Wirehead Studios

There is a lot of information buzzing around the internet about id's new projects but some of it is unclear.  I'm sure things will be cleared up as the convention comes to a close, but I figured opening up some dialogue would be fun.

Here's what I do know...

The game shown at Macworld is called Rage.  It will be a multi-platform title (PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3) and run at 60 hz on all platforms.

Source: http://kotaku.com/gaming/quakecon07/id-softwares-new-game-unveiled-285911.php

Trailer: http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/13707

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is set to be released on the PC on October 2nd, 2007.  It is unknown when the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be released.

Source: http://kotaku.com/gaming/quakecon07/enemy-territory-quake-wars-dated-285892.php

There will be a free web-based, ad-driven multi-player game in the Quake franchise called Quake Zero.  It  will be a modified version of Quake III Arena.

Source: http://kotaku.com/gaming/quakecon07/quake-zero-announced-285883.php

There will also be a game called Quake Arena released onto the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade.  This may or may not be a port of Quake III Arena.  There may or may not be a game with the same name released on the Nintendo DS.

Pi Studios is handling the work on the XBLA release, but they have not updated their website with any information on the game.  John mentioned a DS version as a possibility.

Source: http://pc.ign.com/articles/810/810595p1.html

id's previous titles (including Commander Keen) are now available on Steam.  Hexen II: Portal of Praevus, Heretic II, and Quake IV are noticeably absent.

Source: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?publisher=id&cc=US

And work on a Wolfenstein movie progresses...

Source: http://kotaku.com/gaming/quakecon07/hollenshead-talks-wolfenstein-movie-285904.php

Et tu, id? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget that Valve started by licensing the Quake and Quake 2 engines.  I think this is a form of reciprocity.  As for Hexen/Heretic, either they're not ported or Raven's not licensed them for Steam.  I'd have to read the article but I'll read it later.

Well I've read the stuff now and I've noticed something rather obvious with the article regarding Rage.  You're "against" a "machine"...  Now that the collective groan is over, I'm feeling a bit iffy on what I'm seeing so far.  I'm not sure this is a title I'm going to care for, but I'm not going to pass judgement from a minute-long teaser video either.  I'm not happy with the "60 Hz is all you can do" restriction again.  Why can't the game's prediction logic be decoupled from the renderer?  Same gripe I've had since Doom 3.  Ok, rant over.

Kain:  Quake Arena == Quake III Arena.  I think you're confusing it with Quake Zero.  I am rather puzzled by what Quake Zero is going to be.  I'm rather dismayed by Id's wanting to get into "in-game advertising" though.  Ok, I understand this is a 100% freebie, but how much is it going to go beyond this?  MUST we be bombarded by ads all the time?  I tell you what, I was annoyed enough by the damn 30 second ad in front of the Rage video.  It's not that I had to wait 30 seconds, it was the principle of it.  I could rant about it all day, oh well.  I'm really missing ROM cartridges about now.  I think I understand why Woodsman drinks, too.  :\

Personally, I skip videos that try and slip some kind of advertisement in. I've stopped watching tv broadcasts because of commercials, and I'll stop watching internet videos because of it. No biggie, plenty of fun stuff to see that's not bogged down and infested yet.

As for in-game advertising, I'm sure there'll be mods for PC-titles. There's nothing more entertaining than making fake ads, and if someone can just replace the real ads for some of those, it's all good fun again. :)

Dunno much about Rage, but I am kind of curious about Portal.

The problem with the in-game ads is they won't be static content.  They're pushing for streamed, dynamic ads.  Instead of those "Building safer worlds" videos on a TV monitor you might see a Chevy ad, or instead of a "game hog" magazine you'll see PC Gamer.  Next time you load up you'll see something else.  Maybe you'll see something you'd rather not.  The complaint I have is it requires bandwidth to send this stuff AND your computer is connecting to a third-party server in order to farm the ad content into your game.  Add into that the metrics - how long are you looking at the ad, when's the last time you played, how long did you play, etc, that go back to the marketing firm.  Showing a real world product is tolerable.  The bandwidth usage, invasion of privacy and especially lack of user-level content control is unforgivable.  It's MY COMPUTER not their electronic billboard, and they can spork themselves sideways if they think that's going to change.

Id hasn't done anything that bad and I don't know what they intend, but it's already out there (http://www.massiveincorporated.com/site_network/partners.htm) and
guess who owns it? (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/may06/05-04MassiveIncPR.mspx)

EA do it as well. They don't use Massive but some of their recent games do use an ad-streaming client. NFS Carbon is one such culprit. Needless to say my hosts file is well and truly modified to block such skullduggery (probably the reason I kept getting kicked off the servers too :P ).

Exactly. There's always a smart 'crew' that can hack stuff like that, if only because they're hard workers, more vigilant than the corporate hacks that devise the advertisement-systems and the copyprotection schemes.

Very true, but this concept of the "right to intrude" is becoming, well, intrusive.  There's cameras everywhere now, everything is being monitored, everyone wants to know who you are, where you're going, what you're doing, why you're doing it.  Marketing and terrorism (and Google too it seems) are doing a nice job of working hand in hand to create the surveillance police state mentality that Orwell warned about.  I realize I'm in danger of turning this into an off-topic rant, but dammit I play games to escape and take a break from the pressures of life on Earth, not deal with new ones.  Games are supposed to be for one's enjoyment.  When they stop becoming enjoyable I'll guess I'll just find something else to entertain me.