id "Officially" Announces Doom 4, Shows off Rage

[Ball3r]

In May, id Software put out a press release that announced the company had begun production on Doom 4, the latest game in the storied first-person franchise, and that it was looking to hire new talent to work on the game. It was a strange way to announce a game, so at QuakeCon on Thursday night, id CEO Todd Hollenshead officially announced the game's existence.

Hollenshead worked the crowd into cheers by announcing some basic information, such as Doom 4 having guns, demons, and "gibs", or the parts that are leftover after a body explodes. Laughter ensued when someone in the crowd yelled "flashlights", a reference to the in-game flashlight in Doom 3 that was the cause of some outcry, since you couldn't hold your gun and your flashlight at the same time.



Unfortunately, aside from a new logo, there was nothing else to be seen of Doom. We spoke to id co-founder and technical director John Carmack earlier in the day, and he indicated that Doom 4 will be the next project that the company tackles once it's done with Rage, the game that id announced at QuakeCon last year. Rage is a blend of first-person shooting action along with vehicular battles, and id showed off a new, extended trailer to the audience, which you can see above.

id is famous, or infamous, for helping to coin the slogan "when it's done" in regards to release dates, Carmack hinted during his almost two-hour long on-stage remarks that Rage is nearing completion. He said that they can see the "light at the end of the tunnel" and he indicated that they had completed a large percentage of the game. However, he also said that id will release the game once they're happy with it, so we could be in for a long wait.

While he can ramble into many subjects, Carmack's presentation is usually interesting to hear because the famed programmer tends to say what's on his mind. He spoke about Doom and Rage, and how that while both games are based on the company's new id Tech 5 engine, they will look very different from one another. In technical terms, he said that Rage is a 60-hertz game, while Doom is a 30-hertz game. Basically, Doom will run at a lower frame rate on purpose, which means that it can pack more detail in each frame.

Carmack also spoke quite a bit about the mobile space, where id has sold more than two million games. During the press conference, id revealed Doom II RPG, which will be the next game after Wolfenstein RPG ships for handsets. He also said that id wanted to have an iPhone game ready for the launch of the iTunes Apps Store last month, but when it ported over its Orcs & Elves game using Apple's software development kit they realized they would have needed three months of work to get the game up to snuff. Still, he said that id has two iPhone projects on the boards. One would be a conventional mobile game, while the other would be a graphical showcase for the platform.
In terms of graphics power, he said that the iPhone is comparable to the SEGA Dreamcast, and in overall power it is close to the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox, though he did note that there might be some limitations in terms of graphical memory.

At the annual QuakeCon gathering, id shows off its upcoming wares. Sort of.

[efs5030]

so is it truly exclusive i have no clue

[Rapture]

I can't wait. Old news though.

[RedSand426]

I'm so excited about doom 4... the wait is going to kill me. My guess is 2011......

[furby]

^ haha. You're definitely going to be playing it before Duke Nukem Forever. ; )

[Daz]

He spoke about Doom and Rage, and how that while both games are based on the company's new id Tech 5 engine, they will look very different from one another. In technical terms, he said that Rage is a 60-hertz game, while Doom is a 30-hertz game. Basically, Doom will run at a lower frame rate on purpose, which means that it can pack more detail in each frame.

So with that being the case and RAGE being squeezed onto 2 DVDs, does this mean this game will suffer the same fate? Or will they put it on more DVDs?