Fear of the unknown is always a reliable go-to when it comes to horror. And throwing something even more mysterious like aliens into the mix only adds to it. Admittedly, MicroProse’s classic 1994 PC turn-based strategy game X-com: UFO Defence (or UFO: Enemy Unknown for you fans in the UK) isn’t pure horror, but it definitely did have that psychological terror and that “just one more turn” addictiveness that kept you coming back for more during your playthrough. At the same time, it also held a sense of dread from the very real potential that you could lose it all from an unseen alien threat that was hiding in the shadows (or right behind you). After all, that dread kept the series going for multiple entries, and even led to the series’ rebirth by 2K in 2012.
Originally planned by Julian Gollop as a sequel to to his original 1988 game Laser Squad,...
Originally planned by Julian Gollop as a sequel to to his original 1988 game Laser Squad,...
- 3/24/2024
- by Mike Wilson
- bloody-disgusting.com
Community funding and publishing platform Fig announced Tuesday it’s teaming up with the Gygax Trust to develop video games based on unpublished intellectual property from Gary Gygax, the co-creator of “Dungeons & Dragons.”
The two plan to find developers for Gygax’s IP, launch Fig campaigns to raise money, and publish several titles. Additional information about those games will be announced later this year.
Gygax died in 2008 at the age of 69 after suffering an abdominal aneurysm. As co-creator of “Dungeons & Dragons,” many considered him a pioneer of the modern role-playing game genre.
“The worlds and characters to be discovered in my husband’s unpublished intellectual property are an incredibly important part of his legacy,” Gail Gygax said in a press release. “Therefore, it was paramount that we partner with an advanced and innovative platform such as Fig that gave us complete control of his creative vision.”
Fig was...
The two plan to find developers for Gygax’s IP, launch Fig campaigns to raise money, and publish several titles. Additional information about those games will be announced later this year.
Gygax died in 2008 at the age of 69 after suffering an abdominal aneurysm. As co-creator of “Dungeons & Dragons,” many considered him a pioneer of the modern role-playing game genre.
“The worlds and characters to be discovered in my husband’s unpublished intellectual property are an incredibly important part of his legacy,” Gail Gygax said in a press release. “Therefore, it was paramount that we partner with an advanced and innovative platform such as Fig that gave us complete control of his creative vision.”
Fig was...
- 4/17/2018
- by Stefanie Fogel
- Variety Film + TV
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The birth and evolution of the British games industry is perfectly captured in Britsoft: An Oral History. Ryan reviews a great book...
Pick a page, any page, and you'll find something funny, strange or informative. Ah, here we go: page 258, which talks about the time Palace Software hired glamour model Maria Whittaker to pose for the cover of its 1987 game, Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior.
"Steve made little breastplates out of ashtrays," recalls Palace Software's Richard Leinfellner, "which apparently kept pinging off for some reason."
It's an anecdote which aptly captures the 80s era of British software development: the wild, sometimes crazy marketing ideas and gimmicks, the hype, the great mountainous piles of cash for the lucky few, the financial disaster for the less fortunate. Britsoft: An Oral History, a two-inch-thick slab of a book, is a time capsule from a bygone era of innovation and eccentricity, as...
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The birth and evolution of the British games industry is perfectly captured in Britsoft: An Oral History. Ryan reviews a great book...
Pick a page, any page, and you'll find something funny, strange or informative. Ah, here we go: page 258, which talks about the time Palace Software hired glamour model Maria Whittaker to pose for the cover of its 1987 game, Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior.
"Steve made little breastplates out of ashtrays," recalls Palace Software's Richard Leinfellner, "which apparently kept pinging off for some reason."
It's an anecdote which aptly captures the 80s era of British software development: the wild, sometimes crazy marketing ideas and gimmicks, the hype, the great mountainous piles of cash for the lucky few, the financial disaster for the less fortunate. Britsoft: An Oral History, a two-inch-thick slab of a book, is a time capsule from a bygone era of innovation and eccentricity, as...
- 11/10/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
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"From the creator of the original X-Com" comes strategy reboot Chaos Reborn. It's out now, and here's the trailer to prove it...
Julian Gollop's contribution to the realm of strategy games really can't be underestimated. Although best known for kickstarting the classic X-Com series, his work goes right back to the early 80s, with the Rebelstar and Chaos games establishing his talent for creating apparently simple tactical experiences with hidden depths.
Chaos, first published by Games Workshop, is a case in point: a turn-based strategy game where players take on the role of warring wizards. Armed with only a small book of spells, Chaos's rival necromancers surround themselves with an army of creatures and send them into battle. Addictive and engrossing, Chaos really came to life in its multiplayer mode. The expanded sequel Lords Of Chaos, meanwhile, expanded its wizardry to an equally engaging tactical RPG.
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"From the creator of the original X-Com" comes strategy reboot Chaos Reborn. It's out now, and here's the trailer to prove it...
Julian Gollop's contribution to the realm of strategy games really can't be underestimated. Although best known for kickstarting the classic X-Com series, his work goes right back to the early 80s, with the Rebelstar and Chaos games establishing his talent for creating apparently simple tactical experiences with hidden depths.
Chaos, first published by Games Workshop, is a case in point: a turn-based strategy game where players take on the role of warring wizards. Armed with only a small book of spells, Chaos's rival necromancers surround themselves with an army of creatures and send them into battle. Addictive and engrossing, Chaos really came to life in its multiplayer mode. The expanded sequel Lords Of Chaos, meanwhile, expanded its wizardry to an equally engaging tactical RPG.
- 10/27/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Great geek book publisher Read-Only Memory has announced Britsoft: An Oral History, which charts the growth of the British games industry...
Read-Only Memory have published some of the best videogame-focused books of recent years, including Sensible Software 1986-1999 and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: The Collected Works.
The company's latest volume, Britsoft: An Oral History, charts the golden age of programming in the UK - an early-80s era where a new generation of affordable computers prompted an explosion of creativity.
Designed as a companion piece to the recent documentary, From Bedrooms To Billions, Britsoft will include interviews with 35 programmers and designers that entertained a generation of gamers - these include Elite's David Braben, Attack Of The Mutant Camels' Jeff Minter, X-Com's Julian Gollop, and chiptune composer Rob Hubbard.
Given that Read-Only Memory's previous books have been both exquisitely designed and full of valuable info, we're looking forward to seeing their...
Read-Only Memory have published some of the best videogame-focused books of recent years, including Sensible Software 1986-1999 and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: The Collected Works.
The company's latest volume, Britsoft: An Oral History, charts the golden age of programming in the UK - an early-80s era where a new generation of affordable computers prompted an explosion of creativity.
Designed as a companion piece to the recent documentary, From Bedrooms To Billions, Britsoft will include interviews with 35 programmers and designers that entertained a generation of gamers - these include Elite's David Braben, Attack Of The Mutant Camels' Jeff Minter, X-Com's Julian Gollop, and chiptune composer Rob Hubbard.
Given that Read-Only Memory's previous books have been both exquisitely designed and full of valuable info, we're looking forward to seeing their...
- 6/8/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Strategy hit Xcom: Enemy Unknown is getting a sequel this November - and it's going to be a PC exclusive. Here's the first trailer...
Firaxis' turn-based Xcom: Enemy Unknown brought Julian Gollop's classic strategy game into the 21st century with style, and the resulting experience, released in 2012, was rightly acclaimed.
Three years on, and Xcom 2 has been announced - incredibly, in this age of constant leaks, Fireaxis managed to develop the thing without news of it being splashed all over games websites everywhere.
Set after the events of the previous game, Xcom 2 will see a group of resistance fighters covertly retaliating against the alien occupiers and the government they've installed, reportedly called the Advent.
According to IGN, who've broken the news of Xcom 2's release, the game will include "new soldier classes, new aliens, stealth-infused tactics, procedurally generated maps, and more." You can get an idea of what some...
Firaxis' turn-based Xcom: Enemy Unknown brought Julian Gollop's classic strategy game into the 21st century with style, and the resulting experience, released in 2012, was rightly acclaimed.
Three years on, and Xcom 2 has been announced - incredibly, in this age of constant leaks, Fireaxis managed to develop the thing without news of it being splashed all over games websites everywhere.
Set after the events of the previous game, Xcom 2 will see a group of resistance fighters covertly retaliating against the alien occupiers and the government they've installed, reportedly called the Advent.
According to IGN, who've broken the news of Xcom 2's release, the game will include "new soldier classes, new aliens, stealth-infused tactics, procedurally generated maps, and more." You can get an idea of what some...
- 6/1/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Feature Ryan Lambie 11 Apr 2014 - 06:26
This week's Crowdfunding Friday includes a sci-fi film secretly shot in Beijing and starring dissident artist Al Weiwei...
At the time of writing, there are just six days to go before Julian Gollop's Kickstarter campaign for Chaos Reborn comes to a close. In case you missed it, we covered the game in more detail a few weeks ago; based on the 80s Zx Spectrum game Chaos, it's both a revival and comprehensive expansion on that tactical fantasy classic.
We've had a chance to play with the prototype multiplayer bit of Chaos Reborn, and while it's still being polished, it's every bit the engrossing battle of wits an necromancy we were hoping. Each bout is short, sharp and tense, with the screen quickly filling up with goo, fire and fantastical monsters as each wizard casts their spells - Chaos was and is an appropriate...
This week's Crowdfunding Friday includes a sci-fi film secretly shot in Beijing and starring dissident artist Al Weiwei...
At the time of writing, there are just six days to go before Julian Gollop's Kickstarter campaign for Chaos Reborn comes to a close. In case you missed it, we covered the game in more detail a few weeks ago; based on the 80s Zx Spectrum game Chaos, it's both a revival and comprehensive expansion on that tactical fantasy classic.
We've had a chance to play with the prototype multiplayer bit of Chaos Reborn, and while it's still being polished, it's every bit the engrossing battle of wits an necromancy we were hoping. Each bout is short, sharp and tense, with the screen quickly filling up with goo, fire and fantastical monsters as each wizard casts their spells - Chaos was and is an appropriate...
- 4/10/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Feature Ryan Lambie 21 Mar 2014 - 06:02
In a Crowdfunding Friday special, we salute the stunning games of Julian Gollop, and take a look at his Kickstarter project, Chaos Reborn...
It's often the case with games from the 70s and 80s that you had to be there at the time to appreciate how exciting they were to play. Some of us may have fond memories of something like Atari's Battlezone, for example, but would a 12-year-old of 2014 respond to it with the same excitement as a youngster in 1980? Probably not.
Likewise a game like 3D Deathchase for the Zx Spectrum, a racing game that felt like a white-knuckle recreation of the speeder bike chase from Return Of The Jedi back in 1983 - would it illicit the same gasps of excitement from a player now as it did back then? We doubt it, even if it is a game we remember with cosy fondness.
In a Crowdfunding Friday special, we salute the stunning games of Julian Gollop, and take a look at his Kickstarter project, Chaos Reborn...
It's often the case with games from the 70s and 80s that you had to be there at the time to appreciate how exciting they were to play. Some of us may have fond memories of something like Atari's Battlezone, for example, but would a 12-year-old of 2014 respond to it with the same excitement as a youngster in 1980? Probably not.
Likewise a game like 3D Deathchase for the Zx Spectrum, a racing game that felt like a white-knuckle recreation of the speeder bike chase from Return Of The Jedi back in 1983 - would it illicit the same gasps of excitement from a player now as it did back then? We doubt it, even if it is a game we remember with cosy fondness.
- 3/20/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
X-com (or X-Com, or Xcom, depending on which decade the individual game is from) is a storied franchise. UFO: Enemy Unknown, which debuted in 1994, got the series off to a strong start. The game was very positively received and remains a highly acclaimed tactical strategy game, even topping some recent "Best PC Game" lists.
The X-com series envisions a near future in which aliens have begun an invasion of Earth. It is a highly strategic game that places you in command of an organization called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (X-com). You develop your base of operations, research alien technology, and direct your squad of fighters to protect Earth from the alien attack. The Geoscape view lets you direct all affairs of the organization. This comprises assigning research, selling recovered alien technology, managing relations with member countries, deploying satellites, and directing aircraft. It is an impressively complex challenge in base management...
The X-com series envisions a near future in which aliens have begun an invasion of Earth. It is a highly strategic game that places you in command of an organization called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (X-com). You develop your base of operations, research alien technology, and direct your squad of fighters to protect Earth from the alien attack. The Geoscape view lets you direct all affairs of the organization. This comprises assigning research, selling recovered alien technology, managing relations with member countries, deploying satellites, and directing aircraft. It is an impressively complex challenge in base management...
- 8/20/2013
- by Jacob Spafford
- GeekTyrant
It can be hard to bring back a classic – just look at all the failed reboots in all mediums – but 2012’s Xcom: Enemy Unknown, a reimagining of the classic 1994 classic X-com: UFO Defense (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe, managed to do it. Firaxis stayed true to the franchise’s turn based strategy roots, while updating the technology, aesthetic, and game design to not only fit modern audiences, but to improve upon the game design of the original. Before people come out of the woodwork and claim that Firaxis ruined Xcom, here are some samples of Julian Gollop, the lead designer of the original Xcom, pointing out the flaws in the original and where the new one was better.
But with every game, there’s plenty of room for improvement, especially with a game that spent five years in development. For all its improvements over the old game, there are...
But with every game, there’s plenty of room for improvement, especially with a game that spent five years in development. For all its improvements over the old game, there are...
- 4/10/2013
- by Xavier Santana
- Obsessed with Film
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