XCOM FPS site taken down, videos removed

The XCOM shooter has had its site removed and videos pulled from 2K's official YouTube channel, and recent domain registrations indicate it may be getting a rebranding as "The Bureau."

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The long-delayed XCOM first-person shooter appears to be going through a transition process. The official site and videos have been pulled, which would seem to suggest a cancellation if not for recent reports that point to a full rebranding effort.

Digital Trends noticed that the site now leads to a 404 error, and the videos on YouTube have been removed.

But that may not mean the project has been scrapped completely. Kotaku recently reported that Take-Two recently registered a variety of domain names: thebureau-game.com, thebureau-game.net, whathappenedin62.com, and whathappenedin62.net. These all point towards a rebranding of the game, which was set to take place in 1962. A separate report, based on a survey, indicated that it was being made into a third-person shooter, and would be available as a downloadable game instead of a full retail title.

None of this is conclusive, but the game has been delayed -- most recently into fiscal 2014. The game was the first new XCOM title announced in years, much to the consternation of some. Then XCOM: Enemy Unknown was announced, released before the XCOM shooter, and became a critical and commercial success. Take-Two may not want to confuse the market with another game sporting a similar title but in an entirely different genre, so a name change would make sense.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 15, 2013 9:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, XCOM FPS site taken down, videos removed.

    The XCOM shooter has had its site removed and videos pulled from 2K's official YouTube channel, and recent domain registrations indicate it may be getting a rebranding as "The Bureau."

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      April 15, 2013 9:04 AM

      Good. Let's just say that it never happened.

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      April 15, 2013 9:04 AM

      That's great news.

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      April 15, 2013 9:09 AM

      ironic if "gaming community" loves the eventual game that comes out and only had piss-pants over it because of the initial name

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        April 15, 2013 9:14 AM

        the videos theyve released didnt really look very fun :(

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        April 15, 2013 9:23 AM

        [deleted]

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          April 15, 2013 9:33 AM

          Max Payne 3 was an utterly destructive release?

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            April 15, 2013 9:42 AM

            [deleted]

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              April 15, 2013 3:45 PM

              I dunno about that. MP3 was pretty damn awesome. I hated it at first but it grew on me. I just finished my 4th playthrough!

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                April 15, 2013 3:59 PM

                I hear it really gets going by the 5th playthrough.

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              April 15, 2013 5:15 PM

              He was still Noir max, his shirt had nothing to do with it

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                April 15, 2013 5:50 PM

                and if we're going to talk shirts, his shirt in the original game was pretty colorful

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          April 15, 2013 12:20 PM

          To counter your point, Fallout 3 and Duke Nukem 3D are fine examples of a genre shift that invigorated the franchises.

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            April 15, 2013 12:22 PM

            [deleted]

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            April 15, 2013 5:03 PM

            Ugh. I really hate that Fallout 3 can be considered in this light now. I guess it was the introduction for too many people who never played the first two (or any actual RPGs, for that matter, since so many are willing to embrace Bethesda's watered down, barely coherent take on the genre).

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        April 15, 2013 9:26 AM

        There's something to be said about nostalgia.

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        April 15, 2013 9:28 AM

        It was because they were needlessly redesigning the wheel, when a perfectly good source to remake already existed. Now that I've gotten my classic-oriented remake, i'm perfectly happy to see where they take this.

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        April 15, 2013 9:29 AM

        Failing to see the irony with that.

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        April 15, 2013 12:22 PM

        I don't think people really had issue with the game other than the fact that it clearly wasn't X-COM and shouldn't have been using the name. I'm all for a re-branding.

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        April 15, 2013 12:58 PM

        I'm hoping they call it "Civ"

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        April 15, 2013 1:02 PM

        The big 'reveal' trailer in 2010, while mostly mood-setting, looked super cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdVb4UnqO7A

        After a reworking to focus more on squad stuff, its E3 showing in 2011 looked a lot less interesting.

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          April 15, 2013 1:09 PM

          Yep. "Oh, that's kind of cool I guess" to "Huh, they really bro'ed that up pretty quickly."

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          April 15, 2013 4:05 PM

          [deleted]

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          April 15, 2013 5:41 PM

          I like the mood in that (and the idea of find them, study them, etc.) but the FPS stuff looks pretty bad

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        April 15, 2013 3:41 PM

        [deleted]

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      April 15, 2013 9:23 AM

      Honestly it looked like a cool universe for a game, it just didn't need to have the XCOM name on it.

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      April 15, 2013 10:02 AM

      They could have done the same thing to Max Payne 3.

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      April 15, 2013 2:46 PM

      They should make it a Bureau 13 remake instead.

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        April 15, 2013 3:52 PM

        Oh wow, they're still releasing books, though I don't think the website has been redesigned since 1998. http://www.tritacgames.com/

        I actually have the adventure game CD somewhere in storage.

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          April 15, 2013 4:56 PM

          HA! I wouldn't have guessed they were still around!

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      April 15, 2013 3:57 PM

      I'm kinda bummed about this, the gameplay I saw at E3 a few years ago looked fun, if a bit generic.

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      April 15, 2013 5:44 PM

      I'd rather any XCOM games that are any different genres build on Firaxis' story.

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