EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: firaxis
You’ll be immersing yourself in a follow-up to the classic XCOM strategy series sooner than you might have thought, fellows and fellowettes, as 2K Games and Firaxis have today revealed a mid-October release date for XCOM: Enemy Unknown in amongst a torrent of screenshots, gameplay videos, developer interviews and extra details.
There’s just something about listening to technically-minded game developers talk about the nuts-and-bolts of game design that’s incredibly fascinating.
If you’ve been following the development of 2K Marin’s (Australia) first-person shooter set in the venerable XCOM franchise, then you shouldn’t be at all surprised that the game’s release has been delayed into 2013.
A return to the classic isometric strategic action of XCOM was revealed late last week when Game Informer went live with its next cover story detailing XCOM: Enemy Unknown from Firaxis Games, and now the latest batch of screenshots has gone live to provide further glimpses at the title.
It seems as though the game isn’t as purely isometric as we thought, after all:
The February cover of Game Informer magazine has been unveiled, and with it, an announcement of XCOM: Enemy Unknown from strategy masters Firaxis Games.
Well this is just fantastic news!
Late last year it was revealed that the opening theme for Civilization IV, entitled ‘Baba Yetu,’ had been nominated for a Grammy award.
What made this nomination special for gamers was that this was the first time music from a videogame had ever cracked the nod for such recognition. What made this nomination special for South African gamers (and South Africans in general) was that ‘Baba Yetu,’ composed by musician Christopher Tin, features the mighty vocal performances of South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir.
Now, following the annual Grammy Awards ceremony, it’s been revealed that ‘Baba Yetu’ has won a Grammy in its category!
When Firaxis’ strategy title, Civilization IV, released on PC in 2005, it was accompanied by a stirring opening theme called ‘Baba Yetu,’ a piece of music composed by musician Christopher Tin and featuring the vocal performances of South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir.
Now, five years later, that piece of music (as well as another of Tin’s works) has been nominated for a Grammy Award next year – the first time music from a videogame has cracked the nod.
Are you all enjoying strategically (and not so strategically) taking over the world in Sid Meier’s Civilization V? Have you managed to conquer all of the empires and emerge as the one, true ‘Civilization’? * trumpets *
Well, that’s just grand, because 2K Games has revealed that Civ V players will soon be able to let two more empires into their virtual world with the release of two downloadable content packs next week.
At the beginning of the month Firaxis announced that a demo for the studio’s highly anticipated strategy game, Civilization 5, would be arriving before the full release of the title.
Now, though, due to the amount of work necessary to finish up the game (y’know, the work Firaxis is meant to be doing), the demo will only be available on the same day as the title’s release in North America.
From a blog post on the official Civilization 5 site:
The team at Firaxis has announced that a demo for Sid Meier’s Civilization V will become available later this year, ahead of the release of the full game in September.
This will give the legions of Civilization franchise fans an early sneak peek at the studio’s upcoming strategy game, as well as give unconvinced members of the gaming public an opportunity to see what all the fuss is about.
From a post on the official Civilization V website:
Developer of the acclaimed Civilization series of strategy games, Firaxis Games, has been affected by a round of staff layoffs, as 20 members of the 130-strong team leave the studio.
Firaxis owner Take-Two said that the cuts were made to “maximise the overall performance of the studio,” and assured fans that work on neither the upcoming Civilisation V, nor the in-development Civilisation Facebook game, would be affected by the layoffs:
- The Arrival of Azmodan: A Desperate Plea to the Armies of Light
- Why is War fighting against Death in this Darksiders II screenshot?
- Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Review
- Exclusive: Halo Infinity Multiplayer revealed for Halo 4, innovative online modes detailed
- Exclusive: Halo 4 Limited Edition announced with South African pricing and pre-order details
- CoD Elite members can cash in on Double XP now, but also welcome your new Call of Duty community manager