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[dkw]

2K Games is creating a whole new XCOM.
Although an actual website with information is not available YET, PC Gamer magazine had a six page preview of the new XCOM that is expected to be released in 2011.
Some of the people working on it have worked on the following in the past: Bioshock, Freedom Force, Tribes Vengence, Total War, and Fallout.
2K Games is trying to create a "new mythos" for XCOM instead of following the preconceptions the original aliens had about themselves.

Here is what game information could be gleaned from the article, at least from my perspective of reading the article.

Instead of being a tactical squad based game, it is going to be a first person shooter.
However, it is being made to be more "investigation" and careful planning of what limited resources you have then just running around gunning down aliens.

So far, the setting is the idealized 1950s, and reports of strange happenings, alien sightings, weird weather, animal attacks, and bizarre disappearances are coming in from all across the country. To figure out what is going on, the government assigns an FBI agent (you) to lead a poorly funded organization (XCOM) to investigate these happenings. Your job is to keep XCOM working towards discovering what is going on, and how to stop it, all the while searching areas where these reports are coming from for samples, clues, and alien sightings; using your camera to record what you find and weapons to defend yourself.

Unlike the original X-COMs, this XCOM will have missions that keep getting worse the longer you stay. In the original X-COMs, there was a limited number of aliens in each mission.
The new XCOM has missions that slowly get more dangerous the longer you investigate the area, eventually forcing you to run away with whatever clues and samples you have been able to collect if you wish to continue living. As you spend more time investigating an area, the aliens become less evasive and more aggressive, more begin arriving in the area, Elerium becomes harder to collect, and eventually a "boss" will appear forcing you to run away no matter what, unless you are at the "end-game" where you have the equipment to fight back.
Valuable resources you NEED to collect during your investigations are photographic evidence of everything "strange" which leads to getting more government money, and Elerium used to research and build the equipment needed to fight back against the aliens. Elerium sounds difficult to collect, as it is well protected by aliens and requires you to figure out how to turn off its defensive barrier. But, without it you won't be able to research and build the equipment needed to fight back against the alien invasion.

They have revealed only a little bit so far, and it is tentatively scheduled for a 2011 release.
So far, they have revealed 2 locations, your secret base under an abandoned air force base, and a suburban area to investigate. The secret base has a research department, an engineering department, an armory, an information gathering station (where agents listen to police radios, wire taps and phone taps, read paper reports and tabloids), and "the war room" where you have to decide what is worth investigating further, where to go personally, and what investigations should cease.
Only 2 aliens have been revealed so far, a black formless shape shifting blob that regenerates, and a massive shape shifting monolith nick-named "Titans" because they are so godly powerful that if you see one, run just run.
They have revealed only 3 weapons so far, a police revolver, a shotgun, and a fire grenade that XCOM made specifically to destroy the black formless blobs.
They revealed 2 gadgets that will help you in your investigations, your camera for taking the vital photos needed to get you more money, and a vial of black goo that reacts when alien entities are nearby.

You will be able to take other agents with you into the field, but so far the little information revealed about these agents leaves me with a poor impression of them. While they draw attention away from you and take hits for you, they regularly require you to rescue them from situations that mean death for them, and lack the ability to finish off the aliens, only able to wound and slow down the aliens without killing the aliens. So far, the agents look like voice less automatons that follow you around and die protecting you.

They are hinting at the fact that you will NOT want your agents dying regularly as distractions so you can get the evidence and Elerium you need.
Conjecture Starts
Supposedly, the agents will be gaining "experience," are equipped with things that you have given them, and may have some "special abilities" that benefit you in your investigations. Maybe you lose whatever equipment they were carrying when they die, or at least, lose inventory space because you have less people to carry the stuff.
Conjecture Ends

Another thing they revealed is that there is NO ammo, health, or weapons scattered around the locations you investigate. You only have what you could bring with you in your car named, "Interceptor." If you didn't bring enough ammo, or health packs, or whatever, then you are out of luck.


If it lives up to what the article in PC Gamer makes it out to be, then this could be the continuation of the XCOM series into a new generation.

[Panthro]

Very much "X-Files" not very much "X-Com".

Try Xenonauts or UFO: The Two Sides for more faithful X-Com games.

Xenonauts by Goldhawk Interactive

UFO: The Two Sides

[Japo]

Originally Posted by dkw

Instead of being a tactical squad based game, it is going to be a first person shooter.

Wow hope they don't push their wager too far, what with this currently oh so unusual choice of type-cast genre. ¬¬

I'm glad though...

[dkw]

There is now a place holder website with 1 screen shot.

http://www.xcom.com/xcom.html

[dkw]

After re-reading the article in PC Gamer, I have a little more for you all.

2K Games was hinting at the possibility of Fully Destructable Terrain, including Walls.

Their intent is to create aliens that are new, interesting, require some ahead of time planning to fight against effectively, and to make the players WANT to "look at them, study and explore them."
All the aliens will be more "related" to each other instead of a collection of "random species" that were in the original X-COMs. Expect more seemingly "faceless but connected" aliens then what the original X-COMs had.

2K Games also wants the alien origins and objective to be a mystery for the players to learn, decipher, and enjoy in the process.

According to 2K Games employee, and XCOM's design director, Jonathan Pelling, the things they believe made X-COM X-COM was the base building, research, learning the aliens and their secrets, destroyable scenery, tackling the threat at your own pace, stay or go decisions in missions, being in charge of everything, and planning for your next encounter.

PC Gamer asked about possible multiplayer, but received no answer about it. PC Gamer is guessing that CO-OP play may be incorporated or at least attempted before the release.

And I leave you all with this quote from Mr. Pelling,
"The strategy, the base, the research, agents, being in charge, and dealing with this problem as you see fit. You are the one who's driving the investigation - those elements remain, but we want to create a new world with a new set of enemies that's genuinely compelling for players to learn more about."

[Japo]

Originally Posted by dkw

Their intent is to create aliens that are new, interesting, require some ahead of time planning to fight against effectively

[...]

2K Games also wants the alien origins and objective to be a mystery for the players to learn, decipher, and enjoy in the process.

So it will be nothing like the original X-Com? [/irony]

[riccso]

that is not x-com

[TheChosen]

I made peace with the new X-Com couple of days ago. Game looks really cool, and it has good team behind it too, so I doubt its gonna be awful. If its good, they can call it X-Com.

Will be interesting to see how it it fits in the canon. 50 years before the first games events.

The only problem will be the new fans who have no idea what the old X-Com actually was.

[The Fifth Horseman]

*imagines all those "WTF this isn't X-COM! X-COM is FPS!!!" and "LOL what's with the shitty graphics" posts*

[TheChosen]

Say, anyone here watch Angry Joe Show? He got to interview the developers and play it a bit at E3, and at the beginning he was totally against the game, but now he's really looking forward for it. On the other hand, Spoony from the Spoony Experiment didnt like it though, but thats Spoony, he's a bitter old yeller.

http://angryjoeshow.com/2010/06/xcom-interview-e3/