id-software 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.

Remember when game trailers used to be just a minute or two in length? Now it seems the trend is for extra long trailers with lots of time to show off snippets of games. Today we get a 10 + minute trailer of Rage (the game, not the emotion) showing off a extended sequence from id Software's upcoming post apocalypse shooter.

The trailer show a section of the game called Dead City which you must explore while avoid being killed by the various mutants that inhabit the area. The trailer shows off id's next generation graphic engine, id tech 5, in style. Rage is still due for release on September 13.

Download the Rage Dead City trailer at Big Download

Rage is the latest game that will be getting some kind of pre-order special edition. VG247.com reports that id Software's next first person shooter will be getting an Anarchy Edition when it is released to store on September 13. That edition of the game will include some special in-game items such as a double-barrel shotgun, a rat-rod buggy, crimson elite armor and something called "fists of Rage". Everyone who has already pre-ordered the game will be upgraded to the Anarchy Edition automatically. At the moment the edition is only scheduled for a US release.

Both regular and Anarchy Edition will also get a mission pack called Wasteland Sewers where you have to go underground to deal with mutants in a tunnel system.

More details of Rage's multiplayer modes were also revealed. One is called Legends of the Wasteland, a two-player co-op mode where you and a friend go on missions based on the game's single player levels. The other is called Rage Combat Rally, which will allow competitive and team based gameplay for up to six players.

While Rage may not be the typical corridor shooter that id Software is known for in the part, that doesn't mean that the game won't have a ton of weapons for players to use. GameTrailers.com has posted up a new Rage gameplay trailer that shows off some of those weapons in action. You can check out the trailer after the jump.

You have your typical weapons of destruction to choose from; the pistol, the machine gun, the shotgun. The art design for each weapon, however, is pretty unique looking. There are also some more unusual weapons in the game such as the automatic turret; perfect for times when you have hordes of mutants charging you but all you want is to drink another beer.

Just a couple of weeks before Rage is released you will be able to check out an adaptation of id Software's next first person shooter in convenient prose form. Publisher Bethesda Softworks announced that a novel version of the post-apocalyptic game will be released via Del Rey on August 30. The game itself is due out on September 13.

The novel goes deeper into the storyline for Rage and is being written by Matt Costello who is a long time collaborator with id on the third Doom game and also on Rage. Costello has previously written two novels based on the storyline for Doom 3.

id Software's free-to-play first person shooter Quake Live got a major update earlier this week, adding two more maps for players who use its paid premium service. One of the new maps are Toxicity, a Duel-based map with lots of "twisting halls and teleporters" as well as toxic pools. The other is Distant Screams, a remade version of the Christmas themed CTF map Silent Night.

The update also has some small but new features including linking your Quake Live account to Facebook (you can also upload a screenshot directly from the game to your Facebook account now). Premium and pro users can also use a new option that will allow them to "play a distinct sound when you score a kill in any mode."

The DirectX graphics API created by Microsoft is used by nearly all PC game developers. The one big exception is id Software. Its main programmer John Carmack has used the OpenGL graphics API to help program all of id's 3D graphics engines including id Tech 5 which is the basis for id's upcoming shooter Rage.

While Carmack has been critical of DirectX in the past that has now changed. In an article at bit-tech.net (based on an interview Carmack gave to the Custom PC print mag) he states, "I actually think that Direct3D is a rather better API today." He added that while DirectX has improved over the years, OpenGL "has been held back by compatibility concerns."

So does that mean that Carmack will switch to DirectX? Maybe not. He states, "OpenGL still works fine and we wouldn't get any huge benefits by making the switch, so I can't work up much enthusiasm for cleaning it out of our codebase."

Rage has become the latest game to get a comic book adaptation. Bethesda Softworks sent over word today that id Software's upcoming post-apocalyptic shooter will have a three issue mini-series from Dark Horse Comics with the first issue due out in June.

Written by comic book veteran Arvid Nelson, the storyline will be set before the events of the game's story with a female scientist learning that she's being lied to about what really happened to Earth after she is revived from an Ark. The mini-series will be drawn by Andrea Mutti with cover artwork by Glenn Fabry.

In related news, the Rage web site has got some new content including a free MP3 download of Burning Jacob's Ladder by Mark Lanegan. The song was featured in the latest Rage gameplay trailer.

[Via email press release]

The 2005 movie adaptation of Doom wasn't the worst game-to-movie translation we have ever seen but it was pretty close. However the original film, based very loosely on id Software's shooter franchise and produced by Universa, has apparently done well in DVD and Blu-Ray sales and is shown frequently on cable TV.

Now the newest rumor from Whatsplaying.com.au states via unnamed sources that Universal, who apparently still own the rights to make the Doom movie, are trying to get a script together to make another attempt of a new Doom film, one that will both ignore the first film and also be in 3D. We have emailed Bethesda Softworks, the current owners of the Doom game franchise, to get a confirmation.

[Via Blue's News]

PAX East 2011 is turning out to be as big, if not bigger, than PAX Prime.

• Bethesda Softworks reveales its PAX Prime 2011 plans including a Brink party on Saturday.
• id Software is moving its offices and 250 team members from Mesquite, Texas to Richardson, Texas this spring.
• A release date for Deus Ex: Human Revolution could be revealed later this week.
• Cities in Motion has a new automatic patch available for download on Steam.
• GoG.com has lowered the price for the UK edition of The Witcher 2.
• Rumors about Grand Theft Auto 5 are hitting the interwebs.