Jun 24, 2009 id Software, independent no longer

id Software, the original garage band of game developers, now has a place to park its properties.

ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it will acquire the Mesquite, Tex.-based id. That means classic game franchises such as Doom and Quake will now sit alongside Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls in ZeniMax's portfolio.

"It's hard to imagine a more complementary matchup here, where we are now (with) a publisher that has exactly zero overlap with the things that we have done," said id co-founder John Carmack, who will remain as id's technical director. "There's no sense of competing with other products here. We have got the full force of everything behind it."

ZeniMax's acquisition of id -- no financial terms were announced -- is complementary, said company founder and CEO Robert Altman. "We are known for our ability with RPG titles. We considered id Software to be among the best in the world at first-person shooters. That was a large category that we wanted to excel at. So it was just a perfect strategic fit," he said. "And the final element was, as we got to know the people there, it was a perfect blend of cultures. They look at the world as we did. So it became a very compelling transaction."

As part of the deal, Bethesda Softworks will publish upcoming id releases. The in-development game Rage, will be published by Electronic Arts, but "they don't have any rights to sequels," Carmack said. "ZeniMax has working relationships with EA so we hope that goes smoothly but any future titles will certainly be for ZeniMax."

Carmack hopes the matchup makes business dealings easier for id Software. "It definitely gets tiresome, the sense of competing with your publishers, where all of our publishers we work with have other titles that are more or less competitive with the things that we are doing," he said. "Whether they say it does or not, that definitely has an impact on a lot of the areas of our business."

Over the years, id Software has worked primarily with publisher Activision, which has Wolfenstein, being developed by Raven Software, due this summer. Before its deal to publish Rage, EA had also published several mobile games based on id franchises and the Carmack-developed Wolfenstein RPG.

Now, id can expand and keep a closer watch on its franchises, Carmack said. "We can basically take advantage of all of our (intellectual properties) ourselves, where for a long time we've had this plan of working with third parties to go ahead and use our other IPs," he said. "Early on, that worked out well. It hasn't been working out as well in recent years. The ability to go ahead and just grow our teams here and take care of as many of our franchises as we can is going to be really important going forward. We are really happy with this. It is going to mean a lot for us."

As part of the deal, Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and other principals signed long-term employment contracts. "All of us really, from the standpoint of the principals of id, we're in the jobs and doing the jobs that we like to do," Hollenshead said. "We don't want to go do anything else. We are far too young to retire. The idea is we will basically continue operating as id, as we have done, with just some better advantages and some access to things that we haven't had being a small, independent team. 90% of the stuff is going to be exactly the same and the 10% that is going to change will all be better."

Says Carmack, "It is actually kind of cool in that it almost feels as if all of our efforts will have twice as much leverage now. Now that we are actually building this up as part of a publisher, when we work hard and do things it is actually going to have potentially twice the return in value for our organization."

He added: "I love my work. Some people worry that I am going to run off and build rockets or something. But the work that I do in computer programming is the work that I want to be doing for the foreseeable future. For me the less I have to deal with board meetings and contracts, the better. I just want to program."

Based in Bethesda, Md., ZeniMax also has offices in Tokyo and London. In addition to Bethesda Softworks, it also owns Vir2L Studios and ZeniMax Online Studios.

The acquisition of id, Altman said, "was consistent with our long-term strategic plan of how we see successfully operating in this industry. We are strong believers in two drivers of value, one being development capability, and the other being intellectual properties, brands or franchises. ... As we scanned the landscape, id was the best of the best. They have demonstrated what is pretty unique, the ability to repeatedly create a franchise."

With id's releases, ZeniMax will have "additional scale," Altman said. And, he added, an intangible: "We now have John Carmack on our team. John's reputation is well-deserved given the many contributions he has made in this industry. That is something that doesn't appear on the balance sheet. I can go to sleep better at night knowing that."

Discussions on the deal began before Fallout 3 was released last year, Carmack said. "We knew Bethesda, we knew some of the other things going on there. But to see actually them roll through that whole process and do such an awesome job on that, that certainly made us all feel really good about the future directions of everything."

As part of discussions with publishers, id "had already started to grow our teams," Carmack said. "Everyone was telling us they wanted us to do more internally, no matter who the publisher was. So we had already started to staff up for the Doom 4 project internally. So it is sort of an outgrowth of that and that was happening independent of and before the deal was thought of here. This is just going to allow us to do it faster and more robustly and safer for the company."

Collaborative efforts between id and Bethesda are not planned, but are not ruled out. "We certainly like the guys over there and there certainly is going to be more communications," Carmack said. "We'll see what happens in collaboration. I expect that there certainly is not going to be any major common technological base or anything like that. They have their program and we have got ours. We are going to help each other out as much as possible. But the organizations are expected to remain pretty nicely discreet."

For Bethesda Softworks, the arrangement means that "we get to publish id," said Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda Softworks. "You have no idea how awesome that is. We are incredibly excited to be working with (id). These guys are legends. They created first-person shooters. To get to work on properties like Doom and Quake, it's a dream come true for us. It's terrific."

June 25, 2009v ZeniMax Media buys Id Software

The maker of the Elder Scrolls games and Fallout 3 says development will stay intact at the creator of Doom and Quake. ZeniMax's strength is role-playing games; Id's is first-person shooter games.

Id Software, creator of the Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake games, has been sold to ZeniMax Media for an undisclosed amount. ZeniMax's Bethesda Softworks studio created the popular Elder Scrolls series of role-playing games.

In a statement released Wednesday, ZeniMax said the development process at Id Software would remain untouched.

Id will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of founder John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of Id's game development. All the Id principals have signed long-term employment contracts, ensuring that they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

ZeniMax, founded in 1999, bought the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment in 2004.

It then created Fallout 3, an action role-playing game that became one of the most critically successful games of 2008, with a Metacritic score of 93%. Any score above 90% is considered outstanding.

Other terms of the deal, which closed Tuesday, were not disclosed. Both companies were privately held.

The seeds of the transaction were planted in Los Angeles at last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, when Robert Altman, ZeniMax's founder and chief executive, sat down for coffee with Id's president, Todd Hollenshead.

"At first we were skeptical a deal could happen, given their success and their history of independence," Altman said. "But as we talked, the deal made so much sense. We are strong in role-playing games; they invented the first-person shooter genre."

Altman added that industry economics also played a role in bringing together his Rockville, Md., firm and the Mesquite, Texas, game developer.

"Despite this being a growth industry, you're still seeing a lot of companies struggling," Altman said. "There's a good deal of foment and consolidation happening. You need greater financial strength to succeed. The cost of advertising is greater than it used to be. Titles are more expensive to create. These are structural changes that affect everyone. And Todd and John were very aware of that."

Carmack said Id turned down many offers from large publishers over the years.

"We would be just one of many studios at an Activision or an [Electronic Arts]," he said. "When we looked at Bethesda, there was a very high level of mutual admiration. And there is zero overlap in our products. It fits perfectly."

The developer's agreements with Activision to publish Wolfenstein and EA to publish Rage are intact, but future games, including Doom 4, will be published by ZeniMax, Carmack said.

ID Software Acquired by Bethesda-Parent ZeniMax

Doom 4, which a supposedly leaked screenshot of (dating back to 2005) is shown here, will likely be the first id Software title published by ZeniMax Media, the company's new owner. Zenimax also owns Bethesda. (Source: Gamespot)

John Carmack remains at the helm of the venerable company

When you mention id Software to gamers, they get quiet in reverence -- or really noisy, reliving old favorites like Quake and Doom. Founded in 1991, perhaps no other company has achieved such a high profile in the computer gaming industry.

Today it was announced that the parent company of Bethesda, ZeniMax Media has purchased id Software. ZeniMax has published such recent hits as The Elder Scroll IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3.

The purchase has the blessing of John Carmack, who plans to continue as head of id Software. Mr. Carmack, who likely owned a large portion of the company recently rewrote Doom and Wolfenstein's engine for the iPhone, completing in four days a task which his coworkers said would take several engineers at least two months.

A press release about the purchase reads, "id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles...at the studio."

John Carmack praised the move, lauding, "As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am. This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward. We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them."

He adds, "We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured. And we've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could."

The team at id Software will likely make a lot of money for ZeniMax Media, as they have many upcoming almost-surefire hits. The company will soon release its post-apocalyptic Rage title and also Doom 4, both for the PC. EA Partners already got the rights to publish Rage, but ZeniMax will likely get to publish Doom 4.

Other than Bethesda, ZeniMax only held a few other companies -- casual developer Vir2L and ZeniMax Online being among the notables. Zenimax Online is reportedly working on a Elder Scrolls MMO game.

Carmack: id Software Would've Been Worse Off With Activision/EA

Even though id Software still has a publishing agreement with Activision (for "Wolfenstein') and EA (for "RAGE'), Zenimax is definitely a more ideal home for the company. The acquisition of id by Zenimax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, was announced yesterday. John Carmack spoke to MTV Multiplayer about the deal and why he thinks Activision and EA wouldn't have been a good fit for the long-time game development house.

"When you get down and look at the details of what it would mean for id Software to be apart of Activision and EA, you start realizing that it wouldn't be all roses in that situation. We'd be coming into a situation where we'd have several other studios inside the same company that essentially want to do what we want to do. There's competitive interest there, and they're entrenched. We'd be coming in from the outside to fight for our space there, fight for the resources and attention of a larger company.'

Speaking specifically of Bethesda, Carmack had this to say: "It's rare that you can imagine having a situation like this where two companies could be better suited, where there's no competition for any of the resources or doing similar things on there.'

But, even though it's big news, it looks like we won't be seeing any drastic changes for a long while.

"Nothing really is going to change in the next couple years. Activision's still publishing 'Wolfenstein,' 'RAGE' is still an EA Partners title. But it will be 'DOOM 4′ as the first title that's going to be published directly by Zenimax. Only after that do we see things that are going to be actually different because of this.'

"Fallout 6″ developed by id? "DOOM 5″ with VATS? Carmack says it's too far away to imagine, but that there will be definitely be constant communication with the development houses to make sure they can make the best games possible.

Carmack, who remains chief technology officer at Id, said that rather than shrink payroll as many companies do after being sold, Id would expand its team from 100 developers to as many as 130 some time next year so the studio could produce more games.

"Ideally, we'd like to have one major game release every year," Carmack said. "Reality may intrude, but that's at least the plan."

(originally Wolfenstein 3-D, commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is a video game that is generally regarded as having popularized the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5, 1992 for DOS. The game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. It has been ported to a wide variety of systems, including 3DO, Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Acorn Archimedes, Atari Jaguar, and the Apple IIGS.

In Wolfenstein 3D, the player is an American soldier named BJ Blazkowicz attempting to escape from the eponymous Nazi stronghold; there are many armed guards, as well as attack dogs. The building has a number of hidden rooms containing various treasures, food supplies, and medical kits, as well as three different guns and ammunition.

Wolfenstein 3D was released as shareware, which allowed it to be copied widely. The shareware release contains one episode, consisting of 10 missions (levels). The commercial release consists of three episodes including the shareware episode, and a mission pack called "The Nocturnal Missions". Like the shareware episode, each commercial episode contains 10 levels, bringing the game to a total of 60 missions.

The game was originally released on the PC and then ported to Macintosh computers, Apple IIGS, Acorn Archimedes, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, and 3DO. The source code of the game was published by id Software on July 21, 1995 under a non-profit EULA, starting the long tradition at id Software of opening the entire source code to an old game. Some enhanced ports to different platforms like Linux and add-ons have been developed.

Wolfenstein 3D was the first game to use the ExMx map/level identity.

The first three episodes of the game focus on the character of William "B.J." Blazkowicz's attempts to escape from Castle Wolfenstein and overthrow the Nazi regime.

B.J., an Allied spy, had been captured while trying to find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, and was imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. Initially armed only with a knife and a pistol (obtained by overpowering the guard in his cell), B.J.'s initial goal is merely to escape the castle prison. Taking on SS guards, stealing their machine guns and ultimately acquiring a chain gun, he eventually finds himself face to face with the Episode One boss, the ultimate prison guard Hans Grosse.

Having defeated Grosse and escaped the castle, B.J. moves on to Operation: Eisenfaust. B.J. finds out that the operation is real, and that the Nazis are creating a mutant army of undead zombies in Castle Hollehammer. When the episode begins, B.J. has just entered the castle; the walls are covered in mulch, and the first enemies found are mutants with machine guns in their chests. The episode boss is the scientist Dr Schabbs, the creator of the zombies. His defeat signals the end of this biological war.

Die, Führer, Die! is, chronologically, the final episode. Fighting through Nazi soldiers, and attacking the bunker under the Reichstag, the major centerpiece of the game is reached in the final mission, where the boss is none other than Adolf Hitler himself (equipped with a robotic suit).

The Nocturnal Missions form a prequel storyline, focusing on the Germans' plans for chemical warfare (Giftkrieg). A Dark Secret deals with the initial pursuit of the scientist responsible for the development of the weaponry; B.J.'s task is to enter the weapons research facility and hunt down Dr. Otto Giftmacher (Poison Maker).

Trail of the Madman is a rather ornate episode taking place in clean and stylish Castle Erlangen. Ostensibly, the episode's goal is to find the maps and plans of the chemical war, guarded by Gretel Grosse (Hans' sister). Hitler's image appears throughout this episode, as posters and wall mosaics, symbolising his imminent rise to power. All levels are designed with fashion, much decoration, and opulence.

The story comes to a close in Confrontation, set in Castle Offenbach; a summation of everything that has gone before, including the mutants (in the secret level only), Hans Grosse (in the secret level only), and the overall "feel". The final battle is fought between B.J. and the leader of this war, General Fettgesicht (Fat Face).

It should be noted that, despite the presence of Hitler as an episode boss, the game bears no resemblance to any actual Nazi plans or structures. Indeed, many of the level designs are highly fanciful; at least three levels heavily feature swastika shaped room layouts and maps, going as far as having one level built entirely of a tessellation of them. However, the overall premise could be said to be loosely based on the frequent and elaborate escape attempts made by Allied POWs from such Nazi prison strongholds such as Colditz Castle.

To render the walls in pseudo-3D, the game used ray casting, a special case of ray tracing. This technique sent out one ray for each column of pixels, checked if it intersected a wall, and drew textures on the screen accordingly, creating a one dimensional depth buffer against which to clip the scaled sprites that represented enemies, powerups, and props.

Before Wolfenstein 3D, the technology had already been used by id Software in 1991 to create Hovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D for Softdisk, albeit using only EGA 16-color graphics (which the game was designed to use, early in development). Other games using the Wolfenstein 3D game engine or developments of it were also produced, including, Blake Stone, Corridor 7, Operation Body Count, Super Noah's Ark 3D, Rise of the Triad, Shadowcaster, and Hellraiser.

According to id Software programmer John Carmack, the game's engine was inspired by a technology demo of Looking Glass Studios'/Origin's first-person CRPG, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss from 1991. Carmack claimed he could make a faster renderer. In this he was successful. The Wolfenstein engine lacks many features present in the Underworld engine, such as height changes, sloped floors and lighting, but it runs well on relatively weak hardware.

"Holo-walls" are walls created by mapmakers using a glitch in the PC version's engine. They are walls that the player can walk through, and are used in some total conversions to simulate windows that players can climb through, and hedges that players can walk through. One way of creating holo-walls is to place a dead guard in a wall.

Due to its use of Nazi symbols and the Horst-Wessel-Lied as theme music, the PC version of the game was confiscated in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994 (Az. 2 Gs 167/94); the use of these symbols is a federal offence in Germany unless certain circumstances apply (see articles 86 StGB and 86a StGB (in German)). Similarly, the Atari Jaguar version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994 (Az. 351 Gs 5509/94). [1]

Due to concerns from Nintendo, the Super NES version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent, and the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats. The dogs were removed due to complaints from animal-rights activists that it was immoral to have a game in which the player is required to kill dogs. Employees of id Software are quoted in The Official DOOM Player Guide about the reaction to Wolfenstein, claiming it to be ironic that it was morally acceptable to shoot human beings, but not dogs. Three new weapons were added as well. The Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version. Many reviewers and Wolfenstein enthusiasts believed that the censorship of elements regarding Adolf Hitler and Nazis made the title incomplete and almost an entirely different game.

Level 2-8 features a giant hidden "pushwall" maze consisting of 181 nearly identical 2x2 rooms. Depending on the path taken through the maze, the player is eventually led to treasure, an extra life, or a surprise encounter with Hans Grosse. One and only one correct path leads to a room containing a sign saying "Call Apogee Say Aardwolf." (In some versions there is also an extra life in this room.) This was to have been part of a contest, where the first person to find the sign and carry out its instructions would have won a prize. The actual prize was never decided upon.

However, because the first level editors and cheat programs for the game were released within days of the full version of Wolfenstein 3D, many players were able to find the sign with minimal effort, and so the contest was abandoned before it was ever officially announced. One of the discussed prize options was to be registered copies of all Apogee games for life, but the contest was scrapped before any executive decisions had been made. The maze and the sign were left in the game; a text file included with the registered version distributed by Apogee explained the story behind the "Aardwolf" sign and asked gamers not to call in and say it (many did anyway). A 1997 commercial re-release by Activision, however, removed the sign and replaced it with graphics depicting a pile of bones, evidently to remove any reference to Apogee.

After completing an episode, the player is given a three-letter code in addition to a total score and time. This was part of a high-score contest that was abandoned for similar reasons to the "Aardwolf" one; the code would have been used to verify that a player got that score legitimately, without use of cheat codes.

The game was ported to the Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Mac OS, 3DO, Apple IIGS, Acorn Archimedes, and GBA. Many of the ports had different sounds, graphics, and levels. Some didn't even use the DOS version's episode format.

Some of the ports were derived from other ports and not from the original game. Both the Atari Jaguar and the Mac versions were based on the code of the Super NES port. However, both were developed independently of one another; the Jaguar port by id Software under the cooperation of Atari and the Mac port by MacPlay (The 3DO port was also developed by this team, making it mostly identical to the Mac version). The Apple IIGS port was in turn based on the Mac port.

The Super NES version of the game is notable for being heavily censored and edited, due to the Nintendo of America's censorship policy at the time. Due to this, most of the blood in the game was replaced with sweat (save for B.J.'s face becoming progressively bloodier as health dropped), and nazi references were removed. Adolf Hitler, who was a character in the game, had his moustache removed and was renamed "Straatmeiser" as well.

In several of the ports (specifically, the Atari Jaguar, Mac, and 3DO versions) the game's sprites and textures are redrawn as 128x128 pixel sprites, rather than 64x64 pixel sprites, allowing more detail in the game's characters and objects. However, they are drawn from one angle, like the bosses, eliminating the stealth element of the game.

In the Atari Jaguar port, the status bar was removed, with only displays for health, the head of BJ, ammo, and keys. Since there was no score, the treasure added to the player's health. There was also a flamethrower, and the rocket launcher, and along with the pistol and chaingun were based on graphics from Doom.

The Mac port and all derivative versions are the only ones to use authentic German voices and speech, recorded by native Germans. The other versions contain broken German phrases, with incorrect article and adjective usages, mostly stemming from the misunderstanding of the gender of the nouns.

Unlike the other ports, the Game Boy Advance port closely resembled the PC version of the game. Differences to the PC version included the removal of music and a change in the save system: the player has to complete a floor before they can save, but they can have up to 4 save games on one cartridge. It also used strong mipmapping which made objects and walls in the distance very pixellated.

Wolfenstein 3D was followed by several related games:

Spear of Destiny, a prequel to Wolfenstein 3D, released a short time after the original game, using the same engine.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW), a loose first-person shooter sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, released in 2001. The gameplay and the setting are similar to the original, but the graphics and audio elements receive an upgrade due to the Quake III Arena rendering engine.

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, a spinoff to RtCW, released in 2003. It is a free full-version multiplayer-only game, featuring elements from RtCW.

It seems like just eight months ago that Doom 3 was finally released to a rabid PC community slavering with anticipation. Wait, it was just eight months ago. Nevertheless, id Software has collaborated with longtime partner Nerve Software to bring us Doom 3's first expansion pack, Resurrection of Evil. The new add-on doesn't muck with the horror-movie presentation and run-and-gun gameplay laid down by the original, though it adds enough new weapons and enemies to make the expansion feel like a solid companion to the original. If Doom 3 left you wanting more, you'll find what you're looking for in Resurrection of Evil.

Something has once again gone very wrong on Mars...and you're the only marine who can fix it.

Resurrection of Evil picks up about two years after the hellish catastrophe of the original game. The Union Aerospace Corporation, in its infinite drive for profits, has established a new base to continue the study of an ancient Martian civilization uncovered by the original science team. During an exploratory mission, your character--a different marine than the one you played in Doom 3--unwisely picks up an evil artifact that just happens to open another portal to hell, which leads to the deaths of almost everyone on the base, as well as unleashes a new wave of demons, led by the demonic Dr. Betruger (who wants his toy back). With the help of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who acts as this game's Sarge, you'll have to blast your way through hordes of enemies as you attempt to reach hell to seal the artifact there, hopefully ending the threat of invasion forever.

Since this is an expansion pack, Resurrection of Evil plays almost exactly like the original Doom 3. The game is extremely dark, requiring you to use your trusty flashlight to explore its many nooks and crannies to detect enemy threats, many of which lurk unseen in the darkness. The flow of the action is similar to that of Doom 3, so you'll enter a new area, clear it of enemies, and look for a key item or security upgrade that will let you meet your objective and move on to the next area. There's not as much storyline here as in the original, which means you won't spend as much time poring over old e-mails and audio logs for clues. Furthermore, the cutscenes are sparse and widely separated. So despite its similarities to Doom 3, Resurrection of Evil feels even more like the sort of straightforward action game that the original Doom was.

Upon its release, Doom 3 boasted what was probably the most amazing graphics engine ever seen, yet most of the game was set in identical-looking industrial corridors. Resurrection of Evil attempts to rectify this shortcoming by placing you in a wider variety of environments. The first few levels are set in an archeological dig site similar to the one glimpsed at the very end of Doom 3, which adds some nice variety to the action. You'll spend the bulk of the game inside the base, though most of the levels are varied enough that the scenery never gets too old. Finally, it's back to hell again at the end of the game, though the designers don't get too crazy with either the waves of enemies or the final encounter there. On the whole, the action is solid throughout.

The new weapons, enemies, and hell powers add some needed variety to the basic Doom 3 action.

Much of the entertainment value in Resurrection of Evil comes from the incremental improvements made to your arsenal. You'll find the good old double-barreled shotgun a few hours into the game, which can only hold two shells at once but will put a massive hole in anything you manage to hit with it. Then there's the grabber, a physics weapon not unlike Half-Life 2's gravity gun. The grabber is more combat-focused, though, since you won't use it to solve any serious puzzles. You can use the grabber to snag enemy projectiles and fling them back, and you can make weapons out of a lot of environmental objects, too (as you'd expect, exploding barrels work nicely for this).

Rounding out your arsenal is the very artifact that started this whole mess. As you play through the game, the artifact will grant you powers you can activate at will. At first, you'll be able to slow down time for a few seconds, giving you a speed advantage over your enemies. Later on, the berserk power will be added to the artifact, enabling you to punch anything to death with one hit. Finally, toward the end of the game, you'll become invincible when you invoke the artifact, making you a real killing machine. Using your hell powers wisely becomes important, because the expansion sometimes throws a lot more enemies at you at one time than you saw in Doom 3. You'll come to rely on the artifact just as much as you do your regular weapons.

It's a good thing you have some new toys to play with, because hell's forces have been enhanced as well. The most common new enemy is the vulgar, which is like a super-imp. It hurls green plasma at you and is generally faster and more vicious than its brown counterpart. Fortunately, the vulgar's projectile is ripe for the grabber. There's also a tall, lumbering fellow with rocket launchers for hands and a computer screen for a mouth who acts as a long-range companion to the hell knight. Finally, there are the three hunters who serve as the game's bosses. Each boss comes at you a different way and requires you to use a combination of your hell powers and the grabber to win.

Resurrection of Evil adds a capture the flag mode to Doom 3's multiplayer. The CTF here was developed by ThreeWave, the same group that essentially created capture the flag in online shooters back in the days of Quake (though ThreeWave founder Dave Kirsch has since moved on). Resurrection's CTF is straightforward, though the included maps are well put together and feature a lot of nice touches, such as graphical cues as to base direction and even the classic ThreeWave logos for those nostalgists out there. There are also a handful of new deathmatch maps set in the dig site and in hell, which at least provide some new backdrops for all your fragging. Like Doom 3, single-player is the focus here, although the new multiplayer offerings, which are built for eight players, are quite sharp.

Even eight months later, the game's graphics are virtually unparalleled.

As an expansion pack, you'd expect Resurrection of Evil to look a lot like Doom 3. And it does. That's alright, though, considering Doom 3 is still one of the best-looking games around. As mentioned, the expansion spends more time in the archeological sites, which we didn't get to see enough of in the original. And even in the Mars base levels, the designers and artists have done a good job of differentiating this add-on from the base game. The new enemies and weapons are all just as realistically modeled and animated as those in Doom 3, again adding to the impressive quality of the visuals. As with the graphics, the sounds are almost all lifted straight from Doom 3-- though the new voice actors are good--and the new shotty packs a serious punch. Like its forebear, this expansion puts forth an exceptional audiovisual effort.

Resurrection of Evil does a good job of reprising the straight-ahead shooting of Doom 3, and the new additions help to add a little depth to what was admittedly a pretty basic action game. The expansion's not incredibly long, so a dedicated player can blow through it in eight to 10 hours. However, its action is solid and entertaining throughout, without ever feeling like a chore. When it comes down to it, anyone who enjoyed Doom 3 should have an equally good time playing through its first expansion.

DOOM 3 Hardware Guide Released

Everything you wanted to know and weren't afraid to ask.

We're generally not that geeky about the hard-core details of PC hardware, but when it comes to titles like DOOM 3 which push the limits of available technology (and look to make the most of even modest technology), we admit to dorking out a bit. And we suspect you're a lot like us that way. Now that its release is imminent, the question on most gamers' minds has been (apart from, when will I have my copy?): how will DOOM 3 run on my system?

Good thing, then, that stalwart hardware site HardOCP has posted the official, incredibly detailed DOOM 3 Hardware Guide. The HardOCP guys traveled to id's Texas offices to spend 65 hours with DOOM 3 on all manner of configurations, testing, playing, and testing some more. We bet there's hardly a hardware-related DOOM 3 question which isn't covered here.

What are the basic conclusions? Most broadly, HardOCP observes that DOOM 3 looks fantastic and offers full immersive game play even on the minimum specs recommended by id -- a refreshing contrast to many company's questionable minimum requirements. Impressively, DOOM 3 features advanced effects like shadows, specular lighting, and bump mapping even at modest quality modes. Further, the report finds no significant differences between comparable ATI and nVidia cards.

Likely you'll want to hop over and peruse the full guide. You've got our permission to fully geek out here. Of course, stay tuned for full DOOM 3 updates as they come in. Meantime, you have added it to your wishlist, haven't you?