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Doom 3 Reaches Gold Master, Due August 5th

Posted by simoniker on from the happy-days-are-here-again dept.

Rogerpq3 writes "Yes, this is the official word that [long-awaited PC FPS] DOOM 3 has been code released and has been approved for manufacturing! According to the .plan file of id CEO Todd Hollenshead: 'We literally just hung up with Activision and have confirmed that our latest release candidate has been mutually approved and is finally GOLD. So, the next question is release dates. Retailers in the States will be allowed to pick up games starting at 12:01 AM on August 3rd. The official street date is actually August 5th in the U.S.A., but some of your favorite stores will probably have it early for those of you who have to have it first. Check with your local retailer for that information... [Internationally] the UK will probably get it first, on or about August 6th. Everywhere else will probably be Friday, August 13th (cue Twilight Zone Theme) or close to that date, with just a few exceptions (e.g. Russia and Poland)'."

8 of 753 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome! by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 5, Informative
    There's also a review in the new PC Gamer, and from what they write the game is everything we expected and then some. Here are a few exerpts:

    "...we're here to tell you that Doom 3 is not only done, it's absolutely mind-blowing."

    "You are basically subjecting yourself to a 20 hour cardiac episode."

    "...you will never experience a dull moment. Or even a less than mesmerizing one."

    "Doom 3 is a masterpiece of art form - staying true to the frantic legacy of the Doom series, while ambitiously reaching new heights and bashing down the doors of the next generation of PC shooter. The bar is raised."

    I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

    1. Re:Awesome! by milamber.net · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's some more info on the review:

      And the cover of the issue.

    2. Re:Awesome! by SilentChris · · Score: 5, Informative

      Just an FYI.. I used to write for a variety of gaming rags. PC Gamer is known (hell, famous) for reviewing beta software as "official". Considering the game just went gold, I can't imagine they have anything better than a release candidate.

      A lot can change between RC and gold. Stability, performance. Things can actually get worse. I would take their reviews with a heavy dose of Sodium Chloride.

  2. Requirements by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 5, Informative
    System Requirements - Recommended by PC Gamer:

    2GHz CPU 512 MB Ram Radeon 9800 5-Channel Audio

    Supported Graphics Cards: Ge-Force 4 MX Ge-Force 3 Ge-Force 4 Titanium Ge-Force FX (and higher) ATI 8500, 9000 (and higher)

  3. Simple Google Search by ZeroGee · · Score: 5, Informative
    Google for "Doom 3 minimum hardware specs", and you'll see on the first response:
    From September's PC Gamer issue, they have the system requirements as:

    PC Gamer recommends:
    2Ghz CPU
    512 MB ram
    Radeon 9800
    5-channel audio

    Lowest supported GPU is a Geforce 4 MX (worse than Geforce 3)
    Supported cards:
    GF 4 MX
    GF 3
    GF 4
    GF FX (and higher)
    ATI 8500s, 9000s and higher
    The graphics card is what's going to kill me...
  4. Re:Hardware Requirements? by hoferbr · · Score: 5, Informative
    from nvnews
    Yeah, I was lucky enough to receive my copy today, so I'll share it with you guys.

    1. 6800 is a tad faster than X800 cards. Both run it in full glory

    2. The game has four render paths: NV10, NV20, R200, and ARB2. All paths look awesome, even down to a g4mx, but the ARB2 path is the full package, and is used for the R300+ and Geforce FX+ cards. It does all it's fancy **** in one pass.

    3. PCI Express enhances NOTHING.

    4. The difference between a 128mb and 256mb card is that the former uses compressed textures whereas the latter only compresses diffuse and specualr maps. In another words, no big deal. However, a 500mb card is needed to run the game in Ultra Quality mode.

    5. 512MB is the ideal system total memory. 384 is required, 1GB is nice, but the difference is negligible.

    6. Nothing special is included for a 64-bit OS.

    7. A 1.5 Ghz processor is the least recommended, but a 2Ghz and above will help since...

    8...The sound engine is entirely CPU dependant. Therefore a crappy soundcard works flawlessly. Not to worry, the enfine only uses a small percentage of cycles, much less than if the engine relied on a soundcard.

    9. The only reccommendation regarding faster framerates is to disable to advanced special effects option. In other words, upgrade if you have problems.

    10. They tie it up by providing three levels of Doom lovin' PC's

    Low-End:
    1.5GhzP4 or equivalent
    512MB Ram
    Geforce4 Ti 4800 or Radeon 9500

    Mid-Range:
    2.4GhzP4 or equivalent
    1GB RAM
    Geforce5950 or Radeon 9800 Pro/XT

    High_End: Aka Hardware that doesn't exist, but best guess anyway
    3.4GhzP4 or AMD equivalent
    2GB RAM
    GeForce 6800 Ultra or Radeon X800 XT PE.

    In conclusion, the game will run well on a variety of hardware, and Rob Duffy, the lead programmer, says that the game looks real good no matter what, and that it will continue to look better as hardware improves. Like all previous id engines, we'll be playing games based on D3 for another five years down the road.

    Enjoy everybody!
  5. Re:Ah... I can't... oh no... by LookSharp · · Score: 5, Informative

    Exactly! The Radeon 9600SE cards or GeForceFX 5200 cards that run about $50 are more than sufficient to run DOOM3 at medium quality, according to previous remarks by developers and the review posted here.

  6. Re:Ah... I can't... oh no... by ischorr · · Score: 5, Informative

    1996: Duke Nukem 3D 1.0 came out using modified Doom II engine

    No, Duke3d used a engine developed completely independent of Id, called "BUILD". It was much closer in capabilities to the Quake engine than to the Doom II engine, though many (most?) people considered it inferior to the Quake engine.

    See Planet Duke for details.