Rock, Paper, Shotgun

John Romero has posted some long-lost video of Id Software in the days just before the release of Doom. It’s a good half hour long, and you can hear various people from Id, as well as the film-maker, commenting in awe at deathmatch in the early FPS. It’s embedded beyond the click. (Thanks to Tim for the tip.)
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It’s a love story for the ages: two of most important names in PC gaming history have finally admitted their feelings for each other, and after a whirlwind romance they have a beautiful bouncing baby. Yes, Doom and Diablo now have a child to call their own, and of course it’s as gloriously moronic as its parents.
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Doom! Dooooom! In a browser! Yes! It’s only the shareware chapter, and controls can’t currently be rebound from their archaic cursor key default, but what a proof of concept it is. Browser X-Com next, please.

I believe the old man’s been shoved rudely into Java or something before, but it’s very much a different affair for this one, as it’s realised in dripping-with-gaming-potential new Flash 10 format, thanks to Adobe’s Alchemy project – which handily enables programmers to use C and C++ code. Which in turn means it’s super-fast to load and run, dead pretty and should work on any browser/OS that Flash 10 plays nice with.

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We don’t get many Doom total conversions round these parts, so I was pleased when TIGSource linked to Action Doom 2. Set before Mars, presumably in the Doomguy’s drunk Vietnam-vet period, it’s a street-based beat ‘em up with a Max Payne monologue to kick things off. Whiskey, redemption, and fists are the main themes. I think it’s safe to say you’ll enjoy it. Get the trial version here.

I’ll always love Doom. Don’t care about the universe or backstory, don’t care that Doom 3 was 1000% less fun, don’t care that it was the Star Wars of videogames, irrevocably sending so much of the medium down a single path. Twatting Imps with shotguns at high speed never gets old – it’s that simple. I’m that simple.

So Oblige, an application which randomly generates entire, fully-functional Doom and Doom II levels has proven quite the delight.
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Id Software have announced they’re at work on a fourth version of Doom. You may not be aware of Doom – it’s a relatively minor PC piece of obscura which is only rarely talked about, but it’s to Id’s credit that they’re willing to follow this very peripheral piece of PC history. Among its many unusual ideas, Doom is played from the first person perspective and allows you to shoot monsters. While claimed by aficionados to provide a more immersive experience, it’s never really caught on. Maybe it will now, eh? They’re currently recruiting staff for the project, including a Lead Designer, so it’s clearly early days. We wish Id the best of luck in the Sisyphean task of bringing this curio to a marketplace that often shies away from innovative thinking.

Here’s a tale, of no particular import or meaning, just a gaming-related Christmas happenstance that got into my head, and I need a little catharsis.

I spent the Christmas week, as so many do, with my parents. While it’s good to see them, it’s always a little odd, even infuriating – I’m cut off from most of my gaming IV drip, and their continued resistance to broadband means I don’t even get to check up on whatever electronic delights the rest of the world’s spending the festive season with. So, this last Christmas, I was down to the barest basics – their PC, a machine barely capable of Peggle, and too far behind with Windows Updates and drivers to actually manage it. In desperation, I cast around for something, anything to play. Read the rest of this entry »