By now most of you will have become aware that the creator of X-Com, Julian Gollop is on Kickstarter hoping to fund his new project Chaos Reborn. This is exciting mostly because the game will be the first one he has made for the PC in about a decade, having been working with Ubisoft to develop games for handheld platforms since then. So what made him change his mind about handhelds being the last stronghold for turn-based strategy gaming?

In an interview with PCGamesN Gollop said that he felt PC had become home to complicated 4X games and war shooters, not leaving a lot of room for the sort of turn-based game that he was interested in. On the other hand the DS had Fire Emblem and others games that he was a fan of, and so found himself working as an independent developer and publisher at Ubisoft Sofia, where his last game was Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars a 3DS launch title.

Of course, now that the X-Com reboot has been a success with the game and its DLC gaining popularity for the turn-based strategy game again Gollop has decided to return to PC with Chaos Reborn. He was also very positive about Unity, which already supports the browser based prototype of Chaos.  “It has made this cross-platform development much, much more economical,” he says, hoping that Unity will allow for cross-platform play between PC and tablet versions of the game, commenting that the engine was becoming more of a platform in its own right in a sense.

The Kickstarter is still active and there’s still a little bit more needed to reach target so go give it a look and support it if you like turn-based games with a little luck thrown in for good measure.

Kickstarter is here.

Chaos Reborn browser version is here.

The latest system update for Microsoft’s Xbox One has started rolling out, and it brings along a few much requested features.

The update has a number of small tweaks, starting with some adjustments to the friend system that will notify you when friends and favorites sign into Xbox Live. In addition, friends in multiplayer will also be identified in the friends list.

The update is also adding a game save progress bar that will show you the status of your saves, and you’ll be able to see what games and apps are in the process of updating or have recently updates.

Finally, Microsoft has improved the video quality in GameDVR, done some more tuning to the Kinect voice and motion detection, and has given us 50Hz video output for Blu-Ray content, as well as a controller and headset adaptor firmware update.

No word yet on an update that will include an Xbox One that can be purchased without a Kinect.

You can read more about all the changes at Major Nelson’s Blog.

Today in an interview with IGN, King’s Tommy Palm spoke about how conventional game developers are trying out the free-to-play model of games and how he sees free-to-play and micro-transactions as being the future for gaming.

“If you talk to many hardcore gamers, they’re not happy about it right now, but if you asked them about the long term, “Do you want to continue playing your favourite game for years to come?’ And the answer will be yes.” Palm said, talking about how he sees the micro-transaction as being strong and a ‘better model’ for games in general.

He did acknowledge that free-to-play games needed to sensibly price their micro-transactions though, and take care to avoid the pay-to-win mechanics that sometimes result. “At King, for instance, we took the decision to make our games truly free-to-play, so you will never end up in the position where you’re forced to pay. So you can play all the way to the end without having to pay.”

He pointed towards Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone as being a good way to do a free-to-play game and avoid the pitfalls. Indeed, the game was a runaway success, partially because it was based on an already existing property (Blizzard’s long-running and popular World of Warcraft MMO) but also because unlike Blizzard’s previous games it didn’t require a constant costly subscription fee and the card packs and Arena runs you can purchase with real money can also easily be bought with the in-game gold you earn by completing the daily challenges set.

The problem is though, most free-to-play games are not Hearthstone or even close. Free-to-play has become associated with the sort of game that has been made not to give the audience enjoyment, but to mine their pockets as much as possible, as quickly as possible. If f2p is indeed the ‘future’ of gaming, I can only hope it’s through games like Hearthstone and not ones such as the much-maligned Dungeon Keeper mobile game.

With more and more gaming moving towards digital distribution, downloadable content and online features, Capcom has decided it needs to make a serious investment to keep up and succeed in a “challenging” video game market. To this end, the videogame developer/publisher titan – popular for franchises such as Resident Evil and Dead Rising – has announced it is to spend the equivalent of around US$78 million to build two new R&D labs near their Osaka headquarters, focusing on the new trend.

“The appearance of next-generation consoles with a variety of network functions has shifted the focus of sales from conventional package software to digitally distributed content,” Capcom said. “The profit structure and business model are changing at an increasing speed as a result. Furthermore, the popularity of social games due to the widespread use of smartphones is enabling games to reach more user segments and enlarging the entire game market. To succeed in this challenging environment, Capcom has been focusing resources on strategic and growing areas under a policy of selection and concentration in order to operate with speed and flexibility.”

Capcom are fitting out their two new buildings with all kinds of modern technology that’s come into common usage in the videogames of today, including rooms dedicated to motion-capture technology; and a sound effects studio. They’ll also contain large, multi-purpose communal spaces for gatherings of over 100 people. With these, the company hopes to speed up game development and increase efficiency. The buildings will also have seismic isolation systems to protect against earthquakes.

The smaller building, currently nicknamed “R&D Building S”, will on completion consist of an 8-floor office with 2,054.38 square meters of floor area; and will cost an estimated ¥2.5 billion ($24.6 million) to complete, which Capcom aims to do by January 2015. Its bigger brother, “Building N” is over twice the size, with 16 floors and 10,972.87 square meters of floor space. Expected to cost around ¥5.5 billion ($54 million), this one should be ready in February 2016.

PAX East usually has more than it’s fair share of big announcements, and this year was no exception. On the final day of the convention, Respawn Entertainment revealed the first DLC for Titanfall.

Called Titanfall Expedition, the DLC is scheduled to drop (pun intended) in May with three maps that take place after Titanfall’s campaign story.

The first map is “Swampland”, a map with a ton of trees that promises to give players some crazy wallrunning paths. The second, “Runoff”, has a ton of pipes and water. The final map, “War Games”, takes place within a titan pilot training area.

Respawn is also adding what is perhaps the most requested feature – the ability to customize titans with decals. They are also adding the ability to meet up with new Titanfall players using identical hash tages. This is an effort to allow players to coordinate so that they can choose teammates. The developer also added a Private Match mode in a recent patch, so it seems Respawn is serious about pushing the community aspect of Titanfall.

Titanfall Expedition will be available as part of the game’s Season Pass ($24.99 for all three confirmed DLC packs), or as an individual download for $9.99.

Will you be climbing back into your Titan for this DLC?