id Revives Classics, Looks to Future

Impressive wave of announcements from this years QuakeCon event puts id back in hot seat.

One of PC gaming's most celebrated developers, id Software, pleased its fans with a flurry of exciting announcements at its recent QuakeCon annual event.

Headlining the announcements was the news that id Software's rich back catalogue of games are now available through the Steam platform for PC - the innovative digital distribution software created by Half-Life developer Valve.

John Carmack, Co-owner & Technical Director, id Software

Optimised for modern operating systems, the back catalogue available through Steam comprises 24 titles including every Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein you could mention (with the notable exception of Quake 4, which Activision presumably still has publishing control over), including the recent Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil.

Serious shooter fans will want to check out the "id Superpack", containing all 24 titles, available now through Steam (www.steampowered.net) at around £30. The pack represents pretty stunning value. When purchased individually, the more modern titles in the pack like Doom 3 cost around £10 each anyway. Sub-bundles, like a Doom-only pack, are also available at around £17 however.

The entire pack totals around 4GB in download size - a relatively small hit to your hard drive space considering the many, many months of gaming the pack should offer, and these days something that broadband users can squeeze down their connection in a matter of hours, not days.

The deal between id Software and Valve shows how successful the Steam platform is becoming. Receiving heavy praise from gamers for its no-fuss approach to purchasing, downloading and installing games within one convenient software hub, many believe that this model is the future of buying games. Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, is one of them, praising Steam as "the future of distribution for games".

Xbox 360, Wii and particularly PlayStation 3 are all taking digital distribution more seriously than ever before as well, with PlayStation Network exclusive titles like WarHawk for example.

But others say there will always be a place for traditional game publishers and high street retailers.

The full line-up of id Software games on Steam also includes Commander Keen (Episodes 1 through 5), Spear of Destiny, various HeXen games and every expansion pack and map bundle for each major series imaginable.

But there was much more to come out of QuakeCon than just old (but great) games letting off some fresh steam.

A new team at the developer is working on a web browser based version of Quake called Quake Zero. Not to be mistaken with a new name of popular soft drink, the game should be interesting, as it will be funded purely by advertising.

Legendary id Software programmer John Carmack said that the team working on Quake Zero could grow to as many as thirty staff - a huge team for a game that plays in your web browser. "It may work, it may not; I think there's at least the possibility that we could see millions of people play this," offered Carmack.

The developer also announced a new title to come to Xbox Live Arcade, called Quake Arena Arcade. And a DS version of Quake Arena was also hinted at by Carmack in interviews carried out at the event, though not officially confirmed at present.

Perhaps the most important new announcement from id, though, was for an all-new game called Rage. Running on id Tech 5, the breathtaking new graphics platform that the company has developed, Rage is a shooter set in a post-apocalyptic landscape and is due on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac.

John Carmack said at the event: "Maybe it's time for id to do something that's not so dark!" - and footage of the game shown so far reveals a much brighter and more cheerful FPS world, though nonetheless as stunning to look at as Doom 3 was when it was first shown five years ago to audiences with jaws on the floor at E3 2002.

Carmack said that Rage is costing "tens of millions of dollars" to make, and the total development time on the game will span four years - statements which clearly put Rage as one of the absolutely must-watch first-person shooters of modern times. There's no release date in sight yet, but anticipation for Rage is already well underway.

Kikizo Staff