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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."

22 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Believe It When I See It On Shelves by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Just Monday, the "Foxtrot" comic strip was joking how it seemed Doom III would never come out.

    Seeing a confirmed date on a reporting site, heck even on ID's site, seems like reading portents in the tea leaves. Even when they announce ship dates, these companies are notorious for having last-minute changes. Thirty-six hours before you should be able to pick up your precious pre-order, it's announced that you'll have to wait another two weeks... maybe three... they're not sure.

    I'll believe the release dates when I have a copy in my grubby little hands and not before.

  2. Original Doom almost 11 years old by csirac · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ... according to this.
    10 Years of Doom

    Ten years ago on December 10th, 1993, id Software released the Doom shareware, forever changing the world of PC games. Doom pretty much defined the very young first person shooter genera, and set the bar for future games to come. With immersive, colorful levels, deadly enemies and some of the greatest gameplay any game has ever seen, Doom can be best described as nothing short of a masterpiece. Even to this day it is still cited as one of the best and most signifigant games made.
  3. Impending Doom by joNDoty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No doubt that this game's gonna have everyone flipping head-over-hoof. I just hope the game will actually deserve its reaction. Much like any good trilogy, the third release is often a dissapointment. (with the exception of the original star wars trilogy ;-)

  4. Quaking... by KoshClassic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wow, I can't believe that it was only 8 years ago. When the original Quake was released, I honestly wasn't that impressed by it. Perhaps that's because I never had such hot hardware to run it on. But, mostly I remember thinking that the main way in which Quake, as a gaming engine, improved on Doom / Doom 2 (which I really loved) was by providing a true 3D environment, as opposed to Doom's psuedo-3D. Yet, to me, Doom was so well done in terms of level design, etc, that all Quake did was make me aware of things that Doom did not do, but that I had never missed in Doom as I never really realised that Doom wasn't doing them.

    --
    Understanding is a three edged sword. - Ambassador Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5
  5. More Importantly by smclean · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When is the Linux release date? Does it say anywhere whether they are doing a concurrent Linux/Windows release? Will there be a nice free demo, as is ID's habit?

    --

    "'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."

  6. Getting hacked by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I remember a Half-life 2 release date... and I'm still waiting for it.. believe it when you install it and it runs without five hundred bugs :)

    --
    I like muppets.
  7. Doom 3 and the 30inch Cinema Display by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There have been rumors that Apple will release a 30 inch Cinema Display for WWDC next week. Imagine Doom3 on a dual 2.5ghz machine with a 30inch cinema display!

    I can just see my skin becoming more pasty and pink.

    1. Re:Doom 3 and the 30inch Cinema Display by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 4, Interesting


      I think a "measly Radeon 9600" will be able to run D3 as well as HL2 just fine. The recent Doom 3 leaked Alpha runs on my Athlon 2600 / Radeon 9600 XT with perfectly acceptable rates. I can't actually see or adjust the detail level, but the default is still nice looking. I imagine that the retail version will have some tweaks and optimizations that will improve performance.

  8. Until Duke Nukem Forever by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This will keep me occupied until that ghostware will come out.

    As a hardcore doom fan who still plays doom 1/2 (plutonium pak and final = no fun. just repeating d2 stuff), I can't wait to get my hands on this game no matter what the gameplay is. ID Software has always been the company I've supported the most due to their quality fps games & engines. I own quake 3 since it came out in 99 and I still play it today. Now that was a game worth of buying!

    With doom 3 finally comming out soon to the public, you can just imagine the other companies hopping on ID's leg for a license.

  9. id is the only reason I buy new computers by geekd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    id software's games are the only reason I buy new computers. Sure, I'll update my video card, or get a bigger hard drive, but as far a whole new system goes, it's just when id's new games come out.

    Quake 3 - new machine
    Wolfenstein - new machine
    Doom 3 - ordered new machine yesterday. (from endpcnoise.com - wife is complaining the 3 computers in the office are too loud. We'll see if thay are as good as they claim.)

    I wonder how much hardware worldwide id is responsible for selling?

    1. Re:id is the only reason I buy new computers by tjwhaynes · · Score: 2, Interesting
      id software's games are the only reason I buy new computers. Sure, I'll update my video card, or get a bigger hard drive, but as far a whole new system goes, it's just when id's new games come out.

      I believe it. I've been holding off for Doom III to get close to release before I replace my machine so that I will end up with something capable of running ol' Doom3 well, rather than the scrag end of technology currently sitting under my desk at home. Athlon 650MHz? That's tech from the previous century!

      On the other hand, it also gives me an excuse to stock up on the other games I haven't bought recently because my machine isn't up to it. UT2k4 here I come!

      Cheers,

      Toby Haynes

      --
      Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
    2. Re:id is the only reason I buy new computers by geekd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about donating the old computers your wife says are making noise to charity?

      I do, kinda.

      I "kick them down the line" to friends who just need a machine for email and stuff, and don't have the personal income to just go out and buy one (students, stoners, musicians :).

      Once upon a time, it was me on the recieving end of a free "new" machine, and I was very gratefull, so I figure it's my responsibility to keep it going.

  10. backhanded compliment .... by JSkills · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I just checked out Romero's homepage and although he mentions Doom 3, he also used the word "sequelitis" and goes on to list all of the sequels ID has produced since he left (as opposed to attempting to launch some completely new game as he did).

    After reading Masters of Doom, this smells a little like sour grapes to me ...

  11. Re:Skeptical by generic-man · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Amazon also claims August 1 as the release date.

    I'm more curious about the 67 customer reviews. How do people take Amazon's customer reviews seriously when 67 people review a game they haven't played yet in final form?

    --
    For more information, click here.
  12. 8 Years ago? I'm getting old. by g00z · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Those alien bastards are gonna pay for shooting up my ride..."

    I clearly remember when Quake came out like it was yesterday. I remember that at the office I was working at there was a big debate on what was the better game... Duke Nukem 3D or Quake. In the end Quake won, but not without some heated arguments in DN3D's favor.

    And of course, before that I remember playing Deathmatch Doom on the office lan on a 386 with a b&w monitor (shivers).

    --
    "The Wright brothers were the first to fly with a heavier-than-air machine, but boy did they have a lousy plane"
  13. Re:The official release date by falser · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually I think they should just abandon telling us when it *will* be released, but rather when it *was* released.

    -- Press Release --

    Oh we forgot to mention that Doom 3 was available at all retail outlets yesterday. Sorry about that.

  14. Re:The official release date by toolio · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Like most things, projects need to find a medium between setting a goal and trying to attain it and keeping quality number one.

    If a project doesn't have a goal for a launch then odds are the project will fail.

    Most who say "When it's done" only mean it to keep the media off there backs. I think most have a good idea of when a release is likely to be.

  15. Re:VideoCards by afidel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not sure if things have changed in the last year or so, but Carmak's origional goal was to have it play on any card with a vertex shader which meant the lowest end card is the GF3Ti200. Today there are laptop's with MUCH more powerfull GPU's including the GF4Go, GeForce FX Go5700, and ATI offerings.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  16. Re:Karma Be Damned!!! by swordgeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Never played it, but it sounds sort of like System Shock, which was way better than Doom. :-)

    OK, DOOM was brilliant as a 2D/pseudo-3D adrenaline rush. SS was brilliant as a 2.5D/3D plot-driven FPS.

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  17. Re:The official release date by iabervon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm nostalgic for the old days, when nobody believed that iD would actually release the game they'd been talking about, and that they couldn't possibly actually implement the stuff they were saying they had planned. Then they released it, and it had sloped floors, water, and walls with triangular holes, in addition to most of the claimed features. Although they never did do melee combat like they had originally claimed. A bit later, they released the official version, which wasn't nearly as cool. Ah, how I miss chasing people around with a plain brown stick, blowing myself up.

  18. Same by Slappy00 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I remember quite vividly playing Doom 2 on an old 486 (DXII boyiee) connecting to my frined in the suburbs to play coop through the whole game. Half of the fun was getting your @%$^% init strings right for our modems, loading up quemm and sucking every last byte available from the soldered on packard-hell memory, only then (after a few failed connects) the game would work work. Now a days is turn computer on, load game, play. I know i come of as cane-waving but back in those day you auctually had to know a bit about computer hardware before you could play anything. and before anyone else does the obligatory Python sketch: Man#1: Aye, in them days we was glad to have the price of a cup of tea! Man#2: Aye, a cup of cold tea! Man#4: Without milk or sugar! Man#3: Or tea! Man#1: Aye, in a cracked cup and all! Man#4: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled-up newspaper! Man#2: Aye, the best we could manage in those days was to suck on a piece of damp cloth! Man#3: Aye, but we were happy in those days, though we were poor. Man#1: Because we were poor! My old dad used to say to me: Money doesn't buy you happiness! Man#4: Aye, he was right, I was happier then and I had nothing. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. Man#2: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We had to all live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, half the floor was missing, and were all huddled together in a corner for fear of falling! Man#3: You were lucky to have a room! We used to 'ave to live in a corridor! Man#1: Oh, we used to DREAM of living in a corridor. It would have been a palace to us. We used to have to live in an old water tank in a rubbish pit. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House! Huh! Man#4: Well, when I say house, it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us! Man#2: We were evicted from our hole in the ground. We had to go and live in a lake! Man#3: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us, living in a shoebox in the middle of the road! Man#1: Cardboard box? Man#3: Aye! Man#1: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down at the mill, fourteen hours a day, week in, week out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home, our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt. (slight pause) Man#2: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of damp gravel, work a twenty-hour day at the mill for tuppence a month, and when we got home, our dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky! Man#3: Well, of course, we 'ad it tough! We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and lick the road clean with our tongue. We 'ad two bits of cold gravel, and worked a twenty-four hour day at the mill for six or seventy-four years, and when we got home, our dad would slash it to us with a bread knife. Man#4: Right. I had to get up at ten o'clock at night, half an hourbefore I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down at the mill and pay the mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our mother and father would kill us and dance on our graves singing Halleluja. Man#1: Aye, and you try telling young people of today that. And they won't believe you. Man#4: Aye, they won't!

  19. Re:q2 was its own engine, I believe by Osty · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I could be wrong, but I think the Q2 engine was just a highly modified Q1 engine.

    You're wrong. The Quake 2 engine was new. While it may have taken concepts and possibly even some code from the Quake 1 engine (hey, they were both written by theCarmack, so that's to be expected), the Q2 engine was not built on top of Q1. Perhaps you're thinking about Half-Life, which was built on a highly modified Q1 engine (many people get confused and think that Half-Life was based on Q2, since it was released around the same time).