The Spoony Experiment - Because bad movies and games deserve to be hurt back!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Baron-von-Graves/819905450 Baron von Graves

Develloper: “We don’t use drawing boards.”

Looks like this game went off the rails from early on…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Baron-von-Graves/819905450 Baron von Graves

Develloper: “We don’t use drawing boards.”

Looks like this game went off the rails from early on…

Jonathan Rodd

It really seems like they havent made enough decisions regarding this game. A lot of his answered seemed to fall into the “We arent sure yet” category. Maybe they should have decided what they planned to do before promoting it so much. They clearly made a definitive decision to change the game genre, so they have decided on how it will differ on the original, but they havent decided on how it will remain familiar. So all we know is how it is unfamiliar, but we dont know what elements they are keeping consistent.

http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

I interpreted a lot of the answers as “No, this isn’t in, but I’m going to say something vague in order to prevent a potential fan shitstorm.”

http://twitter.com/Eniacc Eniac

“We don’t use drawing boards.”
I can actually believe that.

http://twitter.com/SirVejeiro Sir Vejeiro

Thats sad… one more shooter for the boring shooter list and one less strategy title

http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen

I can agree there. I was pretty much saddened what happened to Fallout 3 and these guys thought it would be cool to do the same to XCOM.
- Anonymous
  
  Fallout at least kept the elements true to the previous. Your character build had a lot in common with the old system, it maintained the setting continuity, and as I stated before, it was a damn fine game regardless. Yes, I would have liked it to maintain the old style, but it was true to the franchise even if it took a different direction.
  
  This version of XCOM seems to want to have nothing to do with the franchise aside from its name.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen
    
    True dat. At least it did capture the old world.
- Anonymous
  
  Fallout at least kept the elements true to the previous. Your character build had a lot in common with the old system, it maintained the setting continuity, and as I stated before, it was a damn fine game regardless. Yes, I would have liked it to maintain the old style, but it was true to the franchise even if it took a different direction.
  
  This version of XCOM seems to want to have nothing to do with the franchise aside from its name.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen

I can agree there. I was pretty much saddened what happened to Fallout 3 and these guys thought it would be cool to do the same to XCOM.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen

“There’s a linear story line”
HOOOBOY!! They really want the fans of original Xcom to hate them do they?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen

“There’s a linear story line”
HOOOBOY!! They really want the fans of original Xcom to hate them do they?

http://twitter.com/WarlockSoL Kristopher Smith

Yeah… still not feeling this. The guy seemed super reluctant to answer a lot of those questions, defaulting to “maybe” answers (which I’m pretty sure is code for “no”). I mean, even ignoring all the BETRAYAL and pretending the game was not bastardizing a beloved franchise, it still just looks really, really generic to me. They went from generic shooter to Mass Effect clone, which I *suppose* is an improvement but not much of one.

And frankly, overall it feels like they are in backpedal mode – they had a vision for the game that was absolutely nothing like the original X-Com, fans hated it, so now they are finding quick and dirty solutions to appease people with stuff that is kind of sort of similar to things that happened in the original. So now it almost seems like they are diluting the thing to make everyone happy, which is ultimately going to lead to a bland game that makes no one happy. They’d have probably been better off following their original vision and just dropping the damn X-Com license.

Also I still really, really can’t believe they can’t bring back ONE original X-Com race. Seriously, wtf is with that? Too hard to model Snakemen? :P

http://twitter.com/WarlockSoL Kristopher Smith

Yeah… still not feeling this. The guy seemed super reluctant to answer a lot of those questions, defaulting to “maybe” answers (which I’m pretty sure is code for “no”). I mean, even ignoring all the BETRAYAL and pretending the game was not bastardizing a beloved franchise, it still just looks really, really generic to me. They went from generic shooter to Mass Effect clone, which I *suppose* is an improvement but not much of one.

And frankly, overall it feels like they are in backpedal mode – they had a vision for the game that was absolutely nothing like the original X-Com, fans hated it, so now they are finding quick and dirty solutions to appease people with stuff that is kind of sort of similar to things that happened in the original. So now it almost seems like they are diluting the thing to make everyone happy, which is ultimately going to lead to a bland game that makes no one happy. They’d have probably been better off following their original vision and just dropping the damn X-Com license.

Also I still really, really can’t believe they can’t bring back ONE original X-Com race. Seriously, wtf is with that? Too hard to model Snakemen? :P

Anonymous

EPIC BETRAYAL!

I think Joe is going to be very disappointed if/when the final product comes out…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Jennings/508741443 Alex Jennings

I don’t think the “origins story” angle really is going to fly when it comes to bastardizing the story. Guy seemed very reluctant to answer most questions put forward which gives me less hope.

And as its been said the whole “We don’t use story boards”, yeah we gathered.

And as Joe said, a co-op campaign/story mode/whatever could really benefit this game.

In all honesty doesn’t change the fact I probably won’t play what looks like an abomination.

http://filmstock.blog.pl Mateusz Hemmerling

“Our INTERPRETATION of the original XCom battle scheme” – what the hell was wrong with the original that you had to interpret it? I think not buying this game will be the best interpretation from the players.

http://twitter.com/TheWerebunny Laura Burkhardt

Hehe, the opening to this was funny. *reiteration of a hatred for In Name Only adaptations*

Anonymous

Hey Spoonman, did you know yesterday was Uwe Boll’s birthday?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark

“linear like call of duty”

lemme enphasize…

“LIKE CALL OF DUTY”

or in other words…

Call of Duty: XCOM

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_74LX4DHNUVVERCHVYP75MYAMO4 Joshua

Origin Story my butt. The original X-com game says that the division was founded in 1999 in response to the failure of individual nations to handle the extraterrestrial threat! You… you can’t erase that!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Prentice/100002333576013 Jason Prentice

Words cannot express how concerned and cynical I am regarding this game.

I saw alot of Question dodging in that interview, and I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again Brothers in Arms with Aliens.

Anonymous

How can Joe look this guy in his eyes and not put his fist between them?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Angry Joe is good at keeping himself calm despite the name. He knows being overly critical or, as you put it yourself, “put his fist between them”, would mean he’d never get an interview again so he keeps his anger pent up until he can get home and rage all he wants in anonymity without costing him his career. I’m glad Joe did that because if he had raged on the guy then we might never have gotten the interview that literally cemented the fact that this is not X-Com and anyone who approaches it as such is going to be majorly disappointed.

‘Lo and behold, the raging fanboys were right on the money for once, good on us.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Taylor/523378875 Josh Taylor

I would have loved to have seen Spoony try to interview him.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruno-Miguel-Barreto-Freitas/568513794 Bruno Miguel Barreto Freitas

Damn it really looks that this game will suck…I really dont mind inovation but to make it a FPS with no multiplayer and no co-op this days its to doom it sells unlless it as a really good ans compelling storyline…but it doesnt look like it.

To play an Alien invasion FPS game I rather play Duke Nukem Forever than this…at least its more fullfilling to save our babes than to kill poligons…and doesnt Duke Nukem Forever look better than XCOM? I think even the graphics are better then this game…Damn…XCOM developers shame on you =/

http://www.silverdire.com Mark Austin

Me + New X-Com = :-(

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Okay, you know what? I was REALLY trying to get on their side here. I mean, who wants to be angry and have a shitty day because of a game, right? I want to play games and have a good time. But these ********** aren’t making it easy for me!

First of all, here’s a free tip to anyone who thinks he’s serious when saying “We were playing around with it but I don’t know if it will be in the game or not.” He’s not, he knows it won’t be in the game and he’s only trying to stave off the negative critique that will no doubt accompany such a reveal.

But so we reiterate; there is no base building, it’s purely single player (co-op being one of the possible saving graces), there are no Interception mission and from that I’m guessing no random battles at all but rather scripted (do it now or you lose the chance!) missions with a singular goal, capturing, dissecting, interrogating and studying aliens seems to be thrown out the window too and the lore of the game is obviously screwed up the a-hole because he mentioned an origin story and quite frankly that’s a bunch of bullcrap since I already know how X-Com was formed.

Can it get any clearer than this? This is NOT X-Com, was never meant to be X-Com and it has no intention of appeasing any X-Com fans out there. This is a cookie cutter, generic FPS for the FPS crowd who wants fast, action-rich, explosive combat and as little tactical thinking as possible because that would ruin their cathartic, “for you are the only one that can save America”, flag-waving bullcrap that has infested the FPS market for a few years now. Exactly the sort of thing most X-Com fans DON’T WANT. At least not in their X-Com games, even I’m the casual sucker for a Call of Duty-esque FPS now and then to satisfy my primeval desire to kill a bunch of dudes I don’t know.

They’re in full damage control mode here, trying to sucker in as many fans as possible with vague answers and promises that aspects from the original games might, possibly, if you cross your heart and wish upon a star might be in there. I just find it funny that aspects that we naturally think should be in an X-Com games (shitty spin-off games not withstanding) are being treated as “Maybe, if we feel like it and if there’s time”. This should be on their TOP PRIORITY list if they’re making an X-Com game!

After the last couple of days I had managed to delude myself into thinking this might turn out to be semi-decent take on what an FPS in the X-Com universe could be like but any such notion has pounded into the dirt by this interview and I am now fully convinced that the developers are complete tossers who are treating the X-Com with no respect or dignity. If I was steamed before then I am furious now.

Anonymous

^This this this.
Honestly, if the game’s development doesn’t start from the framework of the essential core of X-Com — strategic interception, tactical capture, and research — it’s not going to feel right, no matter what they do with it.
http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/ Bronze Dog

I haven’t played the original yet, but I’ve watched a lot of LPs. (I’m planning on making my very first game of the original X-Com a Let’s Play/Let’s Fail, and I’ll be testing weapons ignored by the LPers I watched.) I only wish I had played it during my childhood.

I think Karl here summarizes my perception well. There’s nothing but the name and the broadest aspect of the premise to link this game with X-Com. I’m with the people who suspect this was some other project that got renamed to milk the fanbase.

If this were supposed to be some X-Com prequel, retcon, or spinoff done as an FPS, I’d at least have the fight be against some of the original’s aliens. I’m not against genre tweaking, but you do need to retain enough elements of the original game so that it can jump that divide. They obviously haven’t done that.

Frankly, I think they should have done the sort of X-Com game people like Spoony, Joe, and most of us want: A turn-based tactical game that’s much like the original. It’s been a long time: The old fans would eagerly buy it, and the younger generation would get a taste for the series without having to use DOSBox. Only after such a release would an FPS retool be worth experimenting with.

The_Hut

Angry Joe was way too nice with this guy. Almost every answer he gave was some variation of “no” or “I don’t know.” My impression after hearing this interview says Spoony is correct. This game is a complete mess.

http://twitter.com/LuigiHoppa Luigi Hoppa

Wow, what I got from the answers this developer gave, all I can say is … BETRAAAAA … yeah, you get the point.

http://www.zachseinblog.de/ Zachrid

They are making a new Jagged Alliance by the way… It is scheduled for this fall… and luckily it is a strategy game. :)

Anonymous

Looks like it’s our only hope left for something that isn’t a generic brown-tinted cover-based shooter with linear levels and nothing but scripted missions, then.

I think 2K games was satisfied with their marketing tactics for Duke Nukem Forever, so much they’re pulling it out again now: Try to get as much X-Com hype as possible for preorders and fanboy bait to cash in before the game actually comes out and everyone realizes it’s a mess and rates it down to oblivion.

Yeah, I know, it’s still not out, but seriously: the trailers first, the conference later, and this interview now? The chances of this game being actually good are getting closer and closer to zero.
http://twitter.com/quantastarfire Ted Kehoe

@Mokuren: DNF was unique though, since it’s easily the most hyped and long-awaited game in history. There’s no way that 2K could possibly hope to replicate the kind of buzz it had unless they’re banking on releasing their next XCOM game 20 years from now, complete with restarts, engine changes, staff turnover, and the like.

http://twitter.com/ADavidO1987 Arthur O’Connor

BETRAYAAAAALLLLLLL!!!

the first few questions were SOOO dodgy.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Hartlow/100001299841940 Marcus Hartlow

KHHHAAAAAAAN.

No, wait.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Hartlow/100001299841940 Marcus Hartlow

Anyway, I liked the first XCOM trailer. It had curiosity and mystery. You had to find the clues, fight ‘em, research them and them get the hell out before the big daddies come to play.

This looks like a cover-based shooter.
Mye-hepp.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Hartlow/100001299841940 Marcus Hartlow

Also, the Co-op would’ve really made this shine. Imagine going to a mission with two-three of your buddies. They could have the sort of system Left 4 Dead had with enemies that could incapacitate you if you strayed from the group, though not as extreme.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Georg-Veramme/719603017 Georg Veramme

Who else watched this just to see Spoony shout out BETRAYAAAAAAALL!!!!
Speaking of, a new planet of the apes movie is coming out starring Andy Serkis ;D

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Hartlow/100001299841940 Marcus Hartlow

Ach. I’d at least enjoy if they could pump content into it if they’re changing everything. No word on psionics, no confirmation on alien containment. Lack of interception, no randomly generated missions and a linear story?

Hrmmh…

Anonymous

Whoa whoa whoa! A PR guy was vague in his responses?! Th-that’s never happened before! This is -proof- the game sucks on a scale never before witnessed by mankind!

Seriously, we need a massive UN airdrop of Chill Pills. Don’t get me wrong, I have concerns, and after Phantom Menace, I fully understand the fear of getting a prequel after a long period of dead time. But I can’t be the only one around willing to wait for a review…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Wait for a review? Are you nuts? Reviews roll around when the game is released, it’s a little bit too late to go “Oh, man this isn’t X-Com, we should ask them to change the name!” then since, oh, you know, it’s ALREADY released.

I’m getting tired of repeating this old line but it’s not about whether the game is good or bad, it’s just that it’s NOT X-Com. It has nothing to DO with X-Com, it hasn’t ever aspired to be X-Com and it will never BE X-Com. It’s a run of the mill, cover based shooter inspired by BioShock and Rainbow Six: Vegas. Excellent, now this game could be good or bad, it could be the next Modern Warfare to shock the gaming community that, yes, FPS can be good and tell an immersive story or it could be the next Legendary, a game so revolted by the gaming community it was practically burned at the stake. It’s absolutely, 100%, completely NOT related to what the hell we’re complaining about.

IT’S NOT X-COM!

How many times to do we, the critics of the use of the name, need to reiterate that we in no way question the quality of the game nor the developers… well, okay, the fact that it’s the developers behind BioShock 2 fills me with so much confidence I’m practically crying myself to sleep every night wondering if it won’t have repercussions throughout time, making every X-Com game shit just because it shared the name somehow. But that’s completely unrelated and I’d level that complaint against any game produced/developed by 2k Marin.

But in this case I’ll admit it looks like a decent FPS, I’ve been playing Homefront recently and even go as far as to admit I’m enjoying playing it if only because it has one of the most awesome sound profiles I’ve ever heard in an FPS but… well, we’re drifting from the point which is that I’m not a stranger to playing FPS. It’s just that this is an X-Com game, it should strive to be an X-Com game, it should be judged on X-Com games merits and not “on its own” which is a really poor idea because I loathed BioShock 2.

And I really wished they’d get their fucking story straight, is it a reboot, a prequel (though I strongly question that because it shows they have about as much knowledge of the X-Com verse as most people complaining that we should “judge the game based on its own merits” has), a reimagining or a remake, can we get a final answer on this? Not that it matters, it’s utter bullocks anyway, fancy PR talk designed to sweep the complaints under the rug and inspire hype where the is none to be found.

Sorry for the rant here but as you might have guessed, some of us feel quite strongly about this and your wait-and-see approach will only make things worse because it literally will mean we can do absolutely shit all about it then.
- Anonymous
  
  Look, I perfectly understand. The game -is- nothing like the original. I mean, it’s a short degree away from having it as a western where the bad guy is a mining baron from Boston and it doesn’t mention aliens at all. It’s like a Predator remake where you replace Arnold Schwarzenegger with Adrien Brody! ….okay, bad example.
  
  The thing I don’t understand is the sheer -scale- of the surprise. People seem to react as though Judas is on the production team. I understand that people are huge fans of the original, -I’m- a huge fan of the original, but were -this many- people holding out hope for the franchise? Xcom has been dead air for a decade. The last two games released were wildly different spinoff games. Y’think Xcom turning into Bioshock is bad? Xcom Enforcer turned the series into SMASH TV -ten years ago-. Would everyone be this shocked to hear that a new Highlander movie sucked?
  
  Oh yeah. I’m going there. Certainly, one can be aghast at how bad The Source is, but did you go in expecting something awesome? Did you leave shocked and betrayed? NO! You got that outta your system sometime after The Quickening.
  
  My point here is, what was everyone expecting? XCOM hasn’t done anything even close to the original since 1997. Did everyone forget Interceptor and Enforcer? Why is the line drawn -here-?
  - Anonymous
    
    You make a good point here, but I don’t agree with your conclusion. The “main series” contained three games, and Interceptor was the only real spinoff. Enforcer gets something of a pass, since the company was going out of business at the time — it wasn’t really a marketable product to begin with.
    Even if it was kind of bad, I think Interceptor had its heart in the right place. If you walked up and said, “How would you like to fly the interceptors in X-Com?” I’d say “Hell yeah!”
    This was one of two attempts I’m aware of at the strategic flight simulation subgenre. Both failed and the subgenre turned out not to be worth much, but I give them credit for the attempt.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
    
    Because it’s not X-Com. At least the two old games had pretenses to belong to the franchise but this game is doing absolutely nothing to even try and fit in other than “aliens are invading and you need to stop them” which is about as vague and generic as you can get today. There’s just nothing about it that says “X-Com” and fans are taking any excuse to not watch one of their favorite franchises dragged through the mud anymore.
    
    This is as much complaining as it highly questioning, the game would do just as fine if not BETTER if it simply wasn’t called XCOM. Hell, listen to the fans and remove the title and all of a sudden you’ve scored a hell of a lot brownie points, practically making sure that every single one that complained suddenly will buy the title just to support the move. So there’s fanboy issues at work here as well as seriously questioning what the point is.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Olli-Johannes-Suvinen/1182935768 Olli Johannes Suvinen
      
      That’s the thing. For an example, I wouldn’t have as many issues with RE4 and RE5 if they wouldn’t be direct sequels to legendary resident evil series but a side series.
      
      Hell, even C&C Renegade got lot of things forgiven because it wasn’t directly linked as a sequel. Imagine the what the fuck reactions of the C&C fans if it would have been called as C&C 3.
      
      Same thing goes for X-com. If you intend to call it as a sequel, then stay true to the format.
      If staying true to the original serie is too hard task to do, then call it something else or make sure it’s not being called as a direct sequel damn it.
      
      Hell, I would have been more excited about Fallout 3 if they wouldn’t have called it as direct sequel.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Filcher/100000281189227 Gary Filcher
    
    What was I expecting? I was expecting hi res sectoid heads exploding into a fine green mist.
    Reapers causing chaos for your squadmates. Maybe throw a sectopod boss in somewhere. Floaters, and all our old alien pals getting a HD makeover.
    
    Or maybe, at least something recognizable. Is that really too much to ask? My expectations of this game would have improved drastically If only they could have gotten the old alien crew back together. Of course there are room for additions, but to omit anything that remotely resembles X-Com in any way is a huge mistake IMO.
    
    Imagine how much fun a Co-Op, Squad based FPS based in the established X-Com universe would have been. And tell me this game doesn’t look disappointing.

Anonymous

no base building. no shooting down alien craft. no mind control from the sounds of it.

yeah i have one word for this. BETRAYAL!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

Out of curiosity, does anyone else remember Universe at War, Earth Assault? I’m starting to flash back to it when I think about MIBcom here.

I said it before; there’s no Unique Selling Point here, nothing to really make people remember this game against any other one. Hell, if anything, it’s getting more and more similar to Bioshock with each announcement I hear. Only without atmosphere, interesting characters, or any plot beyond ‘aliens invade, you stop them’

As to ‘strategy vs Tactics’… yeah, BioWere couldn’t make that whole ‘move squad members’ thing useful in ME2. I’m doubting these guys will do better.

One thing of note here though. That map

It’s a little more elaborate, but am I the only one who thinks they’ve lifted the design for it pretty much straight from AC: Brotherhood?

Anonymous

Although clearly NOT XCOM, it looks like it might be an interesting game on its own merits.

Too bad it has the XCOM name. Can’t buy betrayal, after all…

Anonymous

There’s a distinct lack of Angry Joe vs. Spoony conversation post-interview. Joe needs to get his gamer card revoked for not grinding the dev. into a fine paste over how much of a BETRAYAL this game is to the X-Com franchise.

So yeah, here’s hoping we see a Spoony/Joe rebuttal, because I know my money’s on the one who’ll bring the true “anger” to the discussion, Spoony.

Anonymous

Nah, Joe’s being a responsible journalist. I would have liked to see him editorialize at the end, but you don’t get aggressive with someone you’re interviewing. It’s counterproductive.
- Anonymous
  
  I guess saying “Oh, hey, would you kindly STOP RAPING MY GAMING CHILDHOOD!” doesn’t go over well with devs. No matter how true the statement might be.
  - Anonymous
    
    Sorry but regardless how emotional one could be in an interview that’s not professional as a job. It’s one dev, and one that doesn’t seem high on the team. His own answers to Joe’s questions is more than enough to blatantly show they’re doing jack with the game to be anything close to the first x-com game. You and everyone else’s wallet will show if you want to try this game to get it and it will show to the devs how much of a mistake they made.
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HHYFDN44YXT3H6LDT2YCO34HCY Brian
      
      I’m sorry but I cannot accept that what Joe did here was professional. I am usually very happy to see his videos (though I’m still confused over his rating of Civ 5, if I could see it was a broken mess in 33 turns then how couldn’t he?) but this is not responsible journalism. Ok there’s never a call for going over the top in interviews but still the hard questions have to be asked (and often multiple times) of the people making a game (just like hounding politicians) especially if they are doing something which is, well, kind of stupid. But from the very start Joe gave the dev’s spokesman soft questions and free reign to answer questions with evasions. And he never pushed hard on answers which contained nothing but jargon and management speech. It is the opposite of good journalism here, the most outstanding of which I’ve seen would be something like Jeremy Paxman hounding politicians on the BBCs Newsnight. A bit more of that and a lot less of the soft soak would have done us a far better service.
    - Anonymous
      
      To be frank just asking the soft questions proved pretty much what we needed to know. They didn’t do a good job with the game. Even if the questions were hard all it would lead to the same conclusion, “Can’t say, I don’t know, I’ll bring it up to them” If you want a plain no then you’re not going to get a solid one. They’re going to break it to you and it’s clear that they rep clearly said, “No we haven’t implemented it”. I don’t know what more ‘service’ could be had other than what was already proven and what we already know so far about the direction and how they’re handling this game…in a shit way. If the audience always needed a straight answer then we’d all still believe the person saying ‘maybe?’ I think not.
      If you stumble and fall on questions that should be easy to answer is pretty much proof enough (at least here) that what they’re saying is bullshit.
    - Anonymous
      
      To be frank just asking the soft questions proved pretty much what we needed to know. They didn’t do a good job with the game. Even if the questions were hard all it would lead to the same conclusion, “Can’t say, I don’t know, I’ll bring it up to them” If you want a plain no then you’re not going to get a solid one. They’re going to break it to you and it’s clear that they rep clearly said, “No we haven’t implemented it”. I don’t know what more ‘service’ could be had other than what was already proven and what we already know so far about the direction and how they’re handling this game…in a shit way. If the audience always needed a straight answer then we’d all still believe the person saying ‘maybe?’ I think not.
      If you stumble and fall on questions that should be easy to answer is pretty much proof enough (at least here) that what they’re saying is bullshit.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

I agree, it would be interesting to hear the two duke it out and explain their standpoints in more detail. I can see where both of them are coming from but for other people it might be difficult to see the other side’s argument clearly.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Lou-C-Fher/100001714235794 Lou C. Fher

At this point, 2K should just shit in a box and sell that for $60….

http://twitter.com/perderedeus Tim Gulics

I think it’s unfortunate they’ve taken the name ‘XCom’ for this game, as it is designed to be mostly untrue to the original game(s). I -do- like the 1950′s/1960′s spin on things. The FPS element -may- be enjoyable. Researching and creating new weapons, and the squad based action, may also be fun… and altogether it may feel like a complete game, but it is far, far more Bioshock or DNF than it is XCom.

Since the aliens are called ‘outsiders’ they could have easily titled this game “The Outsiders” and renamed the in-game organization. They’d lose the XCom name recognition, but considering the flak they’re getting it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Something that’s been bugging me since they announced it is why they didn’t just tie it to the BioShock franchise to being with, it’d be a hell of a lot stronger brand recognition in this day and age and considering just how far out that franchise actually is there’s no reason not to, especially since they look very similar.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas
  
  Of course, if it’s a bad game, it’ll hurt the franchise. And BioShock might just be 2K’s crown jewel at this point.,,
  
  I’m not too surprised they’d be reluctant to countenance this as a tie in though; even if it is good, it’s slightly different, lore wise and tonally. The BioShock games focus on the evils of humanity. This one’s going for more of a Lovecraft vibe; unstoppable, corrupting aliens.

http://twitter.com/perderedeus Tim Gulics

I think it’s unfortunate they’ve taken the name ‘XCom’ for this game, as it is designed to be mostly untrue to the original game(s). I -do- like the 1950′s/1960′s spin on things. The FPS element -may- be enjoyable. Researching and creating new weapons, and the squad based action, may also be fun… and altogether it may feel like a complete game, but it is far, far more Bioshock or DNF than it is XCom.

Since the aliens are called ‘outsiders’ they could have easily titled this game “The Outsiders” and renamed the in-game organization. They’d lose the XCom name recognition, but considering the flak they’re getting it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing…

Anonymous

I think Spoony is just being a little bitch about this. The game could be fantastic and I say could because its not out until next year and so won’t judge it. What I have seen the game sounds good. Not like old X-com (UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-Com: UFO Defense, Terror From The Deep, Apocalypse), but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. People seem to forget Interceptor, which was a space flight sim and was pretty cool and also forget Enforcer, an arcade game that sucked and should be forgotten. You don’t hear people cry betrayal that Apocalypse basically changed the game radically and was a pile of shit. You don’t hear people cry that Terror From The Deep was almost exactly the same as the first game, except made to look under water and given an under water name.

Now the first game is the most superior, but crying betrayal shows a lack of knowledge of the franchise since the game has changed with every guise. The 3 Altair games UFO:Aftermath, Aftershock, Afterlight etc, were also radically different from the first X-Com game and people didn’t cry betrayal (They started as a sequel).

So why start now? Spoony likes the first game and makes him think he knows the franchise better than 2KGames? Sorry no. After this interview and from the trailers 2k Game look to know and care more about this franchise than Spoony.

Until you’ve really known this franchise and it’s spiritual predecessor Laser Squad, you shouldn’t be this angry about the new game. However perhaps it’s because Spoony doesn’t know the franchise that he sounds like a butt-hurt 12 year old girl.

Angry Joe on the other hand is taking this open minded. I don’t expect this game to be perfect and there will probably be things that I don’t like, but there have been things I didn’t like in every X-Com game so far. So to people out there who read this, be open minded, because every X-Com game has had faults and looked to change the game from whence it first begun – Laser Squad, a very different game than X-Com: Enemy Unknown/X-Com: UFO Defense. At least Laser Squad was multi-Player!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

The negative reaction to this game isn’t just the fact they took the XCOM name. I haven’t played a single one of those games, but what we’ve seen of this game thus far… is not impressing me.

The trailer strikes me as entirely second rate, just match it up against BioShock, or any Blur Studieos trailer. This is generic horror with a touch of action, neither handled exceptionally well, at least as shown in the trailer.The setting could be your thing somewhat, and the aliens might be interesting… but if a game’s going to get me interested in it, I’d kind of like to see…

Well, something! We’ve seen no characters, not even innocent victims pre-death. We’ve not seen any indication of the plot, bar ‘aliens invade and you stop them’ Whilst that would be enough for the original game, a liner horror/action FPS requires something for us to invest in. The horror, the action, the characters… and the trailer doesn’t really communicate any of them

Perhaps it will be good. But Universe at War was looking far more promising pre-release, and that game… was not stellar. If they can’t compose an interesting trailer, hope for the game should not be high.
- http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon
  
  I think the trailer was just made to show off what is possibly the only good aspect of this thing: A generic energy-absorbing lazer-firing alien thing that looks like it might’ve come from Zelda: Twilight Princess. And for all I know, it’s only showing off the intro. and may actually have to play the aftermath of the whole thing.
  
  I, for one, am hoping Spoony can review and show-off the original XCOM series and then follow it with a rip-your-heart-out bad-ass review of this horrific abomination!
Anonymous

2K games look to know and care more about the franchise? Based on the answers the developer gave us it looks very much to me that 2K don’t know jack about what franchise they are developing. The developer keep dodging the questions, answering with “maybe” or “I don’t know”. The fact that the developer working on the game doesn’t even know what specific features will be in the game just shows us how much 2K are out of touch with the franchise.
Look and care more about the franchise my arse.
Yes X-Com tried a different approach with Interceptor and Enforcer and guess what those games sucked. I just don’t understand why people defending XCOM are bringing these games up to counter Spoony’s opinion. It’s effectively a strawman argument and if anything the reception that greeted those games only serves to strengthen the notion that X-Com at heart is a turn-based strategy game. Not a generic and dull looking FPS.
Oh yeah and the X-Com division was formed in 1999, not the 50s or 60s. I guess the in touch developers missed that small little detail.
- Anonymous
  
  Changing the time line for X-Com for a new series of games, doesn’t really matter. However I take back what I said. Perhaps in my haste with being annoyed at Spoony for his hollow and whiny remark, I did make it look like 2K cares more. They have shown that they know of the games at least, which is all Spoony has shown. I’m really going to judge the game on it’s own merits, which I’ve done with all the X-Com games because they make changes. I don’t expect 2K to make a game that fits in with the other games, but I do think that because they are going down this path we will have something that will tide us over until someone makes a real X-Com sequel, much like Interceptor and Enforcer and much like the UFO trilogy. Soldiers of Anarchy was another game of this type that was pretty good too.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark
    
    wiht due respect, i said this before in the xcom vlog and i’ll say this here
    
    there’s a difference between changing your game to expand, and just plain turning it into ANOTHER FIRST PERSON SHOOTER
    
    caring about the franchise? really? so you’re telling me spoony is the bad guy for not liking the idea of turning a turn-based strategy game into Call of Duty: XCOM
    
    2k games isn’t taking care of the franchise, they’re just turning the game into another FPS in hopes call of duty fans buy their game… or in other words, they alienated their fanbase for easy money
    
    like i said, what has been announced is not an XCOM game… what they announced is a mash-up between call of duty, mass effect and bioshock, nothing original and more of the same
    
    really sad how you just decided to settle up for another developer becoming mediocre and lazy
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark
    
    wiht due respect, i said this before in the xcom vlog and i’ll say this here
    
    there’s a difference between changing your game to expand, and just plain turning it into ANOTHER FIRST PERSON SHOOTER
    
    caring about the franchise? really? so you’re telling me spoony is the bad guy for not liking the idea of turning a turn-based strategy game into Call of Duty: XCOM
    
    2k games isn’t taking care of the franchise, they’re just turning the game into another FPS in hopes call of duty fans buy their game… or in other words, they alienated their fanbase for easy money
    
    like i said, what has been announced is not an XCOM game… what they announced is a mash-up between call of duty, mass effect and bioshock, nothing original and more of the same
    
    really sad how you just decided to settle up for another developer becoming mediocre and lazy
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

You do realize Interceptor was critically panned and was a massive financial failure, right? Like, even more so than Enforcer that did pretty fucking poor on its own. And Apocalypse didn’t change the game dramatically or especially severely nor is it considered shit by a majority of the fanbase, it’s contested yes, but it’s not reviled or universally hated… so get off your high horse about knowing the franchise better.

And what does UFO: Aftermath and its sequels have anything to do with this? If you did your homework properly you’d know that while, yes, they did start out as a sequel to X-Com, when it was given to ALTAR they were changed radically, ending up being completely different from where it started, even having changed engine in the process. So while it’s true that they started as sequels they’re now considered nothing more than simple homages inspired by the original X-Com games. Even before a lot of people knew about the history of UFO Aftermath they were saying things like “Wow, this is a hell of a lot like X-Com.” or “Wow, I wonder if the developers have played X-Com?”

And show me exactly where this “care” for the franchise that 2k games is showing is displayed because I’m having a hard time pinpointing it inbetween the talks of everything they cut that was essential to the first three games and the generic, run of the mill, BioShock clone they’re showing in the trailer. Maybe I’m just missing it.
- Anonymous
  
  I know Interceptor and Enforcer weren’t critically acclaimed, but that doesn’t make a game good or bad since plenty of critically panned games have been liked and vice versa -my adoration for Interceptor and loathing of Apocalypse are my own. And obviously not every game is going to be liked or panned. I just find that Spoony’s BETRAYAL remark has no constructive criticism behind it. Every explanation has been a hollow ramble that look to be jumping on a bandwagon filled with people who know X-Com as a name, but not as something they have played or show actual knowledge of playing. I’ve no doubt Spoony has played anything with X-Com in it’s title, but he could at least show this instead of sounding like Salacious Crumb and trying to ‘fit’ in.
  
  UFO: Aftermath by ALTAR were made as sequels to the X-Com franchise and started out as such. They wanted to modernise the root gameplay elements of X-Com: Ufo Defense/Enemy Unknown. I mention this because they are spiritual successors and Spoony said he wanted a modernisation of the old X-Com games. These are them. I didn’t say the end result were sequels, only that they started.
  
  The core reason for Spoonys remark is that XCOM is different from where the game begun, eventhough it’s sequels, with the exclusion of Terror From The Deep, which is the same bloody game, have all been different. Apocolypse was not X-Com: UFO Enemy Unknown/ Defense (whatever you know it by) It was shit compared to the first game. This is where I get my opinion from. I didn’t like the real time elements. Thought the game design was awful and thought the complex coporation funding mechanics to be pointless. Even the story wasn’t very good. I did like that the UFO trilogy tried to fix this, but even they had their own problems and relied mostly on the community to fix things. However even with their faults they were as good as we have gotten to sequels and I did enjoy each one. What I did find strange about the UFO trilogy is that they missed much of what the first X-Com game had, despite being made years later.
  
  So yes I do say I care more about the franchise than Spoony, simply because I have played these games since Laser Squad and still play them today and unlike Spoony am able to actually back up my opinion with knowledge.
  
  So before jumping on Spoonys side, please stop trying to counter-point my comment with my own points. We’ll just go round in circles.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels
    
    I’d pay money to see spoony put together a retrospective on X-COM and put together a good, comprehensive essay on why he thinks 2K’s version is a failure in the making, with well thought out arguments. Sadly, it’s much, much easier to rant at the camera.
    - Anonymous
      
      Me to :D
http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

You do realize Interceptor was critically panned and was a massive financial failure, right? Like, even more so than Enforcer that did pretty fucking poor on its own. And Apocalypse didn’t change the game dramatically or especially severely nor is it considered shit by a majority of the fanbase, it’s contested yes, but it’s not reviled or universally hated… so get off your high horse about knowing the franchise better.

And what does UFO: Aftermath and its sequels have anything to do with this? If you did your homework properly you’d know that while, yes, they did start out as a sequel to X-Com, when it was given to ALTAR they were changed radically, ending up being completely different from where it started, even having changed engine in the process. So while it’s true that they started as sequels they’re now considered nothing more than simple homages inspired by the original X-Com games. Even before a lot of people knew about the history of UFO Aftermath they were saying things like “Wow, this is a hell of a lot like X-Com.” or “Wow, I wonder if the developers have played X-Com?”

And show me exactly where this “care” for the franchise that 2k games is showing is displayed because I’m having a hard time pinpointing it inbetween the talks of everything they cut that was essential to the first three games and the generic, run of the mill, BioShock clone they’re showing in the trailer. Maybe I’m just missing it.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Desjardins/100002517486188 Michael Desjardins

God! What the hell were they doing in Pre-Production!

Anonymous

I think Spoony would be ok with this game if it was just called “X-Files: Origins” instead of XCOM. They could say you get to play Agent Fox Mulder’s dad! After all, they already stole that black goopy alien form X-Files used for their extra-terrestrial stories.

Anonymous

I think Spoony would be ok with this game if it was just called “X-Files: Origins” instead of XCOM. They could say you get to play Agent Fox Mulder’s dad! After all, they already stole that black goopy alien form X-Files used for their extra-terrestrial stories.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

That’s… actually a really interesting thought. A good licence could save this from being so completely unremarkable, like the Duke Nukem feel made Forever ok for some fans.Still wouldn’t be a great game, but I’d actually give at least one damn.

Was that the thought process behind giving this the XCOM? If so, it’s monumentally stupid, but it would make some kind of sense. Give a generic game more of an identity, at least in theory. (only problem is when the licence’s identity doesn’t match the games)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1388725117 Micha Hornes

Think it would’ve been more entertaining to see Spoony handling the interview, but I am glad Joe came with stable and fair questions instead of being entertaining it was more informative.

I agree with others I would’ve liked to see Joe and Spoony discuss these points further pre-interview but this was fine too I suppose.

Also: BETRAYAL !

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

Heh. ;) Ok, you’ve tempted me into it too.

BE-TRAY-AL!!!
Anonymous

I don’t think Spoony’s quite level headed enough on the subject to do the interview :)

http://www.facebook.com/ztfreeman Zachary Freeman

I’m sure this has been said a thousand times by now, but why the hell did they put the XCOM name on this? To me it seems like any time anyone interviewed and asked about it’s relation to the XCOM games, they get this deer in the headlights stare and stumble about because no one who worked on this ever even considered this an XCOM game.

I would even go so far as to bet that at least some of the development team didn’t even know about the first XCOM game and might have even just been running with this game as it’s own IP.

They would probably win a lot of points if they just changed the name to something, anything, else.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

I seems to me that if you guys are determined no to care about the new X-com game then it’s time to stop caring about. You’ve decided that it sucks even if it doesn’t suck because it’s not really X-com so what’s the point of staying angry about it ? 2K Marin has already spent a lot of money and time on it so they can’t just remake it as what you want. You guys aren’t likely to give the game a chance if they change the name. Isn’t time to just shrug and move along and just ignore this thing as a damned shame?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Oh fuck you. I’m sorry, but there are no other words right now but fuck you. I, and a lot of people, have said their only major concern with the game is the name. I’ve even gone on record saying I’ll buy it in a heartbeat if they change the name. And again, so has a lot of people said. So stop putting words in our mouths.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

And to counterpoint Karl’s words, I care about everything BUT the name here.

I like action orientated ‘reimaginings’. I’ve never played the original XCOM games, but I’ve played C&C3, I’ve played DA2 and DoW2, and liked all of them. I feel I can safely be objective here

This game is not looking promising. It’s horror aspects seem to be based on Lovecraftian stuff, unstoppable, corrupting aliens… but the trailer doesn’t communicate any of that effectively. There’s nothing noteworthy in the trailer footage, no noteworthy answers in the interview, nothing noteworthy, or interesting about this thing at all

Which… barely seems POSSIBLE to me. It’s a Lovecraft inspired tactical FPS, with a strategic element, in which you fight strange aliens that don’t seem bound in any way by the regular laws of physics. That seem completely other, Outside…..

How could you take a concept that cool, interesting and fun, and create that droning, boring TRAINWRECK of a trailer? No matter what I think about the potential of this concept, I have to go with what I see, and all I see from the trailer, interview and footage I’ve seen thus far, is mediocrity

http://www.facebook.com/people/Emery-Calame/1641327147 Emery Calame

I seems to me that if you guys are determined no to care about the new X-com game then it’s time to stop caring about. You’ve decided that it sucks even if it doesn’t suck because it’s not really X-com so what’s the point of staying angry about it ? 2K Marin has already spent a lot of money and time on it so they can’t just remake it as what you want. You guys aren’t likely to give the game a chance if they change the name. Isn’t time to just shrug and move along and just ignore this thing as a damned shame?

Anonymous

Oh god, most epic awesome opening to a video ever. BEEEEEEEEETRAYAAAAAL!

http://twitter.com/Mecahawk Tyler Burnette

This is literally Command and Conquer : Renegade but for XCOM

Anonymous

Not the same.

Renegade, I was skeptical on, but actually was surprised at it’s effectiveness. It really did look like and feel like what it was intended; to see the C&C universe from the commando’s eye. It looked familiar. It sounded familiar. And it was a good FPS on top of that.

Anonymous

I’m suprised nobody talked about Command and Conquer: Renegade. But the difference between Renegade and this… abomination, is that Renegade had EVERYTHING RIGHT, while XCOM has pretty much everything wrong. The C&C fanbase, at the time, just shat on the devs for this and when it came out, the fans shoveled the sh!t and ate it back because of good it turned out. The ebst way I can describe Renegade is: It’s as if Westwood just said, instead of being a commander moving his armies to fight, lets have YOU fight. Thats it. It was basicly just a change of perspective, now you’re the soldier who fights, not the general. The story had everything to do with C&C (set in the middle of the first Tiberium war) and everything you saw, from the weapons to the vehicles was familiar.

XCOM on the other hand… No, just no. Nothing familiar, not even set in the timeline of the games, bad graphics (worse than DNF from what we saw and as cartoony as TF2), everything is scripted and for christ’s sake, they even completely changed the aliens! This WILL be the biggest “fvck you” to gamers of the year, if not decade (C&C4 was a big one). I, myself, have no knowledge of anything related to XCOM and even I think this will be extremely BAD but I play C&C and Stacraft a lot so I do have knowledge about RTS and what it’s like.

Oh and, BTW, the guy kinda looks like Wade Barrett, doesn’t he? (don’t know if I wrote the name correctly)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Karoubas/100002406798073 Paul Karoubas

Nothing to say, except general agreement, particularly on C&C4. (I’ve brought up C&C3 as a positive a few times now, so need to get my hater cred in ;))

Although… I’d consider this bigger. C&C4 was… well intentioned. They were trying to raise their game, they were trying to make things interesting for us, and make it an epic ending. They completely failed, of course, but the effort was there (at least in game design. The writing… that was another story)

This might just be the worst game of the decade, in some ways. Not in pure quality, but on sheer ‘could have been more’. Lots of bad games are doomed from inception for one reason or another; concept, budget limitations, all sorts. But this much money, spent by a major studio, to waste so much potential… I’m trying to think of other examples of fail on this level in gaming.

Force Unleashed 2? That game was never intended to have a sequel. Flawed from the start
Kane and Lynch 2? Badly handled, but they kept some of the spirit of the original
DoW; Soulstorm? Made by a company going down the tube, and had some decent ideas about the place.
UaW; Earth Assault? The.. story was interesting, at places at least, and the aliens all felt unique.

… I can’t do it. I can’t think of a worse game made by a studio with a budget/ At least one that actually had potential in the first place. Anyone got any ideas.
- Anonymous
  
  Looking back on my rant, I should have made the remark that pretty much all FPS if not ALL games in general are scripted anyway so it doesn’t change that much anyway, even RTS in some way (destroy X number of buildings/units and something will happen). The only one I can think of right now is Skyrim and even then, you have SOME scripture.
  
  And on the matter of C&C4, there are some redeeming qualities but they are somewhat the same as the recent Final Fantasies. The music is exellent and the graphics are pretty good. The gameplay? Not so much and that’s my number 1 complaint and rightfully so (could have been SO much better). The story? It’s horse sh!t and it doesn’t even matter wether you choose GDI or Nod, it’s exactly the same thing and it’s not even good. Yes, it was well intentioned, and at first, I was really curious and very enthusiast about it, but, they failed and it saddens me. I also want to bring up that Red Alert 3 was also a big disapointment (Ric Flair as a general, seriously?) but at least it didn’t change too much. Oh, and I wrote Stacraft instead of Starcraft, my bad.
  
  As for bad games with a budget, I don’t really know either. Daikatana? Thats the most I can come-up with. Anyone else got something?
- Anonymous
  
  Thank GOD that a new C&C is in the works… PC Gamer picked up some info about it, not much, just enough to know it is a C&C game. Crossing fingers that its Red Alert 4, and PLEASE lets get Einstein alive again. Soviets without nukes is not a good thing.
- Anonymous
  
  Thank GOD that a new C&C is in the works… PC Gamer picked up some info about it, not much, just enough to know it is a C&C game. Crossing fingers that its Red Alert 4, and PLEASE lets get Einstein alive again. Soviets without nukes is not a good thing.

Anonymous

Dammit Tyler, you wrote this while I was writing my own rant about that fact.

Anonymous

I can’t really comment on XCOM, I’m not that familiar with the series, but I just wanted to say that Angry Joe does a mighty fine Commander Shepard rape face.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Roler-Dark/100000545592088 Roler Dark

some posters seem to forget the point of spoony’s and all of xcom’s fanbase’s RAGE

they changed a perfecly nice strategy game for yet ANOTHER FIRST PERSON SHOOTER, and completely scrapping any resemblance to what made XCOM what it is… or was

there’s absolutely nothing new coming with this game… other than a mash up between call of duty, mass effect and bioshock… and the fact that it’s just ANOTHER SHOOTER

Anonymous

Exactly. They yanked it from it’s niche, which it filled extremely well, and put it into another me-too FPS package with the Xcom brand name.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum
  
  Better yet, it looks like it uses the same squad control mechanic as BRINK. Which was ripped off from MASS EFFECT.
  
  I thin squad control is going to get whored out just like the magnetic cover fire mechanics of GEARS OF WAR.
Anonymous

Which is why it would have been better if it had been another game exactly like the first X-com game.

?

http://www.facebook.com/gareth.crew Gareth Crew

BEEEEETRAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/timm3r Timmer Ratajczyk

This game is nothing like the original and should be called Mass of Doody: Alien Effect Overhaul

Anonymous

I’ll admit I’m not the biggest RTS guy around. Mainly because I admittedly suck at micromanagement. But this game doesn’t look impressive at all. None of what has been
shown looks remotely Xcom. I mean even for all of the hate it gets, at least The Phantom Menace
had some sembelence to Star Wars. Nothing about this game says Xcom to me.

I have however been an FPS guy since the halycon days of Catacomb Abyss, and Wolfenstein 3D.
So as an FPS this doesn’t seem all that remarkable. It has a slow pace in a sci fi setting. This doesn’t lend itself to the Unreal, Quake, Halo crowd. Even the action seems ho hum which certainly won’t attract the modern millitary dudebro frat guy set. As far as tactics go, the description in the interview seems like a really watered down Rainbow Six 3. To be fair, no shooter has been as tactical as RS3 since probably RS3. Maybe Battlefield 2, but I digress. So I don’t know what shooter fans are really going to want to buy this, it caters to none of them. One could say FPS RPG hybrid fans may like it, but nothing displayed tells me someone will buy this over Fallout New Vegas, The upcoming Mass Effect 3 or Skyrim. The fact that there isn’t even a Co-Op mode is a big disappointment, as even if a shooter is merely a halfway decent game rather than a near perfect one, Co-Op can still make for a fun playthrough.

Normally I would probably even curb my cynicism until a demo so I could try it for myself, but I didn’t really feel all that reassured by the developer’s representative. Everytime Joe asked him something he acted like he didn’t know, when it seemed like he probably did. Or he would backpedal. Or get an expression on his face that said “Oh wow. Great idea” before saying “Yeah we thought of that but I dunno if it’ll make it in.” Something about that interview just didn’t sit well with me.

Hopefully I’m wrong, and it turns out to be awesome, but this is one of those times I have to side with The Spoony One.

Anonymous

Yeah gotta say if this was L.A. Noire that dev rep would be easily busted. :p
Anonymous

Yeah gotta say if this was L.A. Noire that dev rep would be easily busted. :p

http://twitter.com/CedarMusketeer Bryan Gardner

I have only one thing to say about this. Spoony deserves an Oscar for her performance here. I think he did a fantastic job at showing how he felt.

Now watching the interview, it is suppose to be a very Mass Effect style FPS squad shooter, but that is not what XCOM is suppose to be like. Making this a prequel was not a bad thing, so it shows how the XCOM organization got started. If they make a sequel maybe we will see more of the old aliens from the old games, and we might get to fly from mission to mission and patrol for alien space ships. I’ll reserve judgment for when it comes out properly, though I hate to say it already made one Duke Nuke’em slip, not coming out last year like it promised.

http://twitter.com/SeanGamer91 Sean

Is Angry Joe giving the Cornette Face?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Neeson/100000526959586 Steven Neeson

Props to Spoony, as much as he HATES this game he is still willing to host the counter-view on the site. Personally I never got into the original XCOM (though my brother loved it) so if the game plays at all well I will enjoy.

Anonymous

My only real question is “Why call it XCOM?”

Seems like it’d be a better idea just to launch a new franchise/IP.

http://twitter.com/JJJMMM1 JM

The answer is simple: MO-MO-MO-MONEY!

XCOM is a well-known franchise and any XCOM-game gets automatic hype. If it was just another fps, no-one would even look at it.
- Anonymous
  
  X-com has also been washed up as a franchise for almost a decade and a half now. the last game in the series that even approached a success was Apocalypse, and when most fans fondly remember the series, they’re mainly talking about fondly remembering the first two games, or even just the first one.

Anonymous

My only real question is “Why call it XCOM?”

Seems like it’d be a better idea just to launch a new franchise/IP.

http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

Leave it to Angry Joe to squeeze answers out of game makers.

Seriously, it’s like a superpower. Stick Joe into a UN meeting with a pen and notepad, and we’ll have worldwide governmental transparency in less than five minutes.

CHINA: “Yeah, our plans for bombing the U.S… guh, shit. Oh, FUCK!”
JOE: “So, where are your nukes exactly?”
CHINA: “DON’T MAKE ME SAY IT!”

Anonymous

But nothing was answered.
The guy avoided every question asked.

Anonymous

why was the xcom representative even there in the first place if he didn’t know anything? He was unsure of the majority of the question, not really answering anything. Why bother sending a representative at all? It just seems like a big F U to the fans

Anonymous

Because they ARE trying. This is the exact opposite of an FU to the fans. The game isn’t close to release yet so some things aren’t finalized, but he told whatever he could.

If they wanted to say fuck you to the fans they’d have lied about the game instead of said “we haven’t finalized it yet”. They’re being honest… frankly the bashing is a bit uncalled for.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
  
  Well, quite frankly, they’re practically done with the game at this point or they are severely behind. If it’s not in the game yet chances are pretty good it won’t be because adding features this late in the process (and this IS late for a AAA title, very damn late) is extremely risky to the point of simply not even being considered. The fact that they did go back and change it after the fans got upset is amazing all on its own but there is no way they’re redesigning this game now and adding things like base building, in depth research, Intercept missions or psionic abilities. They’re just too big features to add without having to overhaul the game again.
  
  The feature freeze for this game was months ago, I guarantee it. They’re putting the finishing touches on what’s already in the game and that’s a six month job all on its own then add two additional months for playtesting and severe crunch (for those of you who don’t know, crunch is the very last step in game developing when basically no-one goes home until the deadline passes and no more fixes can be made. Epic supposedly crunched for six months for Gears of War) then another month for sending the game to printing and get them out all across the world in time.
  
  So, no, every time he says “We’ll look into that” or “We’re still playing around with that” it’s more or less confirmed that it won’t be in this game but possibly in the sequel, if there ever is one. That’s the good way of handling feature creeps; get a good idea late in the development? Save it for the inevitable sequel.
  - Anonymous
    
    Yes cause no game has ever been pushed back from a scheduled release date… I mean I’ve been playing Duke Nukem Forever for the past 11 years now…
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
      
      You do remember that 3D Realms went under as a studio because of DNF?
      
      And here’s another bit of tidbit of information: They’ve already postponed it one year. We were supposed to be playing this game already. You really think they’re going to postpone ANOTHER year? Don’t be naive, at this point 2k Games will be more likely to just cut and run, do you have any idea how much money it costs to delay a game a year? Just imagine having to pay every single employee another year’s wages, licenses and so forth not to mention that any project they were supposed to start on right after this one also gets delayed by a year.
      
      The fact that they delayed it a whole year already is more than gracious of them but trust me when I say no amount of fan backlash is going to delay it this time around.
    - Anonymous
      
      Um yeah, a typo on a website saying 2011 can cause a LOT of problems… they never released a release date for it until E3 saying March 6th 2012. So unless typo’s count, I think a push-back could be in the future.
      
      I’m going to trust 2K on this one, I thought Bioshock 2 had a well made story, even if it was more of the same, I want to see how they will handle a series that was pretty much dead by the time the last game came out.
  - Anonymous
    
    Yes cause no game has ever been pushed back from a scheduled release date… I mean I’ve been playing Duke Nukem Forever for the past 11 years now…
  - Anonymous
    
    No, it doesn’t. It could be that he simply isn’t allowed to talk about it.
    
    Or have you never actually seen an interview with an official from a game design company? Or done one yourself? Them simply being not allowed to talk about things until they’re ABSOLUTELY FINISHED is fairly standard for game companies, not indicative of the features not being in the game, it’s just that things can change right up until the moment the game goes gold for many non-essential features; since saying one thing and doing another pisses fanbases off, they simply say nothing until they’re absolutely sure.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Kenneth-Eaton/100000592144443 Kenneth Eaton
  
  Or he could be lying and saying they haven’t finalized everything and acting like he didn’t know anything in order to dodge questions.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Kenneth-Eaton/100000592144443 Kenneth Eaton
  
  Or he could be lying and saying they haven’t finalized everything and acting like he didn’t know anything in order to dodge questions.

Anonymous

>preview pic for the video

… I’m frightened.

Anonymous

>preview pic for the video

… I’m frightened.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-Davidson/1226257656 Peter Davidson

So now we have superpowers that can be cast by hand? Hmm, what was that game that was set in the 60′s that was an FPS which also had superpowers that can be cast by hand?

They should have just called this “BioShock: Sea Level with Aliens”

Anonymous

That guy’s answers were not acceptable in the slightest. It seems as if they’ve omitted alot of the coolest features from the original, and the rep didn’t even know simple stuff. Either they didn’t inform him or the XCOM team has no idea what the hell they’re doing.

And we don’t need another goddamn game that pauses time in the battle to select a move. If I wanted to do that I’d go play KOTOR or Fallout.

Anonymous

That guy’s answers were not acceptable in the slightest. It seems as if they’ve omitted alot of the coolest features from the original, and the rep didn’t even know simple stuff. Either they didn’t inform him or the XCOM team has no idea what the hell they’re doing.

And we don’t need another goddamn game that pauses time in the battle to select a move. If I wanted to do that I’d go play KOTOR or Fallout.

Mauricio Alfonso

He didn’t ask why the game now takes place in the 40s. The original game took place in the present day / near future, with futuristic ships and weapons. The new ambient sucks.

http://twitter.com/nymphonomicon Doctor Madness

“A fresh direction? Or an Epic Betrayal?”
I think I’ll split the difference, Fresh Betrayal.

http://twitter.com/Okanehira Okanehira

That intro was fantastic, what is that music.

http://twitter.com/PDestrucity Pete Lopeno

It’s from the Saw movies.
http://twitter.com/PDestrucity Pete Lopeno

It’s from the Saw movies.

Bruno Graça

XCOM sipritual remake : http://www.xenonauts.com
XCOM sipritual remake : http://www.xenonauts.com
XCOM sipritual remake : http://www.xenonauts.com
XCOM sipritual remake : http://www.xenonauts.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/Francois-Cannels/100000004024590 Francois Cannels

That’s right, show us some love.

If anyone else is wondering what Julian Gollop was up to, buy Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.

UptonOGoode

To all the people asking about why have it set in the fifties, it’s explained right in the video. It’s about the beginning of the XCOM organization or whatever you’d call it, I’d never heard of the games before this one, so I dunno anything about it outside of what I’ve seen from Spoony and Joe.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg

Gee, and here I thought the first game told the story of X-Com origins. You know, that being the entire set up for the game. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways, I guess I’ll just have to forget everything about X-Com that I thought I knew, clearly 2k Marin knows better.
- UptonOGoode
  
  Wow, dude, like I said, I dunno anything about this game, I was just trying to help out the people that were confused. No need to go off on me like that. I said I’d never played the others, so I didn’t know they told the origin in the first game. So, as far as I knew, they never did. Lots of games don’t. Wasn’t trying to tick anyone off, just making the mistake of trying to be helpful.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
    
    “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
    
    Free tip, and I’m really not trying to sound like an ass, don’t talk about things you don’t know.
    - Anonymous
      
      Yeah cause, that was a world wide project that apparently happened overnight… no way it could have been a couple groups coming together that had fought the aliens in the past in their respective countries. Nah, just in 1999 the world said “hey lets throw money at this project just in case there are other lifeforms out there and they want to take over our world instead of bringing peace…”
      
      And free tip, when you say you’re not trying to sound like an ass, it pretty much broadcasts to the world “I’M GOING TO BE AN ASS!”
    - UptonOGoode
      
      I like you. I’d buy you a pizza if I had any idea who you were.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
      
      No, it was formed after long deliberation by the UN after all single nations attempts during 1998 failed… because, you know, alien activity didn’t start rising until the mid nineties and the fact that aliens existed didn’t become public knowledge until 1997 when abductions, terrible experiments and UFO sighting were not just common but a daily fear for the general public.
      
      So… yeah, it was pretty much “Oh shit, we better do something about this! Let’s form an elite unit of soldiers, pilots, scientists and engineers to combat this new alien threat.” rather than “Let’s just do what America did FIFTY YEARS AGO.” Seriously… it’s all there in the story.
      
      As for me being an ass, well, yeah, of course, but it’s better than trying to butt into a discussion you know nothing about with limited knowledge, regardless intentions.
    - UptonOGoode
      
      Not really. Trying to be helpful and nice is better than just being a jerk about things because you can. And about that quote you used. Yeah, that’s true. But because of people like you, who treat people like me like crap just because ya can. I mean, there’s so many other ways you could have put that to make it less of a jackass thing to say. A calm explanation would have been perfectly acceptable. But no, you chose to act like I was insulting your family, religion and way of life by saying that one little statement. If you’d approached like a civilized adult, and simply corrected me, I woulda said okay and been on my merry way. Was it really necessary to act like that towards me? Absolutely not. So I hope you take that into consideration and treat people trying to be helpful with a little more respect instead of like an enemy. And with that, I give you my farewell, I’m done with this subject.
    - UptonOGoode
      
      Not really. Trying to be helpful and nice is better than just being a jerk about things because you can. And about that quote you used. Yeah, that’s true. But because of people like you, who treat people like me like crap just because ya can. I mean, there’s so many other ways you could have put that to make it less of a jackass thing to say. A calm explanation would have been perfectly acceptable. But no, you chose to act like I was insulting your family, religion and way of life by saying that one little statement. If you’d approached like a civilized adult, and simply corrected me, I woulda said okay and been on my merry way. Was it really necessary to act like that towards me? Absolutely not. So I hope you take that into consideration and treat people trying to be helpful with a little more respect instead of like an enemy. And with that, I give you my farewell, I’m done with this subject.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
      
      Sorry, I disagree. You can have all the best and good intentions but that doesn’t making helpful or even good for that matter, you might make things worse. Take you for example: You went into a discussion with good intentions but what you tried to add to an already heated discussion was not just factually wrong (in the eyes of the fans) but you worded it as if we didn’t know what they’d said, we hadn’t discussed it already and poked several holes in that theory. We’ve been discussing XCOM since last year’s Spoony video and this year’s video not to mention several threads in the forum…
      
      I respect you want to be nice and helpful but you were going into a discussion half-cocked and without having done your research properly. Maybe this’ll be a lesson for you not to do that again.
    - UptonOGoode
      
      Alright, I’ll follow your advice. But would ya follow mine and be a little nicer about things like that? You could have explained it the way you did just now and things would have been just fine and I, personally, would have had much more respect for you, for what that’s worth. Me and all the other overly-eager helpful types would greatly appreciate it. That kind of thing can be pretty upsetting to people who are just trying to do people a favor. If they make a mistake, they can be corrected without sarcasm. And I only said it that way because I’ve seen a lot of people who flat-out don’t pay attention all the way through the video. (I sometimes miss things they say too, meant no offense by that) So to anyone who thought that I was being a jerk or something, I apologize, no harm was meant and I’m sorry. And yeah, I know I said I was done, but you gave a more respectful and informative response than I had thought, which is something I respond much better to.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Ljungberg/886950486 Karl Ljungberg
      
      No problem and I apologize for flying off the handle. It’s just that you were adding fuel to a fire that’s been burning very intensely for the last couple of days and I just want to cut it off before it got worse again. Because even I’m getting tired of responding to the same arguments over and over against just as much as the people are getting tired of hearing our arguments over and over again. True, I could’ve stopped but on “teh Internetzors” that’s like giving up and I’m not the kind of guy to give up, regardless of health. :P
      
      But never meant to insult you that deeply and I’m sorry I did. Maybe we both learned something from this.
    - UptonOGoode
      
      It’s all good, man. I understand, we all lose it time and again. I generally don’t give up either, so I getcha. Thanks for listening and taking what I had to say for consideration. Too bad all arguments on the internet don’t end this way, eh?
    - Anonymous
      
      You like using ‘conversations you know nothing about’ a LOT don’t you?
      
      I do know about the discussion, and yeah, all single operations failed, aka, it became so much that Xcom of the USA couldn’t handle the threat themselves, and joined up with the universal group, all previous confrontations with the aliens from the 1950′s being covered up, but durring the 1990′s too much happened.
    - Anonymous
      
      You like using ‘conversations you know nothing about’ a LOT don’t you?
      
      I do know about the discussion, and yeah, all single operations failed, aka, it became so much that Xcom of the USA couldn’t handle the threat themselves, and joined up with the universal group, all previous confrontations with the aliens from the 1950′s being covered up, but durring the 1990′s too much happened.

http://www.facebook.com/arandomotaku Jake Holmes

angry joe is a fucking tool

http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

I believe that’s the requirement for doing an interview with a corporate tool. He probably won’t be such a tool when he rips the game apart in his XCOM review.
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Rodoy/775323495 David Rodoy

I don’t think that’s fair. He was professional. He gave them every chance to make their game sound good, and fed them every line a developer could hope for. They had nothing to say. That’s infinitely more damning than Spoony being snarky about it. Though I found the opening very funny nonetheless :)

Anonymous

What do these games have in common except aliens vs. humans? You can also capture alien stuff and choose missions. How does this make an xcom game?

Anonymous

Even if we take them at their word that they honestly don’t know whether or not the game will have base building, alien capturing, or UFO interception missions, and they did not lie when they know that the game will not have any of those things. Not knowing things like that when the game is coming out in less than a year is a pretty big problem for a mainstream game.

Anonymous

Hmm, a new video about a 20 year old tactics game that hasn’t been relevant since 1997. I wonder how long it will take people to start bitching– and there it is.

http://www.silverdire.com Mark Austin

I just realized something… Those bastards are releasing it on my birthday.

Me + New Xcom now = :-( + suicide.

Anonymous

Suicide, really? I mean seriously It is a game… not the anti-christ.
- http://www.silverdire.com Mark Austin
  
  Thanks Capt. Literalism.
  
  I’d be more concerned for the one who takes a facetious statement seriously.
  
  –
  
  Social Darwinism:
  “You know your genes are better than theirs!”
  
  See also, Darwinian Racism

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q4JJMULUGCW6WL3ECUNEYHDBJQ Vash The Stampede

I’ve never heard of X-Com until Spooney’s rant at last years E3. My first impression of the representative is that he’s a douche. This is an interview, yet no questions were answered(or were they by not answering them?).

Can’t wait til this comes out so I can see the Joe and Spooney’s reviews.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V3K7WV3HFEU34TVYZ5D2A3HOK4 charles

Prior to this video I had concerns about the quality and the direction of this game. If this interview is to be believed, then they really have no set plan for the structure of this game when its ship date is less than a year away…

At least it can’t be as bad as X-com: enforcer.

Anonymous

Angry Joe’s face in the preview shot is gonna be in my nightmares for a while now…

Anonymous

The developer didn’t actually answer any of the questions…so what was the point? It was 12 mins of nothing.
How can a developer ”not know” what is or is not in the game yet, he’s a developer on the game.

Obvious smokescreen to try to keep fans interested.
Why not just come out and say it’ll be a medicore FPS, be honest.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Draper/590328663 Daniel Draper

Spoony, I understand how you feel. You are going through the same thing with XCOM that us hardcore Fallout fans went through with Fallout 3 – rewriting storylines, breaking gameplay, destroying series canon, and bastardizing previous games and hardcore fans in the process.

I hate this generation of gaming.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Greif/100002116448083 Brandon Greif

Heheh. I wonder if they simply believe everyone over the age of 24 is an irrelevant market. So long as the youngins hear the big kids name drop, they’re inevitably going to want to get their hands on some new game with the same title.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Draper/590328663 Daniel Draper

Spoony, I understand how you feel. You are going through the same thing with XCOM that us hardcore Fallout fans went through with Fallout 3 – rewriting storylines, breaking gameplay, destroying series canon, and bastardizing previous games and hardcore fans in the process.

I hate this generation of gaming.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZVDNJA7QJOXNYMUDN52A5PU62Y Marius Anton

spoony’s reaction was truly epic :)

the_horror_freak

Lol ty for the nerd translater, its was like watching the 2 black guys in the Airplane movie from 1980, good to have for none ultra nerds like myself ^^

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7FDDON2DSICDGIKKIMO4RBXRVE Kyle

This guy probably has never played any of the original xcoms. Almost as big of a derp as fallout 3.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7FDDON2DSICDGIKKIMO4RBXRVE Kyle

This guy probably has never played any of the original xcoms. Almost as big of a derp as fallout 3.

uncanny474

I highly enjoyed Fallout 3, and, from what I can tell, it was as faithful to the series as a game developed by Bethesda could have been.

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E3 2011: Angry Joe Interviews XCOM