The co-creator of turn based strategy classic X-COM has praised the Firaxis reboot, describing it as “great”.

His high opinion of the 2012 release notwithstanding, Julian Gollop was also willing to share some of his issues with the game in a GDC interview with PC Gamer. “If there’s anything that’s a problem with the game, it’s that you can be playing it for quite a while without knowing that you are actually completely screwed and you should have stopped and started again.”

Gollop also felt that too much of the action was predetermined. “I would not have accepted anything less than pseudo-randomly generated maps, he said. “I guess my original game was a bit more simulation-ny and the new game is a bit more board game-y.”

Conceding that his own approach may not have been as successful this time around, Gollop again emphasised that he felt that Firaxis had done a “really good job”.

Source: PC Gamer

Jake Solomon, designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and original X-COM co-creator Julian Gollop have finally met, in an interesting and thought-provoking video organised by Rev3Games at this year’s GDC. The video, which runs for 17 minutes, features a discussion of all things alien and strategical, and makes for an interesting counterpoint to those who believe the recent successor didn’t live up to the quality of the original from the two men closest to each game. Take a look.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Coming out of PAX East over the weekend is the news that the recent-revealed Brave New World expansion for Civilization V (read all the details here) has been given a release date of July 12 (or July 9, if you’re in the US).

Meanwhile, Firaxis also took the opportunity at PAX to tease a new project with a very brief trailer, showing a shadowy figure who claims “The war continues at great cost. We now believe another force is at work against us. If not dealt with swiftly, it could destroy us,” before being cut off and replaced with the words ‘SIGNAL LOST’ in a very XCOM-like font.

So! XCOM expansion, or something more? Stay tuned.

Source: PC Gamer and Kotaku

Things haven’t been the same for Jake Solomon since XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released last year, to generally positive feedback and some great critical acclaim. In this candid interview with Patrick Stafford, Jake discusses how it feels to spearhead a remake of a game so dear to your own heart, how working long hours affected him personally, and what to do once it’s all finished.

The ‘Second Wave’ DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown is set to launch today, bringing with it a bunch of new options to allow you to customise your game.

Many of the options have already been discovered by anxious modders poking around in the innards of the game, but activating them always caused something to break. Well, break no more! Lead Designer Jake Solomon said in an interview with Polygon that the idea of the changes was to allow players to play the game closer to the original vision, with many of the options simply not being balance-able in the time before ship.

The full list of options can be found below.

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The first of two DLC packs for XCOM: Enemy Unknown is due to come out tomorrow. The first, ‘Slingshot’, will consist of a two-hour mini-story arc that provides three missions that weave into the core campaign. The story sees you teaming up with the Triad, and features a Triad member called Zhang who comes to you for protection in exchange for some alien tech.

Due to launch on December 4, Slingshot will be released on the PC, XBox360 and the PS3 and will set you back about $7, which will equate to about 560 Microsoft Points.

Source: Polygon

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is generally hailed as a great game, both in its own right and as a successor to the original XCOM. Enemy Unknown’s producer, Jake Soloman regards original XCOM‘s creator, Julian Gollop as a personal hero, which was part of why Enemy Unknown is such a faithful and reverent remake.

So we know what fans think, and we know what the creator of Enemy Unknown thinks. But how does Julian Gollop feel about this recreation of one of his old classics? “The game is addictive and absorbing, not to mention quite challenging on the Classic difficulty setting,” Gollop told Eurogamer. “Most of Firaxis’ decisions have been pretty sensible. Overall, I think they have preserved the essence of the original XCOM. Firaxis has done a great job.”

There was some small criticisms about some of the more ‘contrived’ departures from the original, though. “One small disappointment is that the positions of events and bases in the world view have no relevance at all,” he explained. “I often get the feeling that some things are just too deliberately contrived, the three simultaneous abduction sites [of which the player can only respond to one] being the worst offender.”

Source: Eurogamer

There is a new patch on the way for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, to be released on all platforms. The release date for the patch is yet to be announced, so watch this space for more details. The update will, among other things, make easy mode even easier, as well as fixing game-breaking glitches and crashes. Check out the full patch notes after the jump.

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Many speculated that XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s DLC couldn’t be far off, and indeed 2K and Firaxis have put paid to all those rumours by today announcing the existence of not one but two DLC packs.

The first pack, the ‘Elite Soldier Pack’, is free for anybody who pre-ordered the game or purchased it at launch, and runs at $7.75 for PS3 and PC players or 400 MS points if you didn’t. Players with this pack will instantly receive a new recruit “inspired by the original X-COM: UFO Defence“, an “iconic soldier with the blonde, flattop hairstyle”. Deco packs for aesthetic upgrades and colour customisation including tinting are also included in the pack. The Elite Soldier Pack is available right now.

The second pack, the ‘Slingshot Content Pack’, provides a new series of linked Council missions in which gamers will meet “an enigmatic Triad operative”, as well as divert the course of an alien ship and slug it out in the skies of China. Three new maps, a new squad character and new customisation options are included — but the price, and release date for the Slingshot pack are yet to be revealed.

PC players naturally have the best version of XCOM available, because it’s moddable to make it just the way you like it. Check out the top five mods here.

Even though XCOM: Enemy Unknown has only been out for a week, the first wave of mods are already starting to hit. Anxious PC players, filled to the brim with ideas about how to change, improve, rejig or otherwise go-to-town-on the game, have started hacking around in the executable to either unlock features the developers left out, or bring the game that little bit close to the remake they always wanted.

We’ve taken a look at the five most awesome mods to come out already, each of them reeling under hundreds or even thousands of downloads so far. Read on for all the details.

Firaxis have been keeping mum about the possibility of any DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but some canny users on the 2K forums believe that they’ve found some hints hidden in the text for the Steam Achievements of the game.

Although the text for many of the achievements is hidden until they are unlocked, TheSpaceMushroom uncovered the descriptions. There’s requirements such as ‘Complete Deluge’, ‘Complete Furies’, ‘Complete Portent’, and even specific ones such as ‘Complete Deluge without activating more than 2 valves’ and ‘Complete Confounding Light with more than 3 turns left on the timer’.

So what are Deluge, Furies, Portent and all the others? Well they sure aren’t in the game right now, and they sure seem oddly specific for hidden descriptors. The current theory is that we’ll see maps and missions by these names in some upcoming story-based DLC, and — even though we’re year to hear anything from 2K or Firaxis — it would seem a pretty safe bet. In the meantime, if you’re still on the fence about XCOM, why not read our fully sick in-depth review?

Source: PC Gamer

Can you really remake one of PC gaming’s classic and most iconic titles for the current gen? Firaxis shows not only that you can, but you can do a damn fine job of it as well. Read on for all the details.