday, April 9th! We hope the PlayStation community is ready to save Earth in a way they may have never experienced before.

As a lifelong PlayStation gamer, and a huge fan of PlayStation-bred squad-based tactical games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea, and Vandal Hearts, I’m proud to have something fresh and so easily accessible within Sony’s amazing game catalog. If you missed XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s launch in October, this is a heck of an opportunity to see what the fuss has been about.

We’re humbled by the 18 Overall Game of the Year wins we’ve been awarded, but even cooler to us as game creators are the individual stories we hear from gamers regarding their play experience. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you’ll defend the world against a global alien onslaught, making epic decisions via your secret underground base, and then deploy your squads into heated battles against the universe’s nastiest aliens. Fear the Chyrssalid — you’ve been warned.

Who will you save Earth with? Family? Friends? Movie stars? Who will survive? And most importantly: are you good enough to win?

Feel free to reach out to the XCOM: Enemy Unknown development team via @2KGames, or leave a comment below. We’d love to hear your story.

Good luck, Commander.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown won't go down the common iOS route of charging for upgrades, items and the like, mainly because the game's lead designer can't stand the idea. Firaxis' Jake Solomon made the blunt disclosure to IGN, reaffirming the upcoming mobile version of the 2012 strategy game is a straight port.

"Oh God, please...," Solomon responded to IGN when asked about in-app purchases like power-ups, "No. I'm not sure I would be able to sleep at night. My food would taste like ashes in my mouth."

Solomon told us last month the iOS version, due this summer, is "the exact same game [as on PC or consoles], it's just now fully playable on an iPhone or an iPad." Given that it's the full game, it'll be "appropriately" priced at a premium point, although we're still waiting to see what that is. The iOS version will include the Elite Soldier DLC but not the Slingshot pack, while the Second Wave update remains a possibility.

I say ‘vs’, but the reality of this meeting between the 20th and 21st century masters of X-COM is that they repeatedly seem on the verge of embracing each other, rather than trading blows in a bitter row about time units and action cameras. Rev3Games arranged for original X-COM co-creator Julian Gollop to meet Jake Solomon, the lead dev on Firaxis’ XCOM remake, the result being this recording of their seventeen-minute exchange.(more…)

#paxeast Today Firaxis—the makers of both XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization V—announced that you can research something called the XCOM Project in your game of Civ V. More »

#xcom Today at Firaxis' panel at PAX East, the developers showed off the first version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown before it was scrapped for what you played last year. More »

#xcom Firaxis' summer is going to be quite busy. They just announced today at their PAX East panel that they'll be bringing the fantastic strategy game from the PC/consoles over to the iOS platform. More »

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was just announced for iPad and iPhone during a PAX East panel.

"It is a straight port. We have not made any gameplay exceptions," XCOM: Enemy Unknown Lead Designer Jake Solomon told us. "You play the exact same game [as on PC or consoles], it's just now fully playable on an iPhone or an iPad."

Asked about the game's pricing, Solomon wouldn't give specifics, saying, "It's going to be priced appropriately for what it is. It's going to be a premium price point. It is the game. It is the full game."

In case you're looking for a definition of "premium" on iOS, expect to be more than $1 and probably push the limits like The Walking Dead does at $15.

The game should be out by summer. We've been told it will not include the Slingshot pack downloadable content, however the Elite Soldier DLC will be included. Meanwhile, the free Second Wave update has not yet been ruled out.

Watch XCOM: Enemy Unknown Lead Designer Jake Solomon walk through exactly how the touch-powered port works.

Hanging at the 2K booth at PAX East is an inspirational poster of marketing, featuring the characters from Firaxis' Civilization and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. If you're at the show, you can pick up the poster at the "Strategy Masterminds Mega Panel - Behind the Scenes at Firaxis Games" panel. The panel features the team of Firaxis showing off "never-before-seen footage" and teasing "big reveals" at 4:30PM.

#hauntedhollow The folks at Firaxis are responsible for some of the best strategy games ever made, so when they promise a deep, competitive, free-to-play strategy game for iOS in this spring's Haunted Hollow, it's a good time to be an iDevice owner. More »

Commander, you'll find a wave of new recruits joining you soon. Thanks to a special XCOM initiative promotion, we're opening our doors like never before in an attempt to bolster our ranks against the enemy threat in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, offering enlistment via Amazon for $16.50.

Look, we don't want to say you're doing a bad job, it's just - well have you looked out your window lately, Commander? Oh, right, you're underground, sorry. Just know that there are aliens everywhere now, we could really use the extra muscle and the council thinks this is a solid move for a positive monthly report in March.