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Doom-cum-point-and-click adventure game
Doom is quickly joining Mario in the race to be the most referenced, recycled and remixed video game property ever. We've got Doom the movie, the comic, the RPG, even the frickin' radio play! Now add point-and-click adventure to that burgeoning list.PainNation is a Flash re-imagining of the influential first person shooter; just look at the screen above and feel the nostalgia wash over you ... exploding barrel, imp-gore covered nostalgia. A warning to interested parties (and those with delicate "space" keys) the first zombie space marine mini-game is a bitch![Via CVG]
Hands on with Quake Wars: Enemy Territory
Activision had a huge LAN set up on their floor space showing off Quake Wars: Enemy Territory that let attendees get a taste of the multiplayer mayhem. Players assume the role of either the devious Strogg or the GDF. The campaign we played involved the Strogg going on the defensive and the GDF attempting to re-take the region that they've been contaminating.
Carmack returns to cell games with Orcs & Elves
MTV News has a story on Doom co-creator, and gaming guru, John Carmack's latest FPS megahit Orcs & Elves; only thing is, it's not based on some new super-engine that he hand-coded -- using only one hand, mind you -- while building rocketships with the other. Nope, it's a cell phone game. And it's not even an FPS really, it's "an interpolated first-person action-adventure sort of RPG." Err, right.So why return to cell phone gaming so soon after the unlikely hit of last year's Doom RPG? Sure, Fountainhead, the game design company working on Orcs & Elves for EA (who bought Doom RPG's publisher Jamdat last year) is run by Carmack's Mrs., but there has to be more to get one of PC gaming's biggest power-developers trading in his Ferrari for a Yugo. His vision: "'I do sort of have this grand scheme of, we do Orcs & Elves and we do a sequel and we go into this massively multiplayer Orcs & Elves world.' He sees people connecting across their cell phones, using the phone's built-in speaker and earpiece to communicate through the fantasy world."Some Verizon customers can get the game this Sunday, with additional cell phone platforms available in July.
Carmack: 360 is "a really sweet development system"
John Carmack is a video game deity. Responsible for many of the graphical and technological advancements of the medium, through his work on the engines for everything from Wolfenstein to Doom III, Carmack's opinion carries with it an almost incomprehensible amount of industry weight. So Carmack saying the Xbox 360 is "a really sweet development system" means precisely that. His praise isn't completely unequivocal though. He says about both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, "They can quote these incredibly high numbers of giga-flops or tera-flops or whatever, but in reality, when you do a straightforward development process on them, they're significantly slower than a modern high-end PC." The interview is from the February issue of PC Gamer UK, which hits newsstands today. We can probably expect to hear more details about both consoles therein. Any UK readers have a subscription?
Homebrew WADs and mods
With the advent of DOOM being ported to the PSP, homebrew hackers have been busy at work tricking out mods for the popular shooter. One such gamer at DCEmu has managed to fix up Counter-Strike and Quake 1 that runs from the original doom2.wad file. There are all sorts of mod files cropping up for the PSP, but make sure you know how to get them running before diving into it. Check the thread for some great images and information. [Thanks, Wraggster]
Doom 3 Super Edition in the works for PS3?
In a recent GameInformer interview, John Carmack hinted at developing a "super [awesome] edition of the Doom 3 stuff" for the PlayStation 3. No other details were stated-indeed, this is very much just an idea-but we're curious about Carmack's choice of the word stuff. If we do see a PS3 Super Edition in the future, will it be a tired port with a making-of DVD tacked on? Or will we get a unique experience using "Doom 3 stuff"? Interestingly enough, Carmack also told GI that he prefers developing on the Xbox 360. [Thanks, JamesO]
New Enemy Territory: Quake Wars details
The creators of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory are hard at work on their next project, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, based on the upcoming Quake 4 game. The online tactical shooter will take advantage of both the Doom III engine and a new "megatexture" technology developed by John Carmack. With this new technology, the Splash Damage team will be able to render environmental terrain all the way out to the horizon and also assign different physical properties to the various types of terrain. For example, asphalt will be louder to walk on but offer better traction for land vehicles, while sand will make your footsteps quieter but at the same time will bog down vehicles. And don't expect every map to be located in the desert. Quake Wars is set to take place across Earth, so we should see some temperate and jungle environments in the mix. We'll keep you posted.
E3: Enemy Territory - Quake Wars is a sight to behold
Every developer makes their in-development game look better to the public than it actually is. The Killzone 2 discussion going on in the community right now is that the "gameplay" footage is questionable. Is the hardware really able to deliver that kind of gaming quality? If not, is it it false advertising? My bottom line is that all three consolers had a chance to put their best foot forward and Sony's stride was stronger. Even compared to MS' best cutscenes, Killzone is a killer. But there are other titles wowing the crowd now. Enemy Territory is one of them. The game clip is, once again, playing on an obscenely beautiful screen the size of my apartment. It stops you in your tracks in a room where everyone is trying to get you to stop in your tracks. The Quake spin-off is being developed by Splash Damage, using id's MegaTexture engine. It's a tactical shooter with 40 vehicles and enough character classes to kill your buds seven ways to Sunday. Details are a little sketchy right now. We all know that means it's early in development. Of course, that didn't keep them from releasing one of the true must-see clips of E3 2005.
