Tag Archive

Carmack, Rage: Extended Trailer

Written by Jim Rossignol on August 1, 2008.

Eurogamer wrote up the Carmack keynote over here, in which he covers future tech and Quake Live stuff. The trailer, which you can see after the jump, is essentially the same footage as the E3 trailer, but with another section tacked on the end. It shows some kind of battle-racing tournament feature, with some shots of the racing itself. Hard to be sure how it’ll play off any of this, but it’s all Id Tech 5, and looking fairly amazing.
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The Quake Live Trailer

Written by Jim Rossignol on July 21, 2008.

If there’s one area within gaming that I’m genuinely inclined to be unreasonable to the point irrationality, it’s in the FPS deathmatch games - the Quake III / UT axis. For me Quake III was almost the only game worth playing. Quakeworld was a little too fast, UT too fat and feature-obese, and so on. Quake III was minimalist wonder, and what Id started was finished by the modders who worked on things like OSP, Threewave, and Rocket Arena 3. It’s that last bit that has me the most concerned about Quake Live: Id made a fine game, but it was their community that completed it and honed it to the point of perfection. The browser-based system seems to make that community contribution rather more complex, as everything will have to be mediated by Id.

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Carmack: “Quake III was my personal favorite”

Written by Jim Rossignol on June 27, 2008.

Carmack has been interviewed about Quake Zero over on Gamesradar. For an old Quake III creature like me it was pretty satisfying to see the big man say this:

Quake III Arena was always my personal favorite id Software game. It’s such a pure activity kind of game - more of a sport than a movie. And I’m excited to have this opportunity to bring back the pure type of gaming as opposed to the “everything and the kitchen sink” modern design. We have no pretensions about it being the best multiplayer game in all types of things, but for any player looking to test their [deathmatch] skill, I think Quake III Arena is the best there ever was.

He’s not wrong.

Quake Live Beta Testing

Written by Jim Rossignol on April 16, 2008.

You can sign up for the Quake-in-a-browser beta testing sessions, just here. It’s your standard beta testing deal: the game is finished and now needs tweaking. Hopefully they won’t have to keep patching for five years or whatever it was on the original game… It’s not an open beta, so get those email addresses in the slot quick smart.

You know, Quake Live sure does make me hope for some kind of enormous Quake 3 revival where I can get to show off my madskillz again. I miss those glory days. Sigh.

ETQW Released, Dated For Steam

Written by Jim Rossignol on October 3, 2007.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars went on sale in Europe on Friday and on Monday and the US. Clearly RPS has been a little distracted with Team Fortress 2, but there’s every reason why we, and you lot too, should be playing ETQW. It’s ludicrously good.

Fortunately, should you (like me) be intent on remaining posted at your keyboard 24/7, you’ll be able to download the beast on October 5th in Europe and October 9th in the US: Steam is taking pre-orders for ETQW now. Why does it come out in Europe first? I have no idea.

In some ways it’s a shame that ETQW’s demo level was that particular map. It’s one of the more underwhelming designs that Splash Damage have come up with. Just in terms of the palette used, it’s rather middle-ground and didn’t really sell the game. The mission itself might have been representative of the game mechanics (and therefore good for beta testing) but part of ETQW’s appeal is the sheer beauty of its wartorn terrains, and some of the other maps simply have far more intense objectives built into them. The island (pictured) and the beach assault are particularly solid, while the Slipgate map… well, I’m going to post in detail on a couple of my favourites next week.

As fun as I’ve found Team Fortress 2, I think I’m going to be finding a more satisfying long-term gaming outlet in ETQW. With vehicles, larger maps, and absurdly varied selection of classes, it simply caters for a wider range of possible actions and experiences. It’s a harder, bigger, brasher game in all kinds of ways, and yet still pretty accessible, I think. Anyway, perhaps we’ll sort out some RPS Steam community games later in October. I’ll also be arranging an interview with Splash Damage to chat a bit about the community end of things, and what they’ve learned from clan gaming in the past.

Comeback Kids

Written by Alec Meer on August 8, 2007.

I’ve been making snooty comments (usually involving charming phrases like “not a scrap of ingenuity” and “egomaniacs” and “cat-murdering, passionless money-men*”) about id for a good few years now, but this week I’ve been feeling an great wave of affection for the somewhat atrophied father of the modern FPS.

It’s not because of Rage, which though it sounds very interesting currently doesn’t really look it. It’s because id’s slapped their back catalogue onto Steam. It was a shock at first - id asking Valve if they can flog their wares in their great rival’s online store is a little like The Rolling Stones asking if they can sleep in David Bowie’s garage. But it makes total sense - soon enough, Valve and Google will be the only places we ever need for any information or entertainment. It’s also the final seal of approval Steam really needed to become the one true home of the modern PC game. With this done, Steam is unstoppable.

More importantly (and I realise that having a Steam press account that grants me everything on it for free does rob me of a certain chunk of objectivity here, but hey - it’s £30 for every id game ever. I’d happily pay that myself.), it’s an utter delight to have what’s in many ways the entire history of FPS laid out before me in one place.

The first two levels of Doom 2 still fill me with utter joy. I spent an hour after work shooting friends on Quake 3’s DM17, swearing like a godless trooper throughout then grinning like a six-year-old having his birthday party in McDonalds when I won. Revisiting Quake 1, of which I had only ever played the shareware levels previously, was fascinating. It now seems so clunky and so lazy compared to the stripped-down cartoon elegance of its precusor, Doom, but as a document of the time it’s hugely compelling.

It’s all so neat in Steam, too. I’ve either dug out dusty media or pirated many of these games in recent years, then faffed around with Dosbox and Windows compatibility mode or whatever, and it’s not really been worth it. With Steam, I’ve now got an arcade of my own, picking a game on a whim and staring at it with the critic’s eyes I didn’t have at the time.

It’s gaming archeology made easy. id’s place on it is only natural, and it’s made me realise that gaming does owe a great debt to them. Yes, Doom was Star Wars, the blockbuster whose unexpected success stifled a certain degree of more thoughtful fare, but it’s also the root of an awful lot of fun. It doesn’t matter that Doom 3 sucked, it doesn’t matter if Rage sucks. id did their job, and I’m thankful.

* This isn’t crazy libel, in fact. Read David Kushner’s book Masters of Doom for the whole felinicide tale.

The New Id Game Is Called “Rage”

Written by Jim Rossignol on August 4, 2007.

And it’s a vehicular shooter. The game will be based on Carmack’s new graphics engine, which makes use of the innovations that made Quake Wars’ large maps possible. There’s even going to be some co-op multiplayer. Gadzooks.

This is the tech demo from some computer expo thing:

So a racing game with better-than-Doom 3 visuals. A new direction for Id? Or their final undoing? Only time will tell.

In related news: all the Id games are now on Steam.