Warp Zoned Presents
All Articles: XCOM 2
A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (January – March)
After years and years of publishers packing the September through November “Holiday” season with an unmanageable number of new AAA titles, we might get a much more balanced release calendar in 2016. But can you believe it all happened by accident?
Video game fans have always had to deal with delays, but publishers got even more use out of their erasers than normal in 2015. Aside from the one-two punch of Fallout 4‘s E3 2015 announcement, and its eventual release on November 10th, no game felt safe… and more than a few big titles got pushed into 2016. So now we get to ring in 2016 with a release calendar that just might offer up something exciting all year long.
Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Amplitude, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, Bravely Second: End Layer, EA Sports UFC 2, EVE: Valkyrie, Far Cry: Primal, Final Fantasy Explorers, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright/Conquest, Gone Home, Hitman, Hyrule Warriors, Killer Instinct, Lego Avengers, Life Is Strange, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Mighty No. 9, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, Pokken Tournament, Project X Zone 2, Rebel Galaxy, Resident Evil 0, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Street Fighter V, The Banner Saga, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The Walking Dead: Michonne, The Witness, Tom Clancy's The Division, Umbrella Corps, XCOM 2
2K Games abducts XCOM 2 and changes its release date to February 5, 2016
Firaxis Games began teasing a project known only as “Advent,” later revealed to be XCOM 2, this past May. A month later, Firaxis released the sequel’s first trailer and announced a November release date. That quick turnaround appears to be too quick as the developer has now announced (via the game’s official website) that XCOM 2 will now be available on February 5, 2016:
We want to give you an update on the release date for XCOM 2. We’ve set a high bar for the sequel and the entire team has been working hard to make sure we deliver a great follow-up to Enemy Unknown. We just need a little more time to make it the best possible game.
With XCOM 2, we want to have more depth, more replayability, and more investment in your soldiers and this extension will give us the time we need to deliver on our promise to you.
After announcing XCOM 2, Firaxis told IGN they want the game to push the limits of the PC platform and that their goals are “ambitious.” This commitment to quality is great to hear, but its also likely the cause of the delay.
XCOM 2 “had to be PC exclusive” but may come to PS4, Xbox One in the future
2K Games and Firaxis surprised a lot of people earlier this week when they announced that XCOM 2 would be released exclusively for the PC this November. Even though its predecessor, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, received a simultaneous PC/PS3/Xbox 360 release, developers at Firaxis told IGN the sequel had to be PC exclusive.
“When we looked at what we wanted to do with the sequel, we had all these very, very ambitious goals,” said Creative Director Jake Solomon.
Solomon, and Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis, also said that XCOM 2’s heavy focus on “high-fidelity characters and environments, better-looking destruction, physically based rendering and, […] procedurally generated maps” required staying close to home. And for Firaxis, the PC is home. This allowed the team to optimize the control scheme for keyboard-and-mouse as well as add more detailed tactical information to the on-screen action.
Finally, Solomon confirmed that XCOM 2 may come to the PS4 and Xbox One sometime in the future (“We’re certainly not opposed to that”), but he went on to say, “I can assure [you] that’s something we’re not even discussing yet.”
2K’s “Advent” is actually a PC-exclusive XCOM 2 from Firaxis
2K Games has teamed up with IGN to reveal our first look at XCOM 2, a PC-exclusive sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown in development at Firaxis Games. Scheduled for release this November, XCOM 2 takes the story 20 years beyond the alien invasion of the first game. Oh yeah, and we lost…
Watch the debut trailer above for a glimpse into a future where the aliens are in control of the Earth, and XCOM has gone underground to fight to overthrow their Advent government. This new guerrilla force will face more powerful enemies in unpredictable combat scenarios as they fight to turn the tables on a technologically superior enemy.
XCOM 2 will include “new soldier classes, new aliens, stealth-infused tactics, procedurally generated maps, and more.” IGN has also promised that Creative Director Jake Solomon and Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis will sit down for an interview later this week to discuss why XCOM 2 is skipping consoles.
2K Games and IGN will get together again in two weeks to reveal the first XCOM 2 gameplay trailer during this year’s E3 Expo.
What is Advent? 2K Games is teasing a sinister utopia on new alternate reality website
Less than a week ago, 2K Games announced they would release a “new triple-A title” sometime before April 1, 2016. Today, the publisher began teasing a game currently known as Advent through an in-universe website found at AdventFuture.org.
The website is a sales pitch for the Advent Administration, a futuristic planned community that promises “a world free from hunger, pain, sickness, and war.” However, the main focus of Advent is their gene therapy program, which they claim will cure any disease through a series of DNA splicing and advanced medical procedures. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But as you view the page, the hopeful paragraphs begin to disappear as if the site’s been overtaken by hackers. Red skulls block out the company’s logo and a warning (“The Advent is lying to you”) appears below their promises of long life and tranquility.
Hangar 13, 2K’s newest internal studio, is the development house that’s mostly likely to be behind Advent. Last December, the publisher announced that Haden Blackman (the Jedi Master responsible for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel) would lead the studio in its creation of an “open-world next-generation title.”
Hopefully, 2K will continue to update the Advent website in the run-up to this year’s E3 Expo, which seems like a logical place to announce a “new triple-A title” from a brand new studio.
UPDATE: 2K Games has confirmed that “Advent” is actually XCOM 2, which is currently in development at Firaxis.
2K has NBA 2K16, WWE 2K16, Battleborn, and a “new triple-A title” on tap for 2015
Take-Two Intereactive CEO Strauss Zelnick announced a trio of new titles during the company’s quarterly financial report yesterday. But two we already knew about and the third will remain under wraps until this year’s E3 Expo.
First, Zelnick confirmed that both of 2K’s annual franchises would receive new entries in 2015. WWE 2K16 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 27 while NBA 2K16 will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile platforms sometime in the Fall, though NBA 2K titles typically launch in early October.
The CEO also revealed the company will release a “new triple-A title” during their current fiscal year:
Throughout the coming year, we will continue to execute our proven strategy of launching a select array of the highest-quality titles, led by new annual releases of NBA 2K and WWE 2K; Battleborn, a groundbreaking new intellectual property from Gearbox Software; and a soon-to-be announced new triple-A title from 2K.
This unannounced game is likely in development at Hangar 13, Take-Two’s newest internal studio. Rumor has it that Hangar 13 is working on Mafia III, but we won’t find out for sure until next month. And we may not get to play it until early next year as Take-Two’s fiscal year officially ends on March 31, 2016.
Finally, Zelnick confirmed that Gearbox’s latest, Battleborn, will also be released during the current fiscal year. More details on the colorful (and character-ful) shooter will be revealed ahead of the E3 Expo and during the show itself.
So your big takeaway from this announcement should be that Take-Two Intereactive is going to have a big presence at the 2015 E3 Expo.
UPDATE: 2K Games has confirmed that their “new triple-A title” is actually XCOM 2, which is currently in development at Firaxis.