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The original X-COM was briefly canceled, boosted by X-Files
X-COM is a household name among many gamers now, but the 1994 original almost never came to be. During an X-COM postmortem at GDC, creator Julian Gollop revealed that the original X-COM: UFO Defense was actually canceled for a brief period during 1993. At the time, the game's UK publisher, Microprose, had been purchased by Spectrum Holobyte. Looking over Microprose's portolio, Spectrum Holobyte was unimpressed with the in-development X-COM and decided to pull the plug. "They took one look at X-COM and said, 'Nah, we don't like this. Cancel this project,'" said Gollop. "The project was actually officially canceled."Unbeknownst to Spectrum Holobyte, Microprose allowed development to continue. "What happened was, that in Christmas 1993 Spectrum Holobyte wanted a product from Microprose UK for the end of their financial quarter, which was in March 1994," said Gollop. "And [Microprose publisher] Pete Moreland said, 'Well, you know this project you told us to cancel? Well, we still got it." The final three months of development were grueling, with Julian and his brother Nick working 7 days a week and putting in 12 hour days.Another interesting tidbit: X-COM was helped by the TV show The X-Files, which began airing in the US in 1993 (It's on Netflix, kids!). "When The X-Files was aired for the first time in September 1993, there was a real benefit for the game because it drew on a lot of the same source material," said Gollop. "So the whole theme of the game had a real hook, and it was just luck, really, that we had the X-Files on TV shortly before the game was launched."X-COM was a hit, selling 470,000 units worldwide as of 2000, earning Julian and his brother $1.57 million in royalties (and significantly more for Microprose). The game cost $180,000 to develop. After the game achieved such great success, Spectrum Holobyte demanded a sequel within six months.
GDC 2013 classic postmortems: Myst, X-COM: UFO Defense, more
The classic postmortem sessions at GDC are always good for some fun, inside stories of old-school game development, including the likes of GoldenEye 007, Doom, Maniac Mansion and Out of this World. GDC 2013 will add a few more games to the list, with postmortem panels scheduled for Myst, X-COM: UFO Defense, Pinball Construction Set and Crystal Castles.Each panel will feature speakers involved with the development of each classic title, and plenty of secrets and anecdotes are bound to come up. You can bet we'll be attending as many of these as we can once GDC gets rolling in March. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and stumble upon another game designer's adorable, prescient childhood video.
Original X-COM games bundled for $5 on Steam today
Finding yourself with an undeniable pang of nostalgia now that Firaxis is working on a new XCOM strategy title? Maybe you've never heard of X-COM before and want to see what all the fuss is about? Perhaps you're confused because the original games were called "X-COM" and the new ones are called "XCOM"? Steam has you covered on the first two fronts, at least. Today only, the download service is offering all five of the original X-COM titles for a paltry $5.09. Alternately, if you're really trying to forget X-COM: Enforcer, you can pick up individual titles at $1.69 a pop.
Direct2Drive's Spring Sale: Star Trek Online, Civ 4, Torchlight and more discounted
Once again, downloadable gaming retailer Direct2Drive has chosen to reduce the price of a whole gaggle of its offerings. Encheapened titles as part of the "Spring Sale" include interstellar MMO Star Trek Online ($29.95), Nazi-vanquishing sim The Saboteur ($14.95), mine-raiding RPG Torchlight ($9.95), world-dominating strategy title Civilization 4: Complete Edition ($9.95) and every X-Com game ever made, except for, you know, the new one ($4.95). To see the complete list of discounted games, click past the jump. Now look, Direct2Drive. You really, really need to chill out with all of these sales. If you keep discounting the prices of your games with such regularity, then people are going to start thinking that these are your normal going rates for these titles. During the off-times when you're not holding a sale, they're going to start thinking that you're just having a temporary ... expensiveization. That can't possibly be good for business.
Xenonauts capitalizes on XCOM rage
2K Marin's surprise announcement of an XCOM reboot upset a number of purists. "I'd rather have something that played like X-Com ... than a generic first person shooter with the X-Com name clumsily stapled on," one of our commenters chimed in. If you agree with this sentiment, Goldhawk Interactive has an appropriately-timed announcement for you. Xenonauts is an indie-developed, PC-only game that's meant to be a spiritual successor to the original X-Com, described as "neither a sequel to X-Com, nor a remake of it ... it shares the same core mechanics that made the original so compelling." Like its inspiration, players will take command of a global organization that must defend the planet against alien invasion. The "planetary defense simulator" will have you constructing bases, managing budgets, and engaging in turn-based squad combat. Goldhawk's Chris England explained in a press release that "we were a bit put out when 2K made their big announcement," as it may have stolen some thunder from today's announcement. However, England believes this is now actually an "opportunity," allowing the team to "capitalize on the general sentiment that the new X-Com game should be a strategy game." Does this announcement appease those of you burned by 2K's FPS reboot?%Gallery-91000%
Freedom Force and X-COM bundles $2 on Steam this weekend
Throughout the weekend, Steam is offering two special packages that include all games in the Freedom Force and X-COM franchises for the insanely low price of $2 for each bundle. That's right, kids! For a two-spot you could pick up a bundle with Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich or an X-COM collection which includes Apocalypse, Enforcer, Interceptor, Terror from the Deep, and UFO Defense. That's a lot of game for some pocket change, so get on it. Shortcut - Freedom Force Steam bundle Shortcut - X-COM: Complete Steam bundle
Impulse adds The Saboteur and more to online store
Look, we know you've been waiting with bated breath for all those Hearts of Iron 3 content packs to arrive on Impulse, so we were glad to tell you that they've finally arrived. Sure, so did The Saboteur and X-COM, but we know you're not concerned. We suppose it's possible you'll tire yourself out with the new Hears of Iron 3 content to the point that you'll need a break, so we should probably point out that a mess of other games made it onto Stardock's digital distribution platform this week. Being the good friends we are, we've dropped the whole list just after the break, just for you!
Direct2Drive celebrates 5-year anniversary with 50 games for $5 each
Over the next five weeks, Direct2Drive is offering a special discount on a host of different titles in celebration of its five-year anniversary. Every Monday, Direct2Drive will feature a new set of titles, reducing them to $5 (or £5 UK), with the first week of the promotion focusing on "Ubisoft and Strategy titles." While the upcoming week's titles have yet to be revealed, Direct2Drive has teased us with utterly vague descriptions of what to expect: Week Two: Action Games Week Three: RPGs & MMOs Week Four: Indie Games Week Five: War Games The first week of the promotion ends on September 14. Games differ slightly based on your geographical region -- for instance, Ubisoft is strangely omitted from the European promotion. Check out a full list of this week's games for both regions after the break.
GameTap Thursday: Painkiller Overdose, XIII Century Death or Glory
Oh, blargh. Writing this post last week was so much easier when it was about Syberia II. This week, GameTap gold subscribers gain access to a neo-DOOM game and an RTS that might be a good -- wait, no, we take that last bit back. Painkiller: Overdose (Windows) - The pseudo-sequel to the old school-embracing shooter where you continue to kill everything. XIII Century Death or Glory (Windows) - Um, really, we have no idea. It's apparently a "historically accurate" RTS set in Europe. No word if it's so accurate it has giant enemy crabs. X-Com UFO Defense will be available gratis for one week only. A full list of the service's recently downsized free-to-play offerings can be found after the break.
DS Fanboy poll: Remakes of choice
Earlier this week, we asked you, our dear readers, to discuss games you'd like to see given a spit and a polish for the DS in this age of remakes, and as usual, you came through in a big way. In fact, you gave us so many fantastic suggestions that we've decided to split our selected list into two polls instead of just doing one. We can't include everything suggested, obviously, but we've prepared a selection of bigger releases and more obscure titles, and we're going to let you vote every day, just in case you want to throw your support behind more than one game. Once you've voted, we will profile the top two results from each poll and examine exactly why they would be well-suited to our favorite handheld. So try to vote for the titles you think are the most suitable, those that would most benefit from the kind of treatment we're seeing with the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles ... and hey, vote for the games you'd just like to see in portable form as well.And if you just can't decide ... well, that's why we're letting you vote more than once! You can vote your heart and your brain, and the cream will rise to the top.
X-Com: Screenshots from the Deep
We would trade our souls for a DS version of X-Com: UFO Defense, had we not already sold the bedraggled things to Milhouse at a discount price of five dollars of course, but it looks like Blue_knight's homebrew port of the tactical RPG is coming along well enough. Three cheers for hobbyist programmers!He has added a lot since we last covered the project -- tile selection, a tweaked UI, and an "entity rendering system." Though we're not sure what exactly that all means, the screenshots we grabbed and added past the post break look promising. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some souls to track down. Last we heard, Milhouse exchanged them for Alf pogs. Alf pogs! Remember Alf? He's back ... in pog form.%Gallery-4133%
Godspeed, X-Com DS
We usually wait until a homebrew project has had time to mature past its alpha builds before calling the game to your attention, but we take exception with any and all plans for a portable X-Com: UFO Defense. Our love affair with the turn-based, tactical title has been a romance with few equals, inviting comparisons with Shakespeare's tragic coupling of Romeo and Juliet. Should society ever try to separate us, you'll find that we've already taken measures to leave this miserable world, our lifeless arms entwined with X-Com's diskettes even in death. Blue_knight has posted screenshots of the progress he's made so far with adapting the game's data for the DS. The handheld clone already features tileset loading/creation, four height views, and touchscreen support for scrolling around the battlescape. Though there's still a lot left to implement, like fog of war and a map overview on the second screen, that hasn't stopped us from scouting countries for potential bases and trading tips on how to best attack Chryssalid terror sites.%Gallery-4133%[Via DCEmu]
DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers. When my afternoons aren't busied by hours of photoshopping cat heads onto pictures of my friends, I pass the time with puzzlers and plumbers on my DS Lite. But those kitten-free days are few and far between, so I end up being able to only fit either the most polished or the most eccentric games into my packed schedule. Wario: Master of Disguise? Sorry, I've got things to do and feline faces to retouch. Lost in Blue 2? I'll have to pass -- I'm already lost in trying to get these whiskers to look perfect. My collection is a mishmash of AAA titles and niche releases, their cases piled atop one another like a Jenga stack of mismatched blocks, threatening to topple over at any moment. Just pulling a game from the middle of the shaky structure is an act preceded by hours of anxiety and self-doubt. Having my wife provide commentary during the ordeal, remarking "Oh god, it's going to crash this time for sure, I just know it. Why'd you even try, Eric?! Game over, man! Game over!" as I tug out my copy of Advance Wars DS doesn't make the challenge any easier. So when I do manage to put aside the pussycat photos and secure a game to play, it better damn well be worth it. Journey forth and read which of those titles have captured a place not only on my top five list, but in my heart.
Firaxis to revisit X-COM in Civ IV: Beyond the Sword
Firaxis' Tim McCracken recently updated the official Civilization IV site with details on a very intriguing scenario in the coming Beyond the Sword expansion. The scenario, "Afterworld," is "a tip of the hat to the Gollop brothers and the original X-COM team." "Afterworld" sounds like a squad-based, sci-fi scenario that is heavy on combat and light on everything else. "There are no leaders. No cities. No technologies. It's not the typical game of Civ. It's Afterworld." McCracken doesn't say much more, but Firaxis doing an X-COM homage is enough to make many gamers drool. More than we usually do, we mean.
Irrational developing X-Com sequel?
If you played PC games during the 90s, chances are you've played X-Com. A memorable turn based strategy title, X-COM put players in control of an elite agency tasked with defending the planet from alien invaders. Players researched alien technology and built their arsenals to combat different types of enemies. All in all, X-COM earned a fond place in many gamers' memories. Potentially good news then, as Irrational Games, makers of the upcoming BioShock, may be working on a sequel. A client document from Irrational's law firm, Fierst, Pucci, & Kane LLP was discovered by Shacknews. The document in question lists X-Com among Irrational's games. Adding fuel to this fire is the fact that Irrational's Ken Levine himself has professed his love for the X-Com series and Take-Two (owner of Irrational) purchased the rights to the series in 2005.Should the rumor prove true, we can only hope that the imminent success of BioShock will convince Irrational Games to bring the game to the Xbox 360.[Via 1UP]
