i am seeing a lot of hate for the app and people saying they should be an option for replacing it with card or something. but i own a lot (and have played more) of fantasy flight game's and they have done some great things with most of them. are people not give then the benifit that they tried cards and other ideas but they didnt work so they made the app. sure the app will mean you will need a phone/tablet/pc to play the game but you need that to be here as well so its not something people dont have.

from the reading of the small info we have the app changes the tatics bases on the info it is gave cards cant do that you can have a random card be drawn or semi random but you cant have a card change its place in the deck becasue you are trying a diffrent tatic

i think is great idea about app for board game. specially for ufo so is really thematic. Cannot wait to see how is works

Other app driven games are working great so I think this will too.

Players generally don't like change.

There are certainly options for upgrading the app with new content. The question is what´s more expensive: to design and print new cards / expansion packs or designing / programming new content for the app.

are people not give then the benifit that they tried cards and other ideas but they didnt work so they made the app.

From one of the GENCON videos it's pretty clear that FFG set out specifically to make a game that required an app rather than resorting to an app after trying other things. The FFG representative said they'd wanted to make a game that required an app to drive gameplay for a long time and XCOM is the result.

I personally am all in favour of board game designers taking risks like this to try out new ways of playing board games. Years ago there were board games like "Nightmare" which came with a VHS video tape that you played on your TV as you played the game, and this is no different in that it's attempting to expand the boundaries of what we consider to be a board game. I hope the game is a success and leads to other innovative and potentially risky designs being tried.