In a chat with id Software designer Tim Willits during QuakeCon this week, Big Download has learned that Doom IV, the recently announced next game in id's flagship first person shooter series, won't actually be titled Doom IV after all. Willits revealed to us that the fourth Doom game will still have the name Doom in the title but that it will have some kind of subtitle instead of a number. Naturally that subtitle has yet to be announced.

Why did they decide to make this move? Part of the reason is that the fourth Doom game will not be a continuation of the storyline for Doom III, according to Willits. Doom III was basically a "reimagining" of the first Doom game's storyline (a la the revamped Battlestar Galactica). So willl the fourth Doom game be a continuation of, say, Doom II's Earth invasion? Willits wasn't giving up any story ideas yet.

For fans of the Doom III storyline, you can check out the recent novel Doom III: Worlds on Fire by author Matthew Costello who helped create the storyline for the game with id (Costello is working on yet another Doom III novel as well). Willits told Big Download that Costello won't be returning to help write the fourth Doom game but will be helping to write the story for id's other major interally developed title Rage. Both games will use id's new id Tech 5 graphics engine technology. We will have much more of our conversation with Willits in the near future.