CPL developing new competitive game: Severity
John Romero had a surprising announcement for the assembled crowds at Sunday's Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) finals. No, he didn't declare he was going to make you his bitch (and no that joke will never get old), but he did announce the development of a new first-person shooter tuned specifically for professional gaming.
According to a CPL press release, Severity will support both single-player and team matches, will be based on an id Software game engine, and will be released for both console and PC by late 2007. The game will also include "enhanced tournament support, spectator modes, [and] detailed player and tournament statistics tracking," whatever that means. Development on the project is being headed by Tom Mustaine, an industry veteran who worked on games ranging from Final Doom to 25 To Life.
While it's nice to see pro gaming grow large enough to support a custom-made game environment, we have to wonder whether a new property will be able to make any inroads against popular competitive gaming standards like Quake and Counter Strike. Should competitive gaming start focusing on custom-made games, or stick with the popular, third-party creations that have gotten it to this point?
[Thanks Will]
