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Humble 2K Bundle offers up BioShock trilogy, The Darkness 2
Publisher 2K Games headlines today's newly launched Humble Bundle, offering Steam-redeemable versions of BioShock, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and other featured games for a price of your choosing. All bundle buyers receive copies of 2K's undersea FPS BioShock, comic book-based action game The Darkness 2, and alternate-history shooter The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. Purchases that exceed the bundle's average purchase price will also receive BioShock 2, Mafia 2 and Spec Ops: The Line, and customers who pay $20 or more will get bonus copies of BioShock Infinite and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. A buyer-chosen portion of proceeds benefits the American Red Cross and Action Against Hunger charities. The Humble 2K Bundle will be available through July 22. [Image: 2K Games]
Steam deals: The Bureau, The Raven, games that don't start with 'The'
This should come as little surprise to consistent Steam users, but the digital distribution platform is holding a sale on some video games over the weekend. Italics. A smattering of tempting deals are lined up right now, starting with The Bureau: XCOM Declassified for under $12.50 (and also now available for Mac). Episodic crime adventure series The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is also part of this weekend's deals and on sale for $6.24. A digital deluxe version, including the game's soundtrack and other digital goodies, is on sale for $7.50. Coffee Stain Studios' tower-defense shooter hybrid Sanctum 2 is free to play this weekend and only $2.24 if you want to buy. Free to play game Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign is holding a sale on three booster packs, each unlocking various characters in the puzzle offshoot. Early Access dungeon crawler The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is down to $13.39. These deals will last for varying lengths – some games you've only got 48 hours to grab, while others are cheap until January 27 – so if you're interested, boot up your Steam client and give 'em a gander.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified out now on Mac
Mac owners can unearth the secrets of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, with the game now available to the public via the App Store, priced $35. If you'd rather scrutinize the third-person shooter under the cover of Steam, the good news is TransGaming is bringing it there "soon." We were taken in by the The Bureau earlier this year - not in the for-questioning sense, but in a four-stars-out-of-five-glowing-review way. As the always sharp-suited Ludwig put it, "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified feels immediate and inclusive as a strategy game, relying more closely on your rapid-fire commands than the bursts of your rifle. The odd hybrid is far from being fully evolved, but it's well suited to further study."
Report: Bureau, BioShock 2 developer allegedly done for
Yesterday's confirmed layoffs at 2K Marin, developer of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and BioShock 2, may have been simply the prelude to the long goodbye. Several outlets are reporting the classified story behind the story is that 2K Marin won't be around much longer. A source tells RockPaperShotgun that the studio is "essentially" done, while Polygon has a source saying they are "100 percent sure" 2K Marin in its current incarnation is closed. Allegedly, folks not picked up by Rod Fergusson's new studio for 2K Games in the San Francisco Bay area were the ones let go. During its six-year history, 2K Marin had the unfortunate task of working on the games that, despite critical acclaim, "nobody asked for" – as expressed in the modern parlance.
Layoffs hit The Bureau: XCOM Declassified developer 2K Marin
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified developer 2K Marin has been hit with layoffs. The game launched in August, with downloadable content having arrived just a few weeks ago. A 2K representative told Game Informer, "We can confirm staff reductions at 2K Marin. While these were difficult decisions, we regularly evaluate our development efforts and have decided to reallocate creative resources. Our goal to create world-class video game titles remains unchanged." We've reached out to 2K for more information.
XCOM Enemy Unknown and The Bureau bundled for $25 on Amazon
Looking for an opportunity to jump in on the XCOM franchise? Amazon is currently offering the PC versions of Firaxis' turn-based strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown and 2K Marin's third-person shooter The Bureau: XCOM Declassified as a discounted bundle priced at $24.99. Both games are redeemable via Steam. Downloadable versions of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and The Bureau are available individually for $9.99 and $19.99, respectively. If you prefer the classic stylings of the XCOM games from the '90s and early 2000s, you may want to check out the $3.75 XCOM Complete Pack, which collects XCOM: Apocalypse, XCOM: Enforcer, XCOM: Interceptor, XCOM: Terror from the Deep, and the 1993 debut entry XCOM: UFO Defense.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified 360-exclusive DLC launches next week
The first DLC for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be uncovered next week, available exclusively on Xbox 360 as detailed previously. 2K Games will make The 'Hangar 6 R&D' DLC available to the public on Tuesday, October 8, priced $5 on the Xbox Games Store. The DLC stars Agent Nico DaSilva as the protagonist rather than Agent Carter, taking place shortly before the events of the main game. DaSilva volunteered to be a part of a psychic experiment program at 'Hangar 6' - sometimes you just need the money. As DLC lead designer Harley White-Wiedow notes, Hangar 6 R&D raises the difficulty level, but aims to balance this with abilities based on the 'Signal and Beyond' level in the game. Also introduced is the delicious-sounding Microwave Gun, along with a new AK-47.
Weekend deals include Ni No Kuni, Dead Space 3, XCOM: Declassified
The school season is just starting for some, but GamerDeals has round up evidence that Best Buy and Amazon have no intentions of encouraging good study habits. Best Buy's sale has Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Halo 4, Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3 for $19.99 apiece. Company of Heroes 2 has its sights aimed at $40, while Tales of Xilia can be had for $50. Amazon's offerings include The Bureau: XCOM Declassified for $40 on PS3, 360 or via Steam key. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist can be snatched away in the night for $50 on PS3, 360, PC or Wii U. There's also a slew of Sims 3 expansions priced from $13.99 to $29.99, in case you need more content for the addictive virtual life simulator.
The Bureau - XCOM Declassified review: Mad men are from Mars
Agent William Carter peeks around a backyard wall, surrounded by the buoyant remains of a scattered birthday party. Straight-faced in an evacuated 1960s suburbia, he is the man who shouts against the alien invasion on America's porch. "Draw their fire!" he tells his two colleagues in arms. "Put a mine there!" And finally, with a bold pose and a deep cache of air in his lungs, he screams the scream that won the war: "DEPLOYING BLOB!" The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a game about shooting aliens, coordinating offense under duress and, in some cases, deploying blobs in a tactical fashion. As a dapper CIA agent and pragmatic not-on-MY-watch type, William Carter rejects the lexicon of XCOM, a secret organization that now finds its Cold War paranoia rerouted to deflect "The Outsiders," slender grey men from outer space. Carter's blob is actually a "silacoid," a mercurial pet formed from magnetically bound lumps of inky material. The scientists back at HQ delight in describing its fascinating properties and how they repurposed it from our would-be conquerers, but to Carter it's just a roving tool meant to distract enemies in battle. (The alternative sound bite on this order is "Blob out!" which sounds like an instruction to lie in bed and inhale a gallon of Ben and Jerry's.) Carter's role in the action itself is to anchor your strategies, and that's what makes The Bureau a more arresting third-person shooter. There's the usual knee-high detritus that serves as cover in firefights, the pop-and-shoot gunplay, the evasive roll – and you've gotta have a melee attack, so Carter gets a huge electric bracelet that looks like it stuck after he punched through a desktop computer.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified launch trailer gives you new orders
Survive. Adapt. Win. And look suitably smart when you do. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified suits up on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this week; check back soon for our thoughts on 2K Marin's mixture of XCOM strategy, third-person shooting, and 1960s style.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified live-action series ends with an ambush
As this final installment in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified's live-action series shows, humanity hasn't quite learned how to deal with alien invaders. In 1962, we just punch the crap out of them because Space Channel 5 has yet to teach us how to come together through dance.
HungoverX is a Bureau: XCOM Declassified mini-game
When Take-Two recently registered the domain HungoverX.com, we weren't sure what to expect. The publisher pulled the curtains back on the URL today to reveal a mini-game related to The Bureau: XCOM Declassified in which players guide a hungover Bill Carter through a groggy day at the office. The browser-based game is available now at HungoverX.com. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will launch on August 20 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Commander YOLO
The latest trailer for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified takes a lighthearted approach to the clandestine organization's permadeath philosophy. See, other secret organizations, like MI6, believe "you only live twice." XCOM is all about the YOLO.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified live-action video is in pursuit
This live-action trailer for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified shows Lost and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan in pursuit of an enemy while on the phone with a man that needs to shut his fridge door. The game is slated to launch on August 20 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified trailer vote sees Cole bottle it
You can take the agent out of the shire, but you can't take the shire out of the agent. Ennis Cole (aka Lost and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan), like any good hobbit, finds himself drawn to the drink in this follow-up video, but only just. If you'll remember, Monday's The Bureau trailer asked viewers to tweet hashtagged voted for Cole to either grab the bottle or the gun Two days later, the bottle proved victorious, but with only 51 percent backing. What does it all mean? We're not really sure, especially since Cole grabs the gun anyway... but at least we get to see him bang a bottle about. This vid teases some sort of follow-up on Friday, July 26, but we're more looking ahead to August 20, when the game proper hits PS3, Xbox 360, and PC
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified trailer lets you tweet an agent's fate
A new live-action trailer for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified partakes in an incongruous mixture of top-secret government information and large-scale social network marketing. Still, it will be interesting to see which way the public goes on the fate of Special Agent Meriadoc Brandybook, or Ennis Cole to give him his XCOM codename. In the aftermath of a classified incident which left him without his wife and child, the vid asks users to tweet hashtagged votes for what Cole should do next. Votes can be registered until Wednesday, July 24, when the video revealing his determined fate will be released. That's all well and good, but the date to remember is August 20; that's when The Bureau opens its doors to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified should reclassify creepy clown
Nope. No, no, no. Clowns live in sewers and eat children. It also appears from this The Bureau: XCOM Declassified trailer that clowns are scared of aliens. So ... the enemy of our enemy is our friend?
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Video Preview
Drop in on this footage-filled discussion of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and learn how classy vests and buff-granting backpacks can save the Earth from extraterrestrial peril. If you'd like to venture beyond the brief chat above, have a look at our impressions of The Bureau's on-foot tactical combat, and see how its Cold War setting strives for authenticity within reason. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is due on August 20 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
The Uncanny History of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
The first shot of the game is historically inaccurate, but not without good reason. "As much as possible, I try to stick to history," says Erik Caponi, the narrative designer. "There's actually a huge pet peeve I had that I finally gave up on. It's the first shot of the game. Sputnik is there. Sputnik should not be there in 1962. Nobody recognizes the Vostok 12 satellite, which is what should be there, so we stuck with Sputnik because it's iconic and recognizable." The Russian satellite becomes a subtle lie in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, a game by 2K Marin that has endured several revisions throughout its history. It's not a first-person shooter (it's third-person now), warfare isn't waged in polite turns (time slows while you're issuing orders), and it's not about overseeing the modern XCOM organization, which acts as Earth's weaponized umbrella when the aliens rain down. Instead, you're where the real Sputnik would be in the early 1960s: on the ground. Playing as pragmatic CIA agent William Carter, you assist in the Cold War birth of the XCOM defense organization, jolted into premature operation by a manipulative alien race dubbed "The Outsiders." You also learn of Carter's motivations and the fate of his family – the kind of story you couldn't quite make out from the perspective of a commander in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. %Gallery-193969%
BioShock 2 creative director Jordan Thomas leaves Take-Two
Jordan Thomas, creative director at BioShock 2 developer 2K Marin, has left the company. His departure should have no effect on the studio's current project, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, which he moved away from in early 2012, he tells GI.biz. Thomas makes his exit from the company to go indie with an unnamed partner and work on his own projects. He came to the decision after helping Irrational Games finish work on BioShock Infinite. "It cemented for me that while BioShock spoke to me, it'll never be for me what it is for Ken. I've expanded that legacy here and there, but I could never have created it from scratch. I need to build something that is, to me, what BioShock is to Ken. No matter how long it takes, I have to start now." Thomas already has a game in mind, of course: He wants to take some of the ideals found in Thief and BioShock and apply them "with a radically different focus." If it's well-received, Thomas says "we might expand the vision and explore further dimensions of the same theme with more content producers. But we'd love to keep it as lean as possible for now, in the hopes that we're not writing checks our asses can't cash. Indie ambition is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness."
