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Doom 3's Release Date; Quake Turns 8

LehiNephi writes "Apparently, GameStop has an updated product page for long-awaited PC FPS Doom 3, along with the note: 'Official launch date of August 3rd, 2004 confirmed!', although the official Doom 3 site hasn't yet been updated, sporting just a 'coming soon' notice. [Blue's News also has further info, noting 'that the British Board of Film Classification has a DOOM III Listing with a rating for the game, a seeming indication that they've already been able to review all its content'.]" In related news, Ag3nt writes "One of the biggest leaps in PC gaming technology, Quake, celebrated its 8th birthday yesterday, according to an AmpedNews piece - there's also a birthday note on John Romero's homepage."

20 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Skeptical by generic-man · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm always skeptical about release dates, but at least two stores are consistent this time. EB Games has the release date for Doom III listed as August 3 as well, but the strategy guide comes out on July 10. You can spend three weeks reading up on the game and then kick ass at it!

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  2. Re:I Want DOOM3 More Than Anyone... by Dan+Farina · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040511/sftu128_1.html

    "Activision and id Software Confirm Summer 2004 Ship Date for Doom 3"

    It's not "when it's done" with no qualifiers, as you imply. id and Activision have a rough idea of when "it's done" will be.

  3. Re:The official release date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/

    They're up to version 1.7 already, bucko.

  4. Re:Impending Doom by getnate · · Score: 2, Informative

    Doom3 is not the third episode of a trilogy, it a retelling of the original doom story.

  5. Gameshops telling release dates : What's new ? by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 4, Informative
    They have been doing that as long as they 've been selling on-line. They don't know, but are counting on the people foolish enough to pre-buy it with them.

    I won't believe any dates untill i see a 'we gone gold' message from the id-dudes themselves.

    Setting the date at the start of August, would still be very convenient for the die-hards at Quakecon (12 -15 August) to have a LAN-go at it.

    Anyhow, I'm very curious , and patiently await the 'we gone gold' message.

    On a last note : Seeing that Splashdamage took the multiplayer portion as their part (at least leveldesign) i -know- the MP part is gonna rock my socks off, since they (co-) created the very cool (free) game Enemy Territory. For more info on this upcoming studio, check out their site, and give Enemy Territory a try, if you haven't allready. www.splashdamage.com

  6. Amazon has pre-order for $49.99 and different date by DJFelix · · Score: 4, Informative
    Amazon.com has Doom 3 available for pre-order as well, with August 1, 2004 listed as the release date.

    Oddly enough, they also have Half Life 2 available as preorder as well listing September 1, 2004 ...

    They will even give you a deal if you pre-order both at the same time ... I'm not holding my breath.

  7. Re:backhanded compliment .... by aardwolf204 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Incase anyone was wondering, it goes kinda like this:

    Wolfenstein 3D :: Wolf3d Engine

    Wolfenstein 3D 2 (Spear of Destiny) :: Wolf3d Engine

    Doom :: Doom Engine

    Doom 2 :: Doom Engine

    Quake :: Quake Engine

    Quake 2 :: Quiake Engine (beef'd up)

    Quake 3 :: Quake 3 Engine

    Return to Castle Wolfenstein :: Quake 3 Engine (Beef'd up)

    Doom 3 :: Doom 3 Engine ...
    ...

    So now we've got 3 Wolfensteins, 3 Quakes, and 3 Dooms. Each of which has an original and a sequal on the same engine, and a third on new engine, which gets recycled to make the next game.

    Whats coming next?...

    Quake 4 :: Doom 3 Engine (prolly?)
    Then what, Wolf 4, Doom 4.... I'm all for new and shiny, but at some point id needs to come up with something fresh. Their last new series was 8 years ago.

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al
  8. Re:Nuking... by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Duke Nukem's interactivity (allthough very limited) was very cool at that time ; Ok, the pooltable made no sense, but hey, you -could- pocket those balls ! (in the meantime , trying to get them piggy cops off your back ;) )

  9. Doom 3 Uses OpenGL by SeinJunkie · · Score: 3, Informative
    IIRC, id had to write all of their own shaders for OpenGL, but are definitely not using DirectX. DirectX would have let them use the API's shaders, I believe, but OpenGL hadn't defined theirs yet. So, all of the shaders you see in Doom 3 were written in assembly code.

    Refer to this article for more information about the engine.

    1. Re:Doom 3 Uses OpenGL by Viking+Coder · · Score: 3, Informative

      If it was written in Direct3D, they would not have used built-in shaders. They would have been written in assembly code, too (PixelShaders 2.0 versus ARB_fragment_program is not that different). It's not like DirectX has something here that OpenGL does not.

      Everyone has to write all of their own shaders, at this point.

      Move along, folks - nothing to see here.

      --
      Education is the silver bullet.
  10. Re:More Importantly by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, they definitely are shipping Linux binaries with the game. Also word is that there will probably be a demo AFTER the game is released.

  11. Re:Believe It When I See It On Shelves by Maudib · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wolf was published by ID but put together by an independent developer (who had previously worked at ID) who licensed the engine and the Wolf Copyright.

  12. preorder link from doom II official site by frieked · · Score: 2, Informative

    To any skeptics out there, there is a pre-order link on the official Doom III site with links to 3 sites, EB Games, Gamestop and Best buy... All 3 list ship dates of 8/3.

    --

    I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
    -Xenocrates
  13. Re:backhanded compliment .... by Rew190 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, Carmack was the one who wanted to do Doom 3 and threatened to quit if it didn't happen.

  14. Re:Linux, Mac and DOS in the same box? by HarbV7.0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    No word on a Mac version at all. Maybe it'll be released at the same time as Duke Nukem forever? Ironic as I believe it was originaly previewed at Macworld a few years ago.

  15. Re:Question by Wyzard · · Score: 3, Informative

    "TCP/IP" refers to a family of networking protocols including IP, TCP, UDP, ARP, and less strictly, DNS and the routing protocols. So it's perfectly valid for a game to use UDP and say that it's using TCP/IP.

  16. Quake is still going strong! by Jagasian · · Score: 3, Informative

    Some people still play old games. Chess for example has been played for hundreds of years. Quake... well it is only 8 years old, but it still has an active community of players, developers, competitions, etc.

    One reason that Quake is still going strong is because it is that Carmack open-sourced the game engine a few years ago. This has made it possible to update the game's technology. Sure it isn't as graphically intensive as modern games, but it isn't bad looking either. The most important thing in Quake is a high frame rate, which is quite easy considering the game's system requirements.

    So what are you waiting for?
    Download Quake! Note that you will need the two retail content ".pak" files to play on most servers. Carmack opened the game engine, not the game content (skins, sounds, levels, textures). However, the eQuake package comes with tons of free content, so you can still play, somewhat, without buying Quake.

    Join the community!

    Finally, you might ask, "Why play Quake"? Well, why play Chess? Some games are classics, and they are classics because they are fun. Quake is the best game for fast, furious gameplay. Unlike tactical shooters such as Counter-Strike, Quake is more concerned with fun fast paced action than realism. So if you want slow realistic, but sometimes boring gameplay - stay away from Quake.

    If you want fast, furious, chaotic and violent gameplay... Quake is your ticket to fun.

  17. Re:backhanded compliment .... by beardz · · Score: 2, Informative
    I'm all for new and shiny, but at some point id needs to come up with something fresh. Their last new series was 8 years ago.

    It seems as though some id employees feel the same as you.

    Taken from a GameSpy interview with John Carmack :

    GameSpy: I am surprised that you do not see Quake IV using this next generation engine.

    John Carmack: Wolfenstein worked out so spectacularly well. Inside id there is a group that really, really does not want to do another sequel. Our next game is not going to be a DOOM, Quake, or Wolfenstein sequel, it's going to be something new and that is a foregone conclusion.

  18. The ESRB rating doesn't indicate doneness by danshapiro · · Score: 2, Informative
    the British Board of Film Classification has a DOOM III Listing with a rating for the game, a seeming indication that they've already been able to review all its content

    According to the article "Lawmakers in a Tizzy Over Parent's Responsibility" in gamedeveloper magazine (June/July 2004):

    "The publisher submits a completed questionnaire revealing the game's contents along with video footage of 'the most extrme content and an accurate representation of the context and the product as a whole', according to the ESRB."

    Clearly, this can be done many months before the game goes gold. That's necessary so that box designs, which have long lead times, can be locked down early.

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  19. Re:On Quake.. by Sigma+7 · · Score: 3, Informative
    What's with all the hating on Quake? I view it as *far* more atmospheric than Doom ever was.
    Mabye, but when I play games, I tend to look for gameplay more than eye candy. As a result, I hate games that tend to be dead simple on the hardest difficulty, as well as games that are impossible on easy. With Quake, the third dimention was a bonus - however, the monsters effectivly has the same AI as Doom - move towards player, but walk alonside a "wall" if you bump into one (where a wall indicates a high vertical slope up or down.)

    The first time around, it felt like they cut out the use command - didn't affect me to a degree, but I had a feeling that certain situations could arise where you accidently touch a button of certain death.

    After beating it on Hard, I tried nightmare mode - that difficulty option was hidden from view mainly because it is considered too hard for most players. However, there was really not much difference from Hard - the only changes would be the monsters firing or re-firing more frequenrly and the Shambler inflicting 10 more points of damage per shock. This is not much of a difference, since you can still dodge most attacks (they either don't have lead-ahead, or have predictable lead-ahead.)

    Mutliplayer was acceptable, provided that you knew that you should switch to W-A-S-D and to type "+mlook" in the console. Otherwise, you'll encounter situations where you will get creamed by other players even before you should even know that mouse looking is even possible.