As I'm sure everyone knows, the new X-COM game was released this week. Who all is or will be playing? :D

Happy holidays, to those that celebrate any and all that are swirling around this time of year!

As most of you are surely aware, Steam has some great holiday deals going on right now, and I just wanted to make sure you were savvy to a couple!

Blood Bowl: Ledendary Edition and Plants vs Zombies are both majorly on sale right now! Being fans of turn-based strats as we all are...I thought this was the perfect group to mention both games! Especially Blood Bowl. PvZ gets a mention just because its a fun and light game that I think everyone can enjoy for some decompression. Blood Bowl is just a damn good tbs!

I'm sure most of you are already aware of The Two Sides being available for X-Com multiplayer options, but there are quite a few other options out there when it comes to good X-Com style games.

UFO:Extraterrestrials ( http://ufo.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/ ) has been out there for a couple years now, and is even available on Steam. If you don't get it via Steam, definitely get the GOLD Edition as it comes with a player-created mod that has gained official recognition and really brings the game to the level it deserves to be on. While other games have been released within the UFO franchise none of them have really been too similar (or too good) to X-Com. UFO:ET does justice to the classic franchise while still giving us a fresh feeling game. Yay for new aliens and new tech to wonder over again!

Now there's also UFO:Extraterrestrials2 ( http://www.ufo2extraterrestrials.com/ ) coming out soon-ish! Its current release date has been pushed back from the end of 2011 and is now March of 2012. By all reports it sounds as though they aren't changing any of the elements from the first one that made it so good in keeping true to X-Com. In fact, it'll even have naval combat! As I understand it this won't be in the vein of TFTD per se, but instead it will mean naval interceptors alongside aerial. Should be interesting, and personally, I'm watching this release quite avidly!

Let's not forget Xenonauts ( http://www.xenonauts.com/ )! This game is currently being demo'd in some European conventions and from what I've seen its looking like it holds quite true to the element of X-Com we all know and love. Its not much to look at, this is true, but it seems to be developed by a group of guys who really know what an awesome nugget the first few X-Com games were.

While two of the three games I've mentioned here aren't out yet, from all the reports I've read and videos I've watched on them I'd still feel relatively confident suggesting them to any fans of X-Com that are just looking for something fresh but still in the style we know and love. I'd also highly reccomend UFO:ET. I even did a Let's Play series of my first play-through of it about a year ago, so you can get a look at it for yourself if you like. Its on YouTube, and the link is even on our group's page here.

I hope I've given some fresh news for at least one unaware person to chew on!

Know of any good games out there that do a good job following in the footsteps of the great X-Com series? Share them with the group!

Thanks for joining the group! If anyone, new or old members alike, have any suggestions for the group, please don't hesitate to bring them up. I'm all for refining this group if there's stuff yall wanna see.

Yall may enjoy tuning in to my current Let's Play. Its UFO:Extraterrestrials...the knock-off of our beloved X-Com series. I had many an opinion about the game before I blindly LPed it...most of them bad. Now, I'm humbled to admit that its not so bad a game in its own right.

I give the LP another plug now because...well...I'm about to beat it! That's right, my experiences with TFTD have not been lost in this spin-off game, and I'm about to take the fight right to the alien's mothership on this first run-through of the game ever!

Next time I'll definitely go for a harder difficulty, but aaaaaalllso....before another UFO:ET LP there WILL BE a TFTD LP! So get on over to my YouTube channel and get current before you miss the real boat! Link is found at the top of the group page.

p.s. As you support this group I'd ask you to please support my YouTube channel and please subscribe!