doom-ii posts

It's one thing to make a new level for a game with an advanced 3D engine and editor. It's another to make an effective level with older engines and tools. One man who knows his way around both is J.P. LeBreton. He created levels for the original BioShock as well as the just released first person shooter sequel BioShock 2.

With that game now competed LeBreton has some free time so he decided to remake one of his own levels from the original BioShock, Arcadia and the Farmer's Market, using none other than id Software's Doom II. As he puts it, "It's a monster of a level, crammed full of weird little BioShock-to-Doom transmutations and symbolism. If you're a fan of either game, I hope you enjoy it." You can download his new BioShock-Doom II map from his web site.

[Via BethBlog]

While Big Download is a PC gaming site first and foremost, two upcoming games from the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade might be of interest to PC gamers as well. The exhibit floor at QuakeCon 2009 had not one but two games based on previous id Software PC titles in playable form.

One is Quake Arena Arcade, the XBLA version of id's 1999 multiplayer shooter Quake III Arena. id actually announced plans for such a game at QuakeCon in 2007 but it's finally looking like it will be coming out fairly soon (although no release date has been announced). The game itself is being ported by Pi Studios and on the show floor it looks terrific. We were told that the game actually has some slightly higher polygon counts for the levels and characters than the original Quake III Arena so purists will have little issue with the game's looks.

So why get Quake Arena Arcade when you can play Quake Live (also based on Quake III Arena) for free on your web browser? Well, one reason is that this game is fully "M" rated; that means when players die on screen you see gibs and blood rather than the "disappearing in a flash of light" thing you see when you kill players in Quake Live. The other reason is that in addition to all of the levels in Quake III Arena, Pi Studios has created a whopping 12 all new levels unique to Quake Arena Arcade. Oh and did we mention that there are plans for even more downloadable content for the game after it's released?

Check out the other XLBA game based on an id Software classic after the jump: