Upon its release, Doom established itself as a blueprint for the then-new first-person sho?oter genre. Going on to become one of the most iconic PC games in all existence, id Software's FPS retains its legacy as it turns 30 years old.

To celebrate the occasion, John Carmack and John Romero �both of whom played a pivotal role in the game's development �reflect on their time spent working on Doom. ??As you can imagine, it holds a lot of fond memories for the pair, who some have described as gaming's equivalent of Lennon and McCartney.

During one section of the Twitch video (which was moderated by writer David L Craddock), Carmack acknowledged that the original Doom was pretty influential in getting people in the '90s interested in PC net??working. Encouraging fans to understand about upgrading hardware, some have even gone on to become professionals in network engineering??, the pair say.

How times have changed

Having just released SIGIL II �a free WAD file for Doom �Romero is aware of how the game is changing all the time, thanks to a dedicated community. A few months back, he played through the MyHouse WAD, a custom story built by a fan that generated a lot of attention due to its House of Leaves-style narrative.

Of course, both Johns have seen how the industry has changed over the last three decades. While advances in AI are making it possible to have smarter enemies in games, Carmack doesn't believe it's always for the best. He said he much preferred to have the player be the focus, and intelligent enemies that have independence would not have worked in Doom.

He also laments the loss of game manuals. With how deep some releases are in terms of their lore and mechanics, it's surprising that manuals aren't still a thing. Romero even mentions Ultima 5, which has more than one.

A lot may have changed, but the legacy of Doom is unwavering. The series is still going pretty strong, but the OG releases from the?? '90s will always be praised due to their influence. Here's to another 30 years of demon slaying!

The post For Doom’s 30th anniversary, the two Johns reflect on its development appeared first on Destructoid.

Back in the '90s, id Software was the gaming company, responsible for bringing the world Doom and Quake. Two of the founding members of that company were John Carmack and John Romero, both now considered giants in their field.

However, since Romero's departure from id in 1996 (post-Quake 1), the two Johns have never come together to ??work on another project. And if you were hoping they would reform and ??create something together, Carmack has pretty much shot that idea down.

//twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/168?3542191350661120

In a post on his Twitter page recently, the former Doom developer praised Romero on the recent publication of his autobiography Doom Guy: A Life in First Person. Carmack then?? pre-empted an inevitable question about whether the two programmers would make anything t?ogether again.

And never the Johns shall meet

Unfortunately, the answer is no. He pretty much spells it out in black and white: "we aren’t planning to make a new game together." It's said in a good-natured way, though, and there doesn't appear to be any b??ad blood between the two.

It's possible that many were hopeful that something Doom-esque (or anything from the two legendary developers) would eventually come to fruition, thanks to a recent Reddit AMA from Romero.

In response to one question, Romero says the pair "could have stayed working together if we did things differently at the start of Quake." He also added tha??t he and Carmack have talked about options, which features in his book.

John Romero is still active in the development world (it looks like he's in talks for a new FPS through a major publisher). Conversely, John Carmack has pretty much left video game creation behind, having been a major player at Oculus VR up until 2022, and now works on AGI—artificial general intelligence—under Keen Technologies.

The post Sadly, a new game from Doom’s co-creators is not happening appeared first on Destructoid.

Convert that disc into a makeshift wingstick

Id's RAGE was sort of a cross between Fallout and Borderlands, and there was plenty to do in the post-apocalyptic wasteland caused by an enormous meteor smashing into the earth. It had a pretty good driving engine for the Mad Max inspired vehicles you'd come across, and the voice work was excellent, featuring a major character played by John Goodman. RAGE was fairly successfu??l when it released in 2011, but those who missed it now have a new way to play.

RAGE was already backwards compatible on the Xbox One, but it had never been available digitally before, requiring a physical copy to play on a console. Starting today, the title can be downloaded from Xbox LIVE for about $15.

RAGE is somewhat significant since it was the last game John Carmack programmed as an employee of id software before jumping ship?? to join Oculus. If you should happen to find the fellow up in the header image, ask him how he feels about having two knives.

Major Nelson [Twitter]

The post RAGE goes digital on Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

'We are disapointed but not surprised by ZeniMax's actions'

For those just tuning in, ZeniMax Media sent a formal ??notice of rights to Oculus VR and new parent company Facebook over intellectual property claims. Long story short, ZeniMax feels that work that happened with them carried over with John Carmack when he moved to Oculus Rift. Carmack responded later that "ZeniMax owns?? the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR."

Now Oculus h??as chimed in with their official (and only) response this morning. It is exactly as follows.

We are disappointed but not surprised by Zenimax’s actions and we will prove that all of its claims are false. In the meantime, we would like to clarify a few key points: 

• There is not a line of Zenimax code or any of its technology in any Oculus products. 

• John Carmack did not take any intellectual property from Zenimax.

• Zenimax has misstated the purposes and language of the Zenimax non-disclosure agreement that Palmer Luckey signed. 

• A key reason that John permanently left Zenimax in August of 2013 was that Zenimax prevented John from working on VR, and stopped investing in VR games across the company.

• Zenimax canceled VR support for Doom 3 BFG when Oculus refused Zenimax’s demands for a non-dilutable equity stake in Oculus.  

• Zenimax did not pursue claims against Oculus for IP or technology, Zenimax has never contributed any IP or technology to Oculus, and only after the Facebook deal was announced has Zenimax now made these claims through its lawyers.

• Despite the fact that the full source code for the Oculus SDK is available online (developer.oculusvr.com), Zenimax has never identified any ‘stolen’ code or technology.

 

The post Ocu?lus responds to ZeniMax intellectual property claims appeared first on Destructoid.

Asserts Carmack worked on IP while at id that went into the headset

id Software parent company ZeniMax Media has sent a "formal notice of its legal rights" to Oculus VR and Facebook over intellectual property worked on by chief technology officer John Carmack while he was still at id that ZeniMax claims contributed to the rise of the Oculus Rift. It is seeking compensation, reports The Wall Street Journal, and sources say it has been since August 2012.

In a statement, ZeniMax wrote: "The proprietary technology and know-how Mr. Carmack developed when he was a ZeniMax employee, and used by Oculus, are owned by ZeniMax. Well before the Facebook transaction was announc?ed, [Oculus founder Palmer Luckey] acknowledged in writing ZeniMax's legal ownership of this intellectual property. It was further agreed that Mr. Luckey would not discl??ose this technology to third persons without approval. Oculus has used and exploited ZeniMax's technology and intellectual property without authorization, compensation or credit to ZeniMax. ZeniMax and Oculus previously attempted to reach an agreement whereby ZeniMax would be compensated for its intellectual property through equity ownership in Oculus but were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution. ZeniMax believes it is necessary to address these matters now and will take the necessary action to protect its interests."

"It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd cla??ims," said an Oculus representative.?? "We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent."

On Twitter, Carmack wrote: "No work I have ever done has been patented. ZeniMax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR." He later followed that up, saying, "Oculus u??ses zero lines of code that I wrote while under contract to ZeniMax."

Oculus, Facebook F??ace Chal?lenge to Rights Over 'Rift' [The Wall Street Journal]

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Doom 4 with a virtual-reality headset 'would have been a huge win'

As much as I want John Carmack to do good work at Oculus VR, it was sad to see him depart from id Software. In an interview with USA Today, he elaborated on why he chose to ?leave instead of working at multiple companies simultaneously (because that's an option for him).

"I would have been content probably staying there [at id] working with the people and technology that I know and the work we were doing," Carmack said. He had wanted parent company ZeniMax Media and Oculus VR to establish a deal in which games like Wolfenstein: The New Order and Doom 4 would be playable with the Oculus Rift headset.

"When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work ?on VR while at id Software, I decided to not renew my contract," he explained. And that's how an era ended.

id co-founder Carmack pu??sh??es reality with Oculus VR [USA Today]

The post Carmack couldn’t work on VR at id Software, so he left appeared first on Destructoid.

John Romero and Tom Hall reminisce about the 1993 FPS

I love reading about the development history of games especially some of the medium's classics. Doom is one such classic, the seminal first-person shooter turned 20 years old in 2013. Creators John Romero and Tom Hall have revealed some more ??behin??d-the-scenes stories about the game's development, including the amazing fact that the title was inspired by a line in the Tom Cruise/Paul Newman film The Color of Money.

Romero revealed that the advent of Intel's 386 processor was the thing that allowed Doom to be as truly fast as the team at id Software wanted it to be. Tom Hall talks about how the the title came into place, but also how a lot of the story beats and ideas he had ended up being cut from the game. Tom also mentions how Doom was going to be a landmark game, driven by technol??ogy.

id sounded like a crazy place to work because it seems like all the team knew they had this amazing thing on their hands that would be a true game changer. Hall name checks Minecraft as the next game that did a lot with very little; makes me wonder if we will see another game made by a small team that will have an effect on the? industry like those two. 

How we made the video game Doom [The Guardian]

The post Doom was inspired by Tom Cruise’s The Color of Money? appeared first on Destructoid.

John Carmack is involved

The company behind the Oculus Rift, Oculus VR, is apparentl?y developing games internally for the device. It makes perfect sense given that John Carmack is now fully involved with the project, not to mention the other developers that Oculus VR has scooped up over the years.

Apparently Carmack's role may be more software oriented than we thought, as CEO Brendan Iribe (speaking to Engadget) stated, "his heart and soul [Carmack] and history certaintly lies with the game-development side. That's always been Epic's philosophy. It's been John Carmack's philosophy -- you gotta eat your own dog food here, and develop?? internal content."

2014 will be a pretty exciting year for the Rift. It's starting to catch on in more mainstream outlets (it was heavily discussed on a recent episode of ABC's Shark Tank), and more people are sta??rting to buy into it. All that's left for many of you out there is to get your hands on a final retail model.

Internal game development at Oculus VR i?s alre?ady happening [Engadget]

The post Oculus VR ?will be developing games in addition to tech appeared first on Destructoid.

Promoted from our Community Blogs!

_{[In honor of Doom's 20th anniversary earlier this week, Max shares this remembrance. Want to see your own blog appear on our front page? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon]}

When I was eight years old, my dad brought home my first computer that was just mine. I'm sure he was tired of having me on his mach?ine all the time and decided this was the best way to solve this problem. Dad was li??ke that.

Turning on my beige mystery box was a magical feeling. I had just discovered the internet, and Napster was ever looming around the corner. My gaming loves at the time revolved around Rogue Squadron and Star Fox 64. But once I had that c?omputer, everything changed ?for me.

My dad had a buddy named Gene who owned a computer business in Indy. I'd love going up to his office with my dad, because I was free to hang out with the IT guy there (who's name escapes me, but he introduced me to my first SNES emulator) and learn about computers that way. On one occasion, this IT guy told me about a game called Doom. He set me up a machine and showed me how to play, and then left me to it. Two hours later, my dad came to collect me. Little did he know?? that I spent the afternoon bl?owing demons into chunks.

My dad and I installed my little collection of PC games onto my new machine. SimCity 2000, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and Top Gun: Fire at Will. But one thing I noticed was a little icon in the Games folder named Doom. To this day, I'm all but certain that my IT buddy snuck that on there for me. As soon as my cursor hovered over that icon, my dad told me that I should probab??ly not play that game. That was all the permission I ever needed.

Whenever my folks would leave the house, I would hide in my room and sneak in some time playing Doom. And what made the game scary wa??sn't the atmosphere or hordes of demons. It was the fact that at any moment, my mom or dad could open the door to my room and discover me playing this god-awful game of guts and gore. The situation I created for myself was so nerve-wrecking and added so much to the game.

Fifteen years later, I still play Doom. I don't think of too many pieces of art to be "life-changing" since that phrase has completely lost all meaning thanks to overuse. But Doom was a life-changing work of art. It made me want to play games on the PC. It introduced me to new ways of game design?? and thought. It continued my interest in computers, and technology as a whole.

It's nearly 2014, and as I write this, my new computer is on its way to my front door. I'm now a systems technician and work with computers and technology every day. And partially, I have Doom to thank for that.

Tha??nk you id Software. Thank you John and John. Thank you dad. And than?k you to my irresponsible IT buddy.

The post A love letter to Cacodemons, Carmack, and Doom appeared first on Destructoid.

This was the game that cemented my love for FPS titles

On December 10, 1993, Doom was released. Although it was far from the first FPS game I ever played (I was rocking Catacomb and Wolfenstein already?), it had a profound effect on me, as I tirelessly spent hundreds of hours accessi?ng every little secret it had to offer.

It was also one of the only videogames my father and I played together, and one of the fondest memories I have of him. How do you play a single-player FPS in tandem you ask? Well, one of us handled the movement keys and the spacebar for opening doors, and the other was tasked with switching and firing weapons. It's a ?lot more fun than you'd think, and led to some tense and particularly funny moments.

Since then, I've always held a reverence for the Doom series, because it just gets so much right. This is before movie-like linear tunnel simulator FPS games took over the market -- where mini-sandboxes ruled supreme, hiding millions of tiny secrets and alcoves at every turn. No one will forget the impact Doom had on the industry, and it has securely cemented its place in the et??ernal pantheon of FPS games.

Also, Doomguy rocks a?? midriff like it's 1993. You gotta respect?? that.

The post Happy 20th Anniversary, Doom appeared first on Destructoid.

The DTOID Show discusses hot topics from 1996

[Note: YouTube's still processing the trimmed video. The show actually starts at the 20:10 mark]

Hey everybody! If you missed it, Spencer and I went live earlier this afternoon with a very low-key, laid back episode of The DTOID Show. We covered some news, like Carmack's departure from id, the inevitable PS4 and Vita bundle, Sunset Overdrive looks cool, I'm excited about Fulgore in Killer Instinct, Telltale might be doing a Game of Thrones game and the next Tomb Raider is going to be a sequel. Um. Duh.

The post John Carmack, Fulgore??, Crash Bandicoot, and Tomb Ra??ider 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Doom co-creator is fully committed to the Oculus team

John Carmack has left id Software to fully join the makers of the Oculus Rift. Carmack had joined the Oculus team earlier this year but had said he would continue to work at id in a leadership role. That role has ended today as Tim Willits, studio director at id has told IGN: "John's work on? id Tech 5 and the technology for the current development work at id is complete, and his departure will not affect any current projects."

Carmack's admiration of the Oculus Rift tech has been well documented over the last few years and hardware development seems to be his passion now. Earlier this year, studio president Todd Hollenshead left id as well, so it seems like a period of change in one of the oldes??t game studios still standing.

That said, I'm happy Carmack is injecting his considerable t??alent into the refinement of the Oculus Rift; that's the one piece of hardware coming soon that I really want to get my hands on.

Doom Cre?ator John Carmack Officially Leav?es id Softare [IGN]

The post Jo??hn Carmack leaves id Software to work at ??Oculus Rift appeared first on Destructoid.

The Destructoid Show drops its ice cream cone

Here's today's not-live Destructo??id Show! On which we discuss the following: ;

There are two new Zelda games coming out this fall, let's look at videos of them! id software co-founder John Carmack is now working for Oculus, along with his colleague Matt Hooper. Amazon is allegedly releasing an Android box, possibly with gaming potential, and Dead Island Epidemic is a free-to-play MOBA. Oh goody. Finally, to access the DVR functionality on Xbox One, you'll need a gold account, but that's not the case for the Playstation 4.

The post Dead Island MOBA, Carmack Goes To Oculus & Double Zelda! appeared first on Destructoid.

And he'll somehow still have time to contribute at id

When you think of id Software, you think of studio co-founder John Carmack. It's wild to imagine the company without him and, for a brief moment this morning when the news came in that he'd joined Oculus VR to work on the virtual-reality Oculus Rift headset "full time," I didn't know what to think. Yes, the renowned programmer of games like Doom and Quake has taken a posit??ion as chief technology officer, it's true -- but he's not leaving id behind.

Carmack's take on the situation is that his "time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo [Aerospace]," while id Software says he isn't leaving the studio and "will continue to provide leadersh??ip for our games in development." In a press release, Carmack noted that "The dream of VR has been simmeri?ng in the background for decades, but now, the people and technologies are finally aligning to allow it to reach the potential we imagined."

Over on the Kickstarter page for the Oculus Rift, he also wrote a message to the community which reads: "Now is a special time. I believe that VR will have a huge impact in the coming years, but everyone working today is a pioneer. The paradigms that everyone will take for granted in the future are being figured out today; probably by? people reading this message. It's certainly not there yet. There is a lot more work to do, and there are problems we don't even know about that will need to be solved, but I am eager to work on them. It's going to be aweso?me!"

Considering how vocal he's been about virtual reality and how his support of the Rift in its early days gave the ????headset that extra push it needed, it makes sense that Carmack would take on this additional role. Even with all of the unknowns, it's hard not to feel a bit more confident about the future of virtual reality with him on board.

The post id co-founder John Carmack joins Oculus VR as CTO appeared first on Destructoid.

_{[Destructoid is grabbing its rail gun and heading to Dallas, Texas this weekend for QuakeCon. Stay posted for game news, previews, and strange happenings from the infamous LAN room.]}

Leave it to id Software mastermind John Carmack to make the industry change their opinion of virtual reality. Though Duct tape and an eight-year-old game are part of his presentation of the? much tweeted about Oculus Rift VR goggles, they speak volumes of both the product’s current state and Carmack’s approach.

What we got our hands on is only a prototype and not the finished model being funded through Kickstarter, but it did give us a glimpse into the future of immersive games. The awful memories of heavy, whip?lash-inducing headsets and lagging, ugly visuals become a distant memory once you put these goggles on.

Even though you are looking at an aging game (Doom 3) with hardware literally taped together, you can’t help but smile at the future that Carmack is building. This is 2012’s curved hallways: A gaming innovation so simple in concept? but has long been so hard to achieve ??for all except Carmack.

The hype around this technology is deserved, but it did sour?? my first experience with Rift due to high expectations. While Oculus and Carmack are building the future, they haven’t built it quite yet. The first two ?things I noticed upon wearing the VR set was the low resolution and limited 90-degree view. Carmack stressed that these are both minor issues that will be addressed in time, but they proved to be noticeable obstacles in becoming fully immersed in the game. I felt like I was staring point blank at a CRT -- a jarring experience in the 1080p-era.

Once I got past this complaint, I started to realize how fluid the visuals were and how I felt my presence in the game’s world. Believe me when I say this is not hyperbole: I felt a keen sense that I could take a literal step back into the game’s world. I could turn my head to see ??what is behind me and look up toward the ceiling. Where the experience lost me a bit was in the motion controlled gun. My head movement mapped to my aiming, so I could very slightly alter my view to raise and lower my gun.

For the VR demo, Carmack removed all HUD elements which made for a rather miserable playing experience since I had no way to aim my gun The red laser on Doom 3’s machine gun is there for visual flair and will actually lead to inaccurate shots if you aim by it. Carmack thinks new players will find aiming through VR sets easier than a game controller??. This may be so but Carmack’s demo didn’t help sell me on this point.

Carmack and O??culus are doing what arcades and even the military could never achieve. Though Carmack ?isn’t planning on touching feedback vests and smell-o-vision, he is taking one dream-turned-laughing-stock of ‘90s gaming and making it into the reality we all wanted twenty-something years ago. This QuakeCon demo may not have sold me on this being the future -- who wants to stand to play a game or turn their head constantly in a heated multiplayer match? -- but it’s interesting to see how far Carmack has brought this technology.

As of right now, Oculus Rift isn’t for j?ournalists ??and gamers but developers who share the same dream that Carmack does. Together they may build new experiences we can’t even conceive right now. Considering that, maybe it’d be better to hear what developers think of Carmack’s new tech toy?

Stay tuned for an upcoming feature where we ask developers what they think of the ??Oculus Rift.

The post QuakeCon Preview: Falling t?hrough the TV with Oculus Rift appeared first on Destructoid.

id Software brought a new trailer for Doom 3: BFG Edition with them to QuakeCon this year, and it shows off "The Lost Mission" that will be exclusive to the HD remaster. It's not clear what exactly it's about, but from the trailer it's apparent that it'll take place in Hell. I can't wait to replay Doom 3 in all its HD glory. To this day, Doom 3 features one of the most scary/intense moments I can ever remember experiencin??g in a videogame.

It was at the part around a third of the way through the game where you run into a pitch-black room and there's a bunch of walkways. In co-op, one guy had to have his flashlight out while the other killed all the demons spawning around them. So well done. Too bad Doom 3: BFG Edition will be adding "armor-mounted flashlights" so I can't relieve that moment exactly like that again. Oh well, I'm just glad that console players will finally get a good version of Doom 3 this October, and one with a ton of added content.

The post Doom 3: BFG will include an exclusive ‘Lost Mission’ appeared first on Destructoid.

_{[Destructoid is grabbing its rail gun and heading to Dallas, Texas this weekend for QuakeCon. Stay posted for game news, previews, and strange happenings from the infamous LAN room.]}

John Carmack opened his annual QuakeCon keynote with an apology to id Software fans for the flaws in RAGE and, above all, the buggy PC version that left many bitter feelings toward the developer within the PC c?ommunity. 

Though Carmack was only stating the obvious, I still appreciate his honesty in admitting to the faults in RAGE’s checkpoint system and ending. RAGE was an ambitious game and the first multi-platform game for id?? Software, but no one expected the PC version to be so broken with pop-in textures and other technical faults.

Carmack explained the difficulties making the game, saying most resources have been put into Doom 4 so there was no time to fix their past mistakes after launch. Carmack was?? also disappoint?ed with the marketing for the game that led to the wrong expectations.

“People expected it to be more like Fallout or Borderlands but that was never our intention,” Carmack said. “That hurt us in that the single-player was long for a shooter but very short for people expecting an RPG . The messaging on RAGE wasn’t all it should hav?e been.” 

Though RAGE has been imp??roved through patches in many aspects, it still isn’t id Software’s best. Regardless, y?ou can buy the game for $9.99 on Steam tomorrow as part of the QuakeCon Steam sales going on this week.

Thou??gh he is apologetic about id Software's recent output,?? Carmack seems to be happy to be working on a familiar franchise again.

“Everyone knows what Doom is: You shotgun some demons!”

The post QuakeCon: Carmack?? apolo??gizes about RAGE to PC gamers appeared first on Destructoid.

The hype around John Carmack's virtual reality headset at E3 was off the charts and now the goggles have a name, proper shell, and a Kickstarter page for funding.

The Kickstarter page is catered toward developers with dev kit versions of the Oculus Rift (bundled with the VR-ready Doom 3: BFG) being handed out to $300 pledges. The kits will ship? in December, but you can get the prototype model -- which you have to assemble yourself -- a month earlier for $275.

The Kickstarter has a goal of $250,000 and it's ??currently at $155,??000 after a couple hours. The promotional video above has notable developers singing its praises, including Gabe Newell, CliffyB, and John Carmack. 

"It looks incredibly exciting, if anybody’s going to t??ackle thi??s set of hard problems, we think that Palmer’s going to do it.," Newell said. Palmer being Palmer Luckey of Oculus, who are building the headset.

The video also features Unity CEO? David Helgason rocking a popped collar. SWAG!

The lack of latency, lightweight model, and panoramic view are some of the features that separate this VR set from ones of the past. Every video I've seen of these goggles, the user laughs in awe. You just don't see that kind of reaction anymore. My expectations are very high for this, but you can read my impressions? after I try it out this Friday at QuakeCon.

[Kickstarter]

The post Next level Oculus Rift VR goggles hit Kickstarter appeared first on Destructoid.

August is going to be one of the most jam packed months ever for gaming conventions. The crazy month starts off with the annual QuakeCon, taking place August 2 to August 5 in Dallas, Texas. id Software's John Carmack will be kicking the show off with a keynote address, with other notable gaming figures s?uch as Insomniac's Ted Price, id's Marty Stratton, and Valve's Chet Faliszek, and Tom Leonard all hosting pa??nels during the show.

QuakeCon goers can also get hands-on with Dishonored, and Doom 3 BFG Edition at the Bethesda booth. Dishonored was my second favorite game I got to play at E3 this year and it seriously ne??eds to be on EVERYONE'S radar. Go play it if you're in the Dallas area, es??pecially since QuakeCon is free to the public!

The post Play Dishonored & Doom 3 BFG at QuakeCon 2012 appeared first on Destructoid.

Good evening, and welcome to the 160th episode of The Destructoid Show! You'd think after 160 episodes we would've run out of introductions for our show posts, and you'd be right. I'm ??terrible at these things. Let's talk some videogame news.

First up, it looks like 3DS price drop has put some pressure on Sony to lower the price of the upcoming PS Vita. Sorry guys, I spoke to Kaz Hirai last week and it ain't gonna happen. Next up, we got some bona fide gameplay footage from Sonic Generations, a cease-and-desist love letter from Bethesda to Notch, an unexpected delivery, and a whopping 22GB download for Rage on the Xbox. No wonder John Carmack likes PC games better!

Last but not least, rumor has it that Kim-Jong Il has created an unstoppable army of video game hackers who designed a special software that allows them to continuously generate in-game points in the semi-popular MMO Lineage and Dungeon Fighter. Look, Kim Jong-Il. If there's one thing Tommy Wiseau? has taught us, it's that you don't have to resort to internet cybercrimes to make six million dollars. Just manufacture a few thousand leather jackets and export them to the US for lots of money. Like we'd know the difference anyway!

Extra congratulations to the winners of our Battlefield 3 contest, YouTube users THEMADAZZ18 and LordoftheFuckingHam. Play nice now!

The post The DTOID Sh??ow: Kim Jong-il and the Army of Cyberhacke?rs appeared first on Destructoid.

Speaking to Industry Gamers, id Software's John Carmack touched briefly on the violent games "debate" by saying: "People just play games now and I never took seriously the violence in video games debate. It was basically talking points for? people to get on CNN and espouse their stuff on there."

He continues by mentioning how there was an E3 where this was a hot topic, during which time he wasn't supposed to talk about it to reporters. Now that we are about 10 years past the worst of it, as the debate was sparked by the Columbine massacre and the hugely influential if flawed Anderson & Dill (2000) and Anderson & Bushman (2001) studies, ??Carmack is more willing to publicly share his thoughts on the matter.

Carmack says: "And I really think, if anything, there is more evidence to show that the violent games reduce aggression and violence. There have actually been some studies about that, that it&rsquo??;s cathartic. If you go to QuakeCon and you walk by and you see the people there [and compare that to] a random cross section of a college campus, you’re probably going to find a more peaceful crowd of people at the gaming convention. I think it’s at worst neutral and potentially positive."

It's worth it to look at what he is actually saying here. First of all, there is indeed some evidence to suggest that the process of catharsis can help offline aggression through ??video game play. Because violent games tend to be more aggressive in nature, these games are usually used for those kinds of studies. And you've probably felt annoyed about something before, and felt better when letting off some steam (catharsis in a nutshell) by shooting?? some virtual people in the face. Especially if they explode in an over-the-top fountain of blood and gibs to make you smile.

The problem with that is that it's hard to measure if that actually has any long-term effect. You usually have to test this in a laboratory experiment for the same reason most studies are done like that; because it's cheap and it costs a lot of money to run a 10-year longitudinal ?study. While you might measure a reduction in aggr??ession after playing a violent game, the whole problem with violent game studies is that proponents of the "violent games lead to violent behavior" causal link do the exact same thing, and find different results.

These type of experiments are usually not indicative of actual real-life behavior (i.e., they lack validity outside the lab), so to use the same type of experiment for a positive effect means you are susceptible to the same kind of validity concerns. So yes, catharsis could have a mediating effect on aggression. But it's not the reason why crime rates are dropping while video game play is rising, as Cunningham, Engelstätter & Ward (2011) recently showed in a study? that also touches on positive ef??fects of violent game play.

Whether games actually directly lead to a reduction of crime singlehandedly is hard to say, because crime rates are higher where poverty is rampant and it's pretty hard to have a console and a fancy TV if you are born into poverty and live in the ghetto. On average, people who play games the most tend to have a higher income, a better education, and a better family structure or social safety net -- factors that reduce crime. And no, throwing people in jail for longer periods of time does not reduce crime. However, the evidence that violent games do not create disturbed individuals ?that go? on rampages is solid.

The main causal factor for violent behavior is the aggressive personality, which in turn is affected by family factors, genetics, etc. Once someone intends to act out an overtly violent action, this could be done in a way that mirrors what that person has seen in real life, read in a book, saw in a movie, or played in a game. That doesn't mean any of those things cause him or her to do it, it's just a stylistically influenced way to act out what he/she already planned to act out. Hence wearing trench coats after The Matrix because it looks cool.

Wheth?er they are violent in nature or not, video games do keep people occupied and off the street, and they do bring people together re??gardless of their race or social status. I'm not sure if competitive fist fights are more likely to happen during Call of Duty XP than Quakecon, or whenever someone gets really mad at losing a fighting game, but if they happen it says more about someone's personality than the game they're playing.

Carmack mentions that people at Quakecon are probably a more peaceful crowd than a random cross section of a college campus, and perhaps that's because we're just more peaceful types of geeks who grew up with Doom, Quake, and building our own PCs rather than being stereotypical Typ?e A personality douches with an aggressive drive for competitive dominance through a?cts of physical superiority. But both types can go to college and they probably both play the same (violent) games.

There are a plethora of studies that show specific positive effects for video game play, from playing Tetris to overcome traumatic memories to creating better eye-hand coordination through first-person shooter gameplay. Since practically everyone plays games nowadays, I'm ??hard pressed to believe that there is a genera??l causative effect on long-term overt aggressive behavior either way, be it positive or negative.

A?s Carmack said, the effects are "at worst neutral a?nd potentially positive" which is a good and balanced way to put it.

Doom Creator: Games A??re?? Cathartic, Reduce Aggression and Violence [Industry Gamers]

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If there's one person who you can trust when it comes to gaming technology, it's John Carmack. In an interview with IndustryGamers, the id Software programming god shared his thou??ghts on the gaming landscape of the future. A future in which the role of mobile platforms and cloud gaming will be a huge one.

Noting how at the start of Rage's development the iPhone didn't even exist, he shares his thoughts on the current state of mobile devices: "One thing that we hear a lot, especially from our older developers, i?s, 'I don't spend a lot of time sitting down in front of my 360 or PS3, but I pull out my iPad and play some little game all the time.' It’s a different experience though... it’s a diversion rather than a destination. And while they're certainly powerful enough now to make destination titles, that’s still not really what’s doing particularly well there."

Carmack doesn't think that the surge in mobile gaming will mean the death of the traditional AAA titles though, saying those titles are selling more copies than ever before. As he puts it in perspective: "So it? looks like it's parallel growth rather than one stealing from the other. But platform wise, you could certainly imagine a future where, instead of having your console, you have your mobile device and it talks to your TV and when you want the experience on your big screen with the surround sound coming out of there, it’s still on the same device."

It sounds like ??he'll p??robably be interested in the Wii U as a baby step towards that future. He went on to talk about how things like how the iPad 2's relative (processing) power is being exaggerated at the moment, but that a future is drawing close where we'll be able to see mobile devices that are more powerful than the current platforms most games are developed for at the moment.

While Carmack sees the landscape of platforms shift in the coming years, he adds? that the convenience factor of both mobile devices and cloud streaming services like OnLive will have a future. Although he doesn't know if the current streaming services will survive long enough to see that day, he thinks it is "almost unquestionable" that 5 to 10 years into the future these developments will have a big role to play.

Despite admitting that the quality of the graphics and latency may impact how good games will look, Carmack thinks the convenience factor can make up for it for those ?people that don't really care about things like graphical fidelity. As he puts it: "You have the completely casual people that have no interest in buying a PS3. And then you've got the hard core people who want to sit down all weekend and stay in a position where they can get 20 hours of gameplay in."

I can't say I really care if I play a game on?? a console or on some mobile devi??ce that also lets me play it on a TV. As long as it controls well, looks great on a big screen, and has games I want to play, I'm fine with whatever the future will throw at me.

John Carmack: 'Unquestionable' That Mobile Will S??urpass Current Consoles [IndustryGamers]

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Rage has been delayed by a month from its September 13rd release date to October 4th (October 7 for Europe), Gamasutra reports.

John Carmack has also pitched in on the fact that id Tech 5 would only be used in-house at Bethesda, and told Gamasutra that he's happy to be out the licensing business in order to focus on finishing Rage and working on Doom 4 (and Rage 2 after that??). Carmac?k reflected on licensing their tech in the past.

"It's interesting when you look at our technology licensing -- it w?as never really a business that I wanted to be in. In the very early days, people would pester us, and we'd just throw out some ridiculous terms, and we were surprised when people started taking us up on it."

He noted that while id Tech 5's megatexture direction has its uses for games like Rage, it is less suitable for things like Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim where there is a whole open world to render. So while we can expect more id Tech 5 powered games coming from Bethesda, that doesn't mean the publisher is going to ??have all of its upcoming games run on the new engine.

id Software's Tom Willits pointed out that we shouldn't worry that becoming part of Bethesda would limit the studio's traditional openness towards its community, and that the PC version of Rage will still have the SDK and other "stuff" made available to the community. Just don't mod it into your own Just Cause game i??f you want people to act?ually be able to run it.

id Software's Rage Delayed Until October [Gamasutra]

The post E3: M??onth delay for Rage, idTech 5 unsuitab??le for Skyrim appeared first on Destructoid.

When?? you're thinking of potential developers you want tinkering with your latest tech, id's John Carmack has got to be near the top of that list. Speaking with Joystiq, the famed programmer and technical director said he has "an itch to make a Kinect t?itle for Xbox LIVE."

"I can't use Kinect for our real?? games; there just isn't a place for our current FPSes on there," he revealed. He's not alone in that sentiment, and I think that's why many studios who are known for creating those types of experiences haven't announced anything for Kinect yet.

Before you get too excited over the possibilities of a Kinect-powered id title for XBLA, realize that Carmack also said "I don't even know what I'd want to do yet." Plus, he's still got the non-mobile versions of RAGE to worry about, and those aren't?? due out anytime soon.

id's Carmack wants to make a Kinect game for XBLA [Joystiq]

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During today’s QuakeCon keynote, id’s John Carmack officially revealed a new version of its upcoming shooter Rage… one for the iPhone.

The game was demoed on an iPhone 4 unit, running at 60 frames per second. Carmack commented that the engine -- which even includes bells and whistles like the fancy “MegaTexture” technology -- would also run on th?e iPhone 3GS. The programmer said to expect it to look and run better than anything seen on the Xbox or PlayStation 2. The game and engine, he told the crowd, came from e??xperiments with Wii hardware.

Expect two Rage titles to hit the iPhone. One will be available later this year, a smaller and cheaper title designed to show off the technology. The second, a bigger game, would launch next year around the same time the console and PC versions of Rage ship.

Carmack also doesn’t discount users? who own Android-based phones. He says the technology could be run on some Android devices, and id may even consider porting some of its iPhone titles to the platform, as well.

The post id’s Rage headed to iPhone at 60 frames per second appeared first on Destructoid.

QuakeCon 2010 kicks off in only a few hours, with doors opening to crowds of folks at the Hilton Anatol?e in Dallas, Texas. What would a major event be w??ithout a major announcement? According to id founder and technical genius John Carmack, count on one.

“I’m showing something neat and unannounced at QuakeCon tomorrow,” he teased on his Twitter. &?ldquo;Deciding if I should leave i??t be or sneak a little more code in…”

The running theory is that we’ll get our first glimpse of Doom 4, which id has been promising to show for awhile. Carmack recently told Official PlayStation Magazine that the Doom 4 project was “going full steam ahead,” and that we shouldn’t h??ave to wait too long for it.

“It shouldn’t take as long to ship as Rage,” he ??said. “It’s already in the pipeline and we feel good about it.”

We f?eel good that whatever Carmack is bringing, it’s going to be awesome. He’ll be leading the keynote today at 2:30 CDT; we’ll keep our eyes on it and let you know what pops up.

New id game revealed tonight [Eurogamer]

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When it was announced that Zenimax had bought id reactions were pretty positive... unless you were John Romero. It seems that the guys at id agree with the majority of us that being bought by Zenimax was a pretty good thing as it has given the company more money to develop w?ith and more staff to do that developing. At QuakeCon id Software co-founder John Carmack spoke about it all.

“We have more resources to make steps that we wouldn’t make [if] left to our own,” he said during a panel at the event. “For people playing games, the [ZeniMax acquisition] is such a pure win. There’s no downside to this at all. We are? still down here i?n Texas, they are leaving us alone, we are still building our products here.”

So it's still id and nothing is changing, but what is the legendary development com??pany going to do with all these new resources? Why they're going to bring out three new AAA games, that's what. What these games will be is unclear, but evidently they aren't shor??t of ideas as Carmack claims that id now has "the problem of having more good IPs" than it can develop.

“We are staffing up a third team internally. We will eventually be producing three AAA titles," he said, according to Develop. “The big questio??n is what are those three ?IPs going to be? Is it going to be a Rage 2, a Wolfenstein title, a Quake title? We really don’t know yet."

I like the idea of more of those classic franchises, but I'm hoping to see a new IP out of t?he developer as well.

The post Carmack talks up Zenimax p?urchase of id, three new titles appeared first on Destructoid.

John Carmack, the man behind Doom, is a fan of homebrew, and wishes?? that the DS's platform holders would embrace it rather than hinder it. Carmack believes that homebrew on the DS? is perfect for budding programmers, helping them get to grips with game design:

"It is a shame that homebrew development can't be officially sanctioned and supported, because it would be a wonderful platform for a modern generation of programmers to b??e able to get a real feel for low level design work, to be contrasted with the high level web and application work that so many entry level people?? start with."

Carmack might be right, and homebrew may have all sorts of wonderful, legal, harmless applicati??ons, but he'?s being somewhat naive. We all know what the main reasons for opening up one's DS is, and that's not something Nintendo likes to encourage, strangely.

The post Carmack likes Homebrew, disappointed that Nintendo d??oes not appeared first on Destructoid.

Next-Gen has some news from QuakeCon that is equal parts awesome, confusing and qui??te possibly the greatest idea id has ever had. To quot??e N-G:

id said at? Friday&rsquo?;s Quakecon in Dallas that producer Marty Stratton will be leading the new development team on development of the new title.

Quake Zero will be a zero-cost ??version Quake III Arena that’s ful??ly playable through your web browser and supported only by ad dollars.

Radical idea, right? Even John Carmack had to admit that the plan "may work, it may not", but if anyone can make ad-supported, in-browser gaming viable, it's id with a proven, beloved property like Quake 3: Arena.

Details such as browser compatibility, hardware requirements and release dates all seem to be ethereal for the moment, but as soon as John returns from launch??ing a gila monster into orbit around Saturn he has promi??sed to get back to us. 

The post Quake 3: Arena coming to browser??s, supported by ads, solid fuel r??ocket engines appeared first on Destructoid.