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id taking a break from mobile to work on Doom 4
QuakeCon is happening in Texas this weekend, and id software head John Carmack has been giving interviews to the press on hand. He told The Verge that id software has decided to step away from mobile development long enough to focus on the forthcoming Doom 4. "We did make the decision to close up our mobile development," says Carmack, "which saddens me a lot ... I hope we get back to mobile in various ways in the future, but the big real aim is blockbuster, AAA titles, and for id that means Doom 4, it means that we get the whole company behind that after we get Doom 3: BFG Edition out the door, essentially everybody will be focused on Doom 4 as a project." In the past, id has had some solid success on the App Store, both with ports of old id games, as well as versions of newer games like Rage. But it looks like for the moment, id is done with putting out new releases on the App Store. I wouldn't worry too much about this. Clearly, Carmack knows and loves Apple's mobile platforms, and its a common practice in big studios to focus the team on a sigle project, especially when its as big as Doom 4. For now, the team may be focusing in on an AAA title, but I don't think it'll be long at all before we see some more mobile work coming out of id and its developers. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Preorder Dishonored during QuakeCon, get Arx Fatalis for free
Dishonored is being shown off this weekend at QuakeCon 2012, and if you can't make it down to Texas, here's the next best thing: Load up the gallery below, and flick through the pictures really quickly. All right, that won't work, but at least you'll get to see some brand-new (and creepy) screens from the much-anticipated game.QuakeCon's also brought a pre-order bonus for Arkane Studios' latest - if you pre-purchase the game on Steam between now and the end of QuakeCon on August 5, you'll get access to Arkane's previous first-person RPG, Arx Fatalis, for no extra charge. Just take your time with that one: Dishonored won't be out until October 8.%Gallery-161677%
Rage Campaign Edition now available on the Mac App Store
I almost didn't bother telling you all about this, because the circumstances around this release really rub the wrong way. But for gamers who've been waiting to play id games' latest, Rage, on the Mac, the Campaign Edition of the title is now available on the Mac App Store, for US$39.99. The Campaign Edition includes all of the extra equipment from the original Anarchy Edition of the game, along with a whole bunch of extra missions and content to play. If you've wanted to play Rage on the Mac, this is it. So why am I so annoyed by this release? Because it's a port of the game, done by Aspyr Media. I don't have anything personally against Aspyr, but why has it taken us this long to get this game ported over to the Mac? Why can't we run the game natively? id games made a big show of the title being able to run cross-platform originally, and in fact the company released a version of this game on iOS, using the native engine, even before the main title was out. Yet here we are, five months after the game's PC release, getting a second-class version of the title on Mac. Even worse, the game isn't compatible with Steam -- it's not available as a SteamPlay title (which means PC owners on Steam won't have access to the Mac version), and the Steamworks cloud save service doesn't work with the game either. However, Aspyr will be happy to tell you that Rage is available on its proprietary GameAgent store if you'd like to buy it there. In short, while getting Rage and all of these extras for $40 might seem like a good thing for players, id games is doing this all wrong by going with Aspyr. This game should have been running natively on the Mac on day one, and it should be available on Steam. Having it available through the Mac App Store is nice, but seeing it released as an Aspyr port this late in the game doesn't say much for what id thinks of Mac gamers.
Rage demo available now on Xbox Live, coming to PSN December 6
Just in case you didn't get a chance to wander around the Earth, post asteroid-smash, in id's Rage earlier this year, you can give the game a taster without investing any of your hard-earned cash (well, beyond an XBL Gold membership). The game's demo is now available on Xbox Live, and is expected out on PSN on December 6. If you like what you see, don't forget that the title can be found in most Black Friday sales this weekend -- most retailers have it offered up for about $30 or so. And if you agree a little more with our review (that there are probably better games of this ilk out there right now), well hey, at least there are better games of this ilk out there right now, right?
Rage 'The Dawn' trailer breaks over the horizon
Most of what we've seen from Rage so far has looked like your typical post-apocalyptic world: Lots of dust, freaks trying to kill you, and plenty of junk laying around some redneck encampment. But this behind-the-scenes segment for the game, called "The Dawn," changes the tune a little bit; it turns out there's more to it than just the Borderlands-style dust fields. There's some really good-looking city environments, for example, and a world savaged by an asteroid, of which you're a "special" survivor. There are dune buggies to race around, and a little bit of open world to explore. And yes, the freaks are still there, but there's also a group called The Authority trying to put the shackles on the world, and a Resistance trying to keep them off. There's lots and lots of guns, too. We still don't see, however, just where Blake Griffin fits into the picture.
Rage: Mutant Bash TV brings id Tech 5 to iOS
We saw id games' newest title, Rage, demonstrated earlier this year on an iOS device, but now there's more details and specifics on just how it's coming to iOS. It's not a straight port of the PC and console shooter -- rather, id is calling it Rage: Mutant Bash TV, and releasing this version of the game as an original, on-rails shooter. IGN has some video of the game running, and it looks pretty great. While the on-rails part means that you don't control movement at all, the camera controls and shooting gameplay look like a lot of fun. Of course the graphics look terrific -- Epic Games' Infinity Blade will apparently have some competition for the best-looking next-gen game on iOS. And while there's no word yet on what kind of Game Center integration we'll see (or, you know, price or date), apparently the game will have a "TV Out" option, allowing you to output the video to your television if you've got the appropriate cables for your iPad or iPhone. Sounds good -- we'll keep a look out for this one and let you know when it's out.
id loves the iPhone, but won't bring Orcs & Elves to App Store
Touch Arcade got to speak with none other than John Carmack himself at QuakeCon last weekend, and he had some disappointing news about getting old school id games on the iPhone. While Carmack said that he's excited about releasing Rage on the iPhone, he admits that id's past titles haven't sold up to snuff on the iPhone. That means that Orcs & Elves, originally created for mobile phones and then later released on the DS, won't be coming to Apple's App Store. That's too bad -- you'd think that since Orcs & Elves was actually designed for mobile platforms, it would be one of the easier titles to bring over. But it sounds like Carmack is more interested in bringing new games to Apple's platform. id Software still has a mobile game division going, but it's just not worth porting the old games over when there's so much work to be done on the new ones. I guess we can live with that.
id pushing hard for Quake Live on the Mac
Our good friends at Joystiq recently spoke to id games' John Carmack (the man behind games like Quake and Doom, and fervent supporter of Mac gaming), and heard that id's new product, Quake Live, is headed to our OS just as soon as they can get it there. Quake Live is a free, browser-based, multiplayer-only version of the popular first-person shooter, and it's Windows-only at the moment and packed -- I've tried to play, but have been locked out by thousands of people ahead of me in server queues. Even some of the developers at id are having issues. One of them (a Mac user, apparently) complains that even he has to jump into Boot Camp just to play his own game.A little more significantly, Carmack says he recognizes that while there are lots of other choices for PC gamers, a game like Quake Live could make a much bigger splash on Mac and Linux, where there aren't as many other developers and titles grabbing for attention. We've heard that before -- while developers claim there's not a big enough base for them on OS X and Linux, the truth is that some of your best and most loyal customers will use Macs.Good to see that Carmack recognizes there's an audience here who want to shoot each other online, too. Hopefully we'll see Quake Live running on our machines sooner rather than later.
Bungie says Mac games are still a possibility
Macworld has a quick chat with Bungie after this morning's big announcement that the company is "evolving" away from Microsoft a bit, and the good news is that a new Mac release from our favorite game developer (before they were bought out by the Evil Empire, that is) is not out of the question.Spokeman Brian Jarrard plays pretty loose with the announcement, and says that while Bungie and Microsoft are going to retain their developer and publisher relationship, his company won't "rule out anything going forward." He says the move will let Bungie "[control] our destiny, and that puts us in a position where we could put ourselves back on the [Mac] platform definitively again."We can only hope. EA and id games made a big appearance at this years' WWDC, and I think I speak for many, many Mac gamers when I say we'd love to see Bungie announcing a brand new game at Macworld in a few months.
