Is that DOOM running on the DS? Not unless "DOOM" is spelled C.O.R.E (which we believe most likely stands for "Completely Ordinary Regurgitated Experience" based on this trailer).
Having nothing to do with the sci-fi disaster flick The Core or Sony's digital magazine Qore – or even Tomb Raider developer CORE – this FPS from developer No Way (yes way!) manages to take us back to 1993 with its straight-outta-DOOM shotgun sound effect and 1977 with its "hey, that's from Star Wars!" blaster sound effect.
We eagerly await a metareview on this one. Can it even ... touch Touch the Dead?
Turns out those blood-thirsty demons just won't stay dead. Id Software has announced that Doom 4 has begun production as of today. According to the press release, the studio is now hiring for the project. Said CEO Todd Hollenshead, "Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth."
No other details were given, but we're guessing it'll run off of id Tech 5 (or perhaps something greater). Given the ending of the Doom 3 expansion Resurrection was pretty conclusive, we don't know where the team will take the Doom story next. Our guess? Probably send a space marine to Hell to fight demons. Perhaps this time he (or she) will pack a better flashlight.
Id Software is a prolific partner of Activision, who published Doom 3, Quake 4and Quake Wars. Check out Activision's Family Album to learn more about the company's internal studios.
Last week laid the groundwork for what promises to be at the very least a confusing E3, with a number of familiar faces jumping ship in favor of the uncertain waters below. However, the news of who would and would not be attending the show this July got a bit hazy with regards to talk of developer id Software, with conflicting reports painting the Doom masterminds as both planning to attend and turning their backs on the annual event.
Rather than seek the wisdom of the office Magic 8-Ball, we turned to id co-owner and CEO Todd Hollenshead, who conceded uncertainty with regards to the company's E3 plans. Admitted the exec in an email: "Actually, we haven't determined in what capacity we'll be attending E3 (if any), so everyone is wrong." Interestingly, his response echoed that of our own prognosticating orb, which replied simply "Reply hazy, try again."
Perhaps, like us, you occasionally feel the urge to parade through the neighborhood, toting nothing but an impossibly huge rocket launcher and a desire to vaporize anything that, well, isn't you. And perhaps, like us, you realize (before it's too late) that these impractical desires are best expressed in video games such as Sierra Online's Assault Heroes or id Software's iconic Doom. It's certainly a lot cheaper.
In fact, the two aforementioned games will be added to Xbox Live's Arcade Hits program this Wednesday, March 19th, resulting in a 50% discount to 400 MS Points ($5) each. As Microsoft is keen to point out in the same press release, your determined point pinching may just come in handy for a lineup of new titles due to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade "in the near future:"
Joining the ranks of Electronic Arts in game development for the iPhone, Gameloft and id Software have announced their commitment to Apple's portable. According to its press release, Gameloft intends to develop over 15 titles.
In a post on Slashdot, id's programming wizard John Carmack lauded Apple's 70% royalty deal and distribution deal. As for the SDK, Carmack said, "Just based on the blurbs, it looks very good -- a simulator plus debugging on the native device is the best of both worlds." Id also noted it had to put in an application for development like everyone else. Can we get an official version of Doom now?
Doom, the "Hello World" of the 21st century. Though not yet totally playable, the iPhone Doom project has been revived and updated and now the port even has controls (what'll they think of next?). While this may not seem that impressive when you compare the laundry list of seemingly crude devices that play Doom (including the iPod nano) with the sophisticated, powerful iPhone, it still warms our blackened hearts to ponder the iPhone's gaming possibilities.
If you want to get an idea of how iPhone Doom looks, hit up the video after the break. Even with an absence of sound and the strange touchscreen input, v0.1 is still a promising proof of concept. Rip and tear!
At this very moment in the town of Couer d'Couers, Ned, the pie maker, with the gift to bring the dead back to life for a short time (without consequences) stood over the body of Atari. The facts were these: The company of Atari was 35 years, 16 weeks, 4 hours and 9 minutes old. After already posting a $70 million loss in the last fiscal year, firing most of its board, borrowing $10 million and now reporting a $12 million loss for Q1, it was believed Atari had finally expired. But, just as the pie maker was about to touch the body -- to bring it back to life ever so briefly -- and ask where Atari stashed the will revealing its alleged secret fortune, a wholly unexpected thing happened. Atari popped up from the table and exclaimed, "I'm not dead yet!" And so, the startled pie maker left the morgue still trying to catch his breath, knowing he'd return soon enough.
Atari finally filed their delayed financial report for the quarter ending June 30 and laid out the bad news that they're down another $12 million. The company already sold most of its franchises like Stuntman and Driver; they're also in a dispute about potentially losing their Dragon Ball Z license as well. According to the quarterly report Atari states "substantial doubt about [their] ability to continue as a going concern."
Variety is reporting that one helping of live-action Street Fighter just wasn't enough, Hollywood is going to try again. Hyde Park Entertainment and Capcom have signed on Andrzej Bartkowiak to direct a new movie of Street Fighter ... but here's where it actually gets good. Variety says his credits include Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds and Cradle to the Grave. What they fully neglect to mention is that Bartkowiak directed another video game-based movie: DOOM!
Yes, the man who directed DOOM is going to helm the new Street Fighter movie, which will apparently follow Chun Li on a "journey for justice." Can't you just feel The Darkness swelling up inside of you to stop this? The original Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude "muscles from Brussels" Van Damme earned $33 million. It also starred Raul Julia (Addams Family movies, Kiss of the Spider Woman) in one of his last roles ever -- that was the real tragedy. Hyde Park just finished a couple movies you will probably never hear of. Place your bets now if this Street Fighter movie will actually be worse than the original, which would seriously be an accomplishment.
A gathering of German journalists, publishers and "experts" met at this year's Leipzig Games Convention to pick what they felt were the most influential games of all time (via GameSetWatch). Of the reported 150 nominations, 16 titles were ultimately chosen and, of those, four were noted for being most frequently noted.
The four top-honored games are Tetris, Pong, Doom and Pac-Man. Though we agree with much of the list, we're still left feeling some titles were unfortunately overlooked (e.g. E.T., Custer's Revenge). What do you think of the list?
Even though we couldn't liveblog the QuakeCon keynote, that didn't mean we weren't taking notes. It's Sunday, the final day of this giant BYOC (bring-your-own-computer) LAN party organized by volunteers right in id's backyard: Dallas, TX. Want to see how things went down on Friday night, when they announced Rage, their first game built using the id Tech 5 engine? Or how about the status of the next Wolfenstein game (hint: they're making one). Or how about John Carmack's thoughts on cell phone game development (if anyone can get us excited ...).
6:10pm - We're all filing in.
6:17pm - Todd Hollenshead takes the stage. Sponsor thanks; QuakeCon 2008 date is already set! (July 31 - August 3, 2008). He announces that the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars beta is open to all attendees both at the BYOC LAN, and as a downloadable beta once you get home. (The crowd goes wild). An October 2nd ship date is already set for ET: QW so mark those calendars.
6:24pm - OMG! Wolfenstein news! A new game is in development! ... and that's it. We already knew that much. No other news, just the teaser. Thanks for nothing, id!
So you think you know everything about Doom, huh? You've beaten all the games on Nightmare without cheats? Played every fan-made WAD you could get your hands on? You're listening to a megamix of Doom MIDIs right now, aren't you? Well we've got some tunes here that we can guarantee aren't on your playlist.
Doom co-creator John Romero has posted these unreleased tracks on his blog with the warning that, much like deleted scenes on DVDs, "there's a reason these weren't released - they're not very good." And he's right -- with a few exceptions, the tracks are overly repetitive and a bit wonky. Still, if you worship anything and everything Doom-related, then, uh, I guess you should start worshiping ... because these are definitely Doom-related. Yeah!
Id Software is working on a new game ... and it's not Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein or even Commander Keen related -- it's new. According to Id's CEO Todd Hollenshead the company is finishing off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and moving onto this new game with a new engine developed by John Carmack.
Hollenshead told GI.biz, "It is a new Id brand with an all-new John Carmack engine and I think that when we show it to people, once again they'll see, just like they saw when we first showed Doom 3, that John Carmack still has a lot of magic left."
Hollenshead said they aren't ready to talk or show anything of the new concept. He says they like to play show and tell when they announce a game and they're just not ready to get in front of the class just yet. Hopefully we'll get something before or right around when Enemy Territory ships for PC, and then for PS3 and Xbox 360, later this year.
It's been a long time since id Software defined the first-person shooter with Wolfenstein 3D, and later took it to a new level of insanity with Doom. The company got rich not only off their own revolutionary games, but also by farming out their powerful engines to other developers.
In recent years, id has fallen from prominence. Doom 3 and Quake 4 were mere shadows of their predecessors. id began to lose FPS market share as other people's engines got moreplay. Even id founder/visionary John Carmack seemed to be losing interest in the genre he created, and spent his time building rockets and cell phone games. But in a new interview with Next Generation, id CEO Todd Hollenshead makes it clear that his company has a few tricks up its sleeve, the most exciting of which is Carmack's "brand new shooter that is not based on any previous IP." While Hollenshead refuses to reveal much about this mysterious new game, he does say that "[Carmack's] approach allows us to do some things visually that we haven't ever been able to do before. He is really unfettering the ability of artists to go absolutely nuts."
Do you hear that, video game artists? Are you tired of those fetters on your ability to go absolutely nuts? Get a job at id.
In a way it's sad to see these little Mario villains get blasted away Doom-style ... but on the other hand, it is also extremely satisfying. TheLastBoss featured this video and offered up their own take, "This honestly looks more fun than a lot of Doom 3, I'd pay for it."
While we doubt you'll ever see it officially on the Virtual Console, you know someone is going to hack this onto there and we'll see people playing it with the Wii-mote. Just wait.
"They need to do an augmented reality game in here. I mean, don't you feel like you're in Doom already? - A random GDC attendee talking about the labyrinthine, ExpoSuite corridors of Moscone West (pictured above, totally unaltered.)