rage
Latest
Found Footage: Rage for iOS running in WebGL
The video on the next page shows a pretty mean feat of coding. Developer Brandon Jones has taken files from the iOS version of id's Rage game, which came out for iOS a little while ago, and tweaked them to display in WebGL, a library for JavaScript that can generate 3D graphics in a compatible web browser. In other words, Jones ported (some elements of) Rage for iOS to the browser. He even had John Carmack's help, getting a few hints on exactly how the file format worked and how to get it together. Understandably, Carmack also asked him not to post the art files on a public web server, so while the source code is available for developers, the demo isn't actually live for players to try out. Jones has a much longer post about the actual tech behind the demo, though it may cross your eyes if you're not that code-inclined. It's still amazing, though, and it shows that iOS might actually work well as a portal to development on other platforms. As Jones says, mobile devices often represent a crunch on available resources and performance, and that aligns perfectly with the limitations that lots of web developers are facing as games on that platform get more and more complicated. [via Waxy]
Rage gameplay footage features murderous bots, volatile vehicles
Sure, you'll be doing a lot of shooting in id Software's Rage, but did you know that you'll also be piloting an explosive RC car, or sending out a spider-like robot to eliminate enemies? See those gadgets in action in the new trailer after the break.
id conducting exclusive Rage demo in Plano, TX on May 7
Live in the Dallas Fort Worth area? What's the weather like there? We only ask because it's the stomping grounds of id Software and we're hoping to check out a demo for Rage there next week. Oh, you hadn't heard? It's totally going to be at the FX Game Exchange in Plano on May 7. We were tipped off via this Facebook event, which promises "food, drinks, giveaways, and much much more." The first live Rage demo is said to kick off at noon, though the shop will be opening its doors at 10AM local time. If you need us, we're going to pack our belongings into a polka dot bandana and neatly tie it around a stick before donning our best vagabond get-up. If you know of any vacant box cars we can hitch a ride on, be a peach and let us know? Thanks!
Rage preview: Doomed down
Despite sporting the enhancements of id Tech 5, Rage seemed to be lagging behind at Bethesda's BFG 2011 media event last week. Its generic, post-apocalyptic wasteland setting has become a familiar one in recent years, but it's the simplistic and overly linear shootfest within that's the most dated element of the game. Nonetheless, the team at id Software seems to be aware that a glossy throwback shooter isn't going to cut it in today's over-saturated FPS market and has challenged itself to set Rage apart. The most obvious sign of id stepping out of its comfort zone is in the game's multiplayer design. Believe it or not, there's no deathmatch in the classic Doom sense. In its place is a fine-tuned vehicle-based mode, implementing the game's dune buggies. Multiplayer is expected to be a fairly compact experience, with up to six players able to take part in a few gametypes on a sparse offering of five maps. "If you add game variations just to add game variations it confuses people," said one of the designers during the hands-off multiplayer presentation. "People don't know what to play." %Gallery-121461%
Rage pre-orders upgraded to 'Anarchy Edition,' four in-game items offered
Rather than tying exclusive Rage pre-order bonuses to a single retailer, Bethesda has decided to give the same free virtual goods to those who buy from one of several popular stores, saving us from the heartache (or rage) of having to choose our freebie. Pre-orders of the game from GameStop, Amazon, Steam, and Direct2Drive, the company announced, will be given a free bump to the "Anarchy Edition," which includes four bonus items: the Double Barrel Shotgun, the Crimson Elite Armor, the Fists of RAGE (with "RAGE" here apparently translating to "pointy knuckles"), and the Rat Rod Buggy. Everything you need to get properly dressed for a night out on the (ruins of) town. If all this Rage talk has you getting a little angry that you can't see the game right now, you're in luck! Gameplay footage is waiting for you just past the break, idling in its Rad Rod Buggy. Actually, it's just sitting in a window, but whatever. And actually, the pre-order items aren't featured.%Gallery-121520%
Rage trailer has two tickets to the gun show
Most of the screens and videos we've seen from id Software's post-apocalyptic shooter Rage have focused on the locals and locales you'll be shooting up during the game's campaign. Today, we learn exactly what we'll be doing all that shooting with -- check out the latest, gun-filled trailer below!
Rage to be prefaced by tie-in novel
It seems that even a prequel comic book isn't enough to flesh out the universe of id Software's upcoming mutant blaster, Rage. Bethesda has announced that Del Rey will publish a novel based on the first-person shooter. The novel -- conveniently penned by Matt Costello, one of the game's writers -- will retain the game's title and tells the story of Lt. Nick Raine. It seems that poor Nick has emerged from stasis to discover "a new society where might is right, mutants plague the Earth, and 'friend' is a term for the person who hasn't stabbed you in the back." We're going to hazard a guess that, at some point, the plot will also involve shooting. Rage, the novel, is set to hit book shelves on August 30. The game is due out in mid-September.
Rage prequel comic inbound from Dark Horse
There's evidently enough of a story to id Software's upcoming Rage beyond mutants and, er, shooting to warrant a three-issue prequel comic from Dark Horse Comics. With its first issue set to hit shelves on June 22, the limited series is being written by Arvid Nelson, whose comic Rex Mundi, a murder mystery about the quest for the Holy Grail, was also published by Dark Horse. The book is being drawn by Andrea Mutti, known for his work on Vertigo's DMZ. The three covers will be provided by Preacher and Hellblazer artist Glenn Fabry, who, like us, continues to draw inspiration from the cover of Dead Space: Extraction. You can see the full issue one cover after the break, startled female character and all.
Rage trailer is chock-full of wasteland justice
id Software and Bethesda's post-apocalyptic shooter/zany kart racer Rage features a real cast of characters, as seen in the trailer below. Well, we'd classify maybe three of the people in the video as "characters," and the others as "horribly mutated, grotesque meat targets."
QuakeCon 2011 taking place August 4-7
If you've been eager to show off your rocket-launching prowess to members of the public, you'll be delighted to hear that a large group of them will gather at QuakeCon 2011 from August 4 until August 7 (yes, in 2011). Joining the annual and famously festive fragfest -- running on what event organizers have dubbed a "world-class network" -- requires only that you register, and then take your computer to the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas, Texas. The event is open to eveyone and attendance is free. If you're particularly keen on lugging around a monstrous rig (or your Pentium III 800MHz with 128MB RAM, for that matter), you'll also have the opportunity to see and play upcoming games from Bethesda Softworks -- the publishing label of Zenimax, which acquired id Software in 2009. This year's QuakeCon will conclude just over a month before the North American debut of post-apocalyptic FPS Rage, currently set to be released on September 13.
Rage's 'new vision' showcased in latest trailer
The "2011 trailer" for id Software's Rage has a good mix of vehicular combat and first-person shooting. While not particularly revelatory, it's always nice to have a new excuse to see id Tech 5 in motion, right?
Microvision runs TV out apps, including Rage HD, on the SHOWWX+ pico projector
Last year at Macworld 2010, I got to see the SHOWWX pico projector in action. Back then it was just a prototype, and the company was still shopping around the technology to try and get a unit into production. MicroVision has released the SHOWWX projector at a unit price of US$299. This year's model, however is the SHOWWX+, and while it's still a little unwieldy (and $100 more, at a $399 price point), it's brighter and clearer than ever, and a few tweaks to the iPhone have made it much more useful. First up, TV out was simply a lament last year, but since Apple made it official with iOS 4.0, lots of developers are including a TV out function in their apps, and the SHOWWX+ can project all of them. There's the standard ideas of kicking out regular videos or Netflix (which looks terrific, even on a solid 3G connection), but MicroVision pulled up what we really wanted to see: Rage HD. id added TV out to its app recently, so the projector can put the video on a wall, but id also added support for the in-phone gyroscope. Since the projector is portable, the MicroVision rep can move it around while playing the game, so as the projection on the wall moved, so did the in-game angle. The effect was somewhat fleeting (the gyroscope feature isn't quite perfect, and the image was distorted as it moved around the square walls of the room), but there was a definite virtual reality feel, as if the projector was showing a dynamic window into the world of Rage. So what's the drawback? While the projector is a quality product, and there probably at least a few people out there who could pick one up and use it, even MicroVision agrees the technology has a little way to go before it gets to prime time.
Rage mobile gets Game Center support (achievements!) and gyroscope-based aiming
Over the weekend, a massive update for Rage: Mutant Bash TV – id Software's iOS-based on-rails shooter for the iPhone and iPad – made its way to the iTunes App Store. Perhaps most notable is the inclusion of support for Apple's Game Center service, featuring leaderboards and achievements so you can compare your mutant-murdering abilities with those of your friends. Other improvements encourage you to bask in Rage's beauty: Museum Mode lets you casually stroll through the levels, mutant-free, taking in all the sights. Look, a collapsed wall. Charming! 2nd Display Support lets you link your iThing up to your television using an Apple component cable (480p) or an Apple VGA cable (720p), so you can get some big-screen appreciation for all those polygons. But our favorite enhancement is surely "Gyroscope Support" – forget about tilt-based aiming, it's all about the virtual window-style now. Grab yourself a swivel-based office chair, park it in the middle of your room, and peer through your 3.5" window (or 9.7" for you iPad owners) into the 360°, megatextured alterna-world of Rage. Find the update notes after the break.
Rage for iOS frags its way to gyroscope and Game Center support
One of the hottest titles in the App Store right now -- id Software's Rage -- recently got a healthy official update to version 1.11 that adds a handful of big new features to its roster, perfect to add a little replay value just in time as your amazing graphics-induced euphoria wears off. What's new? Well, the biggest new feature might be support for Apple's Game Center, offering achievements and scoreboards. You've also got gyroscope support -- good only if you're using an iPhone 4, of course -- that offers an orientation-controlled aiming mode, and official TV-out support for upsizing your gameplay onto the big screen. There's apparently also a new "museum mode" that lets you stroll through the game world without troublesome baddies trying to attack you for those occasions when you're looking for a more peaceful form of entertainment... not exactly fit for a title named "Rage," really.
Rage v1.11 update adds Game Center, gyroscope controls and TV support
A big update for id games' Rage: Mutant Bash TV (available in SD and HD versions for US$0.99 and $1.99; the latter being for iPhone 4 and iPad) has appeared on iTunes overnight. As John Carmack noted in our recent interview with him, it adds a number of new features that arguably should have been there from day one -- namely Game Center achievements and scoreboards. As the game is fundamentally an on-rails shooter with a strong score attack aesthetic, social leaderboards will certainly make for a more compelling experience. That's not all the update contains, however. The previously unofficial TV out support has been upgraded to a supported feature, allowing you to cable your iOS device to a bigger screen. A new "museum mode" removes the monsters and lets you play through the levels at your own pace, presumably so you can show your friends the graphics whilst exclaiming "it's on a phone!!" A mirror mode flips the game left-to-right so that you can eek a little more fresh gameplay out of the three rather short levels. Most intriguing, however, is the addition of gyroscope controls if you have an iPhone 4. As with the recent Star Wars: Falcon Gunner, this adds an aiming mode based on moving your iPhone around as if it were a window onto the game space. This offers a new and potentially compelling way to control iOS shooters, not to mention a definitely compelling way to look stupid if you play it in public. With Rage vying with Epic's Infinity Blade in the iTunes charts, it's just like the late 90s Quake-versus-Unreal competition all over again, ... except this time they are both getting crushed by Electronic Arts.
App review: Rage HD (iPhone)
The iOS App Store might already have its fair share of addictive and compelling games on offer, but when John Carmack comes calling with his latest megatextured shoot-em-up, you've got to sit up and pay attention. Rage HD: Mutant Bash TV isn't so much a full-fledged game in its own right as it is a teaser for the forthcoming Rage FPS for the PC, and yet even in its pretty limited running time, it managed to woo and thrill us with its visceral gameplay and arresting visuals. It's easily the best-looking game we've yet seen on a mobile device and provides a fine demonstration of just how far Apple's hardware -- on the iPhone 4, iPad, and fourth-gen iPod touch -- can be pushed when some appropriately adroit hands are at the graphical controls. But, of course, games are supposed to be fun to play, not just to look at, so why not join us after the break to see how well Rage HD handles its mutant-bashing duties?%Gallery-107875%
John Carmack talks about Rage SD and HD, iOS, and what's next for iOS gaming
We've all seen the potential of what a demo like Epic Citadel can do, but while work continues on Infinity Blade, John Carmack's id Software has released Rage, an iOS-exclusive tie-in to the big FPS console and PC title scheduled to come out next year. The game is a pretty incredible feat in and of itself, with realistic graphics set in Rage's post-apocalyptic world and an on-rails shooting experience that feels extremely dynamic. It also has a fun reloading mechanic, a dodge button, a constant flow of mutants to shoot, and power-ups and bonuses to grab. At just one or two dollars for the SD or HD versions, Rage is a steal, and if you can play the game in full HD on the iPhone or the iPad, there's no question you should. I got the chance to chat with Carmack himself earlier today about this game and what he thinks of the iOS platform, and you can read the results of our interview after the break below. The good news: he says he's more focused on this kind of mobile development than ever before, and as a result, he's hoping we'll see at least two more mobile games from id before the full version of Rage comes out next year.
Next Rage game for iOS to focus on vehicles, Carmack talks mobile Quake Arena spin-off
Now that Rage: Mutant Bash TV has landed on the App Store, id Software's John Carmack is already talking about what's next for the developer on Apple's iOS platform: more Rage. Specifically, a game focusing on the driving aspect of Rage on consoles and PC (shown in the above screenshot). "I think we have a really good idea of what we can do in this format, and I'm really excited about getting onto the next game, getting onto what we can do with another slice of Rage," Carmack told Joystiq today, going on to say: "Taking some of the wasteland material and having riding along in the dune buggies, jumping over ravines, that kind of stuff. There's more graphics stuff that we can bring in and add yet another level of improvement and polish to the visuals." If all goes as planned, the game will hit iOS before Rage arrives in stores. "I would like to do a Quake Live derivative for iOS, maybe focusing on the lightning gun, and call it 'Lightning Arena' or something, that would be a full roam-around FPS game," he also said, talking about ideas for future iOS titles from id. "I may yet push for that, because I've got things I want to try there, both from a networking technology standpoint and what we could pull out of that, but I just don't know when the hell I'm going to find time for all of this."
Rage for iOS supports video out, available now in SD and HD
id games has released the iPhone version of Rage in two different versions, both SD and HD, available right now universally for the iPhone and the iPad. TUAW spoke with John Carmack this afternoon, and he said that the HD version is about twice as nice as the SD version: "All of the user interface is at twice the resolution, the animated characters are at twice the precision, and the world textures are at twice the feedback bias, which doesn't quite equate to twice the pixel density, but it's almost twice the data that goes in there." The SD version will run well on both, but the HD version will stutter a bit on pre-version 4 iPhones and iPods, so anyone with a 3G or even a 3GS is advised against it. The game is US$0.99 for SD and $1.99 for HD, and as we said before, is a great-looking on-rails shooter designed to promote the full game next year. Carmack also gave us a little hint at an as-yet undocumented feature -- he said that with the video-out adapter, gamers can play the game on a TV using the iPhone or iPad as a controller. "You can actually play the game blown up on a big screen TV," said Carmack. "It's a little bit of a mind-bender." He said that they didn't draw the controls up on the screen for the TV-out function, but it should work with the current version of the game, and may even get upgraded in the future. That's just a little tidbit for you from the full interview -- stay tuned for a longer writeup of the game and more information about this game and other iOS thoughts from John Carmack himself on TUAW later today.
The Daily Grind: Do you rage quit?
Our favorite games provoke a range of emotions, and whether it's love, hate, fear, amusement, or simple relaxation, we usually keep coming back for more. Anger is an emotional response that is pretty common for some folks, so common in fact that the catch phrase "rage quit" is circulated several times daily on many message boards and in-game chat channels. While most emotions make us want to play more, anger often leads to a quick disconnect, and depending on your personality, either a string of expletives or a weary sigh. Whether it's due to failure in the team-based combat scenarios common to Global Agenda, losing your loot (and everything else) in FFA corpse-defiling contests like Lineage II and Darkfall, or dying at the hands of AI in one of the thousands of PvE-focused titles littering the landscape, we're constantly confronted with digital mortality and its emotional effects. The question of the day, Massively folk, is have you, do you, or did you used to rage quit? Why and in what game(s)?
