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DOOM III This Summer

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the shoot-it-til-it-dies-from-it dept.

Crusader writes "Activision and id Software have issued a press release announcing that DOOM III will be released this summer. A Linux client has also been in development alongside the requisite Win32 version."

36 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Final Version by UnkyHerb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I anticipated this game more than any other game ever I think. I wonder how much different the final version will be from the alpha that I played so long ago. Trent Reznor's soundtrack will be a definite plus as well!

    --
    Your Momma's so fat she makes emacs look like nano!
    1. Re:Final Version by Hatta · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What's the story on Reznor and Doom III? I heard he left the project to work on a new album. Anyone know if he left in the early stages, or if most of the work was done before he left? I hope his work is a major part of the project, the man's a fucking brilliant musician and a flat out genius at sound engineering.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Final Version by F34nor · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Look at this game it's a horror version of Halflife. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE GAME. This is the last engine that they are making, Caramack says that it will do anything he ever wanted and so he's done. All he wants is to create a structure for you to hang your own game on. Its exactly like Lukas and the "new" StarWars movies no story, only a paradigm shit for the industry.

      So go on, go make that bunny shaving game you always wanted, make it for all of us.

    3. Re:Final Version by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The quality will be the engine, not the game.

      While at their time, Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake were more or less ground breaking as a game also (tho Quake less so already, it was a bit more about technology there),

      It is interesting that this is one from the Doom series, one that has so far been ruled by 'pseudo 3d' engines as opposed to Quake series real 3d engines.

      At any rate, in the last half decade or so, ID's main market seems to have been resellign its engine to others who build cool content for it (Return to Castle WOlfenstein comes to mind), which finally resulted in onw of the 3 games so far that has managed to keep my attention for more then a few months, Enemy Territory (thanks again for giving away this superb game, Activision, Spashdamage and all others involved, and thanks to all the great mapmakers out there ;)

      The cool stuff is not Quake 3 itself but its engine, and in a way that has been true ever since Doom II. Somehow I have little doubt that this will prove true for Doom III as well.

      On another note, does that mean we are gonna get a GPLed Q3 engine? that would rock.. seeign what people are doing with maps (and mods not that the ET sources are available) makes me wonder what peopel can do when they have the engine.. oh, and I want a native FreeBSD version ;)

  2. Really Good News by Rikerag515 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is really great to hear, a major software publisher is actually going to have a Linux Client available, possibly in around the same time the Windows client is released, bravo ID.

    --
    HAHA Injured Hippies
    1. Re:Really Good News by RESPAWN · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yup, as a matter of fact, I bought my copy of Quake 3 just so that I could have some good games to play while I was running Linux on my only machine at the time. That and it also came in that cool tin that was a limited time thing with the Windows release.

      The ironic thing about it though was that I never did get the game to run under Linux. I was having some really weird driver issues related (I think) to the fact that I had a dual video card system, but was only using one of the video cards. Anyway, I just ended up booting back into Windows to play the game. However, since the Linux version of the game was actually cheaper than the Windows version, a lot of my friends went out and bought the Linux version, despite running Windows on their primary box. I still get a chuckle out of that...

      --

      If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.

  3. Mac Version by somethinghollow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess a Mac version won't be too far behind if there will be a Linux version. Now... all I need is one of those new fangled G5s to play it on...

    Does anyone know where system requierments might be found / when they will be announced?

  4. Nice graphics.. by DR+SoB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Too bad I'll need a new computer that comes with the kitchen sink to run it..

    The screen shots look suspiciously similiar to Half-Life 2 though, what's up with that? Even some of the monsters look HL1 like. I have a feeling this isn't going to have nearly the popularity as Doom1 did (well it might but that'll just be riding there fame). It's kinda like movie sequels, you're so excited about a new edition, but then it always ends in disappointment..

    If HL2 and Doom3 battled I wonder who would win? I wonder if the fundamentals of the game will be the same between the two, and if Worldcraft (or hammer) is going to work on both as well?

    --
    Mod +5 Drunk
    1. Re:Nice graphics.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If HL2 and Doom3 battled I wonder who would win? I wonder if the fundamentals of the game will be the same between the two, and if Worldcraft (or hammer) is going to work on both as well?

      In many ways, they're two very different approaches to an FPS engine - from a point of view of the lighting systems, what they can render (indoors vs outdoors) and what they can do.

      In particular, the lighting models are completely different. Half-Life 2 uses pre-calculated radiosity lightmaps which, while awesomely realistic, are somewhat static. It does preserve some directional information in the lightmaps for model lighting, normal maps etc, but I gather it's limited to simple non-shadowed dynamic point sources like the original Half-Life.

      Doom 3, however, looks like it does everything real-time. I don't think there's any precalculated radiosity light maps (but I could be wrong), and all lighting is done on the fly with what are effectively point sources. Things can be hugely dynamic, with lights casting shadows from world geometry, models, etc, but it's not particularly realistic due to the absence of radiosity 'bouncing' and the ultra-sharp shadows. It can also project textures as lights, giving the atmospheric 'light through a grille' effect and so on.

      The scenes they can render look very different, too - Half-Life 2's got a terrain engine thing which can render some pretty huge outdoors maps, along with parallax-enabled, brush-based 'skyboxes' which can be rendered behind everything for giant-looking city scenes. Doom 3 seems to specialise in highly detailed indoors scenes, with a couple of outdoors scenes being effectively just large rooms.

      The engines are very different, but they seem well-suited for the games they've been written for. The slightly plastic-looking, ultra-atmospheric-lighting indoors engine of Doom 3 would be rubbish for Half-Life 2, while the naturalistic, realistically-lit indoors-outdoors engine of Half-Life 2 would look terrible used for Doom 3.

      In terms of editors, I do know that an enhanced Hammer is being used for Half-Life 2, but I've heard very little about Doom 3's editor (and that's with friends working for Raven!) I understand it's somehow integrated with the engine, and it definitely sounds like another home-grown thing, but other than that I don't know. I'd be surprised if Hammer (or another brush-based editor) would work with Doom 3, but of course I could be completely wrong. :-)

    2. Re:Nice graphics.. by RatBastard · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Considering that Half-Life ripped off the basic backstory for DOOM, yeah, I'd say they were pretty similar. If you read Tom Hall's Doom Bible, you'll see that Tom Hall planned to have a monorail in the original game.

      From looking at the Doom Bible, it looks like DOOM 3 is going to be a hell of a lot closer to Tom's original vision than DOOM1/DOOM2 ever was. I wonder what the hell the Hand of Lothar will be used for?

      --
      Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
    3. Re:Nice graphics.. by bonch · · Score: 2, Interesting

      if Worldcraft (or hammer) is going to work on both as well?

      John Carmack has stated on several occasions that the editor will be integrated into the engine. You'll be able to play it as you create it.

      No idea about Half-Life 2. I actually know very, very little about the Source engine, despite the incomplete code leak so long ago.

  5. Requirements by Griim · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know what the system requirements will be for this? In particular, the video card?

    1. Re:Requirements by aliens · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I would think a Geforce3 or better seeing as they first did tech demo's on that hardware way back in the day. I'm guessing, but Pixel Shaders would probably be required and that means GF3.

      Of course I can't wait till GF4MX users try and play.

      Bear in mind HL2 is supposedly very scalable so Doom III should be too. Although I can't imagine it being as immersive without a great video card.

      --
      -- taking over the world, we are.
  6. Re:Damn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    According to that Masters of Doom book, Intel and Carnegie Mellon had to set policy blocking the original Doom during work hours because people spent too much time playing it and all the network play even killed the servers.

  7. Linux version with..... by millahtime · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone know how the linux version running with linux compatability (under the bsd) with X11 will work?

    --
    Evolution or ID?
  8. So what's the copylocking? by Thinkit4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To me, the greatest advance in software would be the publisher actually trusting the consumer, and not requiring a cd-check. It was finally removed from quake 3 for the single-player mode. Another example of craziness due to artificial scarcity.

    --
    -I am an elective eunuch.
  9. Re:Interesting on Linux by pubjames · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Our options from here are [...]

    Another option - why not just sell the Linux version online? Nearly all current Linux-types are techies who are going to have big bandwidth connections. Might reduce the cost of suppling the Linux version and increase the business case for it?

  10. Re:Damn it by SnowDeath · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Did you ever try to play anything on a LAN that people were playing Quake1 on? My gosh, we'd be in the middle of all-night Starcraft lans and 3 people would decide to play Quake. We are talking about 1-2 10/100 hubs cascaded together with less than 12 people and that's all, and Quake would bring StarCraft to a screeching and grinding halt or at least close to standstill.

    We ended up banning Quake1 from local LANs from then.

  11. Re:Damn it by SomeGuyFromCA · · Score: 2, Interesting

    > all the network play even killed the servers.

    Well, if memory serves, this was due to some primitive netcode design - for example, each chaingun bullet was a separate UDP packet.

    --
    if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
  12. Knoppix by IceFox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how long after it is released a Script/app comes out that when given disk 1 (DoomIII) and disk 2 (Knoppix) it will give you an iso that you can burn and then boot straight into DoomIII under Linux without anything else running for maximum performance without the hassle of installing Linux.

    -Benjamin Meyer

    --
    Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
  13. UT2004 Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    My Unreal Tournament 2004 came with the Linux client. Didn't yours?

    Yup. Sure did, and the Linux version plays on my SuSE 9.0/AMD Barton 2800+/512MB/GeForce5200FX equally as smooth as it does on my WinXP/P4-3.2GHz/512MB/Radeon9700 machine.

  14. A few questions... by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Linux Version

    I'd expect that this will be included with the windows version, not bought seperately, and will be compatible in network multiplay with windows machines. Can anyone confirm?

    One item of note: the PC version will lack the cooperative multiplayer mode featured in previous DOOM games.

    Does this mean that in the console version there is expected to be co-op multiplayer, or perhaps in a patch/mod later on?

    Demo

    Are/will there be any demos available. I'll probably toss out some cash for an upgrade if needed (yes, I know upgrading just for a game is a bit obsessive), but it would be nice to see how the game runs on my hardware before purchase (and I'd rather not pirate or try to get the unauth beta beforehand)

  15. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl by Zx-man · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ok, DooM III is just fine, but, since I'm form Ukraine, 'tis more exciting for me && I'm more waiting for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

    Here are the movies from the game: Video

    P.S. I'd really like to view them, but, ahh, my 14400Bps modem just rules the world! P.P.S. Unfortunately, it uses Micro$oft DirectX, so do not expect a version for GNU/Linux or MacOS X...

  16. No Linux Client by Bruha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There has been no announcement on a Linux client. Someone misquoted Linuxnews's article.

  17. Re:Direct X Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nope, no DirectX 9. Actually DirectX 7 should be enough to run the game, it is only for input devices and 2d.
    Everything else is OpenGL, OpenAL and SDL.
    Direct X is just a buzzword, you can do everything just as well in OpenGL.
    DirectX just defines how card should be made, while OpenGL give the card producers a say in the development.

  18. What?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    UT2004 runs slower on Linux than on Windows. This, however, is mostly due to the slower OpenGL code that gets used on Linux. You can see a similar slowdown by selecting the OpenGL renderer on Windows. Epic only has one guy working on OpenGL, I hear.

  19. DOOM 3 - SMP Compatible? by toby360 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Quake 3 was somewhat SMP compatible, does anyone know if Doom 3 will be fully SMP compatible on both Linux and Windows versions? A lot of power users now have adopted dual systems for a variety reasons but unfortunatly its hard to find games which properly utilize both processors. Having dual 2400MP's, SMP Support would be a huge plus for this game!

  20. Re:So a mac version won't be long now! by clichekiller · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No doubt you don't give a shit about Mac games - there aren't any! My post (a joke) was pointing out how sad it is that the mac platform never had anything other than the most popular PC games ported to it (and years AFTER the PC release). Now even the linux platform is getting DOOM III well before OS X will.

    How do you explain Halo, admitedly 6 mos. later, and oh Warcraft III (simultaneous), and oh yeah Unreal Tournament 2004 only a week after the PC release.

    The Mac is getting more and more games and earlier then ever before. Take a walk into an Apple store or the section of a CompUSA and you will probably find more mainstream games for the Mac there then exist for Linux.

    --
    Sir, there is a dragon outside with an armful of armor. He's inquiring if we offer free refills.
  21. Far Cry beat them to it by bonch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was blown away by Far Cry. It matched the Doom 3 screenshots I saw, but running NOW. In addition, they had the nerve to set the game in an outdoor tropical environment with no visibility limit.

    That game seamlessly goes from hunting mercenaries on an island camp in the jungle to entering a cave and suddenly being in a Doom 3-esque claustrophobic environment shooting at genetic mutations.

    As far as all the reports and screenshots have shown, Doom 3 is almost entirely shadowy, indoor environments. Blech. Far Cry was a breath of fresh air.

    1. Re:Far Cry beat them to it by netdudeuk · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, the game is awesome and does indeed look as good as some of the Doom 3 images. For example, in some of the indoor scenes you'd be hard pressed to differentiate between the two. Try shooting a suspended strip light and admire the lighting effects as it rocks on it's chains.

      Outside though, we have a Trueman Show behaviour. I sailed right away from land and you get a helicopter come and blow you away !

      I'd rather just bump into a wall ;-)

    2. Re:Far Cry beat them to it by junkgrep · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Seriously. People act like Carmack is the only one in the universe who can create an engine with shadow volumes, like it's some magical secret nobody else knows. In fact, it's a very simple brute force method that other devs have held off on picking up until you can do it without having to compromise so much else (it's VERY preformance intensive just for the lighting alone) and because there are much better looking methods for direct lighting that would make a better jump up.

  22. You know... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if NiN was the reason for the "nailgun" in Quake. People who knew of the band could hardly miss their logo on the ammo boxes.

    And many of us who'd only heard of them because of the game saw it, too.

    Just one of those things I wonder about.

    --
    tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  23. Re:URL Please by bigbigbison · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nearly a year ago it was announced that Thrent Reznor was no longer involved with Doom 3.

    --
    http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
  24. id's games are not entirely designed to make money by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Keep in mind that client are only part of id's business. The other part, and possibly the greater part, is licensing their game engines to other developers. Their game are not strictly intended to be money makers, they are also working models and advertisements for the engines. This is why id can have very high system requirements. By the time a licensed developer has their game ready today's high end hardware has become midrange and common. Similarly a Linux client is in part an ad for the engine, Linux support in the engine is a bullet item on a marketing brochure. Other developers may be gambling that a Linux game could be profitable in a year or two. There is actually one more reason id does Linux versions, they think it is cool to do so. They are successful enough that they can afford to do cool things that don't make sense from a business perspective.

  25. Re:What? by mrtroy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Real reasoning:

    You can prevent piracy on xbox live a lot easier than any PC based multiplayer versions.

    Why did he not try to justify that instead of making false claims?

    It is understandable they want to make money, and Xbox could be where its at for them...

    --
    [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
  26. Tweaker by T-Kir · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Chris Vrenna is doing the sound, which is fine by me. He did the soundtrack for American McGee's Alice, plus he used to be in NIN... mind I've just ordered 2am Wakeup Call, just waiting on the international shipping!! :-)

    --
    Are you local? There's nothing for you here!