Game god John Carmack of id Software, in an interview with Gamasutra, has noted the power of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, saying that it has spurred PC gaming, all the while reaffirming his company’s support for PC as a gaming platform.
He described WoW as a “train driving all the PC sales numbers altogether on gaming,” while at the same time acknowledging that most players of “higher-end games” have moved onto the consoles, citing well-implemented console features as well as connectivity options such as Xbox Live.
However, he still believes in the strength of PC as a games platform, stating that “the PC still has a strong enough margin to make games, and we continue to support it.”
Steam has gained another huge player: Splash Damage and id Software have announced that team-based PC shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will arrive on the broadband delivery service on October 9, next Tuesday. Those outside of North America will be able to purchase the game starting October 5.
Shockingly, the digital distribution version of the game is the same price as the retail version at $49.95.
An awesome Enemy Territory: Quake Wars launch trailer has been released. Running for over two minutes, the trailer shows in-game cinematic footage. Check it out below:
The promised Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo was released last Monday. A full listing of torrents and mirrors can be found on the game’s community website.
Meanwhile, they note that ATI users will have to download and install this hotfix in order to run the demo; the next update will integrate the hotfix. Also, the id Software website offers addresses of a couple of public demo servers where it seems to be possible to get pwned by the ones who made the game.
[id] Public Demo Server - 192.246.40.231:27733 (Campaign)
[id] Xian’s Stopwatch Happy Funhouse - 192.246.40.230:27733 (Stopwatch)
On the official Enemy Territory: Quake Wars forums is a release date for the demo of the upcoming team-based multiplayer shooter. According to the post, the demo is due next Monday: “The Windows PC demo is going to be released on September 10, 2007.”
This lengthy post on the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars website talks about many things, among which is word of a second beta for the upcoming multiplayer shooter. They also offer details on the new Valley map as well as changes in the new beta, which is going to be released within a week or two. Here’s the scoop:
Last week I flew back to London from the E3 Business and Media Summit in Los Angeles. We demonstrated Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars on the PC and XBOX 360, so to get back and start reading so many positive previews has made everyone here feel great. I’m even more pleased about the recent announcement that ETQW has been nominated for two E3 Games Critics Awards; Best PC Game of Show and Best Multiplayer Game of Show - this should be good news if you’re in possession of a Beta key, because the build the journalists played at E3 was a preview of the Beta 2 build that we’re about to release to you! The build is in testing at Activision right now and will be initially released to the QuakeCon audience for BYOC play. We hope to have it to FilePlanet within the next week or two for a wide release to all of our public beta testers.
Yes, you read that right: the event has been announced eight months in advance! This post on the event’s forums states that QuakeCon 2007 will run from August 2-5, 2007 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, TX promising “more gaming, events, exhibits and fun planned than ever before.” It also notes that registration for the BYOC area will begin on March 2, 2007, but that hotel reservations can be made as soon as now for those interested.
This year’s X06 saw a couple of big announcements from Microsoft. Very big announcements. Let’s check them out:
- Peter Jackson, who is currently associated with the upcoming Halo movie, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Fran Walsh and Microsoft Game Studios have teamed up to create two new games exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. The first series will be a collaborative with Bungie to co-create the next game in the Halo universe, while the second series will be a completely new IP. Additionally, they have also partnered up to form Wingnut Interactive, the studio which will dedicate itself to bringing these series’ to the next-gen console.
- Besides the Wingnut Halo game, Ensemble Studios is working on Halo Wars, a new real-time strategy game based on the legendary universe. Before you cry foul, keep in mind that these guys are behind the Age of Empires franchise, which has been a solid series so far. The game is entirely exclusive to Xbox 360.
For more information, check out the game’s website which hosts a cinematic trailer, as well as these screen grabs from the trailer.
- Hoping to make a dent in Sony’s future, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV will receive two exclusive downloadable, “epic” episodes via Xbox Live, each with many hours of entirely new gameplay. These episodes will be available just months after the game’s release next year.
Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will ship at the same time in October 2007.
- In a move that is very uncharacteristic of Ubisoft, the publisher confirmed that the next Splinter Cell title after Double Agent will be a console-exclusive on Xbox 360. It will also be released on PC for those without the console.
- Yes, BioShock is also exclusive to the console. It’s on PC as well.
- Banjo-Kazooie is back, courtesy of Rare! Another exclusive to Xbox 360, the title will feature the much beloved characters, who, according to the press release, will thankfully retain their “sharp wit and hilarious sense of humor.”
- Another exclusive: Marvel Universe Online. In development at Cryptic Studios, the game will also be released for Windows Vista.
- Everyone saw this coming, but not this soon: Project Gotham Racing 4. The game was unveiled at the show, though it is not expected until late next year, or 2008.
- id Software’s DOOM and Codemasters’ Sensible World of Soccer are now available on Xbox Live Arcade.
- And finally, the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player will be released in North America, UK, France and Germany this November. It will retail for $200 in North America and €200/£130 in U.K., France and Germany. The player will also come with a copy of King Kong on HD-DVD and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.
Two new screenshots from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars:
Gamespy’s Enemy Territory: Quake Wars developer diary reveals that the highly anticipated multiplayer shooter has been delayed to next year.
It’s also been a challenging year, as the team here has given extraordinary effort towards completing the game this year. Unfortunately, sometimes effort isn’t all you need — sometimes you just need more time. To ensure the quality we want, we’ve decided to push the release out of 2006 to allow for extended testing, feedback and game balancing.
Four new high-resolution screenshots have been released for Quake Wars: Enemy Territory.
A v1.1 beta version of the Quake 4 SDK is available, updating the tools required to create content for the Raven shooter. Grab it from id’s FTP server, 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers and Worthplaying.
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