john-carmack posts

id Software's master programmer John Carmack has been helping to make games for a long time now and he's not one to keep his opinions to helpself. In a new chat with the UK-based web site the Telegraph Carmack says he sees a day where releasing games via retail stores will be a thing of the past "sooner or later" and leaving digital downloads of games as the future of game distribution.

Carmack states, 'It is the wave of the future for everything. Everybody knows that eventually will be digital distribution like this – it's only a question of time." Carmack just released an iPhone/iPad spin-off of id's upcoming first person shooter Rage and most of the interview is devoted to the Rage port. Meanwhile the PC version of Rage is due out in September 2011.

It's been another super busy day for news today. Hopefully Friday things will get back to what is supposed to be normal. And then there's next week where we will have two super slow news days during the normal work week ... hey, we like eating turkey and Black Friday as much as the next person.

• The 1.1 beta patch for Elemental, planned for release today, has been pushed back until Friday.
• Speaking of delays, the release of the mini-expansion ArmA II: Private Military Company has been pushed back one week from November 23 to November 30.
• The latest Bethesda Podcast has been released and is a special hour long episode featuring a chat with id Software's John Carmack.
• Some disappointing news: It looks like Hothead Games' upcoming title Swarm is console only.

Developer id Software's next big game is Rage and the PC version of the post-apocalyptic first person shooter is due for release in September 2011 via publisher Bethesda Softworks. But at QuakeCon last August it was revealed that id would release a game for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that would be an introduction to Rage's world.

On the Bethblog.com web site, id's master programmer John Carmack gives a highly detailed and highly technical update on the Rage iPhone project. He states, "What we do have is something unlike anything ever seen on the iOS platforms. It is glorious, and a lot of fun. Development has been proceeding at high intensity since QuakeCon, and we hope to have the app out by the end of November." There will apparently be two versions released. One will be for older versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch while the iPad and iPhone 4 will get a "high definition" version that will be twice that of the standard edition game in terms of download size. Pricing for the standard edition will be 99 cents while the HD versions will have a $1.99 price tag.

This version of the game will show off the Mutant Bash TV portion of the full game with players trying to get from one part of the level to the other with the best score. Carmack states that the game doesn't actually use the PC version of Rage's id tech 5 graphics engine.it does borrow some of Rage's content and media.

id Software made headlines three years ago when it announced Rage, its first game that wasn't based on a previous id property since the original Quake was released in 1996. But it looks like id is going to be sticking to its franchises for a while and not branching out in all new territory anytime soon.

Computer and Video Games quotes Carmack as saying, "We do already have more IPs than we can exploit. " id launched the Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake shooter brands, all of which are among the most well known PC gaming franchises in history." Carmack says don't look for id to add to that line up beyond Rage, saying " It's scary to say it, but maybe not in the next decade even, because we want to support Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake - and hopefully we can add Rage onto that."

While there was nothing revealed about Doom IV during John Carmack's QuakeCon 2010 keynote, the master programmer for id Software did reveal something that will make some mod authors happy. Carmack announced that the game source code for the first person shooter Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the later stand alone free game Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory are both available to download now from id's FTP site.

As with previous source code releases from id, these fall under the GPL agreement which basically states the author is able to use the code for both free and commercial games as long as he or she does not claim the code is their own creation. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, developed by id and the now defunct Gray Matter Studios, was released in 2001. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, developed by Splash Damage, was released in 2003. You can get both the PC, Mac and Linux versions of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory right here at Big Download.

Download the Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory GPL Source Code at Big Download (6 MB)
Download the Return to Castle Wolfenstein GPL Source Code at Big Download

[Via VG247.com]

It's going to be a big day tomorrow. Irrational will finally reveal its next game and id might make one or more announcements at QuakeCon 2010. We have our coffee ready.

• id Software's John Carmack says the next Doom game "shouldn't take as long to ship as Rage." Since the next Doom game was announced over two years ago id had better hustle up.
• Carmack has also found out about Twitter. An example post: "AV output on ios devices is giving me some grief." That's pure Carmack speak.
  
• Impulse has just added Plants Vs Zombies Game of the Year Edition to its line-up.
• Pre-order HAWX 2 via Steam and you get Blazing Angels 2 (a $19.99 value) for free.
• Pre-order Kane and Lynch 2 via Direct2Drive and you get Deus Ex Game of the Year for free.
• New Steam updates are available for Killing Floor and Counter-Strike Source Beta.
• Another Elemental dev journal entry has been released.
• A new hero for Heroes of Newerth has been revealed with the great name Flint Beastwood.
• Razer has announced a new (and very green) gaming headset called the Orca.

We are less than one day away from the single biggest free LAN gaming event/consumer game show in the US. QuakeCon 2010 will officially on Thursday morning at the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas but for the past several days the all-volunteer team have been getting ready for the thousands of people who will be bringing their desktops, notebooks and wild PC case mods into the BYOC area of the show.

The above video gives you an idea of just how massive the BYOC area is for QuakeCon and how much effort the team makes in getting all of the network cables, servers and more ready for Thursday. This year QuakeCon 2010 attendees will supposedly have a faster time of registering for the show thanks to a new set-up. We will see if it actually works as planned tomorrow.

QuakeCon 2010's events are starting to shape up nicely. The upcoming free LAN event/consumer game show will not only have pro and amateur Quake Live tournaments during the Dallas-based event on August 12-15 but a number of panels and special presentations.

On Thursday, August 12, id Software's John Carmack will conduct his annual QuakeCon keynote address where he will talk about pretty much anything on his mind and also take questions from the assembled crowd. Later Carmack will join Richard Garriott to discuss their mutual experiences with rockets (Carmack is the founder of private rocket company Armadillo Aerospace and Garriott has, well, been in space).

Other panels at the show will feature quite a number of big game developers speaking on various topics. Those will include members of Respawn Entertainment in perhaps their first public speaking appearance since the former Infinity Ward team members formed their new studio earlier this year. There are also some special live gameplay presentations for the upcoming games Brink and Rage planned and we are betting there will be some unannounced surprises. You can check out the full panel schedule after the jump:

It's not exactly a huge shock but id Software's long-in-development title Rage won't be released this year. VG247.com reports that the semi-open world shooter title is now targeting a 2011 release date. The game itself, which is id's first original game since the first Quake was released way back in 1996, was first announced in 2007 at QuakeCon. It's also the first game that will use id Tech 5, the new graphics engine created by id's master programmer John Carmack.

In 2008 Electronic Arts announced with much fanfare at E3 they were publishing the game but in 2009 ZeniMax Media announced their acquisition of id Software. Late in 2009 EA announced that ZeniMax's publishing arm Bethesda Softworks would now be publishing Rage. And yes there will be a quiz later. Pencils down now.

Last night the annual Game Developers Choice Awards were given out during GDC 2010 and, sad to say, there was very little for PC gamers to be happy about when it came to the winners. Most of the catagories were won by console exclusive titles. Batman: Arkham Asylum did manage to win for Best Game Design and Runic Games' action-RPG Torchlight won for Best Debut Game. The PS3 exclusive title Uncharted 2 won five of the 10 awards given out on Thursday.

Previously announced awards went to id Software founder John Carmack (Lifetime Achievement Award) Valve founder Gabe Newell (Pioneer Award) and the Penny Arcade team of Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo (Ambassador Award).