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Doom 3 Vaporware no More

gilxa1226 writes "The waiting will soon be over... I was browsing Best Buy's website, and saw a preorder for Doom 3. It looks as though the release date is 4/1/2004. Doom 3.com also has info on presales."

79 of 537 comments (clear)

  1. 4/1, eh? by i_am_syco · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...... APRIL FOOLS!

    1. Re:4/1, eh? by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 4, Funny

      4/1, eh? ... APRIL FOOLS!

      WTF? 4/1/2004 has been and gone, 7 days ago, and I can't remember it being April yet.

    2. Re:4/1, eh? by Alan · · Score: 5, Informative

      Erhmm... the ebgames page says it's ship date is 7/14/2004...

    3. Re:4/1, eh? by Trejkaz · · Score: 2

      YYYY-MM-DD rules.

      It makes sense because we specify time as HH:mm:ss, the biggest first. Why should dates be backwards, or in the case of the US date format, scrambled?

      YYYY-MM-DD kicks butt for text sorting too.

      --
      Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
    4. Re:4/1, eh? by @madeus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You want us to die because we use a different date format? Isn't that a bit absurd?

      I expect it's not specifically related to the date format, but rather the quite astounding arrogance and destructive provincialism your demonstrating which is what's so objectionable.

      But you'd have to clarify that with the poster.

      Seriously YYYY-MM-DD is the only really agreed on format, and MM/DD/YYYY only gets the year out of place (its usually left off because it is normally obvious). DD/MM/YYYY, is just backwards; Nothing wrong with using it but I don't see the point in advocating it.

      YYYY-MM-DD us not merely 'the only really agreed on format' it's the ISO 8601 International Standard format for date notation. It is the most useful format for direct digital manipulation and more than that, it's a practical and symbolic political compromise between the predominant format in North America, and the predominant format in the rest of the world.

      DD/MM/YYYY is most useful for humans who use western left-to-right languages, this is why the western world (with the exception of North America) uses this format when writing dates.

      MM/DD/YYYY is useless screwup of a system used by North Americans that is neither optimal for digital manipulation nor for parsing from left to right.

      People who prefer MM/DD/YYYY are also the sort of people that prefer the Imperial System to the Metric System. IME, they also tend not to be programmers (for reasons that should be obvious). It's demonstrably inferior to both systems (both for digital manipulation and for manual parsing) and this is why it restricted to common use only in North America. Like the Imperial System, it's an anachronism best left in the past where it belongs (though, also like the Imperial System, it appears that people will continue to use it for quite some time, no matter how obviously inferior it is to avalible alternatives).

    5. Re:4/1, eh? by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Informative

      "People who prefer MM/DD/YYYY are also the sort of people that prefer the Imperial System to the Metric System."

      Actually, we're just people who say "May 4th" instead of "The 4th of May". That's why that 'system' is commonly used. It's confusing to hear "May 4th" and then see "04-05".

      Not that it's that big of deal, people can get used to any format. Just saying that it's not some strange development that people spontaneously decided to choose. Go to other languages such as Spanish, and they actually do say "4th of May". So it's not so surprising that they would write 04-05. Now think about the various languages used in Europe and how it would have grown that way.

      Lighten up, we're not all crazy. Just from different environments.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    6. Re:4/1, eh? by Omerna · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How is DD/MM/YYYY more useful than MM/DD/YYYY? I just see two arbitrarily different systems with no difference in utility.

      (Though if pressed, I'd rather have the MM/DD/YYYY because you know first what month-- the general-- and then what day-- the specific.

      --


      No sig for you.
    7. Re:4/1, eh? by @madeus · · Score: 2, Informative

      The idea is that it's more logical and more useful is based on:

      (a) The units are in order of significance (Days in Months in Years). It is very definately not arbitrary.

      MM/DD/YYYY is however entirely arbirtary and much harder to organise or sort because of that.

      While the ISO date standard of YYYY-MM-DD is certainly ultimately superior to either of the other two methods, you can still much more easily create an effetive sorting system based on DD/MM/YYYY than MM/DD/YYYY because there is some order (implied by the relative significance of the units) to the notation of DD/MM/YYYY.

      This is in the same way that HH:MM:SS is the most appropriate way for us to read time (it features most to least significant, like the ISO date standard), but if I had to choose I'd rather have SS:MM:HH (least to most significant) than MM:SS:HH (which is entirely arbirtary and mirrors the middle-to-least-to-most significant format of MM/DD/YYYY)., Of course it's also the hardest to index as well as to manually prase, though of course you could 'get used to it' if you had to, and if you'd grown up with that it I'm sure it would seem entirely normal, but it still wouldn't be very sensible to an external observer.

      By way of another, but practical example:

      If you can imagine 3 stacks of say 100 cards each with a different date in the top right corner, one stack with dates in the YYYY-MM-DD format, another in the DD/MM/YYYY format and another in the MM/DD/YYYY format. Try thinking about sorting these and then imaging retreving items from the stack quickly based on the date. Alternatively, try knocking up a Perl/Python/etc script to do the same and see which is the most alkward format to deal with.

      And:

      (b) when reading from left to write your likely to want to know the day first (on the basis that your looking at something recent, or even current and want to know what day it is, or alternatively, on what specific day in the last few days something was done).

      I still always use YYYY-MM-DD myself as it's just so much better (even if it does mess with the bank tellers who all seem to get confused by it and ask me what it is).

    8. Re:4/1, eh? by AnotherFreakboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      uh, non-americans use "sarcasm", saying things which are untrue or very obvious for humour.

      --
      Why not get the real ultimate power?
  2. Doom3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What with the leaked Alpha, numerous screenshots on every gaming site, I never really thought of Doom3 as vaporware. DNF is another story

    1. Re:Doom3 by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 5, Funny
      DNF is another story
      What do you mean DNF is vaporware? It's already for sale in Ukraine.
    2. Re:Doom3 by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 3, Informative

      I, euh, kinda mixed up their names. It was actually HL2 instead of DNF. I got a math exam in 2 days, so I cannot be held responsible for such mistakes. If you want to blame some one, blame Rolle, Lagrange, Chauvy and L'Hopital


      Half-Life 2 For Sale In Ukraine

      Following the news yesterday, of several high profile games being leaked onto the Internet, it has transpired that copies of Half-Life 2 (and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero) are being sold on the black market in the Ukraine.

      The boxed software is being sold as a full game, but contains only the leaked builds and source code that appeared on the Internet last autumn.

  3. To quote penny arcade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, what a great engine!

    I can't wait till someone makes a game with it.

    1. Re:To quote penny arcade... by ziggles · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ya know, maybe I'm weird, but I like to play games before deciding they suck and their only redeeming feature is their engine. It's not like id has a track record of making crappy games. They may not be great innovators, but every game they've made has been of high quality. You may be bored of FPS games, but that doesn't mean they all suck.

      Personally, I could care less about whether a game is innovative. I just want a game that's well-made and fun. id has always delievered at least that much in the past.

    2. Re:To quote penny arcade... by JFMulder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I understand what the other poster meant. While the engine looks great and powerfull, the art direction is seriously uninspired. Demons with rocket-launchers? It was allright ten years ago, but people expect a little more these days. Demons with mechanical limbs? Bad bad bad...

    3. Re:To quote penny arcade... by fredrikj · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They may not be great innovators

      Bullshit. They invented the entire FPS genre.

    4. Re:To quote penny arcade... by ziggles · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think it's great that they have such ridiculous designs. This is a Doom game, it should carry on in the tradition of Doom 1 & 2. If this was some other game about a mars base being overtaken by demons from hell then you may have a point.. but it's not. And actually, the game's plot (mars base overtaken by demons from hell? come on!) is so ridiculous, having "inspired" art direction would seem out of place regardless of the past Doom games.

    5. Re:To quote penny arcade... by theefer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bullshit. They invented the entire FPS genre.
      Right, but it does not mean they have to stay with that very same gameplay for the rest of the studio's life, does it ? Actually is does sound like it is their plan.

      To me, Peter Molyneux's Bullfrog and Lionhead have been much more inventive than ID Software. This does not mean ID games suck, it just mean ID takes no risk and innovates only in technology, not game design.

      --
      theefer
    6. Re:To quote penny arcade... by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 5, Funny
      They may not be great innovators, but every game they've made has been of high quality. You may be bored of FPS games, but that doesn't mean they all suck.

      I have problems with id software continually releasing the same kind of "evil" dark games. Why can't they make something a little lighter? All the Dooms and Quakes concentrated on evil satanic monsters and nothing but mindless killing. As a Christian I have to wonder what this is doing to the children who end up playing these games behind their parents' backs (for example at a friend's house who has liberal parents or a single mom who is working hard to support the family). id should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such garbage. Why can't they make a good quality game about American soldiers hunting down evil terrorists?

    7. Re:To quote penny arcade... by danila · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can't easily invent another genre in a mature market. id created FPSes, now FPS is a genre inside which they have to work (because they are best at FPS games). They have a lot of creative ideas, but there are certain limitations (like the game is first-person, you run around and basically shoot stuff) they have to respect. Still, Doom3 promises a lot of innovation in the style. It won't be the first movie-like FPS experience, but enough not to be considered a clone.

      Another thing is that id guys had a lot of ideas for their next game, including a very innovative Prey (IIRC). But ultimately they decided that they want to make Doom3, because they loved the original Doom and felt like the possibilities were simply to great to be ignored. This was neither milking the cash cow, nor investors' decision. The programmers (designers) made the decision.

      Then you might also think about the reason FPS games are popular. It's because there is very specific behaviour that we humans enjoy very much - wreaking havoc. We have a very good picture of what we want to experience in such games and the FPS genre is doomed to assimptotically approach the image in our minds. That's why FPS game can't be too innovative, we are already close enough to the perfect experience and changing too much would be straying in the wrong direction.

      --
      Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
    8. Re:To quote penny arcade... by gabe · · Score: 2, Funny

      Killing thousands of evil cybernetic zombies from hell is known to cause gamers to give thousands of dollars and tons of presents to sick children.

      --
      Gabriel Ricard
  4. old news by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Informative

    the prorder shelf boxes have been in best buy for over 2 weeks now here in the midwest.

    but there is no promises as to when you are able to get your copy, so dont get your hopes up too much about it coming out very soon.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:old news by nekura · · Score: 5, Funny

      In the Best Buy I work at, we've had the pre-order boxes out since around the time I started working (mid-November). For some reason, a $10 price tag and the words "Preorder Only" add up to equal "OMFG DOOM 3'S OUT" in a lot of people's minds. God it's a bitch working software sometimes. =D

      --

      "Programming is like sex - one mistake and you'll have to support it for the rest of your life."
  5. First week of april, NOOOOO! by kryptkpr · · Score: 5, Funny

    I see what's going on here.. 4/1/03.. they're trying to make college/university students fail their 2nd term final exams! (usually the first through third week of April)

    --
    DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
  6. So what? by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 5, Informative
    Big deal - there's been a Doom 3 box at EB for awhile now. Just because a retail outlet says a product is going to be out on a date, doesn't mean much of anything - especially when it comes to a video game.

    This is completely meaningless. Stores put release dates out that are wrong quite often. Move on, move on.

    --
    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
    1. Re:So what? by Zardoz44 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not only that. Didn't DNF have pre-orders at one point?

      It can be vapor until it's shipped.

  7. Never was vaporware by klueless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What about the E3 Demo? This thing was playable a LONG time ago.

    I'm pretty sure our doom "vaporware" existed only at games.slashdot.org.

    Regardless, a date is always nice, although it doesn't guarentee anything (even with pre-orders).

    1. Re:Never was vaporware by l810c · · Score: 2, Insightful
      While i do think the term 'vaporware' is being tossed about a bit too freely in this case, this has definatally been id's longest development cycle. The game was announced June 1, 2000 and the famed E3 demo was over 1 1/2 years ago. If they make Fool's day release they will come in just under 4 years.

      There will probably be many derivitives and mission packs to follow over the next couple of years. At this pace, however, we can expect to see Carmack's next graphics engine in 2010.

  8. It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by goljerp · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sorry, it's still vaporware until I can run it...

    on my Linux box!

    1. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by irokitt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not only is there no word on a Linux version yet, the only other version I've even heard rumors of is the XBox !

      --
      If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
    2. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by Sp4c3+C4d3t · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's been said that it will run with Linux, but only with NVIDIA cards from John Carmack himself.

      --
      Happy New Year, it's 1984!
    3. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by Gabriele+Capone · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They are simultaneously working on versions for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. I think most of their development is even done on Linux and I read somewhere that the demo at E3 last year may have also been running on Linux.

    4. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by Cornelius+the+Great · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Considering the fact that every ID game since Doom (original) has had a Linux port, it would be fair to state that you shouldn't expect anything different from this release. ;)

      Cheers!

      --
      Sigs are for losers
    5. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by arendjr · · Score: 5, Informative

      A Linux version will be available as well.

    6. Re:It's vaporware 'till I can run it... by mrpuffypants · · Score: 3, Interesting

      From what I heard the demo that I played at Quakecon this last year was running on some version of Linux.

  9. When it's finished... by Decaffeinated+Jedi · · Score: 3, Funny

    <insert obligatory Duke Nukem Forever joke here>

    --
    DecafJedi
    my weblog: apropos of something
  10. No dates yet. by juhaz · · Score: 5, Informative

    Both stores linked from doom3.com state that:

    Please note: id Software has NOT supplied a release date for this title. We will provide a date as soon as one is announced. Pricing listed is an estimate and is subject to change.

    So anyone who has some specific date marked is just guessing.

    What's the big deal anyway? It's just a game.

    1. Re:No dates yet. by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is something wrong with you. Quake was both a groundbreaking title (being the first truly three dimensional textured FPS) and fun to play. Quake held my attention longer than any other game, before or since. In fact, I still play Quake even now. Its modular, extensible architecture and scripting language enabled it to be reborn countless times in countless forms. I remember how excited I was when the transparent water patch came out for gldoom. Likewise, I remember how excited I was that the game was playable on my 486DX33. Quake is one of the greatest games of all time, and will be remembered as such.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  11. GameStop and EB have varied Ship dates by suedehed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    EB says 7/14/2004, Gamestop says 5/3/2004 and BestBuy says 4/1/2004. Any bets on which date will realistically be the ship date?

    1. Re:GameStop and EB have varied Ship dates by fafaforza · · Score: 2, Funny

      My guess is when / it's / 200-done

  12. Large format trailer by embobo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I haven't slept for more then 24 hours but I didn't see a link to the large format trailer on the site so here it is:

    Slashdot Me

    Of course, I already grabbed it myself.

  13. 01 April 2004 .... by bain · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can see the hardcore gamer trying to figure out if fate is toying with their sanity.

    --
    Sanity is a majority vote.
  14. Did you hear that wailing sound? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 5, Funny

    That was the sound of utter terror from ten-thousand Nvidia, Ati, AMD and Intel engineers who can now look forward to putting out a bleeding-edge new graphics card / CPU in less then four months. Expect casualties.

    1. Re:Did you hear that wailing sound? by Telex4 · · Score: 5, Funny

      That was the sound of utter terror from ten-thousand Nvidia, Ati, AMD and Intel engineers who can now look forward to putting out a bleeding-edge new graphics card / CPU in less then four months.

      And the spontaneous orgasms of thousands of Nvidia, Ati, AMD and Intel sales persons awaiting the gullible geeks desperate for a video card upgrade to enjoy the full splendour of a video game for > 300

    2. Re:Did you hear that wailing sound? by irokitt · · Score: 4, Informative

      The demos run on a 9700. And Carmack says the game will run well on considerably less than that. It's OpenGL, so you don't even need the latest version of DirectX (9.0b) to run it. A ti-4600 or an overclocked ti-4200 will serve, if that's what you already have. A Radeon 9600 Pro/XT will give you the best bang for buck. And a 9800 will put a large dent in your wallet. But avoid the new Nvidia cards unless you're not interested in being able to play Half-Life 2 when that comes out.

      --
      If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
    3. Re:Did you hear that wailing sound? by TigerNut · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nah... you just need that new Pentagram 6.66 GHz CPU that's in beta testing...

      --

      Less is more.

    4. Re:Did you hear that wailing sound? by LookSharp · · Score: 4, Informative

      The nVidia render bug for HL2 was overblown, and fixed pretty much before it even went public.

      The only real FUD going on is that ATI and Valve are cross-promoting eachother's products, and to that end, Valve is coming out saying "the way we wrote the game, it's going to perform better on ATI's current cards."

  15. Yeah ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe it will be released earlier, thanks to ATi.

  16. Re:April fools day! by bigman2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's because they want you to buy the next Medal of Honor update- not Doom III. EA Games would actually see Doom III as competition to some of their games.

    Interestingly, another similarly named company, EB Games may want you to know a more accurate date- so they can sell more copies of Doom III, and share in the profits with the game designers, publishers, etc.

    --
    No reason to lie.
  17. 4/1/03...where was I??? by ErnstKompressor · · Score: 3, Funny

    How could I have missed that release??? My copy must *really* be back-ordered

    --
    We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
  18. The Date by Timmmm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    4/1/2004 .... That was about a week ago...

  19. Ok.. Whats next? by jamesjw · · Score: 4, Funny


    Duke nukem forever announced for late '04? :)

    -- Jim.

    --
    -- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
  20. Re:bad site by =weezer= · · Score: 2, Informative

    Works great for me with Mozilla Firebird, 1st January trunk build . .

  21. *sigh* a programmer explains: by irokitt · · Score: 4, Informative

    The alpha was only optimized for certain hardware configurations - namely a Radeon 9700 pro. And it is an Alpha, which serves as a preview of the story but doesn't reflect the final product at all. They have at least 4 months to work on the game, during which time things could improve considerably. Finally, realize that with Doom, Id is not only writing the game nut also writing the engine that the game uses, unlike about 90% of the games out there. So some of the "poop" comes from the engine itself.

    --
    If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
  22. Re:April Fool's Day Release? by maddogjt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not necessarily April Fools Release, first day of Q2 2004, maybe they're trying to toy with their financials

  23. wow by abhisarda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I opened the doom3 mainpage and that mechanical robot page. Jesus, what a coincidence.
    It's almost as if that the doom3 monster *is* the mechanical robot covered in flesh.
    Doom
    Robot

  24. Notice! by cthellis · · Score: 2, Informative

    The one retailer actually listed on their site for pre-orders (EB Games) that actually lists a release date puts it at 7/14/2004. o_O It's been all over the map for a while. Nothing to see here...

  25. ummm... by Transcendent · · Score: 2, Informative

    the ebgames preorder says it will ship on 7/14/2004

    That's a little late for that 4/1 prediction, doncha think?

  26. Re:Trailer on doom3.com by oneiron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, it has been said by id that ALL of that trailer is in-game footage. NONE of it is CG. That's just the doom engine... Marvel in it's glory.

  27. Whimsical Release Dates by Keiran+Halcyon · · Score: 5, Funny

    I work at my local Best Buy very near the display which holds the Pre-Order for Doom 3. I looked in our system, and the date listed for Customer Fufillment (ordering out of stock or not released productsS) doesn't even match the 4/1/04 date. Everyone knows they just make up a date and use it for awhile, but 4/1/04 isn't even the first date set for Doom 3. It's changed at least twice since it sat on that shelf.

    Funny enough, sitting right next to it is Counter Strike: Condition Zero. It's release date has changed twice as well. I see people go by all the time and go "It's OUT! YES!" and then bitch and swear when they see pre-order.

  28. same with Half-Life 2 by fireduck · · Score: 4, Informative

    you can pre-order it from any number of sites. EBgames has it coming out the end of March. However, anyone that pays any attention to these things, knows all the release dates are absolutely meaningless. Most high quality games (i.e., from high quality developers) have the "it's done when it's done" release date. When iD / Valve announces it's gone gold, then you can get it in 2 weeks. That's really the bottom line. This is a non-story.

    But if you must pre-order, EBgames does have a cute figurine for Doom 3. (I preordered the harvest moon game for the gba, just to get a stuffed cow that's sitting on top of my computer, along with diablo and arthas...)

  29. Re:Completely Meaningless by LearnToSpell · · Score: 2, Funny

    This item will be released on 31 December, 2004.

    Sweet!

    Please note that release dates are subject to change.

    Aww...

  30. Re:ID Software's greatest hits by Comen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    QuakeI was definitly a great game, people that say id cant make a good game should be whipped repeatidly.
    QuakeI and the release of Quakeworld I belive it was, when we finally started hearing more from Carmak and less from Romero since Carmack was working on client side prediction and working out the server client model was great.
    The game is still a great MP game.
    And at the time I had allot of fun playing the single player game just to see what was the first true 3D polygon based model engine. It was a awsome game, I still love it.

  31. Suspicious plot... by myc_lykaon · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've seen the trailer and I seem to have heard it somewhere before...

    Organisation conducting experiments into reaching other worlds; experiment goes wrong; creatures and entities from other world start appearing.

    I'm sure I saw a ginger haired guy with glasses near that reactor... hmmm

  32. All release dates for Doom 3 are false by Temporal · · Score: 4, Informative

    Amazon.com has had Doom 3 for pre-order for quite some time. They list the release date as March 1, 2004. Where did they get that date, you ask? They made it up!

    id has a very specific policy regarding release dates: There are none. They will release the game when it is done, but until that point, any date you see is pure speculation.

    At one point, Amazon was actually offering a discount if you bought Doom 3 together with Half-Life 2, which I thought was pretty amusing.

  33. Team Fortress 2 by nukem1999 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I believe was available for preorder at Amazon sometime in 99 or 2000. Preorder means nothing.

  34. Offical by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2, Funny

    The official release date is April 23, 2004. I know this is true because I just made it up.

  35. Good horror game! by DroopyStonx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been reading reviews and previews since the day this thing was announced, and they claim that this game will seriously scare the piss outta you mainly due to the graphics and lighting, but also due to the enemy AI. They'll actually HIDE from you only to jump your ass when you run by. Or you'll be walking down a faintly lit corridor only to see a vague silhouette of something moving, but by the time you think "..what was tha-," something's swiping and screeching at you.

    Amen to this... these are the best types of games to play. Nothing is better than playing these in the pitch black at 2 AM when no one else is up.

    Not that it's truly terrifying, but the fact that a game can remotely trigger the emotions to creep you the f'k out.. that's some quality stuff.

    I can't wait to see what comes out in the future.

    --
    We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
  36. Bizarre article headline by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Who thought Doom 3 was "vaporware?" There was no reason to. I don't think anybody did. Wtf?

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
  37. Re:sorry ID. Single player games just dont swing. by Aeolusz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I disagree. Call of Duty had an awesome single-player game which is actually better than the multi-player (hundreds of losers hopping around, camping in underbrush, and playing stupidly). The excellent sound, the story, and the frantic pace makes it an excellent single-player game. It immerses you in the war much more than bf1942 ever did. Doom3 could be really awesome and I do not think the fact that it is single-player will be a detriment to it if they can pull off the story.

  38. Re:Forget both the engine and the game by 1019 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm sad to inform you that Trent has since stated that he will -not- be doing the music/ambience for DOOM 3.

    This saddens me very much, too, but it's a fact. His work on Quake was absolutely fantastic, and I was looking forward to another excellent effort.

    Ah well.

    --
    shame on us / for all we have done / and all we ever were / just zeroes and ones
  39. Re:sorry ID. Single player games just dont swing. by simetra · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Uh, yeah.

    I would be willing to bet $12 that there are more geeks out there WITHOUT a LAN and dedicated game server than there are WITH. Not to mention the hassle of getting other people to participate. Plus there's the convenience factor of popping in a cd and playing a while whenever you want. I was personally disappointed with Quake 3, as it's not great as a 1st person. In fact, I'd rather replay Quake 2 over and over. Multiplayer games are fine in geekland where you do have a LAN set up and a bunch of buddies sitting there waiting to do something, but in the real world, single player games do still make more sense for most casual game users.

    --

    "Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
  40. Re:Want to see a bigger Doom3 trailer? by Arkahn · · Score: 2, Informative

    And, actually, you can abuse my bandwidth if you'd like until Monday 8:00am ( 14:00 GMT Jan. 12)

    http://66.231.10.5/doom3/trailer_large.mov

  41. This article is crap by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wow, Slashdot is posting retailer release dates now? After all these years, this supposed "geek site" doesn't know that every retailer has different dates that are never true? This is ridiculous. Why would Taco post this? According to EBGames last year, I should have gotten Half-Life 2 in November...since we're believing random retailers now. Right, I'm sure Best Buy is really in the know about id's release schedule.

    Not only that, but we get a bizarre headline calling Doom 3 "vaporware" for no apparent reason. Nobody thought it was vaporware. It has had a steady stream of screenshots, an alpha leak, and a multiplayer demo, as well as no release date to delay in the first place.

    Get with it, Slashdot.

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
    1. Re:This article is crap by t0qer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wow, Slashdot is posting retailer release dates now?

      This is a story about Doom. It's important to us geeks because we will all be trading in our mothers to get the hardware needed to play this game. It will drive the PC gaming market and force everyone to upgrade meaning.

      1. I will be playing it.
      2. I will be getting a lot of calls from people wanting me to "fix" their machines (for $$$) so they can play it.

      Dec 10 1993 was when it all started. (Hard to believe its been over 10 years. From that day forward a group of gamers were turned truly geek. They sat up long hours tweaking their machines to get that extra 1-2 fps. They learned the basics of networking for multiplayer.(Funny, same day my mother and stepfather got married? Coincidence? I think not)

      Doom got me and a lot of my friends interested in networking to the point where we all became sysadmins. We started on tweaking ipxodi.com to run high for doom and it led to working with novell servers. From there Windows servers, and in the end Linux.

      I'm glad Slashdot reported it. Even if it is an early Aprils Fools joke, it's related very much to my lifestyle, my friends, nerds.

      BTW i'm going to tangent this thread here, who's not buying new hardware till they can have Doom3, PCI express video and a 64bit CPU?

  42. Re:DOOM3 for Linux??? by ChopsMIDI · · Score: 5, Informative

    Carmack is a strong advocate of OSS and Linux and as such, Doom 3 will also be shipping with a linux binary. You can preorder the Linux the linux Binary Here

    --

    How could I say to men: "Speak louder, shout! For I am deaf!"? -Ludwig van Beethoven
  43. No, it IS still vaporware... by praedor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Until there is actual software available to install on system. idSoftware could have started making "preorders" available a year ago for all that means. It would be no less vaporware.


    When the game actually exists for purchase. When it is available to reviewers for, well, actually reviewing (instead of simply looking at nifty video clips from in-house), THEN it wont be vaporware.


    The fact of the matter is, it is STILL vaporware, just as much as it was last year or the year before. Preorder or not.

    --
    In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
  44. I saw these about 2 months ago. by EMR · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I saw these boxes about 2 months ago a gamestop.. This is nothing new at all.. Actually it's more annoying than anything.. As you see the boxes on the shelves, and it's not just one box of doom 3.. it's a whole shelf full.. and you think "Dude it's out".. But no it's not.. It's very deceiving..

  45. Doom3 hardware information by Saville · · Score: 4, Informative

    I saw some mis-information in a couple places. Rather than responding to all of them I'm just going to start a new thread.

    "GeForce 3 isn't capable of running the shaders that Doom 3 needs. You would need to have a GeForce 4 at the very least"

    nVidia has five generations of cards worth talking about;
    nv0x-TNT series
    nv1x-GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce4MX, nForce, nForce2, etc
    nv2x-GeForce3, GeForce4Ti, Xbox
    nv3x-GeForceFX series
    nv4x-next generation unannounced cards

    A GeForce3 is tweaked GeForce4 and will run Doom3 well. For ATI's cards we have this chart:
    http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=15 44
    r1x0-Radeon, Radeon 7000/7200/7500
    r2x0-8500/9000/9100/9200
    r3x0-950 0/9600/9700/9800

    Doom3 is going to have at least five methods of rendering according to a year old post by John Carmack:
    http://www.webdog.org/plans/1/
    ARB1-pre tty much standard OpenGL to be compatible with everything. Most DX7 level cards will use this. No specular highlights, no vertex programs so this'll put more work on the CPU.
    NV1x-five passes, renders all features
    NV2x-two or three rendering passes, renders all features
    R200-usually single pass, renders all features
    NV3x-single pass, renders all features
    ARB2-advanced standard OpenGL, single pass, renders all features. This will be used by all DX9 and better cards other than the GeForceFX which has a special optimized rendering path.

    The ATI Radeon and Intel Extreme Integrated Graphics will use the ARB1 path. The Matrox Parhelia will probably fall back to the standard DX7 path and not use its ability to do things like vertex programs. I'm not sure where the WildcatVP falls in, it supports nvidia's register combiner extensions so it could pretend to be a GeForce1/4MX, but I seem to remember a .plan file saying Doom3 may support the OpenGL high level shading language which would mean there is a sixth path;
    ARB3-basically be the exact same as ARB2, but using vertex/fragment shaders instead of vertex/fragment programs (high level language instead of low level asm shading language). Currently only supported by WildcatVP, but presumably ATI and nvidia would support this soon too. And any other DX9 level cards.

    The XGI Volari and S3 DeltaChrome would use the ARB2 path as would ATI's next generation card. Not sure about the NV4x... Users would probably have the option to choose any rendering path their hardware can do if they want.

    *rumour*
    The PowerVR Kyro is possibly not going to be able to run Doom3 because it can't do Cube Maps. If they allow Doom3 to run without CubeMaps then I guess the nvidia TNT, ATI Rage, Matrox G400, S3 Savage 2000, 3dfx cards, and Intel 815G integrated graphics, will be able to run it too. In theory ;) I bet bad drivers prevent it from running, and even if it did run it would actually walk, or crawl. :) */rumour*

    If Doom3 supports fragment/vertex shader it'll be the first on the market to do so. The only other advanced OpenGL game on the market for windows I know of is Homeworld2 which uses new extensions like fragment programs and vertex buffer objects.

    Finally there have been Doom3 benchmarks released:
    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc. html?i=1821 &p=21
    Medium Quality: 1024x768:
    104fps - GeForceFX 5900 Ultra
    95fps - GeForceFX 5800 Ultra
    77fps - Radeon 9800 Pro
    55fps - GeForceFX 5600 Ultra
    40fps - Radeon 9600 Pro
    47fps - GeForceFX 5200 Ultra
    19fps - Radeon 9200

    Those are from May 12th, 2003. Probably a full year before the game ships. But it gives you an idea of how well the GeForceFX can do when partial precision floating point is used via the NV3x fragment program extension (there standard OpenGL fragment program extension only allows you to hint fastest, don't care, or nicest for the entire program while AFAIK the nvidia extension allows you to specify per instruction if you want 16bit or 32bit precission) and how well the GeForceFX "ultra shadow" technology works. :)

    I'm really looking forward to this game!