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Doom comes to this ATM, courtesy Australian hackers
Fiscal convenience takes a backseat to murderous hellbeasts as hackers have added an Automated Teller Machine to the long, long list of devices capable of running id Software's classic first-person shooter Doom. It seems a team of Australian hackers dismantled the machine and modified its hardware to get Doom up and running with full (if awkward) controls through the standard ATM keypad. The footage above offers a lengthy walkthrough of the process, and even includes discussion of the group's future plans for this hack which include a functional number pad and adding inexplicable support for the ATM's receipt printer. As our pals at Engadget point out, this hack is relatively trivial given that the ATM already runs on Windows XP, but the effort here deserves no less praise. In our modern day and age, you can't really consider a computing device properly functional until someone's made it run Doom, so just think of this as necessary aftermarket quality assurance. [Image: Bethesda Softworks]
Romero: 'PC is decimating console, F2P has killed a hundred AAA studios'
Doom co-creator John Romero gave an interesting interview to GamesIndustry.biz recently in which he compares the modern free-to-play model with the early 1990s shareware revolution driven by id's hellish sci-fi shooter. "Our entire first episode was free -- give us no money, play the whole thing. If you like it and want to play more, then you finally pay us. To me that felt like the ultimate fair [model]. I'm not nickel-and-diming you. I didn't cripple the game in any design way. That was a really fair way to market a game," Romero said. "When we put these games out on shareware, that changed the whole industry. Before shareware there were no CD-ROMs, there were no demos at all. If you wanted to buy Ultima, Secret of Monkey Island, any of those games, you had to look really hard at that box and decide to spend 50 bucks to get it." He goes on to say that F2P design will mature and at some point lose its stigma. "People are spending a lot of time trying to design this the right way," he explained. "They want people to want to give them money, not have to. If you have to give money, you're doing it wrong. For game designers, that's the holy grail." Romero also remarks on the parallels between today's industry and the fledgling game industry of 30 years ago that he says was wholly created by indies, as well as the autonomy enjoyed by modern developers as a result of the move away from retail and traditional publishing. "With PC you have free-to-play and Steam games for five bucks. The PC is decimating console, just through price," he said. "Free-to-play has killed a hundred AAA studios."
Bethesda: Doom reveal meant to quell negative Id Software chatter
Id Software's upcoming Doom reboot was revealed last week at QuakeCon 2014, though the event's livestream cut out during the presentation. As Bethesda's VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines told PC Gamer, Doom isn't exactly ready to show off, so the developers at id Software were reluctant to offer images of the game up freely for the rest of the world to pick at. "We're working with them to say, 'How does this work? What do we want to show?'" Hines said. "And they're like, 'Look, we don't want a stream to go up for a game that isn't at the point where we would formally show it to the world, and now that thing is getting picked apart, and digested, and gone through frame-by-frame and getting nitpicked to death, when normally we wouldn't be showing this to anybody at all.'"
Eleven year Crytek engineer veteran joins id Software
Tiago Sousa has joined id Software as a Lead Rendering Programmer to work on Doom and the id Tech 6 game engine. Sousa tweeted about the change in employment, a move that ends an 11-year stay with Crytek, where he most recently served as Lead R&D Graphics Engineer. Sousa's LinkedIn profile lists his contributions at Crytek, which include work on CryENGINE 3 as well as Crysis 1 - 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, Warface and "undisclosed multiplatform projects." Sousa's departure follows reports of key design, art and programming employees leaving Homefront: The Revolution developer Crytek UK due to late payments. A separate report also claims the departures of The Revolution's game director, Hasit Zala, and its development manager, Ben Harris. [Image: id Software]
Railguns at the ready, Quake Live hits Steam 'soon'
Free-to-play shooter Quake Live is coming to Steam "soon," some four years after it first hit browsers. Bethesda Softworks Vice-President Pete Hines announced the news at Quakecon yesterday, though he didn't put a date on the Steam release. Meanwhile on the game's website, id Software revealed the Steam version supports subscriptions to the Quake Live premium service, which among other perks offers access to all the arenas and gametypes. Players can also choose to port their Quake Live account over to the Steam account. After releasing a standalone client earlier this year, id Software has more changes in store for its on-railguns shooter. The developer also revealed plans for an update that it claims will bring about "some big gameplay changes" for the first time in the game's history. The update, among other tweaks, is due to drop ahead of the Steam release. "We want to ensure that FPS fans who check out the game on Steam have more fun in their first match than the current gameplay systems allow," wrote web programmer Mike Rubits. "We're not talking too much about specific changes yet, especially since the changes need to be taken as one whole package in order to be effective, but we will be iterating internally over the next few weeks to see what works." [Image: Bethedsa Softworks]
Quakecon pins exclusive Doom reveal for July 17
Quakecon attendees will get an exclusive first look at the new Doom when it's debuted at the Dallas convention on July 17. Then, through the power of smartphones, everyone else will get a not-so-exclusive second look in the days following. Snarkiness aside, the Doom reveal will be the major draw for what is a packed Zenimax convention. Other highlights include a Zenimax Online Studios panel on the future of Elder Scrolls Online, and a "Designing the Perfect Game" panel in which the panelists will design a game concept to be judged by Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart. Attendees will also be able to get their hands on Mikami horror The Evil Within and take part in a tournament for melee-heavy multiplayer game Battlecry. Check out the full schedule here.
Doom's Dungeons and Dragons pedigree dissected
The latest episode of YouTube series Did You Know Gaming explores Doom, and it's got more than a few tasty tidbits of info on the world's most famous demons-in-space shooter. For example, while 1993's Doom is widely-cited as having helped usher in the first-person shooter genre, we're somewhat surprised it didn't result in a new generation of kids rolling 20-sided dice, considering how many of the game's roots trace back to Dungeons and Dragons. The series' famous demons? DnD. The floating Cacodemon? DnD twice, as its general design is similar to a Beholder, while its sprite was taken from an Astral Dreadnought. Doomguy rolls for an attack against the Cyberdemon with his shotgun. Critical Hit! [Image: DYK Gaming]
Doom gets a dark teaser as QuakeCon looms
Doom is entering the CG teaser phase of its modern resurrection. Bethesda and id Software intend to show the game off at their QuakeCon event in July, but have already put out a new trailer to convey the shooter's hellish mood. It's so dark, even Youtube wants to improve the lighting. The grotesque cyberdemon glimpsed in close-up could be the least mysterious thing about the game, which started life in the media as "Doom 4" in 2008. Unverified rumors point to a troubled development until recently, when the game returned (or was restarted) - simply as Doom - alongside the announcement of an upcoming beta for PC, Xbox One and PS4. Entry to the beta is attached to another revamp of a classic shooter, Wolfenstein: The New Order. We'll put rumors aside, though, and see Doom's latest form – and perhaps hear the unsettling howl from a Baron of Hell – at QuakeCon, which takes place on July 17 - 20 at the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas, Texas.
ZeniMax is taking Oculus VR to court
ZeniMax Media and its subsidiary, id Software, filed suit against Oculus VR and the company's founder, Palmer Luckey, claiming that Oculus illegally misappropriated ZeniMax trade secrets and infringed on ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks while developing the Oculus Rift. ZeniMax filed the suit in federal court in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The suit claims that Oculus exploited ZeniMax IP, code and "technical know-how" (that is the technical term) regarding VR technology. ZeniMax said it gave Oculus "valuable intellectual property" under a strict NDA, and that Oculus illegally used its IP to create the Oculus Rift. ZeniMax said it sought compensation from Oculus but was repeatedly denied. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that ZeniMax asked Oculus for compensation after developer John Carmack left ZeniMax to become Chief Technology Officer at Oculus VR. At the time, ZeniMax said in a statement, "The proprietary technology and know-how Mr. Carmack developed when he was a ZeniMax employee, and used by Oculus, are owned by ZeniMax."
Oculus first-party team being built by ex-343 art director
Kenneth Scott, former art director for 343 Industries and id Software, has joined Oculus VR to help build a first-party development team. Oculus tweeted the news Monday, listing Scott's new title as Oculus Art Director. Before taking up the mantle of responsibility at Oculus, Scott worked as a visual design consultant for 343, having left his position of art director in January. What Scott and the numerous other Oculus converts will be working on is unkown, though CEO Brendan Iribe tossed around the idea of a billion-person MMO metaverse last week. In any case, something is drawing developers to Oculus, and we doubt the potential to drastically increase their Facebook friend count - seeing as Mark Zuckerberg now owns them - is the only reason. [Image: Microsoft Studios]
Pre-order Wolfenstein: The New Order, earn Team Fortress 2 hats
Alternate history Nazi shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order is now available for pre-order via Steam, and Valve has opted to sweeten the deal by offering free Team Fortress 2 hats to anyone who plunks down early cash for the PC game. Though Valve's announcement makes no mention of what exactly these hats will look like, it does describe them as both "exclusive" and patterned after some element of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Whether that means historically inaccurate pickelhaubes or the combination helmet and gas mask worn by the grunts in this trailer remains to be seen, but, again, these are free bonuses so try not to look this gift horse in the mouth. Alongside the newly-revealed gratis chapeaus, a pre-order of Wolfenstein: The New Order also grants players access to a beta of id Software's next entry in the hallowed DOOM franchise. However, as we mentioned earlier this month, that beta will only be available to those who pre-order Wolfenstein: The New Order on PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. [Image: Zenimax Media]
Carmack on id departure: 'VR has the possibility to be something really huge'
In an interview with USA Today, John Carmack characterizes his recent decision to leave id Software for Oculus VR as motivated by the potential of the Oculus Rift and VR technology in general. "I really do think VR is now one of the most exciting things that can be done in this whole sector of consumer electronic entertainment stuff," said Carmack. "I've seen this when we transitioned from 2D games to 3D games and everybody has seen the mobile transition, right now in the last five years. After you have been around for a while, you can notice some of the trends. It really feels like VR has the possibility to be something really huge." That John Carmack, a man responsible for some the most influential 3D game engines in history, would be drawn to new rendering technology should come as no shock. What is surprising, however, is that Carmack offered id Software parent company ZeniMax Media a deal whereby id could work alongside Oculus VR, allowing Carmack to retain his old position while also feeding his drive to explore the potential of VR. Carmack's proposal was rejected. "It would have been a huge win," said Carmack. "It seemed like a sensible plan for me. "But they couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate. When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR while at id Software, I decided to not renew my contract." [Image: Oculus VR]
Bethesda deploys standalone client for id's Quake Live
The standalone version of online free-to-play shooter Quake Live, announced back in November, is available for download today – just in time for a weekend of relaxing fragging. Existing players will find a conversion launcher available next time they boot up Quake Live, while all new players will be prompted to download the standalone client when they visit the Quake Live website and register. All profile data and stats have transitioned over to the standalone game. Quake Live, first revealed in 2007 as Quake Zero, is a free-to-play version of Quake 3. The game offers optional premium subscriptions yielding additional arenas, clan support and queue and in-game advertisement bypassing. An FAQ has been posted over on the Bethesda Blog to help ease the transition.
Testing the 'huge breakthrough' in new Oculus Rift VR prototype
The newest internal prototype of the Oculus Rift, codenamed Crystal Cove, adds positional tracking, low persistence and an OLED screen, iterating on the 1080p HD developer model out in the wild. Positional tracking is a straightforward addition that players have been looking out for, and the Oculus achieves this with an external camera that faces the player and watches a series of LEDs on the front of the headset. With positional tracking, players are able to lean down and read text or get a closer look at objects in front of them. Low persistence is a trickier beast to tackle, but it basically means the Oculus Rift has erased motion blur, allowing the player to move his head and keep his eyes fixed on one point, as humans do in reality. The Crystal Cove prototype reduces latency to 30 milliseconds from 60 milliseconds in the HD dev kit, though Oculus VR's goal for a consumer product is 16 to 20 milliseconds. "You want to be able to stay focused on something," Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe said during a hands-on demo at CES. "If there's text in the world and you're looking at it, you want to be able to move while you stare at that text. Your head is always moving. So it actually ends up being really key – it's a breakthrough. This is a huge breakthrough." The Oculus Rift team works with Valve to solve some of the headset's technical issues, and the low persistence solution spawned in part from Valve R&D man Michael Abrash. Abrash previously co-created Quake at id Software with John Carmack, who is Chief Technology Officer at Oculus VR.
Doom mod brings Resident Evil 4's mercenaries to Mars
Intrepid modder DooMero has mashed together Resident Evil 4's "Mercenaries" mode with the original Doom, creating a hybrid game experience that expertly combines elements from the two games. You only need watch this video of the 4.0 version of the mod to understand.
John Carmack departs id Software
John Carmack, co-founder of Doom developer id Software, has left the company in order to pursue new projects outside the field of game development, reports IGN. "John Carmack, who has become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id, has resigned from the studio," id Software studio director Tim Willits told IGN. "John's work on id Tech 5 and the technology for the current development work at id is complete, and his departure will not affect any current projects. We are fortunate to have a brilliant group of programmers at id who worked with John and will carry on id's tradition of making great games with cutting-edge technology. As colleagues of John for many years, we wish him well." Carmack joined up with Oculus VR as Chief Technology Officer in August, but remained with id in the months afterward, serving in a leadership role for unspecified projects. Carmack's resignation follows up on former CEO Todd Hollenshead's recent departure from id, ending a 17-year tenure with the company.
id's Rage free to play, cheap to buy this weekend on Steam
id Software's latest, Rage, is the focus of a free-to-play event this weekend on Steam. Starting today and running through Sunday at 1pm PT, all Steam users can download Rage and play as much as they want. Should they choose to purchase the game for play past Sunday, its price has been knocked down to $5 for the weekend. Rage largely failed to gain real traction with critics and consumers when it launched in October of 2011. Despite selling 550,000 copies in the US during its debut month, it has been absent from NPD charts every month since. Still, id has publicly stated it's not done with the series: Co-founder Tom Willits told Joystiq earlier this year "the franchise is not dead" and that id is "proud of what we did" and "proud of the universe that we built."
Quake Live goes standalone this year
Quake Live, id Software's free-to-play version of its hyper-competitive FPS, will begin the transition from browser-based experience to complete standalone game, available by the end of the year. id Software says that Google Chrome's movement to do away with plugins, as well as Firefox's changes to how it will handle plugins, has fueled its decision to go standalone. Active players will only need install a launcher that will update existing local game files - Mac and Linux will no longer be supported in the standalone version - and all player stats are transferable. Quake Live was first announced in 2007 as Quake Zero, a browser-based version of Quake 3.
Thief homage The Dark Mod steals spotlight for itself, goes standalone
The Dark Mod, a Thief: The Dark Project-inspired mod for Doom 3, has been made standalone, meaning you no longer require id Software's sci-fi horror romp to play. The mod was originally created by Broken Glass Studios as a way to re-experience the gameplay of Looking Glass Studios' 1998 stealth classic with updated graphics. Don't expect to play through the original Thief exactly as you remember it, though. Due to copyright issues, The Dark Mod cannot use characters, names, locations or any other copyrighted material from the Thief series. Instead, the mod offers community-created, piecemeal missions which take place in an original setting that shares the medieval and steampunk vibe of the original games. It's more of a Thief ho-mod-ge. Buh-dum-tish! Anyone with a taste for first-person stealth games can now download the game, free of charge, from the Dark Mod website. If you're hungry for an official expansion to the Thief universe, the Eidos Montreal-developed Thief is planning a heist for February of next year.
Of course you want this Cacodemon plushy
Or, more accurately, you want to buy several, along with the pain elemental, and then attach them to a mobile over a baby's crib, thus making that child impervious to any fear once the colonization of Mars begins within its lifetime. Other option: Dangle it from the ceiling over the bed of anybody who played Doom growing up and enjoy the cacophonous variety of screaming they provide. So many options. Purchase either or both at the Bethesda store.
