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Samsung team-up aims to improve your mobile payments
If you've ever tried paying with your phone at a store, you know that the experience is often only as good as the payment reader -- a sketchy terminal could lead to you pulling out a credit card in embarrassment. Samsung thinks the industry can do better, though. It's partnering with some of the larger point-of-sale device makers (such as Verifone and Ingenico) to guarantee "maximum compatibility and universal acceptance" for Samsung Pay. The hope is that this will boost the adoption of mobile payments simply by giving you a better time when you tap-to-pay, with fewer errors that make you rethink the whole concept.
Doom 3 source code available now, gory customizations welcomed
Doom for everyone. It's not a particularly festive message, but as promised earlier this month, the Doom 3 source code is now out on a general public license. Programming types can meddle with the game's inner workings as wintery temperatures force them to huddle close to the warm hum of excessive gaming rigs. Doom dad John Carmack announced the release to his horde of Twitter followers, while doffing his cap to Timothee Besset, who helped sidestep some shadow rendering license issues that had dogged an earlier release. Peer into the source code at the link below, and know the true face of despair Doom.
Carmack: Doom 3's engine ready for open-sourcing, awaiting 'OK' from legal
When the granddaddy of FPS tweets, we listen. For those unaware, that's John Carmack -- you know, the guy behind games like Doom, Quake and Rage -- confirming that Doom 3's engine, id Tech 4, is all bundled up for its open-source release, only awaiting clearance from legal. To be verbose, that doesn't mean you'll be getting down with a gratis copy of Doom, but rather with the powerhouse that powers it, a veritable boon to game developers and tinkerers, alike. The release is par for the course for the company, as id Software's been routinely open-sourcing its older engines for as long as we can remember. We'll keep an eye out for when it drops, but while you wait, feel free to read an interview with the visionary himself.
New id FPS needs two discs on 360, one Blu-ray on PS3
idTech is real ... and it will finally arrive in a brand new game, Rage. Simultaneously developed for PC, Mac, PS3, and 360, Rage will use the second generation of id's "Megatexture" technology. What does that mean? 20GB worth of texture information will be squeezed through the engine's technology to deliver visually stunning scenes. Regardless of the compression, the game will require two DVDs for all platforms ... but the PS3.The need for added space in the HD-era of games is clear. Blu-ray's added storage allows the game to run on a single disc. The game itself is a departure for id, where it will try to combine "60 percent shooting and 40 percent driving." After a comet smashes into the Earth, players will have to fight the monsters that roam the wasteland.id plans to make Rage a 20 hour single player experience, and plans to offer co-op. Also, in a surprising change of pace, their aiming for a suspiciously safe Teen rating. The game will ship "when it's done."[Thanks, Karl W.!]
