Floaters

[Alucardex]

I somewhat disagree. It's a long story, but you got to take even your jokes seriously

Ok I'm confused. What does the Hitchhiker's Guide have to do with serious jokes?

[Inkidu]

So it looks like the floaters went from being a joke to being badass. Look into their eyes, 18 years of humiliation and pain is in there.

You sir, deserve a high five.

Floater: "They're not going to laugh at us now! Never againNever againNever again!"

[japester]

Sorry.

It's all good. Thanks for clarifying your point. I get what you're saying. I attended a few Trek conventions when I was younger, and I'm a big Star Wars fan. Having socialized with both fan groups for many years, I can't say that I've experienced the kind of tunnel vision you described (where everything else can only be described in terms of Trek/Wars), but I admit I haven't participated in online discussions with either group. Maybe it's more prevalent there.

Or to put it in another way, look at X-COM. 2K Marin could've taken some ideas from it and made any game they wanted with X-COM, but instead, they just *had to* rip-off Mass Effect (which is like the Star Trek of gaming). Why did they do that? Maybe because they thought X-COM was crap. Or maybe they thought Mass Effect was so much better, that X-COM fans would jump for joy now that it plays more like Mass Effect. Or maybe Mass Effect was just populer, so they copied it because they didn't want to take any chances. But whatever the reason, instead of a great new game, we get a rip-off.

There is a tiny bit of irony in accusing Trek/Wars fans of seeing other sci-fi properties as ripoffs of what they like...and then accusing 2K of ripping off ME, the "Star Trek" of gaming.

I'm sure there will be some similarities to ME in XCOM. There are very few truly original games made. Everyone borrows from the best, to one degree or another. But I don't think it's an overt attempt to ape ME, or to diss the original game's style. I think it's much simpler than that. Nobody, not even the original creators, have been able to match the original X-COM. So 2K tried to make a game in the style they know best--FPS. Put another way, the original X-COM is like a fantastic symphony. 2K love listening to it, but they are painters, not musicians. So they decided to pay homage with a painting (keeping inside their skillset) rather than try to compose something.

The fact that they also put Firaxis on the job, making the type of game they know best (TBS), supports my theory. Both teams are big fans of X-COM, and both are making the style of game they are most comfortable with.

[Chaos Marine]

More than like they thought Mass Effect is ridiculously popular and so is Bioshock, lets make something that tries to be both. But what can we call it? XCom! It's not like being a completely different game type, setting... a completely different EVERYTHING will make any difference.

Please note the above is dripping with sarcasm and scorn.