Doom-4 posts

With developer id Software and publisher Bethesda Softworks keeps details about the next Doom game to themselves we will take any nugget of news about the next game in the first person shooter series we can get. Eurogamer reports that at a recent press event for id's next game Rage, id producer Matt Hooper said that the Doom development team is " ... doing something Doom fans will be happy with."

The game, which we have learned will likely not be titled Doom 4, " ... is distinct enough. It would be dangerous... We don't want to make a re-skinned Doom [with Rage] and then Doom 4 be a re-skinned Rage. That would be bad," said Hooper. Hopefully id will show off the next Doom game at this August's annual QuakeCon event.

One of the game industry's biggest and most unique events has just announced the dates and location for its 2011 edition. Today id Software and Bethesda Softworks announced that this year's QuakeCon LAN and game exhibitor event will be held on August 4-7 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

id Software has sponsored the free event every year since it first started with just a few people attending in 1997. It has expanded greatly over the years to become the largest LAN event in the US with thousands of folks showing up. It's also been the location for major game announcements from id Software. With its latest game Rage due out a month after QuakeCon 2011 you can certainly expect that game to be front and center at the event this year. The big question: Will id finally show off its next Doom game which was announced 2 1/2 years ago?

With 2011 still pretty fresh in everyone's mind, it's time to see into Big Download's crystal ball for what's going to happen in the PC game industry in 2011. Looking back at our predictions for what we thought would happen in 2010, we got about 50 percent of our predictions correct. Not bad but not all that great either.

However that track record isn't going to stop us from making our predictions for what might happen in the next 12 months. As we see it, the PC game industry is looking pretty darn good, concerning all of its competition (console games, iPhone and iPad gaming, social network games, etc) and the fact that the overall economy, while better than it was at the beginning of 2010, still isn't the greatest. But will there be any unexpected left field surprises? Read on for what we think might happen:

Big day today with the announcement of BioShock Infinite, although we are wondering why Irrational Games has announced a title that won't be released until sometime in 2012. Speaking of which, we are a little disappointed that there was no Doom IV news from QuakeCon today. It's been over two years, id. Throw us a bone here:

• As previously announced, Puzzle Quest 2 and Burn Zombie Burn are both now available to download and purchase on Steam.
• A massive new update for Global Agenda is now available via Steam with lots of changes to the Agency Vs Agency system.
• A new update to the beta for Counter-Strike Source is also available.
• Want an open beta for Men of War: Assault Squad? Then get its Steam community page to reach the 10,000 member mark.
• John Carmack and Richard Garriott talk about rockets and space travel.

id Software is still at least a year away from releasing their next game major retail game Rage but they are also working on the next installment in the Doom shooter franchise (which may or may not be called Doom IV). There's next to nothing known about the game (other than it will use the id Tech 5 graphics engine) but id's creative director for Rage Tim Willits already has some high hopes for the title.

In a chat with Xbox360achievements.com Willits states, "It's gonna be cool. It's gonna be awesome. Hopefully, it'll be even more awesome than Rage." High expectations indeed. Perhaps we will learn more about the game when QuakeCon begins in August.

Yep, we have yet another big PC game event to tell you about. This time it's the 2010 edition of QuakeCon, the annual and completely free to attend show sponsored by id Software (and this year their new owners ZeniMax Media). This year's QuakeCon will be held August 12-15 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, in Dallas, Texas. You may remember that 2009's show was supposed to be held there but that location was changed at the last minute to the Gaylord Hotel.

There's no word yet on when registration for QuakeCon 2010 will begin but naturally we will keep you posted. We suspect id will show off more of their upcoming next game Rage and perhaps they might even offer a glimpse of their next Doom game. ZeniMax and its publishing arm Bethesda Softworks will also likely show off their upcoming games like Brink and Fallout New Vegas.

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of Doom, the sci-fi first person shooter from id Software. On Dec. 10, 1993, the original shareware version was uploaded to a single FTP server. That's all it took for the game, about one space marine fighting an invasion from Hell on the moons of Mars, to spread across the world like wildfire on tens of millions of PC hard drives.

While the game wasn't the first FPS ever made, the release of Doom arguably launched the genre into the mainstream of gaming. The PC shareware version of the title became a massive hit with some people saying the DOS version of the shareware were installed on more PCs at one point than Microsoft's then current version of Windows.

Click on the logo above to continue reading Happy 15th Birthday Doom!

Download the Doom Shareware here at Big Download
Download the Doom III Classic mod (a remake of the original Doom in Doom III) here at Big Download

Those of you who preferred the frantic pace of Doom and Doom II when compared to the slower, survival horror-esque Doom 3 are in luck: the fourth Doom game (which will not be called Doom 4) will return to the more chaotic pace of the originals, Shacknews confirmed in an interview with id genius John Carmack.

Carmack acknowledged the primary complaints of Doom 3, admitting that not being able to wield weapons concurrently with a flashlight, as well as a constant stream of closet monsters, provided the impetus to cancel a survival horror game titled Darkness that id was developing.

Will the id Tech 5-powered Doom once again feature rooms filled with angry Imps and snarling zombies? Most likely. In Doom, players will certainly experience a few tense moments with only one bullet and hordes of enemies to kill, but overall, "you have to be blowing demons all to hell all around you," explained Carmack. The best way to do that? Guns. Lots of guns.

During his annual QuakeCon address, John Carmack divulged his reason for the resurrection of Quake III: Arena via the free web-based shooter Quake Live. Quake III represented the purity of an old school, deathmatch-oriented shooter, Carmack explained. While both fun to develop and to play -- Carmack proudly stated that he used to place first in the in-house Quake III tournaments, then humbly admitted he only survived the first round of a recent Quake Live session -- such a package would not do well as a $50 retail product.

Enter Quake Live, a free-to-play reincarnation of Quake III that can be accessed from any computer with a broadband connection and a web browser. But given Carmack's love of Quake III, Carmack answered the question he must have known was on the mind of all in attendance: might there one day be a Quake Arena 2?

Possibly -- but only if Quake Live fares well. "I'd say probably the success of Quake Live is going to determine whether or not we do another Quake Arena project," said Carmack during his speech.

Even if Quake Live does well, another Quake project would be far down the road. Though id is divided into multiple teams, Carmack has said that Rage is his first priority, and after that, the studio will no doubt gear up for a heavy marketing campaign revolving around its next Doom title. All that combined with Raven's focus on the forthcoming Wolfenstein equals Quake Live as the next big title for Quake-aholics.

Given the oft-mistaken view of Electronic Arts' as one of the industry's two evil empires (with Microsoft being the other company to hold the dubious honor), many gamers and industry specialists were quite surprised when id Software named EA as the publisher for their upcoming Rage FPS. Despite the view of EA, many were surprised due to id's longstanding publication relationship with Activision, who has published a number of the independent developer's most notable titles.

When asked about the publishing deal with EA during his QuakeCon 2008 keynote, id's famous lead engineer John Carmack smiled and said not too read too much into it and that, essentially, business was business. Carmack explained that id had shopped Rage to a number of publishers three different times. Each time, publishers such as Activision, EA, and Sega had been impressed and had offered high sums, but id had chosen to do more work and come back later with another pitch. Carmack noted his contentment that his company was one of the only independent studios who could afford to take such a position.

After reaching a milestone dictating the game could be sufficiently shown, Carmack asked all potential bidders to come forward with their final proposals. The result: EA won, plain and simple. Carmack made a special point of noting that the publishing deal only included Rage. EA could very well be signed to publish Doom, but id will likely repeat the bidding process with that title as they did with Rage.