Talk:X-COM: UFO Defense

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[edit] Citation Needed?

Under Single play there is a banner that tells us that a citation is needed for the accuracy of the info.

But the citation is the game manual. How can I point out that the information comes straight from the games manual?

You can mail a suggestion directly to me at address nes@iki.fi

No one is going to email you. That is very un-wiki. Just state it came from the manual. What's the problem? <ref>''X-COM: UFO Defense'' Player's Manual</ref>. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 19:55, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removed info

I removed the following info from the Sequels section of the article:

However, UFO: Aftermath, created by Cenega, essentially achieves that goal, as it creates a game highly similar to the original (although with a key plot difference that it is set after a catastrophic alien attack) but with simplified base control and real time combat in place of the original turn-based system.

I removed it because Cenega (or Altar Interactive) came right out and stated that their game, though very much like X-COM was not an X-COM game. It wasn't an official part of the series, it just had some similar elements. As a compromise, I added a link to the game (which doesn't have an article as of this writing) to the See also section. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:10, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] AGA version

I've just being playing UFO: Enemy Unknown on WinUAE, the Amiga emulator. If you do a little searching, there's an adf of the AGA version. The graphics are far better than the crappy PC Dos version or the old Amiga 500 version, higher resoultion, more colourful, smoother, etc... the music is also very atmospheric compared to other versions. Download WinUAE and check it out. It takes a while to get the correct configuarion, but it's worth it. I'm addicted all over again...

[edit] Image additions

If you look at this version, you'll see that Coolcat added a slew of images of alien ships with their statistics. I reverted them without discussion. This is way too much info for this game and is unencyclopedic. Changes of this sort which have been made to other articles have also been dismissed, so I have precedent. I recommend adding such information to a Wikibook, but not to the main 'pedia entry. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:35, August 22, 2005 (UTC)

PLease do not determine what is encyclopedic and what isnt. I have reverted that back. This is an article about the game and the information I provided is only to that extent. If you are suggesting fancruft you may want to argue to that extent. -- Cat chi? 18:32, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

It is my duty (and every editor's) to determine what is encyclopedic and what is not. However, I won't revert your revert without resolving it here first.

I do indeed think your additions are fancruft. I'm a huge fan of the game, but all the statistics and images you added would only be of interest to the hardcore fan. The information would be great for a strategy guide or a walkthrough, but it simply isn't encyclopedic. I don't where it is now, but there is a sister project for all this type of game information. Things such as this and cheat codes are a great place for it, but not an article that is supposed to give a general overview of the game.

Unfortunately, this article isn't very heavily watched, or we'd have more input from other editors on this point. If you like, you can raise the issue on the Computer and video games WikiProject (a project you might be interested in joining). There, other editors who are much more into games than I am can weigh in on the issue.

Thank you for being open to discussing this issue. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 21:17, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Frecklefoot, while the information is, on some level, interesting, I don't think it's particularly encyclopedic. Now I'm sure you could probably point out some equally bad cases of fancruft that never get's deleted, but I still think that it should be removed. --CVaneg 00:46, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
I agree that it should be removed. I am not keen to have more fair-use material than necessary in articles, and this addition introduces too many. -- Jon Dowland 13:54, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

I removed the information. It'd be fine for a strategy guide, such as a Wikibook, but not a Wikipedia article. — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:29, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Fan sites

I moved them to the main X-COM article, where they belong. Also the last one had incorrect markup, and I fixed it. — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:02, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

Thank you. You are quite right, that is the best place. I've added a note to the article directing people to X-COM for more external links, so hopefully, people like me won't keep adding them thinking they are missing. ;-) JesseW, the juggling janitor 02:51, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Name change

Morwen changed the name to X-COM: Enemy Unknown. While this is the original name of the game in the UK (where it was developed), this article was written about and contains information based on the North American version. For an example, see the scan of the player's manual in the infobox. I'd like to keep it as X-COM: UFO Defense, but I'm not strongly opposed to a name change. But the graphics used in the article should be changed as well.

But more importantly, the article should be moved to X-COM: Enemy Unknown, not just changed in the article. Please discuss here before attempting to move again. A namespace change should almost always be discussed first. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 01:31, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

No they shouldn't. However, since you've stated your opposition to it I'm happy to discuss. I don't see why you merely reverted though - the text before was downright misleading. I've altered the wording again to make it clear what the name of the game actually is, whilst keeping the brand that was adopted for the US release in the article first. Morwen - Talk 07:46, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
There are few, if any changes between the original UK version and versions released elsewhere. Therefore, I'd be happier if the article was called X-COM: Enemy Unknown, as not only was this the first and original name, it keeps it contingious with the rest of the series. Mouse Nightshirt 22:57, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
But it was originally called UFO:Enemy Unknown, not X-COM at all. I'm not sure what you're arguing for. i kan reed 03:30, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
I've added a redirect page at UFO:Enemy Unknown. Strictly speaking the main article should be moved there, as it was written (and first published, I believe) in the UK under that title. -- JediLofty User | Talk 16:23, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
This should not be a concern. Article names should be the thing most likely searched for, and all common names for something should be disambiguated at the very beginning of the article. Preferably, in this case, we'd want to match what references are saying for minimal confusion. i kan reed 18:10, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Russian novelization

Is the Russian novelization of X-COM officially licensed?

I highly doubt it. — Frecklefoot | Talk 20:41, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Terror from the Deep

I've removed a claim that Terror from the Deep was a licensed port, as the sources I've found all imply the game was developed by Microprose. Just posting here to verify I'm not missing a reputable source making this claim. i kan reed 23:27, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


[edit] A possible Wikipedia project?

I'm thinking of starting up a Wikipedia project page for X-COM - the game is under-represented in the encyclopaedia considering the original's impact on the genre. Articles are reasonably messy too and need some maintenance and referencing done.

If you think this project could work, give me a shout on my talk page and I'll fire up the burners! Mouse Nightshirt | talk 17:33, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'll discuss it here. I don't think this is a good idea, unless it is a temporary project. There's a limited number of articles in this series and there aren't any games being developed for it anymore. After the fixing up is done, there won't be a need for the project any longer. One thing these articles could benefit from would be a footer for each article in the series. Something along the lines of what is used for the Need for Speed and Galaxian series. We don't need a project to develop one. — Frecklefoot | Talk 12:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UFO Defense or Enemy Unknown?

According to the information I've been able to scrounge up, the game was released in the USA before it was in Europe; why is someone making it seem like it's the other way around? 75.88.49.3 17:09, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

I chalk it up to abandonware sites the distribute the windows version released under the later title.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Ikanreed (talk • contribs)

Here's some info on the titles:

  • Julian Gollop's bio on the Laser Squad Nemesis website calls the game UFO: Enemy Unknown, with X-Com: UFO Defense used as the alternate title[1].
  • The original version of the game (v1.0) is called UFO: Enemy Unknown, with no reference to the later title in the manual or in-game.
  • The v1.2 readme calls the game UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN.
  • The v1.4 readme calls it UFO/XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN, and the included TFTD advertisement calls it "X-COM: UFO DEFENSE also known as UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN in Europe".
  • The title screens of the three DOS versions and the Windows version call the game UFO: Enemy Unknown, and the description of the Windows re-release's executable file is X-COM: UFO Defense Gold Edition.144.138.89.171 13:45, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
It was definitely "Enemy Unknown" first. It was developed by MicroProse's UK studio and released in Europe. The US headquarters of MP evaluated it, as they did with all UK-developed titles, to see if it was appropriate for a US release. They finally decided it was, but changed the title first. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 17:27, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rebelstar is NOT X-COM

I snipped out a few lines regarding the Rebelstar release. It is 'not' X-COM, nor does it follow the X-COM storyline in any way, which is already described at the beginning of the article. It's basically a "sorta-related" release since the Gallop brothers do not have the rights to X-COM. TFX 21:17, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ===============================================================

Original game CD - 1997. Game is called: X-COM:UFO Defense DOS CD-ROM #0-522-40-102 Publisher: Microprose copyright. Mythos Games Ltd and Microprose Ltd. All Rights Reserved. X-COM and MICROPROSE are registered trademarks and X-COM:UFO DEFENSE is a trademark of Microprose Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Rated: Teen Ages 13+ ESRB

This is my CD-ROM of the game with serial number of the CD disk. Version 1 I might add since I know there is the 1.4 patch for this ms-dos game.

Review at Gamespot of game: Dec. 31, 1993 http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/xcomufodefense/index.html

Patch v1.4 Sept.1, 1997

X-COM Collector's Edition (which I also have upgraded to work in Windows turning off DirectDraw or Direct 3D nowadays to make the game play) Nov. 24, 1999 Review at Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/xcomcollectorsedition/index.html

Oh, also if it helps since I remember the game on the shelf the game was X-COM:Enemy Unknown but here in the USA it did not catch on at first, and then it became X-COM:UFO Defense within the same box as shown for the game.

[edit] Original Concept?

The Gollop brothers originally approached Microprose wishing to produce a sequel to Laser Squad. They had a graphics demo on the Atari ST. At This point their intention was to produce a squad level tactical battle game based on another planet with no extra strategic elements.

Microprose liked the demo but UK publisher Paul Hibbard felt the game should be ‘bigger’ to fit in line with the rest of the MicroProse strategic titles and ideally should have an earth based element. He tasked the development and marketing departments to come up with some ideas to expand the game and present them to the Gollop brothers. Peter Moreland from MicroProse development immediately recognised that there was an opportunity to use many of the elements from a 60’s Gerry Anderson Sci-Fi TV series UFO.

In conjunction with Rob Davies, Tim Roberts and the Gollop Brothers a brain storming session was held and the additional strategic elements were thrashed out including the Geosphere, Interception, Base building, Ufopedia and weapons research, the latter items being adaptations of strategy elements already included in other MicroProse titles such as Civilisation.


Peter Moreland87.114.1.219 15:10, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

We would need a ref for that. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 17:33, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Went to your page... I am a Wikipedia virgin... I couldnt see how to start a new message... When you say you need a ref.. what do you mean? I am telling you the events as I remember them happening. Cheers

Peter Moreland

Dear Peter Moreland,
The problem is, that there is no real user authentification in Wikipedia. So everyone could claim to be you. If you have a personal home page you could write the comment there and add a link to that here. 88.68.195.145 (talk) 21:13, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Yes, I agree. That would be a "verifiable reference", what I referring to above. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 12:14, 12 May 2008 (UTC)