Interesting, thank you. I'll probably still pick up the retail, but in case I can't find a special edition, I may turn to our russian friends.

It does seem to be consistent the proofofpurchase thing vs billingonce. I think I'll risk it. We'll see how low Russians are willing to go on this one. Looks like a buyers market considering everyone asking for the game is avoiding the RU version.

New gameplay videos from OXM showing off the early parts of the Campaign on Classic difficulty:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Along with an RPS article detailing 40 hours of gameplay:

Hands-On: Forty Hours With XCOM

Good to see someone already posted a link to that. Oh, yes, October can't come soon enough. *salivates*

It seems to be a fantastic game. I can't wait to put my hands on it.
Meanwhile I'm playing the original... Great fun also but very unforgiving. It forces me to reload a lot.

I haven't been following this very closely. Did this start out as an FPS reboot, or was that something else that's in the works?

The FPS reboot is an entirely different game which was actually announced before the new XCOM strategy game. It has been delayed several times though and might not come out until 2014.

I see.

That's actually becoming increasingly likely with each further delay and with the overall negative reaction of the gaming community to the game. I wouldn't be surprised if a cancellation of the project was announced soon.

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the shooter come out. Sure it's a different take on things, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad.

That would be a shame, as shooters go it looks interesting, take a look at the game-play trailer from E3 2011: http://www.xcom.com/xcom/, there are some interesting thing going on there. I also do like the visual style, nice pulp 1950's sci-fi references.

First, the trailer, which is great.

Full mission demo with narration

First Mission gameplay, open sequence revealed: It's raining outside... weather effects!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Gameplay Walkthrough: Sid Meier walking in like Commander Shepard to Mass Effect styled music, Epic. LOL.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Live Gameplay (over an hour long)

My biggest gripe with the original game is the soldiers were interchangable and had no character or personality. The new re-imagining now has classes, skill trees, and different personalities for squad members. That, IMO, is a a huge improvement from the original.

IMO, this new game looks and plays way much better than the original. I actually hated the original. I played it, but I was underwhelmed by it; mostly because I kept compared it to another squad-based tactical game, Jagged Alliance. The original X-COM pales in comparison because the squad members in Jagged Alliance had all sorts of personalities, while the ones in XCOM had none: they were just plain boring holders for a bunch of numbers and statistics (for attributes.)

The FPS version is a blasphemy. ;)

I on the other hand hated this in Afterlight/Aftermatch/Afterwhatever clones. At the level of command we had in X-Com games, soldiers should be just names and ranks and rookies should be available in unlimited numbers. There shouldn't be any enforced clasificatioon on machinegunners, snipers or riflemen. A player should decide what role a soldier should carry and in what direction should he develop, no matter how skilled he is in a specific weapon type.
I hope we won't have any perks, like -2 AP on MG reload cost for level 2 machinegunner or shit like that.

JA/JA2 was not a GLOBAL defense simulator like X-Com is, but a small scale conflict one, so small selection of mercenaries that had personalities was justified.

Soldiers in real world are specialized. In real world, soldiers *are* classified into gunners, snipers, heavy, etc. In real world, soldiers are good in different things, and they are specialized in different things according to their strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, the classification actually adds to strategic and tactical consideration.

The new version does have different perks and skills. That is how players get to specialize their squad members. Snipers can get different skills, different perks, and become good in different areas, and you pick and choose your squad members for missions based on their strenghts and weaknesses. The different specialization is why I think the new remake is superior to the original one.