RSS Feeds
|
US Edition
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
What hasn't Doom been ported to at this point? You can't answer "Flash 10!" anymore, as an enterprising Newgrounds contributor has gone to the effort to port the id Software classic to Adobe's platform, making the first-person shooter playable in the web browser of your choice. It's a tidy little port, if a bit slow on my 2 year old MacBook Pro.
Yesterday, we broke that Gearbox Director of Technology Corrinne Yu has been hired by Microsoft Game Studios to be Principle Engine Architect for Microsoft's Halo Franchise Team. Microsoft has confirmed to Kotaku that Yu had in fact been hired by Microsoft. "As the Halo franchise continues to flourish, Microsoft Game Studios is growing its internal team to develop future Halo projects", Microsoft stated.
We've been told by several industry sources that Yu was part of a package deal. She, and her husband, Kenneth Scott are both joining Microsoft Game Studios. Scott is an art director at id Software, most recently working on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
Id Software's John Carmack spends his free time playing Nintendo games with his son. They're currently making their way through Super Paper Mario. And when not playing that, they have a go at Mario Kart DS. So does that mean Carmack is keen on, say, Wii development? According to Carmack:
The Wii is one of those markets where Nintendo owns both the hardware and the software, but part of that is because they make such damn good products. So it's the toughest platform for third party developers. We don't have a software or content base ideally suited for it. So it doesn't really play to our strengths and we're pretty busy with other stuff right now. I'm thrilled that Nintendo has had this kind of success because they took some risky bets, and it's always nice some bold thinking pay off for them. But I don't think we'll be on the platform.
At least he's honest!
Carmack on Doom, Rage, EA and More [Tom's Games via Go Nintendo]
I had a chance to chat with Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, earlier today about a bunch of different things, from QuakeCon to the future of PC gaming to id's love/hate relationship with the Playstation 3.
Here's the run-down:
Also check out our E3 Interview with John Carmack
Next Doom May Not Be a True Sequel
Rage and id's Love/Hate Relationship with the PS3
id Would Like Another Doom Movie
id Considering Wolfenstein RPG, Doom 2 RPG for iPhone
Hollenshead: E3 Was Pretty Much a Disappointment to Everyone
Does PC Gaming Need a Saviour?
Despite the doom and gloom that seems to follow the future of PC gaming around there have always been a group of stalwart supports. Developers and companies whose best works appeared first on PC and later, if ever, on consoles. But these days those few shouts in the dark seem to be dwindling. The latest to make the jump? id Software.
But id CEO Todd Hollenshead, doesn't totally agree that they have switched sides, or that there even need to be sides for PC gaming to survive.
"That whole PC first thing, you have to go back in id history to see why id initially developed for the PC", he said.
It used to be, he said, that developers had to change so many things, jump through so many hoops, to get their games on consoles that it just wasn't worth it for some.
"Wolfenstein 3D, there was a Nintendo version of that, that was like a black day in id history, how they made us change it to run on the Nintendo platform", he said. Platform owners "wouldn't let you publish games on the console. We didn't want to have our content governed by a third-party".
"But that dynamic isn't really like there anymore. There are lots of games that have content, whether it's language or other forms of adult content, that is pushing the bounds of content on all platforms".
"E3 this year, in my opinion, it was pretty much disappointing to everybody" id CEO Todd Hollenshead told me early today during an interview. "The press were disappointed, the people I talked to in the industry are disappointed, almost everyone agree that that was the wrong way to do it".
It's too early to tell if the shrinking E3 has helped bolster id's own id-centric annual show QuakeCon. Usually id Software waits until the Saturday of the show to get official attendance numbers.
But Hollenshead is already sure that QuakeCon is the right way to host a gaming conference.
"I think we struck a balance of being vendor supported and still being in touch with the gamers", he said. "We had over 6,000 hours of volunteer time, that's like the polar opposite of E3,. which is all about business".
In fact id Software only officially showed up at E3 as a single announcement during the Electronic Arts press conference. They were there to tell the world that EA would be publishing their upcoming id Tech 5 game, Rage.
And even that had to be modified to fit in with what E3 and its attendees expect from the show.
"We were told you can't show this stuff because of these five reasons", Hollenshead said. "Last night (during QuakeCon) we had the bigger, better, more hardcore, not suitable for investor conference (announcement) for Rage and Doom".
[Pic]
id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead would like to do another Doom movie, perhaps one based on the still in production, and yet-to-be-named, new Doom game.
"Personally I'd like to do another Doom movie, I thought working with it was a blast", he said. "There are some lessons we learned. The best way to do things better is to get the experience".
Hollenshead said that Universal still has the rights for the Doom movie and sequels, so the ball is really in their court on whether another is made.
"We'll see what happens when we get further along in development of the (new Doom) game and there's more buzz and we share more about what the game will be about.
"As the buzz meter starts to go up that may kind of kick start the guys over at Universal".
The only way to get your hands on id Software's Rage and Doom 4 will be through traditional means, according to a report from Maximum PC. The id co-founder said at today's QuakeCon keynote that it would shy away from digital distribution with its next two id Tech 5-powered titles. An odd move, considering EA is publishing Rage and has its own digital distribution method, not to mention the availability of id's catalogue through its official web store and Steam.
Maximum PC also reports that the Xbox 360 version of Rage may wind up shipping on up to three DVDs — or suffer some serious compression compared to the Blu-ray version — a move that could cost millions in per-disc royalty fees. And think of the paper sleeve costs!
QuakeCon 08: No Digital Distribution for Rage or Doom 4; Rage will be on Multiple DVDs for Xbox 360 [Maximum PC]
John Carmack revealed at the opening day of QuakeCon today that "the next Doom", which we'll just call Doom 4 for now, will surpass the already announced Rage, running on id Tech 5, in visual quality.
"The next DOOM game will look like it's built on another engine, as it uses three times the horsepower", Carmack said, according to a 1UP report.
That visual fidelity will come at a price though, as Carmack says that Doom 4 will run at 30 frames per second, compared to Rage's 60 frames per second. The only other details provided by Carmack on Doom 4 was that the game would feature "guns, blood, demons, and gibs". Should've sent a poet...
