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id Software's Steve Nix talks id Tech 5
Having recently unveiled a new and very promising multi-platform graphics engine in the form of id Tech 5 (and environmentally unfriendly FPS racing hybrid, Rage), id Software is once again poised to challenge Unreal's default reign over new-generation consoles. Not that the company's too concerned with Epic -- in an interview with Tom Bramwell at GamesIndustry.BIZ, id business development director Steve Nix stated, "I don't spend much time looking at Epic's current offering or what their product line is - we've always just done our own thing at id, so we don't spend too much time thinking about them."Time not spent thinking about the competition was dedicated to id Tech 5's "virtualised texture system," which Nix explained will provided unlimited texture memory to developers and prompt a "huge paradigm shift in the way game developers can work." Of course, developers and publishers will have to shift many a pair of dimes to license the engine, though Nix promised the cost would be fair and unaffected by competing software. "I don't think we need to really be concerned with anyone else's pricing, because we believe we have the best technology solution available."Gamers can judge the technology for themselves when id unleashes Rage..."when it's done."
id premieres Rage at QuakeCon
EA hasn't quite held up on their end of the Mac gaming bargain, but id has moved a step closer. At QuakeCon over the weekend, they announced that the first game to use their id Tech 5 engine (shown off at WWDC) will be called "Rage," featuring driving in expansive, outdoor environments. id's John Carmack apparently told QuakeCon that he wanted to break with the claustrophobic hallways of Doom and Quake 4, and so Rage will feature lots of "...bright, sunny outdoors."No date yet, of course (isn't that the way it always works?), but Rage is scheduled for a simultaneous release on all platforms, including our favorite, the Mac.
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 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.!]
id Software dubs new game 'Rage'
Unveiled in June at Apple's WWDC conference, id Software's new IP has been finally given a proper identity at QuakeCon 2007 -- and it's not Return to Quoom 3D. Shacknews reports that Rage, the first game to be built upon the id Tech 5 graphics engine, will feature a strong driving element through expansive outdoor environments, in addition to the frenzied firing of unnecessarily large weapons that gamers have come to expect from the developer. Speaking at a QuakeCon keynote, id co-founder and programmer John Carmack noted, "Everybody knows we're going to do a good job with the run and gun action stuff...but we are branching out."Carmack did not specify which platforms he'd be unleashing the Rage upon, but explained that the game and its obscenely large textures would be shipping on two DVD discs (day and night cycles confirmed!) and one Blu-ray disc. We reckon that implies the same platforms id targeted for their new engine at the WWDC conference, namely PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. We'll be sure to let you know once platforms have been officially designated.
Classic Sega brawling on Japanese Virtual Console
Virtual Console fans in Japan have a lot of reasons to feel nice about their Wii purchases. This week's release list isn't the best ever, but neither does it include Urban Champion. Fans of Sega classics or of Yuzo Koshiro will be happy to learn that Bare Knuckle 2 (Streets of Rage 2) will be available for download starting next week. Fans of adorably doughy sumo sprites will be happier about Tecmo's Tsuppari Oozumou. Out Live and Sengoku Mahjong, both for the PC Engine, will also be available.
To shield or not to shield? Rage is the question.
The forums are abuzz with the debate on when to use the ability "Power Word: Shield" on the tank in your group. The original poster on the forum asked why pre-shielding the tank was looked down upon, and the response was abundant! Warriors and feral Druid tanks need to generate rage to use their abilities to generate the rage required to hold a mob's agro so that it doesn't run rampant in the group, slaughtering the squishies. They generate rage by being hit by a mob and also by hitting the mob as well. In order to be a raid/heroic tank, you have to have your mitigation and avoidance up to a point that you're almost always dodging, parrying, or blocking, in order to not die from a single hit, but in turn that will decrease the amount of rage you can generate. "Power Word: Shield" only decreases the rage generated, while not protecting the tank from that much damage. On boss mobs, it gets even more tricky. In order to successfully hold (most) bosses, you have to front-load your agro and maintain that agro lead throughout the fight. This means that they need an abundance of rage up-front in order to establish that agro, and they also need time to build up that buffer to keep them ahead. Most tanks only need a few seconds to accomplish that, but the shield just prolongs that time. This also hinders the raid on fights where time is a factor. For example, the old Kazzak enraged after 3 minutes of fighting (he probably still does), and every second of dps counted.
Sega confirms four more for NA Virtual Console
Sega has confirmed four more Genesis classics en route to the Virtual Console in the next ... well ... they'll be here eventually, anyway. The titles? Wellll .... Toe Jam & Earl 2: Panic on Funkotron Shining in the Darkness Kid Chameleon Streets of Rage 2 Sega seems absolutely committed to the Virtual Console, even moreso than Nintendo ... but aren't they going to run out of high-profile titles at some point? Alas. Streets of Rage 2 is an excellent addition, and we've heard great things about Shining in the Darkness. Do you guys have some expert opinions? We never were big Genesis gamers.Titles will cost the standard 800 points for Genesis games, of course. As our sister site Joystiq points out, the only two titles to break standard pricing were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 600 points) and R-Type (TG-16, 800 points). May that list stay ever short!
Man returns phone to carrier... without leaving car
When we talk about phone use leading to traffic incidents, this is not typically what we mean. It seems a gentleman in Korea -- we'll simply call him "Kim," since that's the only name we have for him -- got just a little upset when his shiny new Samsung handset still wasn't working after sixteen calls and two in-store visits to carrier SK Telecom. What really set the dude off, though, was a SKT employee suggesting that the phone be replaced with a different model when the original was out of stock (what nerve!). Next thing you know, Kim's chilling outside SK Telecom headquarters, filled with rage -- and, oh yeah, a 4,000 pound Mercedes with "Delinquent SK" scrawled across it. Them's fightin' words, of course, and SKT tried to get him to skedaddle. The attempt backfired, though, when Kim skedaddled right through the building's revolving doors. Lesson to carriers: do everything in your power to replace your customers' defective phones after a maximum of fifteen support calls. Lesson to customers: if you aim for the glass instead of the door, you can probably make it into the building without as much damage to the front end.
Joystiq at rAge expo: in pictures
The only thing that South Africa's rAge has in common with the now defunct E3 is that it's consistently swarmed by gamers looking to discuss and absorb every aspect of their favorite hobby. It's not nearly as big and overwhelming as other international shows, but it's open to the public and largely driven by a dedicated community. As such, it's difficult to emerge from the expo with witty headlines and snarky stories -- for the most part, it's an outlet for South African distributors to show off their existing wares amidst a backdrop of furious LAN competitions. Indeed, the PC gaming LAN is labeled as the largest in Africa, ensnaring 1,200 players for 54 hours of sharpshooting, Thompson-esque training.With all of that firmly in mind, we present to you a selection of our favorite show snaps. Perhaps you'll find it interesting to see how similar (or different) gaming is on the other side of the world.
HD era arrives, nobody tells Microsoft South Africa
Not content with merely launching the Xbox 360 in local game stores, the South African and somewhat fidgety arm of Microsoft also shoved the next-gen console into the spotlight at rAge -- that's a really awesome acronym for "Really Awesome Gaming Event." The annual show provides a rare opportunity for South African gamers to gather en masse, play games, discuss trends, purchase goods and generally complain about ineffectual airconditioning. What better place to erect snazzy stands and lure uncertain gamers into a nexus of high-definition visuals and inescapable green lighting? Indeed, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to convince uncertain gamers as to the overwhelming and decidedly monstrous power of the Xbox 360.Perhaps it was the fuzzy graphics, odd aspect ratios and the indecipherable text that gave it away, but it became abundantly clear that those lovely HD visuals were being strangled by a hissing composite cable. A quick inspection of all the consoles revealed a disturbing truth -- Core systems running at a paltry 480i, the mistake magnified for all to see on Samsung LCD screens. Stranger still was the fact that neighboring booths managed to get it right. Both EA and a prominent local distributor had correctly configured Xbox 360s, showing more adherence to the ubiquitous HD marketing than even Microsoft themselves. How did that happen?
Xbox 360 launches in South Africa
If you're a gamer living in South Africa, chances are that your visual periphery was dominated this past weekend by Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch and its accompanying marketing campaign. Nearly a year after the system's first-worldwide launch, the Xbox 360 became officially available to eager shoppers at the stroke of midnight on Friday, 29 September. Playable in-store kiosks, radio advertisements, campus tournaments and vaguely sinister cardboard stands announced not only the arrival of "the next generation of gaming," but the expansion of choice.Unless you wanted to import the original Xbox or stick your hand into the awkward and tangled mess of Gamecube distribution lines, the PlayStation 2 was the only console the average gamer could reliably and affordably find in game stores. The merits of Sony's system have long since been established and it's easy to argue that South Africa got the best console out of the bunch, though "best" loses much of its meaning when it becomes interchangeable with "only." Consider for a moment how your gaming habits might be affected if two out of three consoles weren't readily available to you. For comparison's sake (and because we didn't have much else to do) we attended one of the midnight launches at BT Games (Northgate) in Johannesburg, taking care to snap pictures and generally harass people who simply wanted to pick up their pre-orders in peace. Several midnight events took place all over the country, coinciding with the beginning of rAge -- a gaming expo we'll tell you about later.
GTA4: Girl Theft Auto [update 2]
According to 360Era.com this just might be a screen from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV (click for an embiggened pic). Hmm, looks about on par with Table Tennis to me. So, is it real? Fake? Frankly, anything with a girl wielding a morning star has my approval. Update 1: It's fake. From Eurogamer: "Rockstar says that an image circulating around web-forums this afternoon, supposedly showing a TV screen running a debug version of Grand Theft Auto IV, is a hoax ... The image ... first showed up in the inboxes of various media organisations this morning under the subject line 'From a disgruntled ex-employee of Rockstar...' ... But that's not the case, Rockstar told us this afternoon. It really is a hoax." Man, fake news travels fast. This screen was circulated and debunked in a matter of hours. Simply amazing. Thanks, Josh. Update 2: It looks like QJ discovered the perpetrator behind this heinous crime. You won't believe who it is. Read the full story here.
GTAIV will share the Table Tennis engine
There's a rumor floating around these here internets suggesting that the next iteration of Rockstar's money-printing machine known as Grand Theft Auto will be using their own in-house RAGE engine (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine engine), recently seen in Table Tennis. Gamespot's Rumor Control traces the rumor to a TotalVideoGames.com post which mentioned, but neglected to link to, an MTV News report from over a month ago. That report stated, "The Rockstar reps explained that the game was running on RAGE, the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. This is the graphics technology gamers are to expect from future Rockstar games, including the next GTA." I contacted MTV News' Stephen Totilo to see just how definite this was, and he returned, "I met with Rockstar publicists and producers for Table Tennis twice prior to the game's release. Both times they volunteered that RAGE would serve as the engine for all next-gen Rockstar games. 'Including GTA?' I asked both times. Including GTA they said both times." So there you have it folks. Following EA's acquisition of GTA's old-engine, Renderware, Rockstar has went and made their own. Sure, Table Tennis looks great but really, anything's better than the dated engine they're using now.
GTA IV dumps renderware, picks up RAGE
Rumor has it that Grand Theft Auto IV (or GTA4 as the kids call it) will be using Rockstar's RAGE engine (that's Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Many of you are already familiar with the RAGE engine if you own a copy of Table Tennis. The previous engine, Renderware, is seriously showing its age, and I doubt many will lament its loss. And it doesn't hurt that Table Tennis already looks mighty fine. Is there any chance we might see Tommy Vercetti both pinging and ponging?
