I'm glad they're doing it. It would be disappointing if they just remade the first game feature for feature. I've got faith in them not to screw it up.

And did I hear that Sid Meier is recruitable?!

Aparently in the E3 demo the psi-ops guy has Sid Meier's face, whether you can get him ingame is still unknown but I would say there is a good chance. He is also working on the game as a proigramer because he aparently still likes to do that. 

They are trying to sell the 'old school' game in an shinny outfit.. I dont buy it, since in the ends its a"fast passed shooter".

Sure the base design looks gorgeous , the destructible environment and various enemies and how they use the environment looked very nice and the cam tricks looks cool so far. Still going by the OP, if you compare it to the old school game, its a complete miss, the whole point about it was the suspense and mood, I sat on the edge of my sit and jumped when some hidden enemy surprised me, here it seems to be about quick paced action and cool cam effects, which to me is just like 3d in most RTS its cool at first sight but 99.99% time you dont use and dont give a fuck about it.

I think its will be a good game in the Xcom universe, but ;lets not compare it to the old games and let it be its own thing.

I don't really see how XCOM: Enemy Unknown could possibly be called a "fast passed shooter" it's still turnbassed.

I do agree a big part of the orignal game was the the atmosfear* and trying to find that last Alien on the terror map after a half hour slog against the crysilids only to find one with your last unit with time left and to miss and watch him get zombified. But I think there is a chance of them capaturing some of that mood with the new game (tho I don't really like the new art style), the kill cams etc are optional. I am also hoping that the game will feature mod support because I know that given the chance the community could make something amazing with the framework. 

And if you want a successor that sticks closer to the origonal formula there is alwas Xenonauts. 

*atmosphere

If they fuck up character development and player to character empathy with the new class system they will loose THE thing that I remember with most affection about UFO1.
In the original game, the soldiers developed slowly and as the player learned the game at the same pace, a strong connection was created with each soldier. And as each soldier kind of specialized based on tasks received (carry heavy weapons, long distance sots, grenade thrower, and later uber mind controller) each became unique and losing one was not an option. I still remember today, after more than 15 years, the legendary (for me and one friend of mine) Marcel Marcel (ok, not the hardest name to remember), who had huge numbers of action pints and great mind control skills.
If Firaxis can come close to the original overall experience I will be impressed (and frankly surprised).

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-10-why-firaxis-xcom-remake-had-to-have-multiplayer-and-why-you-shouldnt-worry

"Multiplayer has been a part of the XCOM remake from the moment production began. And that was a long time ago - just over four years. From the very beginning, Solomon knew what it would be all about at its core: two squads made up of aliens and soldiers going at it using the XCOM turn-based strategy fans know and love in a traditional deathmatch set-up. Now the game is complete the multiplayer is fully fleshed out, but it's no more complex, really, than that original vision."

"It's one of those fantasies," Solomon counters. "You played the original, it was always this fantasy to play as the aliens. Now, generally, the fantasy encompasses a game where you're aliens invading earth. But that has never appealed to me - I don't know that would actually be that fun to play. So this is one way to fulfil that fantasy. You can play as the Sectoid. You can play as all these different alien creatures. I don't know that from the very beginning we knew exactly what multiplayer was going to be, but it was something I absolutely wanted."

"XCOM's multiplayer is simple, really. You begin a match with a points pool from which you buy units you wish to send into the battlefield. All the units in the game are available from the off, from the Sectoid to the Thin Man, the Chrysalid to the Sniper soldier. Powerful units are expensive. Weaker units are cheap. There are variations of unit types, for example, The Sectoid can Mind Merge with a friendly unit for a turn, boosting its power, but the Sectoid Commander can mind merge with your entire squad. Of course, the Sectoid Commander is more expensive than the Sectoid."

"Thankfully, Firaxis has resisted the urge to tinker with the core XCOM gameplay for multiplayer, instead replicating it, more or less. A turn is limited to 115 seconds (this can be customised alongside the points pool). During this time you command each unit in your squad, moving, perhaps shooting, maybe using an ability too. Then, it's your opponent's turn. In the early game, you're focused on sending out units that can cover a lot of ground in one turn, such as the Chrysalid, the Drone or maybe the leaping Thin Man, to scout the battlefield."

"XCOM needs you

After XCOM launches, Firaxis will keep an eye on the forums and its metrics to see which strategies emerge, which units are most popular, and which are rarely used. It has the ability to make on the fly changes to the points cost of the units, and it intends to use it as strategies ebb and flow.

Solomon calls this players helping to "crowd source the design", which seems appropriate, considering the ownership so many feel of the original XCOM. For years he's wracked his brain trying to work out how best to remake the game some consider to be the greatest of all time. Some things are different. Some things are the same. And some things, like multiplayer, are brand new."

more at the source http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-10-why-firaxis-xcom-remake-had-to-have-multiplayer-and-why-you-shouldnt-worry

That Multiplayer sounds pretty good really. Hype hype hype!

PC version of XCOM remake draws battlefield grid

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-10-pc-version-of-xcom-remake-draws-battlefield-grid

"The PC version, unlike the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version, draws a grid on the battlefield, allowing the player to see in detail how movement is affected by the terrain."

"There's a lot of value to keeping as much similar as you can, just because of the fact the more different it gets the more bugs it creates," he said. "That deviation creates a lot of work, which is what we've experienced. So it's nice to keep things similar in a lot of respects. But, it would be nice to say we're completely altruistic PC champions. And we are. At Firaxis PC is incredibly important to us.

"But, to be honest, a lot of it comes from the fact we just can't take what we've done with the gamepad and make it work with the mouse. It just doesn't work. You're pushing a cursor around the map. So it just doesn't map to the mouse and keyboard. And it's a good thing, but because of that we were forced to come up with a new interface."

"People have asked, why isn't it this big, air combat game?" Solomon said. "The reason is, truly, that XCOM is already two games. You already have the strategy game. You already have the tactical game. They're really fully fledged experiences. I didn't want to add a third game over the top of that because at some point it becomes too much.

"Also, Interception only takes five to 10 seconds. I don't want five to 10 seconds of gameplay to ruin hours and hours of strategic planning."

It kinda sounds like the PC interface was tacked on TBH, which is a bit worrying. This talk of having to make a PC specific UI because they couldn't the gamepad UI to mouse and keyboard. I would have thought it would be the other way round. 

Anyway new screens

I guess I will have to revisit the OP soon lol