Doom 3 Demo Available

sanderb writes "The Doom 3 demo is out (on Windows). It does not seem to be linked on the Doom 3 site yet, but is available from e.g. 3D Gamers (includes torrent). Time to see what my FX5200 can do..." Other readers point to Fileaholic.Com and Shacknews.com.

Comments

oh the power

[crtfdgk]

[looking at minimum requirments] Man, imagine a Beowu....Oh nevermind.....

You mean

[OverlordQ]

they're just *now* getting a demo out? Doesn't that usually come *before* the game is released?

Re:You mean

[phantomAI]

I think id's strategy was to get people to buy the game first, even if it meant that their systems couldn't handle it.

Re:You mean

[Jonny_eh]

They always said that the game would get released 'When it is done'. 'It' wasn't the demo, 'it' was the full game. The demo is a nice thing to have but if they waited till the demo was done, the game would only see a release now.
Now, only if they hired an extra person to work concurrently on the demo so it could've been ready in August...

Re:You mean

[sinergy]

Creating a demo before the final product just pushes back the final product's release date.

Re:You mean

[Hi_2k]

Not for ID. Video games are becoming mainstream, but ID is still a "Hardcore" gamer's company. They know that their market is the kind of people who hang out in IRC and play 6-8 hours daily. Sure, some "Normal" people will buy it, but their fanboy base is huge.

Re:You mean

[Jahf]

That's nuts ... if you have a system that you doubt can run it, you don't buy it until:

a) the demo comes out

b) you upgrade

or

c) you cave in and try anyway

It isn't id's fault if people do c) ... especially if they've announced that the demo will follow on the full release (even before they finish the Linux or Mac binaries), which they most definitely did say.

And the trend lately has been for demos to come out shortly following the full release. Fact is, people who release a demo before a game's release are doing it with the knowledge it will probably not be a full showcase and it is worth it to try and drum up business. On the other hand, if a company knows that the game is high profile and will sell, there is far more incentive to finish the full game and then do a polished demo.

Re:You mean

[Finkbug]

"they're just *now* getting a demo out? Doesn't that usually come *before* the game is released?"

Let's see. I've got a game that millions pre-ordered years in advance. It's arguably the most anticipated computer game ever. It will sell out on the first day.

What exactly do I gain with a pre-release demo?

Seriously folks: why on earth would they demo DOOM 3 before the release? People were going to buy it anyway. Heck, a demo might well have decreased early sales as some (such as me) found it maybe the third best FPS released so far this year. An early demo would have gained them *nothing*. Releasing one now will help pick up a second wave or purchasers.

Demos are essential for selling WidgetMaster: The Velvet Antenna of Dragondom. DOOM 3 didn't need one.

Re:You mean

[bheading]

No, the strategy was to get people to buy the game first, as it isn't actually all that good.

When you've got stuff like FarCry doing all kinds of mindblowing things with the visuals and the gameplay, and compare that with how far Doom3 has come given how long it has supposedly been in development, Doom3 is a huge let-down. I suspect ID were well aware of this, so they delayed the demo by a month and kicked a huge marketing machine into place behind the game to shift as many copies as humanly possible, banking on the fans of the previous versions (ie folks like me) to snap it up straight away.

Re:You mean

[Neophytus]

Or do what Epic Games (Unreal) do. For every main build of an in-house game their script creates a 1) Full game 2) Dedicated server and 3) Demo build. The latter two are cut down from the full game as specified. Typically, though, the second two are not released.

Re:You mean

[mikael]

Going by all the Hollywood movies I have seen, you never go into hand-to-tentacle combat in space space unless you have:

1. A spacesuit with a large illuminated helmet with headcam so the aliens know where to shoot.

2. A large rifle with infinite rounds of ammunition with and grenade thrower and flame thrower, and laser pointer that shows everyone where you are. Glow sticks are optional.

3. A dodgy radio communications system that will alway pack up when you go into a washroom or are within 5 metres of an large alien with sharp teeth.

4. A state-of-the-art alien detector that tells you how far away the aliens are to the nearest nanometer, but won't tell you if they are
above or below you.

5. An android with reflexes faster than a laser-rifle, and an IQ to match your PC's clock speed, but who has decided to contemplate the meaning of life and become a buddhist monk instead.

Re:You mean

[C0rinthian]

Not being able to use the flashlight with guns is INTENTIONAL. Wishing desperately that you could use both is the intended effect. You are not supposed to be comfortable. Honestly, if you could use both at the same time, you'd never turn the flashlight off!

As for multiplayer, I have 2 points. First: DOOM3 is primarily a SINGLE PLAYER game. They added multiplayer as an extra. If you bought it for multiplayer, you're stupid. Second point: Check out the maps. They're small, dark, and close quarters. (much like the single player game) 4 players is a good limit for the maps that shipped with the game. I know that limit is not hard coded, and player made stuff has already upped that player limit.

Re:You mean

[xsecrets]

well maybe, but at least doom3 will run on my computer, while far cry is nothing more than a slide show.

Re:You mean

[euxneks]

Some have a reasonable explanation ;)

3. A dodgy radio communications system that will alway pack up when you go into a washroom or are within 5 metres of an large alien with sharp teeth.

Of course, every xenobiomelecular.. ologist.. person.. Knows that aliens give off radio interference that does _not_ comply with US federal regulations.

4. A state-of-the-art alien detector that tells you how far away the aliens are to the nearest nanometer, but won't tell you if they are above or below you.

Obviously designed by Microsoft. Or open source, but the open source solution is meant to mimic Microsoft's.

5. An android with reflexes faster than a laser-rifle, and an IQ to match your PC's clock speed, but who has decided to contemplate the meaning of life and become a buddhist monk instead.

The android has reached a level of existence much beoyond our own feeble contemplation; the AI programmer thus has succeeded - I for one welcome... ah nevermind.

Re:You mean

[Firehawke]

Really? I was totally disappointed with Far Cry. The AI seemed really flaky, where they could sometimes see you crouching in the middle of bushes so thick you couldn't see out, but other times couldn't see you if you were standing practically in front of them. Admittedly the water looked good, and the environments looked nice, but the gameplay was really suffering.

Re:You mean

[kannibal_klown]

You mean they're just *now* getting a demo out? Doesn't that usually come *before* the game is released?

That used to be the case. First the demo, then the game. The demo would drive sales.

But recent events have proven the Demo is either un-necessary or can even hurt sales.

If a game has such a major fan base, like the people drooling over DOOM 3, then you have their sales already without the demo. They're going to buy the game opening day whether they've played a demo or not.

Besides, nowadays there are so many sites with screenshots and video clips of betas, not to mention the sheer number of reviews, the demo isn't AS necessary to make the decision.

After the first couple of weeks, you have to then draw in future purchases, and a demo is a good way to attract them (assuming the game is any good).

Now, look at "Deus Ex: Invisible War." People were drooling over that game because of the greatness the first one possessed. However, the "DX: IW" demo showed a lot of people how horrible it was. It came nowhere near meeting their (our) expectations, so a lot of people decided not to buy the game.

Yeh, demos are great for the consumer. But for the seller, sometimes they are useless in the beginning, or can hurt sales.

Re:You mean

[nolife]

you don't buy it until

Getting off topic here but something I will ALWAYS check for first is what copy prevention methods they use. I just got burned with Sims2. It will refuse to load if you have any "CD/DVD emulation applications installed", that means CloneCD, Nero, or Roxio installed on the computer. I am not talking trying to use the virtual CD to run the game, it will refuse to run from the original CD because it detects that software. The FAQ states to unload those applications and then play the game. I have CloneCD and Nero. I could not get the game to work unless I completely uninstalled CloneCD through control panal, not just "disable" it by removing the virtual drive option. The FAQ states there is a compatibility issue between virtual cd software and Sims2 which is COMPLETE BULLSHIT and a complete f**king lie, what they really mean is there is a chance that with those programs installed, you might be able to play the game with out the CD in the drive. I now either have to install/uninstall CloneCD all the time, sit and look at a $50 disc I purchased from EA, or wait until I can get a crack for the game I already bought. I should have just waited for the crack and not even bought the game to begin with. I tried to take the game back but of course, they refused because I opened it. I am still waiting back from EA tech support for what I can do with the game I just bought. I have a feeling I will get a canned response that it conflicts with the game or some other canned response that basically says tough shit sucker, you are out $50. What that means to me is don't buy any more games from EA, just wait for them in alt.binaries.games, you'll have a better chance of them working correctly.

Re:You mean

[cgreuter]

Or open source, but the open source solution is meant to mimic Microsoft's.

Hey, I'm writing this for free! If you want vertical as well, hire me to add it, ya cheapskate!

Re:Uh...the game is out

[Syzar]

To test how well game works on your comp, that is without pirating it.

Getting your hopes up.

[Bullseye_blam]

"Time to see what my FX5200 can do..."

Please don't.

[and please don't buy an iMac for the purpose of playing Doom 3 acceptably - the 'Ultra' tacked onto the end doesn't change much].

On second thought, if you just run around the game without ever using the flashlight, you won't be able to see anything anyway, so you won't realize that you're only getting 13 frames per second!

-Bullseye

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[grumbel]

Depends, for god-mode and just looking at the graphics a FX5200 + 1Ghz is enough, as long as no enemies are on the screen it also runs quite well or at least not much worse then the original Doom did on a 386er. Sure, as soon as monsters apear and the action starts the fps will drop down and the game will be almost unplayable, god-mode will help here.

So yes, a FX5200 isn't enough to play the game, but its enough to look at the graphics and walk around a bit.

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[Bullseye_blam]

Oh, that's right... this game wasn't meant to be played anyway, just looked at.

I forgot!

-Bullseye

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[phoxix]

What is nice is that the 'heated air' effects work really nice because it's a DirectX 9.0 card (I also see no real slowdown there),

Doom3 is based on OpenGL, not DirectX-Anything. Actually, all of Carmack's work is OpenGL based. Hence why Mac and Linux love his games, and there is always a linux/mac port of his games eventually

Sunny Dubey

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[stonedonkey]

Doom3 is based on OpenGL, not DirectX-Anything.

Actually, OpenGL is just for graphics rendering. The "GL" stands for Graphics Library, IIRC. The game may still use things like DirectSound, DirectSound 3D, DirectInput, and other DX odds and ends. That's why the installer requests that you have DX9.0b on your rig before running the game.

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[ergo98]

On second thought, if you just run around the game without ever using the flashlight, you won't be able to see anything anyway, so you won't realize that you're only getting 13 frames per second!

I completed Doom 3 on my rather antiquated GF4 Ti4400, and have a few comments regarding this:

• The demands of the game vary considerably. On my lowly GF4 Ti4400 I ran at Medium quality, achieving a very acceptable framerate, for the majority of the game. There were a couple of sections that became a slideshow and required a downgrade to Low (one I suspect was a bug and perhaps someone accidentally duplicated a model a thousand times or so, as there was nothing visually exceptional in the area. The other was a massive opponent), but otherwise it ran great. The FX5200 would do that much better. The hardware complaints are generally people who think that they have some constitutional right to crank every visual setting to the top and achieve smooth gameplay on any rig
• The comments about the flashlight are completely misguided, and are the result of people with their brightness turned down too far, or who played the game in a bright environment (which results in your own eyes having a vastly decreased ability to perceive the subtle darkness changes). Follow the instructions on the box and play in a darkened room and you'll have no problem apart from one or two short scenes that truly are dark. The idea that people used a patch because they can't read is baffling. If id is at fault, it's that they didn't supply a THX style visual diagnostic screen for people to adjust to, and that they don't put the "Are you in a dark room?" as a confirmation when you launch the game

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[Chandon Seldon]

Actually, you probably saw better performance with your Ti 4400 than someone with an FX 5200 would see.

First, the Ti 4400 just doesn't support some of the slower stuff that the game is trying to do - you miss out on stuff like heat effects, while the FX 5200 will try to do all of that.

Second, I'm pretty sure the 4400 actually has more render pipes on it than the 5200, which means it's slightly faster overall.

Between those two effects, I wouldn't be supprised if there was a 10-15 FPS difference between the two cards, in favor of the 4400.

Re:Getting your hopes up.

[roadrunnerro]

Actually the POS geForce4 MX (440 was the most common one) is just above a GF2MX (and usually below a GF2TI). Also while the GF3TI has some older versions of pixel shader the GF4MX has none. This is Slashdot - the anal factor is off the scale...

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[account_deleted]

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Short review of the game

[Reducer2001]

Bought it, played it, didn't like it. It tries to be too much like Doom2, but doesn't make it....at all.

I played Doom 1 & 2 for many hours when they came out, both solo, co-op and deathmatch. I played Doom 3 through once and had no desire to play it again.

Once you realized that when you picked up that 'too good to be true' item, you'd be blitzed by ten monsters suddenly spawning, it got old REAL quick. And yes, it does look pretty. But so did Matrix Revolutions.

Re:Short review of the game

[EpsCylonB]

I was dissapointed as well, fanboys will tell you that you have no right to criticise as this is "the original Doom updated, you knew exactly what you were going to get".

That just isn't true, there was more variation between the different levels in the original game than in Doom 3. The dark corridors do their job, this is an incredibly scary game, but gameplay wise it becomes boring and repetitive very quickly.

Graphically it is astounding and no doubt some great games will be made with the engine. But ID is now just a tech house if the lack of gameplay innovation in Doom 3 is anything to go by. We have all laughed at Romero's failings since leaving ID but they need more really creative people like him.

Doom3 isn't a awful game, just not a trailblazer like Doom and Quake were.

Re:Short review of the game

[Osmosis_Garett]

So in other words, you had preconceptions about this game which weren't met and therefor you set it aside. Personally, I found the element of surprise to be the main attraction. This is a horror game, along the lines of the original Resident Evil games and the like. Doom and Doom2 were full on FPS games with no 'terror moments', but Doom3 is full of them. The spawning monsters are anything but surprising; the teleportation process takes a second or 2 and by then you should be in a good vantage point to mow them down with whatever weapon you choose. The real fear comes from the creatures that are already there, lurking in shadows and not making BAMPH noises when they attack.

Try playing it when you're in the mood, and with a bit of effort put into getting absorbed in the game such as a darkened room, headphones, etc. Also, try not to make broad generalizations such as saying "when you pick up that 'too good to be true' item you get blitzed by 10 monsters". This game is anything but a one trick pony and if that is all you saw I really wonder if you spent any time at all examining the game. Doom3 is rich with backstory, interwoven into the game System Shock2 style with logfiles and email communications, not to mention the videos explaining the whole purpose of the lab installation.

Its too bad you couldn't look at the game carefully enough to notice these things. Doom3 is a work of art.

Re:Short review of the game

[Zorilla]

Once you realized that when you picked up that 'too good to be true' item, you'd be blitzed by ten monsters suddenly spawning, it got old REAL quick.

I didn't really witness too much of that. If you want to see a real pain in the ass, try Serious Sam. A mere +2 health vial will cause about 300 monsters to spawn and attack you.

As for trying to be too much like Doom 2, I wish it actually was more like Doom 1 or 2, but instead you get closed, dark areas, overly difficult monsters, and few scenery changes.

Re:Short review of the game

[EpsCylonB]

Both Doom and Quake 1 had fantastic level design that really broke new ground. ID also are responsible for basically creating the online multiplayer FPS genre (usually credited to Quake 2, it was present earlier but Q2 was the breakthrough).

But creatively they haven't done anything interesting since Quake 1.

Re:Short review of the game

[DrXym]

I'm not sure what all the hype is about. I own Doom 3 and I also own Far Cry. I've completed both too. Far Cry, is a much, much, much better game.

It is better for a multitude of technical reasons, but I'll first mention why Doom is worse - the whole thing is flashlights, scripts and triggers. It might have been acceptable to use triggers in the original, but not in this day and age.

Progress through the game consists of a Quick Save, edge forward with the flashlight, Quick Save, step on trigger, look for baddies, fumble for gun, shoot baddies. If successfull repeat. It's just boring and shows little imagination. The baddies simply appear for the most part from nowhere so there is no anticipation, planning or strategy - just step on the trigger and shoot. There is little AI to speak of except for zombie troopers who at least duck behind cover. It's a shame because some of the levels are fantastically designed.

Now compare to Far Cry. First off this has outdoor zones that are truly massive, leading to some interesting play (e.g. you can snipe, attack in a vehicle, from the sea etc.) It also has drivable vehicles. It has a great physics model. The baddies are also fairly intelligent (they do some dumb things but they not are not completely stupid). There is a lot of randomness to the play so the game plays differently each time. Finally, the level design is better again than Doom. It also got there first with the "evil doctor" plot.

On the bad side, Far Cry has few save points but there is a console command to work around that. It also has much higher system requirements but looks gorgeous if you turn the quality up the full way.

Neither has much in the way of network play (capture the flag etc.) but at least Far Cry sets you up with a server list making it easy to join a game.

To me Doom feels a year out of date. And for my money Doom was something of a let down. If you haven't bought it already, play the demo and make up your own minds, but my advice would be to skip it.

I never played the original Half Life, so I'm keen to see what the fuss is about for the sequel, but that would the one I am interested in a demo for.

Re:Short review of the game

[Plugh]

That just isn't true, there was more variation between the different levels in the original game than in Doom 3.
Agreed 100%. At this point, I'm counting on people making their own levels to save this game. Ahh, if only I had the kind of time I used to have in High School and College.

Contrast Doom 3 levels with the level designs in Quake 2. I'll never forget the alien scientists doing Mengele-style operations on the Marines, while they cried out "Make it Stop!"... now THAT was FUCKING SCARY.

The dark corridors do their job, this is an incredibly scary game
Sorry, I disagree. Yes, even after setting the Brightness control to a pretty high value, I am still left asking: why the fuck did I shell out the cash for a Radeon9800 Pro, just to see a fucking 90% BLACK SCREEN?

Re:Short review of the game

[drinkypoo]

id started out making great games with great engines, ever since quake 2 (including it mind you) they've been making great game engines and crappy games. Quake 2 actually played pretty well but it looked like shit, everything was washed out. I still feel that Quake is the pinnacle of id so far. You could play it pretty smoothly over a decent modem connection and it was truly a breakthrough in graphics.

Re:Short review of the game

[26199]

I've also played both, and would tend to disagree.

IMHO, Far Cry wins on one thing and one thing only; the fact that you can choose several different approaches means I'll probably play it more times.

Doom 3 wins on plot... it was much more believable than Far Cry. Sure, it got samey after a while, but unless you completed it all in one sitting, that wasn't a problem... Far Cry also starts to feel a bit repetitive towards the end.

Incidentally, I think that if you cheated to save in Far Cry you missed out... the tension that came from not having saved recently was a big part of the playing experience for me. (It got frustrating once or twice, but was well worth it in the end).

Basically, I think both are awesome :-)

Re:Short review of the game

[danila]

Doom 3 doesn't have ambient light for most levels. And it doesn't have atmosphere light scattering or secondary reflections. That means any pixel, which is not lit by some light source directly, is 100% black. This is totally unrealistic, of course. This is also a shortcoming of the Doom 3 engine, because any other game that uses lightmaps can have truly realistic lighting (though not dynamic).

This isn't gonna increase sales

[goneutt]

If you put out a preview that lets people discover their computer doesn't have the power to keep up they deffinatly don't buy the box.(I know, thats what those software nutrition labels are for, but they can get vague.)
Those that buy the software, install and discover their computer needs $300+ worth of upgrades are stuck with the software due to the no open returns policies. Thus hype sells more games if you don't put out a preview.

Re:This isn't gonna increase sales

[KDR_11k]

If you have a reasonable CPU (if you haven't you'd have noticed with games much older than Doom 3) you can get a graphics card that can play the game for 60-80 bucks (Radeon 9550, I played it on a 8500 without much of a problem), which isn't much more than you pay for a game.
Seriously, Doom 3 isn't that demanding, a system that cannot keep up with Doom 3 likely has problems with other current games as well.

Quote^2

[Amorpheus_MMS]

Time to see what my FX5200 can do...

"Get used to disappointment." ;)

Although I have to say that so much of the game is black, one could almost expect it to run on a RivaTNT.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

demo after release

[Paralizer]

I suspect they are doing this so that those who are/were skeptical about the performance of the game on their machines will have a chance to test it out before purchasing the full version.

Linux?

[isNaN]

But where are the linux binaries? Aren't ID supposed to be the big linux supporters?

When they release them I will probably buy the game just for supporting them back but are they comming anytime soon??

Re:Linux?

[kerrle]

Actually, it's not the economics. It's been mentioned by Carmack that it's basically driver issues that are holding back the release. NVidia's are fine, but ATI's drivers have no chance in hell of running Doom III under linux right now. Similarly, the OSX port is basically done, but the performance just isn't good on most macs.

Re:Linux?

[lphuberdeau]

I think they should just release the demo for linux anyway and mention that it won't work with nVidia. And they should place a link to complain to ATI for they lack of Linux support.

Anyone running Linux with an ATI card knows that their drivers are worthless. I heard they were getting better but I still havn't heard of anyone satisfied.

actually with a 5200

[imr]

It's possible to have a much better framerate if you decompress the whole paks file and remove the shadows option. You wont be able to join multiplayer games with that, but anyway the mp mode isnt worth much.
And I'm talking a X2 improvement here, from ~15 to ~30 on my machine.
Try to find all the other available tips that are on every d3 forum and put them in a separate cfg file. Some of them DO work.

All in all, i found i got much more for the same money with ut2004 (2 dvds, a great editor, mapping and modeling video tutorials, mods, mods and mods) but still, d3 is a very good and very intense solo game. They did manage to keep the stress level up. Usually it really slows down after a few levels, here it keeps on being tense.

Re:actually with a 5200

[imr]

That's what i meant.
Decompressing the paks gave a boost, and removing the shadows from the options>/i> helped also.
I presume that the decompression of the pak can only help for slow system, like mine which has a little slow memory and a 5000rpm hard drive. But I also presume that systems with a geforce5200 are quite low ended.

Where is the Linux version

[Izaak]

I am not buying Doom III until the Linux version is available for download. That was originally promised about a week after the Windows release... but I still don't see it. Any word from ID on this?

Re:Where is the Linux version

[rpdillon]

I agree, but I have to say that id never "promises" dates. Hell, they hardly ever even mention dates. I've been waiting for the Linux port and tracking it very closely for some time. Dates were never mentioned, much less promises.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[homeobocks]

They are using DX9. They use it for things like DirectSound, DirectMusic, etc. DX9 includes DirectDraw and Direct3D, which iD replaces with OpenGL. DirectX has much more than just Direct3D, which iD does not use. iD uses other, smaller, aspects of DX9, though.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[KarmaMB84]

They probably used DirectSound and DirectInput. No reason not to use the simpler solution to get the cash-cow Windows port out on store shelves THEN work on the devil that is porting to Linux.

Playing sounds is A LOT simpler than graphics. That's why the DirectX SDK is FULL of graphics examples and documentation while audio has only a few that cover nearly everything one would need to know to get sounds playing with positional effects and whatnot.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you capitalize it "iD"?

It is clearly written "id" everywhere. If you capitalized it like a normal proper noun, as "Id", that would be fine, too. Seeing as most people misprounce the name of the company as "eye-dee" instead of just "id", I can even understand writing it "ID", as in short for Identification. But for the life of me, I cannot see the logical thought process that went into concluding it should be written "iD", unless you have been left thoroughly confused by Apple brand names.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[Trejkaz]

Damnit, if only they'd used SDL, the Linux and Mac ports might have been out already!

Re:Where is the Linux version

[HAKdragon]

Can you mix 3D APIs? I was under the impresion that you could have a D3D renderer, an OGL render, a renderer, but you couldn't mix them.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[Cyclone66]

I don't think they use Direct3d at all. I think what they meant by "DX9 effects such as heat shimmer" is that it is a DX9 level effect requiring a fully DX9 compatible card. That doesn't mean it actually uses Direct3d.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[Molt]

..and with the speed hit simply stupid.

Re:Where is the Linux version

[Trejkaz]

Pfft... I don't see SDL causing any massive performance hits on Neverwinter Nights. The Linux version (which is based on SDL) runs just as fast as the Windows version (which is not based on SDL, oddly.)

So what makes Doom 3 so special that a performance hit would actually take place, and do you really think id are going to use raw X calls to get the keyboard input and such?

Demo later than release -- seems normal to me

[IronChefMorimoto]

Releasing the demo nowadays AFTER the release seems, to me, like a great way to find out if you want to buy the game, without the majority of bugs that might plague a BETA-quality demo.

In my mind, a game software manufacturer will release a demo POST-release to entice those who haven't decided yet to purchase the game. Someone who downloads, say, the Doom3 demo, can decide if the software will work on his/her machine without some of the pre-release bugs that might plague the product. ATI vs. Nvidia compatibility immediately comes to mind.

On the other hand, if you're releasing something that's entirely new (in terms of a game/concept), then you could potentially risk lack of interest by releasing the demo AFTER the game itself. A new product can benefit greatly from a demo, I think, and in this regard, it would be wise to release it with some bugs.

In the case of Doom3, I must admit, though, that making people wait another month or two for a demo for a game that took 4-5 years to develop is a little dumb. Reviewers and gamers alike have been mediocre about the game -- for it being more of a technology demo (the Carmack engine -- hehehehe) than a good game with a good story. This sort of reviews, I think, would make a buyer think twice about getting the game at initial release prices.

If the demo had been out beforehand, perhaps potential buyers would not have pre-conceived notions of what to expect of the game overall because they would only play a small portion of it in the demo. The graphics would ooh and ahh and really get the idea of buying such a terrific looking game in the minds of potential buyers. It would be a buyer's remorse thing (after iD has pocketed the sale) if the buyer then decided that, "Yeah, the graphics rock, but it was kind of bland and the story was OK."

I am one who read the Doom3 reviews, waited until a friend bought a copy and got tired of trying to finish the bland story, and played it for him. I enjoyed the experience, but given my expectations after reading reviews, I am still glad my friend shelled out the $55 for the game. He has the discs back now, and I will most likely wait until the game drops to $30 or something to buy it. There are other things to play right now.

My two cents.

IronChefMorimoto

Re:Demo later than release -- seems normal to me

[IntergalacticWalrus]

Yeah, in a perfect world, releasing a polished demo after the game instead of some unfinished product is a great idea, unfortunately in reality this practice hurts even more, because it encourages more people to pirate the game so they can get their "demo" early. And then a good part of those people might not buy the game, and therefore have just pirated it.

Mac version

[thedogcow]

I really wish they should give more specifics on a mac version. They used a mac to demo Doom 3 way back when for E3, they acknowledged they had a mac version a couple weeks ago that runs... what is the big deal?
I really want to see how Doom 3 performs on my new DP 2.5GHz G5, particularly when I get my Nvidia 6800 Ultra DDL card.

Re:The real 'demo'

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, this is for the *non*-criminals. Nothing for you to see here.

A faster Doom 3 download...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just turn off your monitor and move your mouse around frantically. That pretty much will capture the essence of Doom 3 and saves yourself the download. ;)

Anyone tried it...

[Trikenstein]

With a Radeon 8500?
All the reviews I've seen are running it on pretty current hardware.
Radeon 9800 pros and newer.
And the nVidia equivalents.

Re:This is where being crap a games helps...

[cgadd]

You can still leech the file behind nat. Others won't be able to download from you directly, but if you are downloading a chunk from someone, they can download a chunk from you too....

Re:Linux Version

[Vengeance]

May I recommend a couple of things?

First, if you haven't used a joystick with Tux racer, you're missing out.

Next, check out Unreal Tournament 2004. The Linux binaries are included on the game DVD (or CDs, if you prefer), and the feel of the Unreal games has improved dramatically (in this ID fanboi's opinion). There is classic deathmatch available, but there are also a whole host of other game types, some including vehicles.

Finally, check out freely downloadable 'Enemy Territory', which is based on Return to Castle Wolfenstein. But this one is strictly multiplayer.

Oh, and of course, I played around with Cedega/Doom3 already, and found it to be a less than satisfactory experience on the one machine where I got the game binary to function, that being a 1.5 Ghz P4. For some reason I haven't yet gotten my Athlon 3000+ XP to give me anything other than an 'Error 21' when launching the game. This despite running a vanilla kernel on this box, but a Fedora Core 2 kernel on the P4. *shrug*

I have a TNT2

[sahonen]

Nto realyl being a hardcore gamer and all that. It'll be interesting to see how well it runs. Deus Ex 2 ran okay when I cranked the detail levels down.

Remember all the news about D3 P2P "theft"?

[Zooka]

I wonder how much difference a demo would have made in the number of pirated copies being traded via P2P, had it been available before or at the time of the game's release?

Re:Mac version???

[hunterx11]

Doom 3 is coming out for Mac, though there is no word on when.

the size (matters?)

[tyroney]

For those that care, (I'm usually modem, so I defer downloads when they get too big,) the file is reportedly 483,603,646 bytes large.

I know what I'll be doing at work on Monday.

Yes, but what about...

[ioslipstream]

... the linux installers?

At least UT2004 shipped with linux support out of the box.

I have that nice shiny Doom3 box sitting on my shelf, purchased with the assurance from id that support for linux would be following closely on the heels of the retail release. :(

Re:Uh...the game is out

[Davak]

Benchmarking is still easy...

timedemo demoname - run a demo for a benchmark

Here's the list of common cheats and here's the list of all the console commands for you uberdoom guys out there.

Re:I can tell you what happens:

[Kanon]

Whoosh.

Straight overhead with the birdies.

Great...

[xeon4life]

Now that it's announced on slashdot, it's going to take another month just to download it...

Minimum System Requirements

[evolve75]

ID's official minimum system requirements can be found here. The article discusses experiences with min-spec systems as well.
Looks like my ATI 9200 *might* cut it :-)

The Joy of Bit Torrent

[Code Dark]

A Slashdotted .torrent... does life get any sweeter?

Running on GeForce 3 Ti200

[CliffH]

Believe it or not, at 800x600, medium quality all around my little GeForce 3 plays this just fine. My system isn't the fastest thing around either (P4 1.8 oc'd to 2.4, 1GB RAM, fast WD SE Hard drives) so even with modest hardware the game is still very playable. One of these days I'll do some actual benchmarks (maybe today) and see what kind of framerates I'm getting. In any event it is very playable and very enjoyable.

Cliff

doom 3 isn't really scary either

[n_are_q]

D3's scare factor comes almost entirely from the surprise element. It just doesn't get inside your head like a good horror flick does. After watching a horror movie you're still afraid after it's over. Suddenly the light's on in the wholse house through the night :). In D3 this doesn't happen at all, you just get startled every couple of mins when you open the door and some crap leaps out at you just as your frames drop to 0.5 so you can't shoot or dodge it. It startles you at first, but gets old in a hurry. I would recommend everyone to go through the hell level though. It is amazing from the art point of view. The coolest level in a 3D game i've ever seen.

Re:Pretty Crappy Demo

[wed128]

this kind of annoys me. The fact that people refer to BitTorrent as their means for software/music/movie piracy, when in fact Suprnova and other sites are at fault. You people are tarnishing the name of an otherwise brilliant protocall.

sorry for the rant, but my college just firewalled off the use of BT because of piracy, rendering the entire protocall useless for legit purposes. 1 million times better than FTP, and yet i have to wait for linux ISO downloads...tsktsk

Totally Agree.

[guidryp]

One of my friends downloaded to see what the hype was about. If there had been a demo, he would have DL that instead.

I can't even play FPS games, becaue of the motion sickness they cause me, and I still thought of DL the real version. But I decided to wait for the Demo to slake my curiousity.

But really if there were a demo first some who bought the game, might have just DL the demo to see what is up instead and it would have been lower sales. So this is really not in Id's best interest.

Certainly if there were a demo on the same day vast amounts of the "piracy" would have disappeared as well. But I am not sure this would be in Id's best interest either. This gives the the BSA and thier ilk more ammo.

another fast mirror

[zr-rifle]

here

5200 actually plays well

[GweeDo]

I have a 5200 128MB on an Athlon XP 2600+ with 1GB of RAM (gaming isn't my big thing on my pc) and it runs well @ 800x600 medium quality. I did a few tweaks like unpacking the compressed files and such. So all you fools saying the 5200 won't play it well would do well to shut up and get informed.

Re:Pretty Crappy Demo

[psi]

Ever tried chaning the incomming ports? They can firewall off the default ports, but just find ones that are open and change the ports in your client. bittornado allows you to do so, generally keep it withen 10 port range, say somewhere around 65000. This will also increase your overall throughput from the tracker and your other peers. If they block that, keep changeing that port. Eventually they will have to port block everything, and people will complain enmasse. Remember, even as a student.. you get the IT people to piss off the wrong people, things change. (Hint, find what programs your professor uses, and mimic those port numbers provided you are all on the same network.)

Most recent linux client status update...

[kikensei]

Was on August 22nd. Linuxgames.com interviewed Timothee Besset, id's linux client guy. The interview is here: http://www.linuxgames.com/?dataloc=articles/ttimo/ Botton line, as of the 22nd, he said the linuc client was a few weeks away. It was already working, with "surprisingly good performance compared to the windows version", but he doesn't want to release until it's well polished.

...and it's very very very dark...

[Snaller]

... but apparently that's not a bug but a feature - it seems black is easier to render on the fly ;-)

Re:at least

[Deraj DeZine]

they may well take the "piracy fukced us"
i for exmaple pay for the games i pirate if they're any good

So you pirate games and then don't pay for them if you don't like them? Whereas if you couldn't pirate them, you'd buy them and then just be upset that you wasted money? Sounds like you're demonstrating that piracy eats into sales.

Re:Pretty Crappy Demo

[wed128]

i'm not mad that people pirate IP on it, i just don't like that they refer to it as their source for pirated materials. When you download something from a site, and someone asks you where you got it, you don't say "FTP" or "HTTP", you say the name of the site. when asked for a source of IP, people say BitTorrent, not Suprnova etc.
This is wrongfully incriminating.

(OT) EA copy protection

[GuyWithLag]

I had a similar problem with Sim City 4 - it requires a CD-ROM drive to run off. Guess what, I have a DVD-ROM and a CD-burner, ant it refuses to run from both of them. WTF, who buys CD-ROM drives these days? Oh, and The Sims 2? It's 60 friggin euros here in Greece!

Defect rate

[tepples]

I tried to take the game back but of course, they refused because I opened it.

Exchange it, and exchange the copy they give you. Repeat until the store finally runs out of copies and gives you a $50 gift card. Retailers watch products' return rates; an abnormally high rate of exchanges for a given title will raise suspicion of a real defect in the title.

Re:Pretty Crappy Demo

[Frogbert]

Better yet, just use a port that realplayer requires. You'll never actualy use it anyway.

I beleive you have got the title of the game wrong

[AbRASiON]

As someone who has completed this game I beleive it should be actually reffered to as "Imp 3" not Doom 3.

Imp 3, knee deep in the imps.
Imp 3, thy imp consumed.

HEY GUYS DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE SECTION WHERE YOU OPEN THE DOOR AND GET ATTACKED BY AN IMP?

It's right after the section where an imp spawns behind you.
You know - on the level where there's that imp behind the boxes,... and the other one under the stairs - also I beleive there may have been a FUCKING IMP on the level somewhere too.

BIG.FUCKING.SIGH

man I feel ripped now...

[tabby]

Free demo? Huh, I bought the demo months ago for $100AU. Oh you mean that was supposed to be a game?

workaround:

[LousyPhreak]

its rather easy to work around this problem:

just create a new user account and play from there... no need to uninstall clonecd or whatnot, you just need to switch user profiles for playing...

or you can still simply download a crack