id Software Releases RAGE

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Posted by Soulskill on Monday October 3, 2011 @10:20PM from the back-in-the-post-apocalyptic-saddle dept.

Today marks the launch of RAGE, id Software's post-apocalyptic first-person shooter that's been in development for at least four years. Early response to the game is mixed, but mostly positive. Eurogamer wrote, "This certainly isn't a video game like the ones we're used to playing in 2011, smothered in celebrity voice actors and shoulder-grabbingly intense expository cut-scenes, and varnished by psychologists so we never look in the wrong direction when we're sprinting away from a set-piece. Instead it's something simpler and more old-fashioned. Judged on game design and content, then, it's slightly anachronistic, but as a toy box full of things you can only do in games, RAGE is warm-hearted and refreshing." The review at Opposable Thumbs was much more critical, saying, "None of the game's ideas are thought out or fully explored, so the game feels like a series of dead ends in a world that is hard to care about, in which you play a bland character doing boring things against stock enemies using weak guns." If you'd like to see a look at the actual gameplay, Giant Bomb has a lengthy video with commentary.

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Id releases Engine, tech demo... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-10-03 22:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

Gaming press interprets tech demo as game, responds accordingly.
1. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-03 22:37 · Score: 1
  
  Pretty damn expensive tech demo :p I get your point though. Some people are happy playing awful games with pretty graphics of course. Me, I bought Farcry when it was at budget price to see what all the fuss was about, and even then I thought it was a waste of money.
  
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  which is totally what she said
2. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by jhoegl · 2011-10-03 22:38 · Score: 1
  
  The AI actually attempts to dodge my bullets, I dont know what Opposable Thumbs is crying about. Bland? It is tough to shoot the freakin enemy, and I have only gone up against standard grunts so far.
  
  Now if ID releases the source code like they always have... OMG mods!
3. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by beef3k · 2011-10-03 22:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  more like "iD releases tech demo in guise of a game, marketed and sold to consumers for 60 bucks"
  
  In that context harsh critics are righly deserved
4. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by TheRaven64 · 2011-10-03 22:58 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Doesn't sound too bad. When Quake 1 came out, compiling a map was typically an overnight job on a typical machine of the era. Even the simple toy levels that I put together took over an hour to run vis and bsp on. It sounds like a machine with 16GB of RAM would get similar performance. Of course, with the Internet being what it is, I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with a distributed map compiler. Once you've done the top level of spacial subdivision, you can probably parcel off the work to remote nodes that can then run to completion. If people who want new maps make their machines available for this then you could get the rendering time down quite a lot. This wasn't feasible with Quake 1, when most users were on 14.4kbps modems (if they were online at all).
  
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  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
5. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by TheRaven64 · 2011-10-03 23:02 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Is it sold to consumers as a game? I always got the impression that Id games from Quake onwards were sold as engines with a demo game attached. If you want to create a game for their engine, you have two options. You either pay them a huge pile of money and get access to everything including redistribution rights, or you make your game require the end user to buy the engine and call it a mod. For Quake 1, the initial install was about 50MB, and my quake directory ended up being about 500MB from all of the mods. Aside from a little occasional deathmatch, I rarely played the game that Id shipped. Things like Team Fortress were much more fun.
  
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  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
6. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by ttong · 2011-10-03 23:19 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know if LA Noire is good as a game, but I love the albums! Check It Out!. Amazon has these three, Spotify has these and one more (sorry, no linky).
  (and here's how to d/l yt vidyas)
7. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by xhrit · 2011-10-03 23:24 · Score: 1
  
  I doubt ID will release any more source now that Bethesda is calling the shots. Also I doubt that there will be any Linux ports of this or any future ID games.
  
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  Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
8. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-10-03 23:29 · Score: 1
  
  Less of an obstacle than it might be...(assuming there is some way of testing tweaks in 'ugly mode' rather than recompiling every time you want to make any change...)
  
  If 128GB is needed for
  Such kit, while a bit excessive if you just want to game on the cheap, is not exactly science fiction anymore, and may well be an "I already have one, incremental cost $0" item for a gaming enthusiast.
  
  For those with less patience, a 16-core(2 socket) Poweredge R715 with 128GB of RAM will run ~$5,500. If you need the cores, an R815 with 32 cores across four sockets is only ~$7,300 with 128GB(rising to a slightly alarming ~$25,000 if you go with top end CPUs and 512GB of RAM, those 16GB RDIMMS are Not Cheap).
  
  Obviously, most prospective modders aren't going to have a ~$5,500 server kicking around; but 8-24GB is "enthusiast gaming machine" material these days, and 128GB, two sockets, is well under $10,000(particularly if redundancy, uptime, and all that irksome enterprise stuff can be ignored because its a hobby machine.) It does cut down on the pool of potential modders a bit; but people have spent substantially more on hobbies no less weird...
9. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by ccguy · 2011-10-03 23:31 · Score: 2
  
  Is it sold to consumers as a game?
  
  Yes.
10. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Eponymous+Coward · 2011-10-03 23:35 · Score: 1
  
  I enjoyed Crysis right up until the point that the frozen aliens showed up. That was where the fun ended for me. I found the zero-g stuff especially tedious.
11. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by MrZilla · 2011-10-03 23:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Well, I've always preferred id's 'tech demos' to most games. For some strange reason the tech demos seems to give you more actual play time and less movie watching.
  
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  mov ax, 4c00h
  int 21h
12. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by 24-bit+Voxel · 2011-10-03 23:51 · Score: 1
  
  Since Bethesda bought id, they are no longer licensing their engines...
  http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/12/id-not-licensing-id-tech-5/
  Bethesda is starting to depress me between this, the state of Brink and Rage, and they aren't really targeting pc anymore either.
  http://www.computerandvideogames.com/298610/skyrim-looks-the-same-when-playing-on-pc-and-console-bethesda/
  No extra love for the people that made them what they are. (And with them buying id, well you can put it all together...) Though one could argue mods, though they claim mods will work for consoles I seriously doubt it will work correctly.
  Sort of depressing. I've been playing since Arena. I suffered through the quest-items-stuck-in-walls Daggerfall, the interesting openness and towns of Morrowind, to the bland homogeneity of Oblivion. It's a shame there are not many PC purist companies left. Things are starting to get a little too cookie cutter and the bugs just get worse and worse. Meanwhile one of the omega developers of an entire genre got sucked into a company that's losing touch with it's roots. Sad, sad times...
13. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by PopeRatzo · 2011-10-03 23:56 · Score: 2
  
  You didn't like the original Far Cry?
  I also bought it very cheap and thought it was pretty good. Was kind of surprised that there weren't a lot more games using that engine.
  Come to think of it, the engine was the most interesting part of the game.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
14. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by SpazmodeusG · 2011-10-03 23:56 · Score: 1
  
  You could just rent such a server in this day and age. An Amazon quadruple extra large instance should do the job. $2 an hour.
15. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by xhrit · 2011-10-03 23:56 · Score: 1
  
  I thought Farcry and Farcry 2 were phenomenal on the harder difficulty settings. I picked them both up at budget price and I totally enjoyed the hours spent crawling through the jungle trying to stay under cover and not make any noise, lining up the perfect sniper shot before fleeing retaliation, kiting responders through a gauntlet of traps, thinning their number just enough to double back and hit the objective before the endlessly spawning waves of backup arrived to overwhelm me. The first game had huge open levels that you could approach from multiple angles, and the sequel had an innovative free form mission structure with target locations spread out over a huge open zone. At points it felt like playing a sandbox shooter.
  
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  Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
16. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by whoop · 2011-10-04 00:00 · Score: 1
  
  Except they have said that they won't be licensing it for anyone outside of Zenimax (iD, Bethesda, and a few others), at least until it's too old and gets released as open source.
  So, a tech demo for their company only? That doesn't make sense. They were trying to be cool many years ago when they started got beat by Fallout 3 and Borderlands. This interview at Gamasutra sums it up. The interviewer doesn't just drool over them like most game web sites. Uh, you can buy guns at a vendor, or wait for it to drop as loot. Revolutionary!
  It sounds good for a rental but not a keeper. I pulled up Redbox to see if it was available around me, and oddly, they only have the PS3 version for rent. Most all of the games they rent are for both HD consoles.
17. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by PopeRatzo · 2011-10-04 00:04 · Score: 2
  
  Seems like video games are the only way to get a new generation to hear this great music. You've got twenty-somethings who know the Ink Spots thanks to Fallout 2. It used to be Quentin Tarantino movies that brought music to them, but now it's games.
  I'm playing Driver San Francisco, and I'm hearing some great stuff. Hound Dog Taylor, some old California R&B, late 70s funk.
  I'm surprised there hasn't been a game that licenses some of the early and mid-fifties bop like Charlie Parker, early Miles from the 60's, West Coast Cool like Gerry Mulligan. I think it would be perfect for an atmospheric game like L.A. Noire.
  In fact, when are they gonna make a video game out of the James Ellroy novel White Jazz or even better, American Tabloid. It's a more compelling story than Halo 3 or Bayonetta.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
18. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by hairyfeet · 2011-10-04 00:07 · Score: 1
  
  Actually I thought FC 1 was pretty good. The AI was pretty smart and would call for backup, the levels were big and could be tackled in several ways, overall I'd say thumbs up. The second one sucked though, just the same 4 missions over and OVER and OVER with AI so thick even the guys you were working for would shoot at you, just bad.
  Personally this sounds like a game I'd hate, as it sounds like one long case of step and fetchit. Yuck. The last new game where I truly went "Wow I'm REALLY having fun here!" was Just Cause II. Sure it is about as realistic as spiderman but you know what? It is FUN with a capital f, and with a huge world with tons of things to do frankly I quickly just started ignoring the missions and just going nuts. Firing a grapple into a bike and watching it wrap around a tree like that scene from Jedi? Fun. Having a bad guy shoot at you while your car is on fire, shoot a grapple into his car and the ground so he re-enacts the scene from T3 with the crane, follow by jumping onto a police car at 80MPH, yanking the cop out the car, driving the car off a bridge, and then parachuting away while the bad guys stand on the bridge unable to pursue? that is FUN dammit!
  Why is it these game designers constantly seem to forget that what you are playing is a game and is therefor supposed to be fun? Surely they had to let somebody playtest this right? Hell who knows, look at Bioshock II, which took the absolute worst part of Bioshock I, the Little Sister guard scene, and made the whole fucking game around it. All the cool tech in the world doesn't help if the game is about as fun as a trip to the DMV.
  
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19. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Shillo · 2011-10-04 00:10 · Score: 2
  
  Losing touch with its roots? What roots? Morrowind was released for PC and Xbox. That was one of its important selling points. All subsequent Bethesda RPGs followed suit.
  
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  I refuse to use .sig
20. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 00:16 · Score: 1
  
  I hate games where you know there are an unexplained and unlimited supply of dumb enemies. I have a real bugbear against strategically dumb enemies with almost godlike seeing, hearing, reactions and aiming skills. I spent a couple of years developing my own CS bot as a teenager, and I put a lot of time into making them react more humanly to sound, movement, flashbangs, smoke grenades, etc. I know that if I made the AI in any of these games, I could do a much better job, because I already did it..
  As for crawling through the undergrowth avoiding enemies, sniping, etc, I already did that in Operation Flashpoint, and I haven't found anything that has come close to that since. Operation Flashpoint had so much variety with the missions.. some were black ops, some just infantry vs infantry, some tank missions, helicopter missions, some where you are alone, some where you control a whole platoon. I really recommend trying it if you haven't played it. It's old, but it's great (talking about the very first one, not the Codemasters sequels). I haven't been keeping up with every single FPS since then, but stuff like CoD and Battlefield single players don't come close. They can still be fun, but they don't feel as involved.
  
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  which is totally what she said
21. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by arth1 · 2011-10-04 00:42 · Score: 1
  
  Unless you had the "right" equipment, it played like a powerpoint presentation. But what killed it was the linearity -- a first person dungeon siege in the jungle. Nice scenery isn't half as nice if you can't go to that scenery.
22. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by arth1 · 2011-10-04 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  You've got twenty-somethings who know the Ink Spots thanks to Fallout 2.
  And a bunch more who know them because of the Star Trek TNG bridge crew.
23. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Errtu76 · 2011-10-04 01:05 · Score: 1
  
  Yep. And the reverse is also true. Why, i can still enjoy Diablo 2 with the low resolution gameplay.
24. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by drinkypoo · 2011-10-04 01:06 · Score: 2
  
  often dumber AI makes for a better game
  No, no, no. AI that acts dumb makes a better game. That means AI that at least has the good grace to pretend it can't see stuff it can't see. AI that is dumb makes a lame game.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
25. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by drinkypoo · 2011-10-04 01:09 · Score: 1
  
  It's worth it if the modding community embraces it, but not remotely if they don't. Unfortunately, there's no good way to know ahead of time.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
26. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by nschubach · 2011-10-04 01:23 · Score: 2
  
  You know that Bethesda is older than the XBox and Morrowind was not the first Elder Scrolls game, right?
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
27. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by nschubach · 2011-10-04 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  Sadly true. There's nothing more annoying than playing a game and having to sit through the cut-scenes then doing it more than once.
  
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  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
28. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by The+Moof · 2011-10-04 01:27 · Score: 1
  
  And here I thought they were just trying to start a fad by starting numbering at 3. Next you'll tell me there was a Fallout 1 and 2...
29. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by xhrit · 2011-10-04 01:29 · Score: 1
  
  >I hate games where you know there are an unexplained and unlimited supply of dumb enemies.
  
  I have seen games where it is terrible, but if done correctly the mechanic provides a sense of urgency as well as an incentive to avoid detection. System Shock was another game that I thought used an unexplained and unlimited supply of AI to great effect. Like in Farcry, unlimited waves of enemies would spawn if an alarm was sounded but the player had a way to stop the alarm or avoid it entirely. It adds an extra layer to the gameplay, as protracted firefights would drain your supplies of ammunition as well as degrade your weapon quality increasing the likelihood of critical failure.
  
  Although at the end of my last system shock 2 playthrough I ended up tripping alarms just to farm. Turns out you can buy a whole lot of ammunition with 20k nanites.
  
  I will agree with you that Operation Flashpoint is awesome though. Both it and Farcry are on my personal list of all time best shooters, and for the same reason; the openness of the mission design, the variety of gameplay options, and the expansive environments available to explore.
  
  --
  Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
30. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Lisandro · 2011-10-04 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  John Carmack announced a while ago the sourcecode for Doom 3 (iD Tech 4) would be released some time near this years' end. It was on a recent QuakeCon IIRC.
31. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Andy+Dodd · 2011-10-04 01:33 · Score: 1
  
  Plus keep in mind that the focus on iD games is typically multiplayer and not single player. (Doom 3 being a bit of an exception.)
  Look at Quake 3 - it was pretty much 100% a multiplayer game, where the SP storyline was just multiplayer games against bots. It still did VERY well.
  If the SP storyline sucks, I don't really care, if the MP is good.
  
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  retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
32. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Frenzied+Apathy · 2011-10-04 01:33 · Score: 1
  
  I purchased FarCry when it first came out in 2004 and have played it through countless times. I have installed it on every gaming computer I've owned. I love the HUGE maps, which provide a great variety of ways to get from a to b. There is a lot less linearity within a given map than the vast majority of shooters offer. My 2 cents...
  
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  The cake is a lie.
33. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by jo_ham · 2011-10-04 01:43 · Score: 1
  
  I agree 100%.
  The computer has a massive advantage that it knows exactly where you are. If it uses that advantage to let the NPCs it controls have pixel-perfect shots at you while you're concealed in places it cannot possibly "see" from its many pairs of NPC eyes then it's lame.
  Especially if NPC 1 can see you, but NPC 2 cannot, but magically is able to aim perfectly at you because his buddy can see you...
  Even worse when it's meant to be pitch black. For some reason non-night-vision-equipped NPCs seem to be able to shoot as if it's the middle of the day!
34. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by nedlohs · 2011-10-04 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  Because the shouldn't treat something that is marketed as a game and sold as game to the public as a game? Just give it a free pass and provide no information to their readers/viewers on whether they might like to buy it?
  It's $60 on steam. That seems very much like a game up for sale to me. It has Bethesda written on it as well, very much a game maker.
  So you seriously think that because it also serves as a tech demo the gaming press should just ignore that it is presented and marketed as a game, and a AAA priced one at that. Just pretend it isn't?
35. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 02:08 · Score: 1
  
  I agree, Just Cause II is a lot of fun just for exploring and using the grappling hook/chute combo.
  If you haven't played Saints Row 2, it's like the spiritual successor to the GTA 3 series IMO. It keeps the fun in the gameplay and humour that GTA IV seemed to lose somehow. I'm really looking forward to SR3 :) I didn't even buy the first because people seemed to act like the fact it had swearing in it was the best point of the game, but I can say that SR2 definitely has fun gameplay. Some missions have you driving a quad bike through flaming hoops and explosive barrels, or spraying people with sewage. You can ride around on a motorbike while wielding a samurai sword, etc.. and the co-op play is good fun.
  Haven't played BioShock.. maybe in a few years. It took me until this year to discover that I loved the Assassin's Creed series. I had played the first game briefly a few years ago, but I had read so much negative stuff about it in reviews that I just wasn't looking forward to getting to the actual assassination missions, and I ended up playing other games instead. I gave it another chance this year and it turns out that I loved it. AC2 and brotherhood add in a whole lot of variety to the missions and a bit more realism with the guards searching for you in hiding places etc which made it even better. But just running through a city jumping, climbing, swinging from shit, or fighting 20 guards at once (the combat is actually pretty easy if you are patient - I don't know why the reviews I read were complaining about how difficult it is) is fun in itself.
  
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  which is totally what she said
36. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by nedlohs · 2011-10-04 02:08 · Score: 1
  
  You know they aren't going to stop selling it, right? So you can wait and see how the modding community goes and then buy it (likely after it has been discounted too).
37. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  You're not rating games, you're rating the graphics engines.
  Yes, the graphics are nice in FarCry. The game itself was quite boring to me though. Like I said "awful game, pretty graphics".
  
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  which is totally what she said
38. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by drinkypoo · 2011-10-04 02:18 · Score: 1
  
  Sigh. The problem there is that if too many people wait, there won't be enough users to support the modding community.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
39. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 02:18 · Score: 1
  
  I'd forgotten that you couldn't reach it. I hate games with invisible boundaries. I was sure it was linear too, but people reply to me were saying how it was a sandbox style game. Just having 2 or 3 paths to the same location is not sandbox gameplay..
  Uncharted manages to do the same kind of linear path thing, but still making it fun though. So it's not just down to whether it's linear or not. It's about the actual gameplay.
  
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  which is totally what she said
40. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  I played the demo of System Shock 2 and thought it was very cool, though again the unlimited enemies bothered me. You're right that it creates a sense of urgency.. one that I really didn't appreciate when I was 14 or so.. I was used to Quake where you can kill all the enemies. Trying to hack a control panel in real time while zombies kept approaching.. I just wasn't able to do it, I kept dying. I could probably do it now, and I sometimes wonder about downloading it to give it a go again, but I haven't taken the time to do so yet. Nor do I really want to be that stressed out all the time while I'm playing a game. I like difficult missions every now and then, but I also like to be able to just have fun.
  
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  which is totally what she said
41. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by nedlohs · 2011-10-04 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but you won't make a difference (unless you happen to be doing the modding of course) by buying it or not buying it now.
42. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 02:28 · Score: 1
  
  You think Farcry has huge maps? Have you ever played Operation Flashpoint? You should :p Also, GTA: San Andreas was released that year. Now that is a huge map. I really don't remember being impressed by FarCry considering I would have been playing it in 2005 or 2006..
  
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  which is totally what she said
43. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by afidel · 2011-10-04 02:47 · Score: 1
  
  Team Fortress was the absolute bomb. The other great Q1 mod was Painkeep
  
  --
  There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
44. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by webheaded · 2011-10-04 02:47 · Score: 1
  
  Have you even played it or are you just being facetious? I can't tell sometimes especially when this isn't modded funny. Some people on this site are just miserable bastards and nothing is ever good or fun for them. It annoys me...like you have to suck the joy out of every single thing that exists. Nothing personal it just annoys me to see people constantly shitting on everyone's parade.
  
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  "Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - BenF
45. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by cgenman · 2011-10-04 02:51 · Score: 1
  
  Doom 3 was a shiny let down. Quake 4 had a few great sequences, but was behind the times. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was bland and lacking a special something. All were by and large single player games with some tacked-on multiplayer component.
  I'd like to see id return to their pure multiplayer ways too. But in general, I'd like to see them put LESS effort into each release, releasing more frequently, with a purer feature set, and something creatively risky in each release. As it stands, when you release every 4 years you have massive amounts of pressure to avoid taking the kinds of risks that are required to make a successful title.
  
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  The ______ Agenda
46. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by TheRaven64 · 2011-10-04 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  There were lots of fun ones. The Killer Quake Patch was fun for deathmatch - insanely overpowered guns, from the chaingun that could kill anyone almost instantly (and use 100 shotgun shells in the process) up to the guided nuke. Made a nice change from the tactical thinking required by TF. AirQuake and Quake Rally were also fun. Quake Horrorshow was very atmospheric - everyone starts as a civilian and after a minute one person becomes a chainsaw murderer and has to get 25 kills before a timer expires. Playing this in the dark at a LAN party was great fun - everyone's trying to hide, and then you hear the sound of a chainsaw starting up...
  
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  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
47. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by anss123 · 2011-10-04 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  I enjoyed Farcry more than the CoD series, Gears of War or, for that matter, Zelda OoT (considered to be the best game ever or some such). It may have some rough edges, but it's a pretty decent game. Didn't care for the sequel though, and Rage seems a bit too similar to that game (brown, open, with cars)
48. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by jandrese · 2011-10-04 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  From what I've seen, people who are playing this on the console seem to hate the gunplay, and people who play on the PC love it. I think Id may not have put as much autoaim as most console shooters, making it exceptionally difficult/frustrating there. This is pure conjecture though, I have not played either.
  
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  I read the internet for the articles.
49. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by AvitarX · 2011-10-04 03:47 · Score: 1
  
  I remember when it came-out it was essentially a tech-demo of an engine that allowed zooming into the distance smoothly.
  The demo was well received enough they made a game.
  
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50. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Artifakt · 2011-10-04 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  I'm still puzzling over the weak weapons bit... As the footage on You-tube shows scenario after scenario where the player makes multiple successful kills with various sniper weapons - one shot, one kill. I saw weapons that blew enemies into ittie bitties that came falling down out of the sky seconds later just to knock down other enemies, insta-gib kills galore, grenade like explosions with realistically lethal ranges, a spinning blade thingee that lopped off heads or cleaved torsos in half on a single toss, Now there's admittedly things in the dead city that don't drop too fast, but they are literally twenty feet tall in scale, There was a fifty footer too, which eventually polished off the player POV in the demo, maybe that's the one Opposable Thumbs is measuring the weapons against.
  
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  Who is John Cabal?
51. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 04:27 · Score: 1
  
  Well, CoD (single player) and Gears of Wars are shit, so I agree there. I'd definitely rather play Zelda than FarCry. I got bored of my Wii though and it's still at my mum's house after taking it there one Christmas..
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
52. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by instagib · 2011-10-04 04:47 · Score: 1
  
  insta-gib kills galore
  OK, I'll buy it.
53. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Pope · 2011-10-04 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  Why is it these game designers constantly seem to forget that what you are playing is a game and is therefor supposed to be fun?
  Because your definition of "fun" isn't always the same as mine.
  
  --
  It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
54. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Gravatron · 2011-10-04 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  I had a lot of fun with it, but moving to a twin screen setup forced me to play it in windowed mode, and I couldn't really read the text anymore after that.
55. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by WuphonsReach · 2011-10-04 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  The original Far Cry was at least more sandbox'y then most others of the time. You could mix-up your approach, sneak around enemies, set traps, get hunted, stay quiet and let them wander off. Whereas traditional FPS of the time were extremely linear with only a single path to follow and nothing you could skip or flank.
  
  The later missions got a bit linear and overkill, but the first few islands were fun and there were numerous ways to deal with the situations.
  
  --
  Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
56. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Reapy · 2011-10-04 06:32 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah I was surprised how many people hated AC and complained about it. Those are actually some of the few games that I got ALMOST most of the achievements (minus the flag hunting) because quite frankly the cities are amazing, and the feel of climbing around is easy and challenging all at the same time. The difficulty is small, but you have so many choices of HOW you want to take out a target that it is just a sheer pleasure to drive that guy around. Brotherhood did a good thing having levels of challenge... you can play easy mode if you want and only get half sync, or you can try to achieve the specific goal which adds a bit of challenge to get full sync, a great tradeoff.
  I still need to get just cause 2. Next steam sale I think I'm going to grab it.
57. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by PopeRatzo · 2011-10-04 07:59 · Score: 1
  
  The demo was well received enough they made a game.
  I wonder why that engine wasn't used more widely in other games. Do you have any idea? They even ended up using a completely new engine for Far Cry 2 which was a pretty good game, but I think it would have been better if it had used the original Far Cry engine.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
58. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by bonch · 2011-10-04 08:30 · Score: 1
  
  Bethesda hasn't released the source code for any TES games, and id released Wolfenstein, Doom, and so on before they were with Bethesda.
59. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Trogre · 2011-10-04 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds like the beginnings of Rage@home
  
  --
  "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
60. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by SpryGuy · 2011-10-04 08:41 · Score: 1
  
  I liked Far Cry 2 better. And it can be had for cheap on Steam. In fact, I got Far Cry, Far Cry 2, and the Far Cry 2 expansion for $14 I think. At most. Wait, maybe it was just $7 on "sale". Anyway, great value for the dollar. I put 50 hours into FarCry 2 alone.
  
  --
  
  - Spryguy
  There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
61. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Daniel+Phillips · 2011-10-04 10:35 · Score: 1
  
  Apparently you need a roomfull of 8 way Phenoms with 128 gig per to do Rage mods.
  
  --
  Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
62. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by hairyfeet · 2011-10-04 10:59 · Score: 1
  
  The first Bioshock? awesome. Good story, great weapons, several ways to go about things, I've replayed it probably a dozen times. The second one? Meh, the missions sucked and while the AI is good the main bad guy has a voice that is so smug you want to hunt them down and drive a jackhammer down their throat just so they'll STFU.
  I tried SR2, and maybe its because its more of a console game and I'm a PC gamer, but I never could get the damned car to behave. the steering was always sloppy and I felt like I was fighting the game more than the bad guys. Vice City to me had just about the perfect keyboard/mouse handling of any of those GTA style games, although just Cause II is pretty awesome in the steering dept. well except for the jet fighters, I still royally suck at those. The chopper though, I can cream the shit out of a base with the chopper. And the hookshot+parachute is just too damned cool. I bought the first one hoping it was more of the same but the controls in the first one was just lame. AC was good but I really suck at stealth and IMHO those games are stealth city. If you can't kick as in stealth you probably shouldn't play the AC games.
  Meh, I have so damned many games now that even trying to play what i have seems like an exercise in futility. damn GOG and Steam and all their little sales,LOL!
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
63. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by AvitarX · 2011-10-04 11:55 · Score: 1
  
  Don't know, this is the best I can find to support what I said.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryEngine
  
  --
  Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
64. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 11:56 · Score: 1
  
  Ah well, I was playing SR2 on my PS3, maybe it's no good on PC.
  I always thought I sucked at stealth games too. In MGS I loved the VR training, but then never felt comfortable playing the missions so I didn't get into it. I tried Thief and I was awful. With Assassin's Creed I thought I might similarly suck, but I got pretty into it and I kick ass now. It takes a few seconds for guards to get really suspicious in the outdoor parts, so you can just run up to them and press square, job done. No need to be really stealthy apart from in certain missions where you're not meant to be discovered - but they aren't that bad if you take your time. Really AC2 has a very Vice City like feel to it with being able to buy property and shops etc. Brotherhood does even more along those lines, and you get to call in assassin strikes on guards - so they can do a lot of the stealthy stuff for you if you want :)
  I'm in a similar situation. I have a few games which I mean to go and re-play at some point. That was actually how I finally got into AC after having it on a shelf for something like 3 years. Thankfully my DVD pile is almost done now, and I'm just renting from now on to avoid wasting too much money! Likewise I'm only going to rent single player games in future unless they're very open world like AC or Skyrim. I paid full retail for Uncharted 2 last year, completed it in one 13 hour sitting, and haven't touched it since..
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
65. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by gangien · 2011-10-04 12:13 · Score: 1
  
  My recollection of John Carmack's tweets was that, that was not really the limiting factor. The limiting factor was the way mega texturing worked (which I don't recall at all). I dunno how to effectively search twitter or i'd go find those tweets lol.
66. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by PopeRatzo · 2011-10-04 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't realize that Aion uses Crytek.
  It's such a great engine, as is CryEngine 2 and 3, so why hasn't it been used in more games do you think?
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
67. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by hairyfeet · 2011-10-04 13:06 · Score: 1
  
  My problem is running my own little PC shop its feast or famine and lately between the shop and the band I've barely had time to eat and sleep, much less do anything else. I probably shouldn't complain as there are plenty of folks out there doing without, but why does it ALWAYS seem like everyone wants everything done at the same damned time? lately I've been picking up older laptops off of eBay and CL and refurbing them and even the ones with dead batteries just go like hotcakes, I swear I don't know what it is about laptops, but just today I got a circa 2003 1GHz Gateway with a Geforce 2MX and before i could even get it unboxed a guy gave me $90 for it on the spot. Folks just go nuts for laptops.
  As for SR2 you playing on the PS3 explains it, I heard that one had nice controls. If you try it on the PC it just screams "port!" as the controls are sloppy as hell. Nothing I hate more than dying not because I screwed up, but because I was fighting the controls instead of the bad guys. for shits and giggles i picked up Kane & Lynch II (I got it for 45c brand new!) and what did that game in were sloppy controls. I swear you can be 10 feet from a guy, unload an Uzi, and not hit him once! total slop.
  Does AC still have that "always online phone home" crap? Because that is where I draw the line. I have Bioshock II still in the shrink wrap because I ended up playing the cracked version just so I wouldn't have to deal with GFWL hoop jumping. A disc check, or one time call to check the key? I have NO problem with that, I'll just download the crack so i can put up the disc and call it a day. But I'm not dealing with the constant phone home crap, to me its just not worth it.
  BTW if you haven't signed up for the Good Old Games newsletter you really should. they have truly insane sales on the weekend and none of their games have any DRM. I'm probably up to around 40 games from them so far, oh and if you want to LYAO try Redneck Rampage. runs great on win 7 X64 and you fight aliens with titty guns and dynamite on crossbow bolts while drinking beer and eating pork rinds for health, I swear. oh and they give you the sound track with it and it kicks butt, Mojo Nixon, Beat farmers, the who's who of Psychobilly.
  Well I better go, my youngest bought me a copy of Titan Quest and I better get a little time in before he starts laughing at the quality of my loot again. if you like diablo II style games i heartily recommend it, its really fun with lots and lots of loot. I thought I was gonna die when my youngest brought his new box by last month and said "Have you tried this game? Its great!" and it was Diablo II. at least the boy is developing some taste, LOL!
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
68. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by mikael · 2011-10-04 14:14 · Score: 1
  
  From the PC evolution time-charts, those must have been 90MHz Pentiums and above.
  Remember seeing game development teams download their levels geometry onto a PC, set up their BSP compiler, place yellow-post it notes on the screen, a cardboard box over the keyboard, and surround the desk with office cleaners warning cones and tape. All to make sure no-one touched that PC.
  Then they went off for a beer, while the PC churned away.
  That was with 1 Megabyte of memory, enough for a single office block, warehouse or factory complex. 16 Gigabytes is going to be enough to build a city. Wow....
  
  --
  Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
69. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by TheRaven64 · 2011-10-04 20:49 · Score: 1
  
  You raise another important point that I forgot to mention. The levels that Id ships are huge. A level designer making a new deathmatch level is likely to want something a lot smaller. This reduces the computational cost a lot. You don't want massively complex levels for deathmatch, because you want the players to be able to find each other...
  The texture size issue is also not really a problem. Huge textures are great for tech demos, but I bet most gamers won't really care if a the textures are lower quality in a new level. My favourite QTank level just used a glowing red grid as the wall texture for the entire level - something that even my poor artistic skill would have been able to draw.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
70. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 21:13 · Score: 1
  
  Nah the DRM thing is only the PC version, again I was playing on PS3 so I didn't have to deal with that. If I bought it on PC I'd have downloaded a crack to remove the DRM too.
  I'll definitely subscribe to the GOG newsletter, I saw that place a while back but since I'd forsaken PC gaming I ended up forgetting about it. Right now I'm planning on buying a new PC though. I've been mostly just using a netbook for my computing the last few years, as some kind of proof to myself that I don't always need to be using the most powerful machine that I can afford. I used to be upgrading my PC every few months to get better gaming performance. The netbook has been fine for web browsing and even works well for web development, but I'm in the mood for getting back into compiled languages right now. I tried compiling the Linux kernel on my netbook at the weekend, and it took several hours :p So it would be nice to have a powerful machine available again to do brute force work when I need it. Plus I can use it as a VM server, webserver, code repository, media server and whatever other geeky urges I've been repressing these last few years. But it will definitely see some gaming usage too!
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
71. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by hairyfeet · 2011-10-04 21:58 · Score: 1
  
  If you don't mind DIY check out the AMD barebones on Tigerdirect. you can get some crazy cheap nice machines there and most can be easily upgraded to 6 core down the road. my own machine has gone from an Athlon dual to a Phenom II quad and after Xmas i'll be 6 core bound and all it'l cost is the chip. I picked up a sweet HD4850 for $50 and while they are definitely hot runners (I added a nice aftermarket cooler) the framerate is top notch. And of course if you run Linux AMD has opened up their drivers so they are getting better by the day.
  Oh and you might enjoy this page at GOG of games that run great on Linux. Personally I prefer Win 7 myself but the nice thing about GOG is there is plenty to choose from and dirt cheap. Hell many of them will probably run on your netbook. I'm sure my AMD Brazos netbook would probably run everything there but who'd want to game on a 12 inch screen?
  But definitely check out the sales at tiger. Now that the new F1 socket is out the AM3 machines are cheaper than ever and lets face it, games haven't been CPU bound in quite awhile. plus if you are into programming I hear OpenCL is gonna be big and being able to split the load between CPU and GPU has to be pretty cool from a programming perspective. And you just gotta love being about to get a fully loaded X6 for less than $400. just add a sweet GPU and you'd be blasting away!
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
72. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Shillo · 2011-10-04 23:40 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, and?
  They're not losing touch with their roots. They lost it a long time ago, so I don't really understand the point of complaining about Rage and Skyrim. It's a bit late for that.
  
  --
  I refuse to use .sig
73. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by somersault · 2011-10-04 23:42 · Score: 1
  
  I've built my own in the past, but I couldn't really be bothered this time - especially with wanting water cooling, if I did something wrong and leaked water over everything or something like that then I'd have to foot the bill for that myself, so I don't mind getting it done professionally. Then if something goes wrong I can get them to replace it!
  I'm pretty impulsive and focused when I get an idea in my head, so I did a lot of research last night and today and settled on a system from http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/ with a nice quiet case and fans (so it can sit with my flatmate's home theater in the lounge without being a distraction), watercooling, Sabertooth mobo, X6 1100T CPU, 8GB RAM, passively cooled AMD 6750, SSD for OS/apps + HDD for storage.. that should do me without upgrades for a good 3 years judging by past experience :) Maybe the graphics card could do with an upgrade if I got really seriously into my PC gaming again, but that will probably be fine for now. I've switched my Skyrim pre-order to PC instead of PS3, which saves £10 for a start, and will probably be a much better experience by all the accounts I've read here.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
74. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by Coren22 · 2011-10-05 09:22 · Score: 1
  
  a bland character doing boring things against stock enemies using weak guns
  The enemies have weak guns, not the player.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
75. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by hairyfeet · 2011-10-08 05:28 · Score: 1
  
  Sweet system bro, sweet. You'll have to let me know how much of a kick in the ass turbocore gives you, as that is the only reason I'm looking at switching my Deneb X4 for a Thuban is turbocore. I'd watch the passively cooled Radeon though, the temps AMD says are fine are a little hot for my tastes. After all they said up to 90C! was fine for the 48xx chips too. I'd watch the temps and if they aren't to your liking this one or the Accelero series are both really good VGA coolers.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
76. Re:Id releases Engine, tech demo... by black6host · 2011-10-13 03:34 · Score: 1
  
  Redneck Rampage had a great sound track to it. Mojo Nixon, Beat Farmers, Cement Pond. I lost the disk but GOG had it for 5 bucks and included the mp3s. And that was released quite some time ago so this has been going on for awhile.
Fun, so far. by Aladrin · 2011-10-03 22:41 · Score: 1

I've been having fun with it, even though I only got to play for about 45minutes before work.
My only complaint so far is that the enemies seem to pop in from nowhere, unlike other FPS/RPGs that have enemies that are always on the map. This might just be a bad impression from the first mission, but that's how it seems so far.

--
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
1. Re:Fun, so far. by n30na · 2011-10-04 00:28 · Score: 1
  
  That makes it sound MORE fun to me, actually. Games these days are too nice :P
2. Re:Fun, so far. by RivenAleem · 2011-10-05 00:43 · Score: 1
  
  I absolutely hated how, in Mass Effect 2, when you came to an area and saw a couple of likely cover areas, you knew right away that mobs were about to appear. I would love to see these mobs popping in from nowhere tbh.
3. Re:Fun, so far. by Aladrin · 2011-10-05 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  That's pretty much exactly how I play Rage. "Oh, there's a bit of cover across that gorge, I bet there's a *BLAM BLAM* Yup, there was." "Oh, there's a catwalk in the sewer... If I get closer *BLAM BLAM* yup, mutants." Every room, every corner, it's the same way. There's no way to sneak up on them, except the few they've designated as being able to sneak up on... And those you can walk in range without sneaking... You just have to sneak to get closer.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Texture popping by Phasmatis · 2011-10-03 22:48 · Score: 4, Informative

Be aware that the PC version has a serious texture popping issue. I've yet to read someone state they DON'T have this problem, no matter the hardware: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5oEdfT4OWY BTW, and here's the extent of your in-game graphics options: http://i.imgur.com/Rlvr6.jpg The game is designed to set its quality settings automatically relative to your hardware capabilities, but this very rarely works well in practice and also doesn't account for people like me who prefers a lower, but still playable frame rate in exchange for higher quality graphics. Anyways, sounds like the game was designed for consoles first anyway (at time of writing the FOV can't even be changed despite someone finding out how to enable the console). Way to go Carmack.
1. Re:Texture popping by Rik+Sweeney · 2011-10-03 23:12 · Score: 1
  
  Anyways, sounds like the game was designed for consoles first anyway
  Motorstorm was the inspiration for the game.
  
  --
  Summation 2
2. Re:Texture popping by Aladrin · 2011-10-03 23:14 · Score: 2
  
  I don't have this issue. Someone else (with an nvidia 560ti, which I think is what I have) said they experience it with higher levels of AA, but not lower levels. I think I had mine set at none.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
3. Re:Texture popping by Aladrin · 2011-10-03 23:15 · Score: 1
  
  Nope, I have a 550ti. Pretty close.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
4. Re:Texture popping by RogueyWon · 2011-10-03 23:51 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, this hasn't really been the case for most PC games for quite a few years now. I haven't had an issue with my hardware interacting badly with a particular game on my current PC (which is very new), or on the two that preceeded it. Yes, I've had issues with games that were known to be buggy, crashy wrecks when they were shipped (eg. Fallout: New Vegas), but many of those games have had the same issues in their console versions (and PC versions tend to be faster to patch, due to the lack of approvals processes needed). Now ok, I tend to go for fairly "safe" hardware - Intel processors, Nvidia graphics card, plenty of cooling and no overclocking - but it's still a big departure from the first half of the last decade, when getting a new PC game often meant hours of messing around with graphics card and Via 4-in-1 drivers.
  So if a major release like Rage does have these kind of hardware issues, that's a fairly major disappointment and feels like a step back for PC gaming at a time when it was becoming much closer to a "click and play" model. For the same reason, I was a bit dis-spirited to see graphics driver updates being pushed so hard for Battlefield 3. I think I upgraded my graphics drivers once in two and a half years with my previous PC - that's the kind of cycle I could get used to.
  As an aside, with the number of (lengthy) hard disk installs, game updates and firmware patches required for playing games on the PS3, I would have said pre-Rage that the inconvenience barrier to PS3 gaming had at least equalled that of PC gaming. I love my PS3, but dear god it can irritate me on occasion.
5. Re:Texture popping by freeze128 · 2011-10-04 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  Funny. If it was designed for consoles, then where is the PS3 release?
6. Re:Texture popping by spire3661 · 2011-10-04 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  Generally, when new graphics engines are being pushed out, as they are this fall, you are going to see lots of driver revisions to tweak the performance. For the record i did love my PS3 at one time, but then they just stopped trying. After Uncharted 3 I'm selling my 60 GB full back-compat.
  
  --
  Good-bye
7. Re:Texture popping by Syberz · 2011-10-04 04:38 · Score: 1
  
  Another AAA title developed for consoles and then ported to PC... I'm shocked...
  
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  ~Syberz
Re:tis shame but... by ttong · 2011-10-03 22:57 · Score: 1

It says "HTML5 Video is a subscriber-only feature that works in H.264-compliant browsers."
The video requires Flash 9.0, I have neither (what's a "H.264-compliant browser" anyway?).
PC version by RogueyWon · 2011-10-03 22:59 · Score: 1

I'm in the UK, so I don't get this game until Friday. However, I've had my Steam pre-order in for a month or so now. The big question in my mind this morning revolves around whether the PC version is a flawed, inferior port. I had thought this to be highly unlikely, given id's pedigree.
However, I notice that various forums relating to the game are this morning jammed with reports of stability issues, graphical issues, and a severe lack of configuration options. It's hard to draw any firm conclusions for this - visit the Steam forums for any major game on release day and you will see problem reports (mostly because the people with no issues are off playing the game) - but things seem particularly bad in this case.
Any idea of how widespread the issue actually is? Is it a case of a few people having problems due to odd hardware configurations, or is it something more widespread. I'm using an i7 3.2ghz and an Nvidia 590, so I would hope that performance wouldn't be an issue for me - but the stability and tearing/distortion reports are more worrying.
1. Re:PC version by LingNoi · 2011-10-03 23:09 · Score: 1
  
  In the same boat as you and it'll be a big letdown for me if it does have problems.
2. Re:PC version by Sockatume · 2011-10-04 01:39 · Score: 1
  
  I notice that various forums relating to the game are this morning jammed with reports of stability issues, graphical issues
  Sounds like they're staying true to PC game design to me. Patch early, patch often.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
3. Re:PC version by zingfodd · 2011-10-04 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  My first time running the game was met with a crash to desktop. After installing updated drivers and getting past the new game intro video, the game would pause for 3 seconds, run for two, over and over. I disconnected my web cam which the game was mysteriously turning on and the pause went away, but I still have texture tearing and popping with a short pause about every 6 seconds or so. Forums are packed with similar tales of woe. My advice would be to cancel the pre-order and wait out the patch cycle to see if the issues are resolved. It turns out that the items you get with the pre-order are very ho-hum. I now very much wish I hadn't pre-ordered it, and I think I have finally learned my lesson. :)
4. Re:PC version by Cito · 2011-10-04 06:21 · Score: 1
  
  the pirated version without drm plays smooth as silk no tearing or popping or slowdowns.. As usual DRM causes legit players to not be able to play why us pirates enjoy smooth as silk gaming :) hop over to demonoid or kat.ph and pick up a copy and enjoy it drm free
5. Re:PC version by Sparton · 2011-10-04 07:44 · Score: 1
  
  Buddy of mine here in Canada is having major issues on the PC. Stare at a wall... then turn 90 degrees to see texture popping everywhere.. then turn to the wall and see texture popping again?..
  In addition, he mentioned that the controls for the mouse don't act like a mouse control; they feel constrained, like moving your mouse is actually like angling an analog stick (in that there is a max speed you can turn, irrespective of how much you move the mouse).
  I'm no major PC gamer, but it sounds like a disappointing release on that platform to me.
6. Re:PC version by Grog6 · 2011-10-04 10:21 · Score: 1
  
  Patches? I remember those. From 10 years ago, when people made games for PC's.
  Far Cry, FC2, and Crysis are the last pc games, I'm afraid.
  (I mean ones with map editors, working servers, etc.)
  Something like that could have rescued DNF from the shitbin...
  How long has it been since you made a skin for a character in a game that everyone can see? Q2?
  I guess I've bought my last set of crossfire/SLI video cards, lol.
  What I bought last year was WAY overkill for DNF. (man, did I get Fucked on that one... :facepalm: )
  Who needs performance computers to play console ports?
  
  --
  Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
Uhmmm, ok, call it a full-price tech demo then? by SplatMan_DK · 2011-10-03 23:20 · Score: 4, Informative

Gaming press interprets tech demo as game, responds accordingly.
Are you serious?

May I politely point out they're charging full price for it? In fact it is the exact same price as Battlefield 3 which is due in 4 weeks...

The US price for RAGE is 59,99 USD (sity bucks)
The EU price for RAGE is 49,99 EUR (approx 66,62 USD)

Can we call it a full-price tech demo then? Or perhaps a "full-price-cross-platform-tech-demo"?

You know ... just to make sure nobody gets confused about the situation?

- Jesper

--
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
1. Re:Uhmmm, ok, call it a full-price tech demo then? by nedlohs · 2011-10-04 02:07 · Score: 1
  
  That's a steal, at the usual conversions it's be $120 USD in Oz. I guess they must have worked out the pricing before the AUD began its trip back down.
2. Re:Uhmmm, ok, call it a full-price tech demo then? by Bob-taro · 2011-10-04 03:00 · Score: 1
  
  Reminds me of Doom 3. I was looking forward to trying it out just for the stunning visuals, but after reading the reviews, I think I'll wait 6 mo and see if the price goes down. Id is good at making engines, but they aren't the only ones who can. I don't think a lot of people used id tech 4. I wonder, have we reached a point where the graphics are just "good enough", and people care more about gameplay than rendering improvements?
  
  --
  Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
3. Re:Uhmmm, ok, call it a full-price tech demo then? by Provocateur · 2011-10-04 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  I was wondering whether people outside of gamers might be interested in the engine, such as medical people using the first-person POV to wander around a patient's internal organs. Use the railgun to pulverize that blood clot that could lead to his aneurysm, get the gold key. But then they'd ask for more clot...
  
  --
  WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Motion Sickness by js3 · 2011-10-03 23:41 · Score: 1

Watching the review just made me sick, reminds me too much of quake 3. Somehow IDs games always trigger this problem (unreal tournament was the worst). I think it has to do with the way the gun points in first person shooter mode. ID always makes the gun point to the right side of your body, but enemies come either straight at your or the left. To shoot properly one has to strafe or turn slightly, which feels weird. Looks like a good game but there's no way I will be able to play this for 20hours.

--
did you forget to take your meds?
1. Re:Motion Sickness by tgd · 2011-10-03 23:54 · Score: 1
  
  There are a number of FPS games I've always had that problem with -- almost all of Id's after Quake 2, for example. Borderlands was another.
  I think its some sort of combination of the field of view not being quite natural, and the framerate or something.
  Its weird, I have absolutely no tendency for motion sickness in the real world, but there are a few games that give me raging headaches and make me want to hurl after a half hour of play.
2. Re:Motion Sickness by RogueyWon · 2011-10-03 23:59 · Score: 1
  
  You know Unreal Tournament wasn't an id game, right?
  That said, I very rarely get motion sickness with games, but the last game that did provoke it was the Wolfenstein reboot - which was based on an id engine. That one had truly atrocious head-bob. I think I managed to fix it in the end via a console command or something (I finished the game, so I guess I must have), but under default settings, walking forward gave the distinct impression that my character was rapidly growing and shrinking in height, between about 3 feet tall and 9 feet.
  Actually, things can get a bit icky-pukey in Gears of War games when you use the sprint function - but I think that's deliberate and you only ever use it for very short spurts.
3. Re:Motion Sickness by ildon · 2011-10-04 02:03 · Score: 2
  
  Somehow IDs games always trigger this problem (unreal tournament was the worst).
  
  ID always makes the gun point to the right side of your body, but enemies come either straight at your or the left. To shoot properly one has to strafe or turn slightly, which feels weird.
  
  Son, you must be trolling. Id didn't make Unreal Tournament. In all Id shooters so far, despite how it looks graphically, bullets always end up exactly where your crosshair is placed (or in a random pattern centered on the crosshair if that's how the gun is meant to shoot). Also Doom and Quake were somewhat famous for having perfectly centered gun models, and their later games either had a centered gun view option or an option to disable the gun model.
4. Re:Motion Sickness by mikael · 2011-10-04 04:11 · Score: 2
  
  Games which allow you to throw grenades, but don't factor in which arm is blocked by a wall drive me nuts. More than once, I'd throw a grenade only for it to bounce against a wall and straight under my feet
  In the real world, when playing snowball fights, I'd use either arm to throw. (had rural country friends who lived in a isolated farmhouse who liked to play war games in the surrounding wild fields).
  
  --
  Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
5. Re:Motion Sickness by Hatta · 2011-10-04 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  Where they draw the gun is irrelevant. It doesn't affect aiming in any way. Use the crosshairs in the center of the screen to aim, and ignore the gun.
  Also, enemies come at you from whatever side happens to be facing them at the time. This depends as much on your position as on theirs. I'd be really really surprised if you could show statistically that they favor one side.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Linux status by Maquis196 · 2011-10-03 23:43 · Score: 2

Does anyone know if the usual Id Linux port will make it out of the labs? Chalk me down as a Linux sale if it does
1. Re:Linux status by Yuioup · 2011-10-03 23:56 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Here's what TTimo has to say about it:
  http://ttimo.typepad.com/blog/2009/09/id-software-and-linux.html
  The line you're looking for is the last one:
  "It is likely i will be involved with idTech 5 in the near future, I'll be damned if we don't find the time to get Linux builds done."
  This post is from 2009 but I think it was posted after id was sold to BethSoft. Let's hope he succeeds in convincing his bosses.
2. Re:Linux status by PhrostyMcByte · 2011-10-04 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  Carmack touched on this during his QuakeCon keynote, saying it is possible but not currently planned.
A 26 Gigs PC game... by hcs_$reboot · 2011-10-03 23:52 · Score: 1

...I'll need 26,000 floppies to get a copy of Rage for my current existing Windows version :-(

--
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
1. Re:A 26 Gigs PC game... by SplatMan_DK · 2011-10-04 00:01 · Score: 2
  
  ...I'll need 26,000 floppies to get a copy of Rage for my current existing Windows version :-(
  Ah, yes, you upgraded to high Density discs recently, right?
  
  Good thing you moved on. That saves you a ton of disks! If you were still on the normal 5.25" /360K format you would need more than 72.000 discs...
  
  - Jesper
  
  --
  My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
Re:tis shame but... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-10-03 23:59 · Score: 1

what's a "H.264-compliant browser" anyway?
Modern browser that is not Chrome.
I am waiting for... by pinkeen · 2011-10-04 00:17 · Score: 1

I am waiting for... Fallout 4 on id tech 5.
Forget the tech demo RAGE is.
Linux? by menkhaura · 2011-10-04 00:23 · Score: 1

Will there be a Linux version, as there were for the last few ID games?

--
Stupidity is an equal opportunity striker.
Fellow slashdotter Bill Dog
1. Re:Linux? by arth1 · 2011-10-04 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  My guess is no, there will not be a Linux version this time.
  Too few Linux users buy their games, and when they do, they tend to buy them for Windows, which they have anyhow, if nothing else just to play games on.
  And this is a console game anyhow, and the controller support in Linux isn't exactly stellar - partly because of no support from the manufacturers.
2. Re:Linux? by menkhaura · 2011-10-04 01:43 · Score: 1
  
  Well, I, for one, make a point of buying native Linux games, even if I won't play them or actually like them. I have all id games (bought the windows version, but since they offer the Linux binaries...), and the Penumbra trilogy. Neverwinter Nights, I bought its three editions (the first one, which was standalone, the Gold and Diamond editions), and I enjoyed it hugely. Unfortunately, NWN II isn't offered on Linux anymore. I know it's difficult for game companies to support Linux, but I try to support them in my small way when they do, and can only hope that we'll still have such great games as the ones id have always brought us.
  
  --
  Stupidity is an equal opportunity striker.
  Fellow slashdotter Bill Dog
3. Re:Linux? by jandrese · 2011-10-04 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  I think chances are good for a Linux version, but you will have to buy the windows version to get the asset files to use it. Id has generally been good about supplying a Linux version a few weeks/months after the initial release.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
Re:tis shame but... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-10-04 00:36 · Score: 1

H.264-compliant browser is one that is endorsed by apple and the html5 community, which are largely synonymous - so that would be safari.
operation flashpoint? by fireylord · 2011-10-04 00:59 · Score: 1

I would suggest you try Arma 2 :D
1. Re:operation flashpoint? by somersault · 2011-10-04 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks.. I think I may even have bought that last year, but I haven't yet gone through the effort to buy a gaming PC (and find somewhere convenient to use it!).
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
Post-Apocalyptic by hduff · 2011-10-04 01:11 · Score: 1

Anything with the word "post-apocalyptic" in it seems dated, shopworn and boring and reeks of Mel Gibson.

--
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Totally off-topic Re:Id releases Engine, by jitterman · 2011-10-04 01:23 · Score: 1

I recently picked up "Blood's a Rover" via audiobook, and I find that his dense staccato style is extremely difficult to listen to. Since I have heard so much positive about Ellroy's writing (and yeah, I know the film version of LA Confidential diverts from the novel, AND that "Blood's a Rover" is the third of a rough trilogy), I think he's an author that has to be read, not heard. I may approach him starting with his first novel (my understanding is he didn't start this type of prose until an editor told him to make one of his books shorter, so he began removing words rather than plot items). Once I'm hooked on his storytelling, I may be able to adjust to his unique approach to language.

--
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
1. Re:Totally off-topic Re:Id releases Engine, by PopeRatzo · 2011-10-04 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  I recently picked up "Blood's a Rover" via audiobook, and I find that his dense staccato style is extremely difficult to listen to.
  
  But it makes for a great read, and in the right hands I bet it would make a great movie or game.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:To be fair to RAGE by jitterman · 2011-10-04 01:29 · Score: 2

He says he played it all the way through in the article. Still, just one person's opinion.

--
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
Re:tis shame but... by The+Moof · 2011-10-04 01:33 · Score: 1

(what's a "H.264-compliant browser" anyway?).
HTML5 hasn't decided on an official standardized codec yet, and that's one of the contenders.
Re:Apostrophes! by jo_ham · 2011-10-04 01:52 · Score: 1

You sir, need to read that comic more than the OP does. I can't find an error in his post, other than perhaps the style issue with "80's", although using an apostrophe there is accepted.
All of his other uses are correct, if a little informal in places.
Re:Apostrophes! by ledow · 2011-10-04 02:23 · Score: 1

Actually, I don't. The problem with complaining about such things is that you look a complete arse (a perfectly-correct English word that is harsher than ass and has no donkey connotations) when you are wrong and only a slightly-smaller arse when you're right.
Re:total crap by elrous0 · 2011-10-04 02:52 · Score: 2

Rage is nothingness with a good engine.
So, basically, it's a typical id game?

--
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
yawn by Fishbulb · 2011-10-04 04:08 · Score: 1

"None of the game's ideas are thought out or fully explored, so the game feels like a series of dead ends in a world that is hard to care about, in which you play a bland character doing boring things against stock enemies using weak guns."
Pretty much sums up my experience of every game from id.
Re:Game requires Steam... not interested. by vawwyakr · 2011-10-04 06:13 · Score: 1

So basically old games have copy protection and you won't buy them and then new games have copy protection and you won't buy them? I like my old games but generally they are best kept in memory, then tend to not be anywhere as good as I remember when I get the working again. Personally I love Steam for not making me dig disks back out if I want to play a couple year old game again.
Ya well iD has become console obsessed by Sycraft-fu · 2011-10-04 06:14 · Score: 2

That's fine, consoles are a big market, but that does mean it isn't something to get on a PC.
Looking at that video, I'm guessing part of the problem is the guy has an ATi card. ATi's OpenGL support has never been as good as its DirectX support. You can argue that maybe they should improve it, but it is what it is. Not a problem, games use DirectX on Windows.... But not iD games. Despite Carmack saying that he likes DirectX better, they have not moved their engine over. As such, it wouldn't surprise me to see Rage run poorly on ATi cards and better on nVidia cards.
Same deal with Brink, which uses iD Tech 4. Game is not that graphically high end, but it runs like shit on ATi cards because it is OpenGL.
Seems like a poor choice to me, given that over 30% of cards in game systems are ATi cards (per the Steam survey, something that is by definition of gamer systems) but there you go.
Though I own an nVidia card, I won't get it until it comes down to budget prices. Partially because I'm not real interested in the Borderlands style of game, but partially because this looks like something that is a poor PC port.
I'm not one of those PC heads who demands games should be made PC first and only, but I do expect that when a game is ported a good job is done on it. So something like Deus Ex: HR, hell ya. The PC version works well, has good PC controls, well worth it. This? Nah, I give it a miss.
1. Re:Ya well iD has become console obsessed by Waccoon · 2011-10-04 07:41 · Score: 1
  
  Looking at that video, I'm guessing part of the problem is the guy has an ATi card
  Yeah. Given how long the game has been in development, we can't really expect it to work with current hardware and drivers, can we?
2. Re:Ya well iD has become console obsessed by Sycraft-fu · 2011-10-04 08:19 · Score: 1
  
  It is just what you get using OpenGL. They'd have to move to DirectX to have good ATi performance. That's what they should have done in my opinion, particularly since they had to make a DriectX version for the Xbox 360, but they don't want to. You can also argue ATi should fix their GL drivers but they've been like this for many years, so safe to say that isn't happening.
  My guess is iD doesn't really care since they seem to have become console and mobile heads. My solution and the one I recommend to others is to just give the game a miss. Tons of good games out there, no reason to play this one if it doesn't work well.
3. Re:Ya well iD has become console obsessed by walshy007 · 2011-10-04 11:34 · Score: 1
  
  Any well designed engine abstracts the 3d api anyway inside of it, there is no reason not to support both. 'tossing' opengl support would cause a myriad of compatibility problems outside of anything but windows and xbox.
  Quality code is easy to port, because all the layers of abstraction are in the right places.
You'd think by Sycraft-fu · 2011-10-04 15:55 · Score: 1

I mean since you are doing 3 very different platforms anyhow: PC, Xbox 360, and PS 3, you'd think you'd abstract. I could see not doing some of that if you just did PC and 360 as MS has made it extremely easy to write once, run in both places, but of course that would mean using DirectX. You go to the PS3, you use Sony's somewhat bastardized version of OpenGL ES or the low level libgcm, and also have to make changes to use the Cell since it is very different from the architecture of PCs and 360s.
In that case, you'd think a modular multi-target approach would be in order, particularly if your engine is designed for resale (as iD Tech is). That's how Epic does it. Unreal Engine is fully modular. All the different components (graphics, sound, input, net) can be replaced with other stuff without too much trouble. You can even have multiple ones available on a given platform. You can see with with UE2 in UT2004. It has DirectX, OpenGL and even a software renderer called Pixomatic that Arabash made. In UE3 (UT3) they took everything but DirectX out, but only because there was no need for anything else on the PC. It has other renderers for the other platforms it uses.
However iD has a love affair with OpenGL for whatever reason. They claim it is tools, but I have some trouble believing that. No matter what that reason is, the result is Rage is an OpenGL game and so performs poorly on ATi cards.
If it were me the game would support two APIs on Windows DX9 and DX11 (since DX11 has some rather superior features when run on DX 10/10.1/11 hardware). It would also have an Xbox renderer (similar to DX9 but a few non-trivial differences) and a PS3 renderer which would probably be libgcm based (more work, but better performance).
In development for 4 years...? by Leo+Sasquatch · 2011-10-04 19:22 · Score: 1

and yet still launches in *this* state...? (ripped from Steam forum)

Issues: No Custom settings for Video Cards
Video Cards not being detected properly by the Auto-Detector Resulting in using 0MB of Vram and using the lowest texture/gfx settings...
No Console command
No Vsync options - Results in screen tearing - Forcing Vsync causes the game to crash the drivers and game(AMD)
Unable to skip intros??? To disable the intro videos put this "+set com_skipIntroVideo 1" in the launch options of Rage Via Steam.
Mouse acceleration?
Can't use Crossfire or SLI..
Bad FoV for PC's - Short-term solution: FOV adjustment howto
(Nvidia)Enabling V-sync by forcing it in the control panel causes the game to Stutter and have lines appear:
OpenGL Issues: GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex not available
Missing Files or GFX card not compatible? - List of compatible card: http://feedback.wildfiregames.com/re...ts_base_vertex this issue seems to be common with laptops and mobile video GFX processors meaning the game may not run on a mobile GFX chip(Laptops)

Bugs:
Texture Streaming is bad and slow resulting in always reloading the same textures thus causing the textures popping in effect - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Ch6TX-Cbs&hd=1
Missing/blinking textures...
Random Crashing: when exiting the Arc, after intro video, including when trying to start a new game and loading new areas.
LoD issues(popins dispersing items)
Audio stuttering and not blending properly.
Occasional Artifacts appearing- http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9...0322215294.jpg
Low Frame rates with occasional fps spikes
Loading saves causes videocard drivers to crash...
Game Fails to start with error code #51.
Shadows turn Green
Binding keys don't always save and remain unbound and unable to be set
No Sound? this is a common issue with creative soundcards - Possible Fix: Buy a new soundcard or try and use your onboard sound.

But for some reason, because one of the guys who worked on it did some cool stuff a few years ago, this is somehow acceptable?
Linux by diego.viola · 2011-10-05 08:42 · Score: 1

where is the Linux version? I won't buy it if there isn't one.