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Bethesda's new game is for current platforms, 'pretty far along'
After two years of silence, Bethesda is very used to deflecting questions about its next, still unannounced game. But executive producer Todd Howard finally shared some info about the forthcoming project at this year's QuakeCon, telling Eurogamer that it's "pretty far along." Around 90 people are working on the game, and Howard predicts that the stretch between the project's announcement and launch will be the "the shortest it's been for us" (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was announced in September 2004 and released in March 2006, and Fallout 3 was announced in July 2004 but not released until October 2008). Additionally, he pointed out that the upcoming project will run on existing consoles and is built on the same engine that powered Oblivion and Fallout 3. "That's our starting point -- the Fallout 3 tech. It started with Morrowind, we went to Oblivion, we did a lot between Oblivion and Fallout 3 because now we had final hardware -- with Oblivion we had six months on final hardware, so Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that," he said. He wouldn't get too specific on when we'd hear more, saying he didn't want to disappoint people by announcing an ... announcement that might shift later on. Hopefully, Mr. Howard knows that disappointment will be harder to avoid if that announcement turns out to be anything but Elder Scrolls V.
QuakeCon: Rage to be released Sept. 13, 2011 in the US, Sept. 15 in Europe
id Software just announced during a QuakeCon live presentation that Rage will be hitting store shelves on September 13, 2011 in the US and September 15, 2011 in Europe. Kotaku reports on the release date via its liveblog, highlighting one of the reasons the game still has another year of development time -- the Xbox 360 version crashed during the presentation. If you're really itching to jump into Rage's universe, the iPhone/iPad version of the game will launch sometime this year. That could help tide you over until the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions arrive next September.%Gallery-99359%
Rage demo'd at 60 fps on iPhone, id games on sale
QuakeCon is going down this weekend in AustinDallas, Texas -- the annual celebration of everything id Software (makers of Quake and Doom, among a few other classic PC titles) features tournaments and panels on some of the hottest PC games around. But there's already been one big Apple announcement: John Carmack has demonstrated id's newest game, Rage, running at a full 60 frames per second on the iPhone. We first heard of this game at QuakeCon a couple of years ago, and Carmack has always said that making sure it ran on the Mac would be a priority, but it looks like he's delivered the goods. The demo was run on an iPhone 4, but Carmack said it worked great on the iPad as well. Carmack said the iPhone version would be out sometime this year, before the full version of Rage arrives on consoles and PC. Oh, and icing on the cake? All of id's iPhone titles are on sale during the show this weekend -- Doom II RPG is down to just 99 cents, along with Wolfenstein 3D. Doom Classic and Doom Resurrection are US $1.99, down from the usual price of $6.99. If you're in AustinDallas, don't forget that QuakeCon is free and open to the public as well. All hail the great id!
QuakeCon 2010 announced for August
Ahh yes, another year, another QuakeCon. The annual mecca for all things id Software (and now all things Bethesda Softworks, as well) will be returning to Texas this year on August 12-15, presumably with the usual three-plus hours of John Carmack keynote in tow (he goes on and on because he loves!). As usual, the goings-on will be free, with the 72 hours of pure, unfiltered nerddom sponsored by parent company Zenimax Media (alright, alright -- it's very likely that the Bawls energy drink company is putting up some money as well). Little is known about the actual events of the show this year outside of the aforementioned cursory details, though, yes, the traditional event-wide network will again be available for attendees who bring PC rigs. That means order the purple neon light for your PC today, friends, not tomorrow.
Carmack says ad-based model not working for Quake Live
In addition to announcing support for Quake Live on Mac and Linux, John Carmack admitted that the current ad-based model wasn't exactly working for the game. To assuage the problem, id Software will soon be offering a subscription model in addition to the free-to-play model currently in place."The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business .... [it's] not going to be able to carry the project," Carmack said. Dually, he noted that while a subscription service will be offered, the game will never go exclusively "pay-to-play." According to Shacknews, the subscription model will allow players to create and host private server matches.This all sounds good to us -- now maybe all the hardcore Quake Live players will play in private servers and allow us to get a single shot off.
Spotted at Quakecon: Doom II for XBLA
Whilst roaming the halls of Quakecon and shooting everything in sight (with a camera), our friends at BigDownload spotted a heretofore unannounced Xbox Live Arcade version of id Software's FPS classic, Doom 2. According to Shacknews, the downloadable title is set feature all of Doom II's content, in addition to a new episode, 4-player local multiplayer and the usual online shootery. You can also expect an exciting doubling of barrels over the original Doom -- both of the exploding and shotgun varieties. Also spotted at Quakecon: a further proof of life from our long-anticipated friend, Quake Arena Arcade!
Global Agenda announces North American tour
The team at Hi-Rez Studios announced they're taking Global Agenda on the road for a North American tour. It'll be a chance for fans, or anyone curious about the shooter-MMO hybrid, to get some hands-on time with Global Agenda and meet the developers from Hi-Rez Studios. The Global Agenda tour kicks off this week at QuakeCon in Dallas and will hit the major gaming events through January. The tour dates announced thus far are: August 13-15 -- Dallas, QuakeCon September 4 -- Atlanta, DragonCon September 4-6 -- Seattle, Penny Arcade Expo October 22-24 -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Games and Media Expo January 7-10 -- Las Vegas, Consumer Electronics Show %Gallery-35351%
QuakeCon 2009 detailed, first public demos of Rage and Brink
Nothing more clearly shows the new relationship forged by Zenimax Media between id Software and Bethesda Softworks than this year's QuakeCon lineup. Littered with little extras like an hour-long presentation by Bethesda's Todd Howard and the first public demonstration of Splash Damage's Brink, QuakeCon 2009 is clearly accommodating some new faces.That being said, id Software's John Carmack will be giving this year's keynote speech, and the event is still very much PC-centric, with Alienware, NVIDA and Ventrilo hosting a handful of events. Upcoming post-apocalyptic, not-Mad Max FPS Rage will also be getting its first public demo at the show, further asserting id Software into the event. For those of you attending, we encourage hounding Todd Howard for information on the next Elder Scrolls game during his Q&A -- if not for us, do it for the kids.
Rage heading to QuakeCon, calm soon to follow?
id Software today announced that the upcoming rageahol-fueled FPS, Rage, will be heading to the company's yearly soirée, QuakeCon. The email we got from id billed the event as "the first look at the next revolution in FPS from id Software," a game we've been anxious to get our hands on since it was announced all the way back in 2007. Wait, 2007?! And the game (er, "prototype") looked pretty good back then! With QuakeCon 2009 just four short weeks away -- and Gearbox Software showing off its strikingly similar-to-Rage shooter, Borderlands, this week to the press -- we're becoming mighty interested in who is going to win the desert death race ... of our hearts. In the meantime, we'll be entertaining ourselves with the strange new website/ARG/slow web thing that just launched around the game, After the Impact. Needless to say, we hope you'll be greatly impacted by your visit. Thanks, folks -- we're here all night.[Via Shacknews]%Gallery-28861%
Quakecon 2009 moves to the Gaylord Texan, new hotel reservations required
Listen up, QuakeCon attendees: id Software's LANtastic event is changing venues to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, the location of the show in 2004 and 2005. The people most affected by this change are folks who made reservations at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. Those who made reservations through the QuakeCon website have had their room "automatically canceled." Reservations at the Gaylord Texan will be at an equal or lesser rate, and reservations will begin "very shortly."The dates for QuakeCon have not changed. The event will be held August 13-16 and is still a free event open to the public; however, if you plan on bringing your own computer, you'll have to register ASAP.
PSA: QuakeCon 2009 registration begins March 6
Registration for id Software's annual QuakeCon extravaLANza begins this Friday, March 6, at 9:30PM ET. QuakeCon 2009 is free, but registration is required, especially if you plan to bring your own computer.QuakeCon will frag the frak out of the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas, between August 13-16. Special room rates ($145, not bad!) are available for those who want to stay in the hotel -- but it's probably best not to dawdle on grabbing those. No word yet if Rage or Doom 4-EVA (not working title) will be shown.[Via Big Download]
QuakeCon 2009 fragging Dallas August 13-16
There will be gibs aplenty next summer as id Software and QuakeCon organizers have announced that QuakeCon 2009 will take place in Dallas, TX from August 13 through 16. For the third year running, the annual frag fest will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, and as usual will be free to anyone who can squeeze through the door.As in years prior, the weekend gathering will play host to news, events, tournaments and what organizers dub as North America's largest BYOC (Bring-Your-Own-Computer) LAN party. For those wishing to sleep at ground zero, the hotel has a special QuakeCon reservation page, and everyone can begin warming up their GPUs when online registration opens the evening of March 6, 2009. Campers beware.
id's Hollenshead: Piracy 'hidden benefit' for PC manufacturers
Oh, those sly PC hardware manufacturers. As if it wasn't bad enough that they keep building better, more powerful rigs every six seconds, id Software's Todd Hollenshead believes they also secretly benefit from software piracy. No stranger to the public flogging of the illicit C:\ scourge, the CEO candidly told GamesIndustry.biz that manufacturers typically "line up on the wrong side of the argument." "They have lots of reasons as to why they do that," he said, "but I think that there's been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception of free content - even if you're supposed to pay for it on PCs - is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games." Hollenshead believes that this is what motivates manufacturers to stick up for the law-abiding minority when it comes to issues like peer-to-peer sharing."I think that if you went in and could see what's going on in their minds, though they may never say that stuff and I'm not saying there's some conspiracy or something like that - but I think the thing is they realise that trading content, copyrighted or not, is an expected benefit of owning a computer." Heck, the only reason we got one was to steal quotes from Tom Bramwell's interviews.
First official RAGE screens feature marvelous mutants
click to enrage After months of teasing us with crummy off-screen snaps of its forthcoming "post-apocalyptic open-world shooter," id Software has evidently heard us shouting "Show us your RAGE!" (in our best Raging Raven impersonation) and caved in. Behold: two nice, high-res screens of the game. Yep, two. But at least they're really purty.Some on staff are wowed by the textures. Others are happy to see that Sloth from The Goonies is still getting work. Still another faction here at Joystiq HQ is frantically checking Pricewatch in hopes of scoring some good deals on the hardware upgrades they'll need to play this beast at 2 billion x 1 billion resolution on their PCs.%Gallery-28861%
See QuakeCon video of Wolfenstein RPG
We haven't played Doom RPG, so we're not exactly sure how meshing an id FPS with a role-playing game model will work. But we have to say that after watching the above QuakeCon footage of Wolfenstein RPG, we're at the very least intrigued. If we have one regret, it's that the game is coming to cell phones instead of Apple's sexy new behemoth. Sadly it seems like we'll have to wait for Carmack's "graphical tour de force" for a portable id game that doesn't look like straight yuck.
Doom IV getting name change operation
Whatever form the next game in the Doom saga takes, it will do so with a name other than simply Doom IV. id's Tim Willits told Big Download during this week's QuakeCon that the previously revealed Doom sequel will still have Doom in the title, but will adopt some form of hellish subtitle instead of a number, roman numeral or otherwise.The designer noted that the decision was made, at least in part, because the fourth game in the series will not be a continuation of the events seen in Doom III and its expansion. As for what we can expect from the forthcoming Doom something something, who's to say, though it'll probably involve demons, a shotgun and -- if Doom III was any indication -- us wetting the bed.
Wolfenstein trailer and images are occult-tastic
Straight from QuakeCon 2008 come some piping hot Wolfenstein goodies from the upcoming game, namely the trailer and a gallery of images. It might look like The Ghostbusters Meet Hitler, or the opening scene of the first Hellboy movie, but we're excited about the supernatural side of World War II. Thank you for that, Raiders of the Lost Ark.This is a lot more footage than what we saw at Activision's "Not An E3 Event" event earlier this month, and it looks like it has some potential. The paranormal parts look decent, but why does some of it make us think of Call of Duty... 1? Hopefully we'll get some better looks in the coming months ahead, culminating in some Halloweenalicious spooky soldiers.%Gallery-28821%
First look at Orcs & Elves on the DS
At the recently concluded QuakeCon 07, Orcs & Evles was shown off to the press. Considering the game was announced back in January, we're glad to finally be able to see something on the game. It's also revealed, during the sneak peek, that the game will be available this holiday season.The level we get to check out is the Prison. While the atmosphere looks to be on point, we have to say that moving the hero around looks pretty cumbersome and difficult. Also, we get to see one of the game's bosses, but it's kind of dark so it might be hard for you see.Hit up the video past the post break and let us know if you think the jump from cell phone to DS is a good one.
QuakeCon 2007 keynote recap
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!%Gallery-5531%
New Castle Wolfenstein game confirmed for the PS3
At the recent QuakeCon, id Software announced more than just Rage for the PS3. They also officially confirmed for the first time that the new Return to Castle Wolfenstein game is coming out for the PlayStation 3 as well. Previously only announced for the PC and the 360, this is welcome news for PS3 owners. While we already have a pretty heavy shooter line-up ahead of us, the Wolfenstein games have been able to carve out their own comfortable niche in the shooter genre. Something about shooting cyborg Nazis just never gets old ...