New X-Com Title Confirmed, FPS Title Called XCOM, First Screenshot

A rumour that’s been around a long time is that another series of games from the 90’s, X-Com, will be getting a modern resurrection of sorts. 2K Australia is planning to make another X-Com title, but with a twist: it will be an FPS, or first-person shooter, title this time.

For a while, it was suspected that 2K Boston, now known once again as Irrational Games, the team who worked on the original BioShock, would be working on this title. But Ken Levine is adamant that he has a game in development that is the first in a new IP.

2K Marin, developers of BioShock 2 was then also widely reported as the team handling this new title, referred to as XCOM, but it’s been said that 2K Australia is the lucky bunch that will head development on the project. 2K Marin and 2K Australia are sister studios, along with 2K Novato, 2K California, and 2K Canberra. 2K acquired the license to the IP from Atari a few years back.

2K president Christoph Hartmann:

"With BioShock 2, the team at 2K Marin proved themselves as masters of first-person, suspenseful storytelling, and with XCOM they will re-imagine and expand the rich lore of this revered franchise. Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride."

Teaser site write-up:

XCOM is the re-imagining of the classic tale of humanity’s struggle against an unknown enemy that puts players directly into the shoes of an FBI agent tasked with identifying and eliminating the growing threat. True to the roots of the franchise, players will be placed in charge of overcoming high-stake odds through risky strategic gambits coupled with heart-stopping combat experiences that pit human ingenuity – and frailty – against a foe beyond comprehension. By setting the game in a first-person perspective, players will be able to feel the tension and fear that comes with combating a faceless enemy that is violently probing and plotting its way into our world.

There are some concerns about this whole XCOM FPS business though, seeing as X-Com: Enforcer, a TPS [third-person shooter], was a flop. The games before this were turn-based strategy titles similar to Jagged Alliance or Fallout, except they had you fighting against UFOs and aliens and such.

This new XCOM will be available for PC and Xbox 360.

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Sources:

Press release

“X-Com 'Re-Imagined' as FPS by BioShock 2 Dev” [Shacknews]

New X-Com Title Confirmed, FPS Title Called XCOM, First Screenshot

System Shock 2’s Ending Wasn’t the REAL one

You remember the classic, System Shock 2, right? Irrational Games’ Ken Levine says that the ending that happened, wasn’t supposed to end that way.

As far as I can recall, the player defeats SHODAN, and then it skips to a cutscene where the player is given the choice of teaming with SHODAN to rule the universe, or take her (or it)out, which is what he does, because you don’t really have a choice in the matter.

Then the player is back aboard one of the ships, and sends a message to the pod that was ejected from the Von Braun earlier on, which contained Tommy Suarez and Rebecca Siddons, who managed to escape. They were about to return to the ship when Rebecca all of a sudden looks and sounds like SHODAN (probably a lot to do with the hair and the voice), and so one assumes that SHODAN ends up back on the ship with or without Tommy.

If you thought it was strange that Rebecca turned into SHODAN, then you might remember that she was bitten by one of those creatures - I think it might have been the arachnids. So I suppose left unchecked it may have possibly changed her in the end, seeing as those creatures were basically SHODAN’s “children”.

System Shock 2's Ending

Ken Levine says that’s not the ending he had in mind, as he had written a script for a different one. He says that time constraints, differing ideas, and lack of communication resulted in the ending we know to the great title. This wasn’t the only thing that was changed or taken out of the game, as other features and even story ideas have been revealed by Irrational that didn’t make it in to the final release.

The ending also suggested that there might be a sequel, which to this day hasn’t happened, although I’m praying to the gaming gods above that the game that Irrational is going to unveil sometime just might be System Shock 3, even though most think it’s an X-Com game, which he says you shouldn’t believe. The chances are slim, but wouldn’t it just be the greatest piece of news this year if it did happen?

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Source: Irrational.com - Kotaku

System Shock 2’s Ending Wasn’t the REAL one

2K Boston Acts Irrationally: Changes Their Name Back, Starts up Website, Talks to People

I had to put that in the title. It’s been some news going around lately, that the studio formerly known as 2K Boston, formerly known as Irrational Games, has changed their name to Irrational Games…if that makes sense.

You see, Irrational Games was mainly known back in the late nineties for co-developing the epic System Shock 2 along with the now defunct Looking Glass Studios, as well as some other titles like SWAT 4 in the mid-noughties (hate that word), and then another big hit – BioShock. This was the studio’s swansong under that name, because after that, they became 2K Boston.

Now, years later, 2K Boston has changed their name back to Irrational Games. They’ve launched their new website which all ready has a podcast up called “Irrational Behavior” and talks about game ideas that didn’t quite sell, like Division 9 (no, not District 9, although there is talk of that game, but that’s a whole other title, and not by Irrational), kind of like a tactical shooter title like SWAT 4 mixed with a zombie shooter, I suppose like Left 4 Dead 2.

Chris Kline, the Technical Director at Irrational Games, also posted in the ttlg forums (which has forums dedicated to the Thief series, System Shock 1& 2, Deus Ex, and BioShock) lately, writing the following:

“On the site we'll have regular podcast episodes and articles that reveal games and ideas that "didn't make it", and generally give the community more insight into our studio and the development process.

So if this sounds interesting to you, please stop by and check out the forums, podcast, and articles.”

Ken Levine also posted something up on the official site:

“The Irrational Games website is about secrets.

Secrets. We’ve all got ‘em. When we ship a box to GameStop or Best Buy, it’s only part of the story. There are so many secret elements that go into our games. There are the levels that got cut. There are the monsters that died in childbirth. There are the million interactions a development team has in the long, frustrating, terrifying and often thrilling process of making a video game.

Some of you first heard about us when we released BioShock. Some of you have known us since our first game back in 1999, System Shock 2. Many members of the Irrational team have been with us since either the beginning or damned close to it. Some of them have come on board more recently. They all have a part to play in the development of this website. You’ll hear their voices – quite literally in the case of our “Irrational Behavior” podcast .You’ll get to see some ideas that never made it in our “From the Vault” section that launches next week.   You’ll get to hang out with the team in our forums-and there you’ll get to tell us what you think as well. And we’ll be listening.

And yes, we will tell you about the game we’re working on right now. Just not today.”

I like the website design so far, and it looks as though this studio is opening up more and going the more social route. And let’s face it, nowadays it’s probably a good idea.

So, I wonder if BioShock 2, which should be released next month, will have Irrational Games in the opening logos as well as the credits, or if it’ll still be 2K Boston? The money’s on Irrational, probably.

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http://irrationalgames.com/

New Irrational Games Website

2K Boston going back to Irrational Games brand

Irrational Games officially returns; relaunches web site

Irrational reveals canceled zombie game Division 9

2K Boston Acts Irrationally: Changes Their Name Back, Starts up Website, Talks to People

Games I want: System Shock 3

It’s been nearly ten years, and I’m surprised that they haven’t done a true sequel to System Shock 2. Yes, we had BioShock in 2007, and BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams is due to be out sometime, with BioShock 3 planned as well, but that is obviously a spin-off series, which consists of spiritual successors.

We all know that the System Shock series takes place in space aboard starships and space stations in the future, and BioShock takes place under the sea in the 1960s- big difference apart from the similar sounding names.

The end of System Shock 2 ended with Rebecca, one of the survivors of the Von Braun, on an escape pod with her partner, Tommy, heading back to the Von Braun. Rebecca was seen to look like a version of SHODAN, so obviously there must exist some form of an evil plot. Perhaps like Doom II: Hell on Earth, SHODAN, with her anti-humanist views, will crash the ships onto Earth and spread her cybernetic empire there.
 
Critics worry that if it is ever released, they will be debase any future prospects of the series, perhaps because they are under new developers’ leashes.

Some people who worked on the original games, from both Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, have concerns that EA won’t really bother putting the required and desired effort into the game that it needs.

Games I want: System Shock 3