QuakeCon 07: id Rage-ing on PC, Mac, 360, PS3

  • By Tor Thorsen, Jason Ocampo, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 3, 2007 5:00 pm PT

Doom-maker crafting all-new driving-shooting actioner set in open-world, postapocalyptic wasteland.

In June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), id Software cofounder and chief technical officer John Carmack took the stage alongside Apple CEO Steve Jobs to show off a technology demo. Cryptically titled "id Tech 5," the clip showed a scene reminiscent of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Dune buggies raced through a canyon dotted by what looked like postapocalyptic settlements, and then the camera zoomed inside a hut for a first-person conversation with a merchant straight out of Bartertown.

Rage Trailer

Check out John Carmack's newest game engine in action.

At the WWDC, Carmack promised to have the same demo--which features over 20GB of texture information--running in real time on the PC, Macintosh, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 at the E3 Media & Business Summit in July. However, by the time the scaled-down expo was done, there was no sign of the demonstration anywhere.

Today, though, id Tech 5 surfaced. Behind closed doors at QuakeCon 2007 in Dallas, id CEO Todd Hollenshead revealed that the demo was actually the first look at Rage, an all-new IP. As mentioned at WWDC, the game is in simultaneous development for the PC, Mac, PS3, and 360, and will use the second generation of id's "MegaTexture" technology. The game will be come on a single Blu-ray Disc for PS3 owners, while all other versions will require two DVDs.

Speaking to a small collection of game journalists, Hollenshead explained that Rage was a deliberate departure from the corridor shooters that made id famous. Its gameplay will be "60 percent shooting and 40 percent driving" between villages in a postapocalyptic wasteland. Its setting will be a far future that has seen civilization decimated after a comet smashes into the Earth. Players will aid the villages' inhabitants in fighting both an oppressive regime and various mutants and monsters roaming the wasteland.

According to Rage lead designer Tim Willits, the game's title has a threefold meaning. "You're fighting against a postapocalyptic government, so you're raging against the machine," he said. "Then there's driving combat, so there's road rage." Willits also said that "you can't spell garage without 'rage,'" and then revealed the game will have shops where players can extensively customize their vehicles.

Rage will have open-world elements, allowing players to exit their vehicles and explore caves and other parts of the landscape. The game will feature a single-player campaign that will clock in around 20 hours, but will allow individual missions to be played in co-op mode. No other multiplayer details were announced.

In another major departure from the infamously gory Doom and Quake games, id is developing Rage with a T-for-Teen rating in mind. As with all games from the famously reclusive studio, it will ship "when it's done."

During a presentation at the QuakeCon keynote, Carmack quashed hopes of a Wii version of the game, saying that the id Tech 5 engine could not be ported to Nintendo's latest system. Nintendo fans needn't be too crestfallen, however, as Carmack told reporters earlier in the day he'd be happy to make Wii games, and has toyed with the idea of making a Quake Arena-themed game for the DS. There's nothing official about such a project yet, but Carmack said he likes the machine's Wi-Fi and game-sharing capabilities.

Carmack also described his "inverted" approach to developing new intellectual properties to reporters, saying id started Orcs and Elves on a cell phone, and then moved it up to the DS. If it works there, Carmack said he'd like to bring it to the Wii as well. Such an approach to building new properties makes sense, Carmack said, because the initial investment put at risk is much smaller.

226 Comments

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Mar 6, 2009 3:48 pm PT

    This...sounds incredibly AWESOME! O_O

  • smithy1185

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 7:31 pm PT

    Wow, can't wait for Rage!

  • frankeyser

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 11:31 am PT

    anyone else think the new game engine was not to impressive? i mean really. it looked like a supped up doom 3 game. i am not overly impressed. and why when i listed to the interview did he state that rage could not be ported to the wii but the id tech 5 engine could?
    also who cares abotu swtiching disks? i mean serisoulsy i have been doing it for years now. never really bugged me. i guess some people are just really lazy.

  • willripyouanew1

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 9:25 am PT

    Great technology crapy game concept.

  • pathogenb

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 5:41 pm PT

    "EddyG0RD0 FPS on 2 discs."

    who cares? ever play a GameCube game on two discs? oh no, you have to swap discs after 10 hours. NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! meh.

  • Cra2y

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 4:40 pm PT

    imo, Epic is the new leader in game engines. , and the BF2 engine (whatever engine). Time will tell when ET:QW and UT3 come out. Crysis will probably out do both though

  • Cra2y

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 4:29 pm PT

    And you cant spell stupid without id. The tech demo 5, looked very doom 3 enigne. Also, lets here of Carmacks plans on physics, says current vid cards can produce the same physics as a add on physx card. Lets see it then.

  • madder128

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 3:28 pm PT

    This looks sweet, this is the closest thing i'll get to being Mad Max in a game so i'm happy. Also great to see its not a sequel in one of there on going franchises such as Doom and Quake.
    "i'll drive that Tanker"

  • jamesfffan

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 2:52 pm PT

    every fanboy is sad

  • zeus_gb

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 12:46 pm PT

    Another impressive John Carmack engine.

  • MrAuthority

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 10:43 am PT

    P.S even though bluray can fit more data on it the PS3 OS takes up 70MB (around that) 360 only 20 (again around that) so textures ARE compressed more on the PS3 than on the 360's - in response to what Slash_out said

  • MrAuthority

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 10:33 am PT

    annoys me gamespot say that the id Tech 5 engine could not be ported to nintendos system (wii)- what he infact said is Rage can not be ported but in fact Tech 5 COULD be ported .... NOT Rage - thats what John said in an interview to another site.

  • WillyMann

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 10:19 am PT

    hahaha, Carmack says " Even though the PC version may be close to completion, the 360 may be a week behind, and the PS3 may be a few months behind!" lolol

  • Slash_out

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 9:13 am PT

    It isn't the first time game came out on multiple cd/dvd -_-.
    Why the fuss on something so irrevelant?
    Some FF had 4 cd's ! And still it was some of the best games ... lot's of game where on 2 dvd on PS2 as well... Like Grandia 3, or shadow hearts for example. More Dvd is suposed to be a bad thing? I rememebr a time, when lot's of player where excited of having more cd's on a game, and where enjoying the nice package that came with it.
    And the price is not changing for the extra dvds. The quality is probably the same as the Blueray version too, since they will not compress the texture or decrease their quality as they will need one more DVD to store it.

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 1:33 am PT

    @djsaskdja
    Well said. It really isn't such a big deal. Nobody ever berated FFVII for coming on multiple discs on SONY'S PS1. They were too busy enjoying the damn game like they were suposed to be doing.

    @imprezawrx500
    Oh please. You're pathetic. Stop using such an irrelevant point to fight an even more irrelevant "war". People like you (and you all know who you are) are simply boring. Get over yourselves. You are not big or clever. You are quite the opposite.

  • djsaskdja

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 9:46 pm PT

    Well I guess if you want to pay 200 dollars more just to get the game on 1 disk be my guest I guess but seriously it isn't that big of a deal jeez.

  • imprezawrx500

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 5:40 pm PT

    dvd9 is enough huh?
    "id's "MegaTexture" technology. The game will be come on a single Blu-ray Disc for PS3 owners, while all other versions will require two DVDs."

  • EddyG0RD0

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 5:17 pm PT

    Blu-Ray is the future , just like DVD was for CD.

  • Corrosion

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 2:08 pm PT

    Those little Wiis.... Hehehe.

  • slipshoddoa

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 1:12 pm PT

    Funny how everyone is focusing on the Blu-ray vs DVD argument when the most technologically advanced versoin will be on the PC and that will defintely be on DVD. Did it occur to anyone that they probably are going to have single player on one DVD and multiplayer on another? Also, check IGN's video if you want to hear Carmack himself talk about how it is invariably the PS3 version that holds everyone back. He specifically talks about the PS3 having less available RAM (about 100 MB) due to Sony's bloated OS and the split memory architecture which means a lot of data is duplicated between main memory and video memory.

  • laifox

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 12:31 pm PT

    woo! not another doom or quake!, this game looks like a lot of fun (kinda oblivion style...in the future ) and the graphics...oh my!...

  • Xenothaulus

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 11:29 am PT

    Wasn't this called Auto Assault before?

  • sascha23

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 10:33 am PT

    Nice to see the blu-ray being tapped so early in its life-cycle. This should be a fun game. Hopefully a bit more diverse than Doom 3 which got a bit boring once you got used to the impressive graphics.

  • makemeweak

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 8:40 am PT

    The new engine sounds cool, but the new game sounds a little below average.

  • EddyG0RD0

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 8:39 am PT

    FPS on 2 discs.

  • flashtek

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 7:02 am PT

    It does look great but it does look abit like Tatoonie ( thx S2333). Maybe they could maybe add some tress or something. I know a comet hit the earth but so long after the impact something should start growing.

  • S2333

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 4:44 am PT

    Looks cool.
    Doubt my comp could hold up those graphics though.
    I do like this new approach from id though.
    The landscape reminds me of Tatoonie from Star Wars cause of the desert and junk yards.

  • Erebus posted Aug 6, 2007 3:10 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Erebus

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 3:10 am PT (hide)

    40% driving? That is unfortunately WAY too derivative. You drive and drive and drive and drive, then you gert out and explore the one place you can shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and shoot until you have to drive and drive and drive and drive again....

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 2:01 am PT

    Ugh. You fanboys just love to suck the fun out of everything don't you? You people don't DESERVE good games.

    Rage looks awesome - I'm sure it'll be just as amazing on every single platform, you mark my words.

    Now grow up.

  • SporkFireXPS posted Aug 5, 2007 10:49 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    SporkFireXPS

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:49 pm PT (hide)

    flackstone wrote:
    "yes did u know they had a price drop thats not really a price drop wow amazing so they sold a few units its just because its cheep we will see what happens this holiday"

    Did I just hear an Xbox 360 fan say the PS3 is cheap? I would agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that the PS3 still costs more than all the other systems even with the price drop. So yes, the PS3 sales have doubled in most stores even with it costing $100 dollars more. That makes it even better, thanks for bringing that up.

  • fizzyfunk

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:36 pm PT

    Nice, fallout in a collision with doom and motorstorm anyone? either way, looks pretty good and may give fallout 3 a run for it's money! Why is it every multi platform games comments always end up causing yet more of the same arguments??

  • flackstone

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:10 pm PT

    neneyankee4life wrote:
    "ill have fun watching the ps3 go down little by little...lol"

    Go down? Did you know in the past month PS3 sales have about doubled in most retail/online stores?

    yes did u know they had a price drop thats not really a price drop wow amazing so they sold a few units its just because its cheep we will see what happens this holiday.

  • tit24

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:08 pm PT

    Doom 3 and a 1/3--in the desert with buggies . Lip syncing is crap at the beginning of the teaser trailer as well. Not that impressed at all.

  • Astral_Vapor

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 9:50 pm PT

    a cross platform dev kit? and it looks good. count me in.

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 9:48 pm PT

    "I hope they include support for Keyboard and mouse on the consoles though for the FPS sections! Driving is ok with the controller, but you need keyboard & mouse for FPS, controllers are crap for FPS games."

    Well that was a pretty PC fanboy statement. The only edge a KB/M has over a controller is a bit more precision. These days, thumbsticks, pressure sensitive triggers and buttons, a d-pad, and something that can fit in two hands is much better equipped and easier to use then having a clunky lap board. >_>

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 9:45 pm PT

    "hmm, interesting thing this 1 BR vs 2 DVD argument. Before the first game came about which caused this situation, 360 owners were like 'You don't need more than a DVD anyway, 9GB is enough for a game". Now its 'Bah, I don't mind changing DVDs whilst playing"."

    Exactly. Your an idiot if you deny the blatant fact that this generation of games needs more space then 9 gigs.

  • SporkFireXPS

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 8:34 pm PT

    neneyankee4life wrote:
    "ill have fun watching the ps3 go down little by little...lol"

    Go down? Did you know in the past month PS3 sales have about doubled in most retail/online stores?

  • rokkuman09

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 7:14 pm PT

    Only people who use Macs are ignorant Apple fanboys, and noobs drawn by their so called "innovative" OS.. It's not innovative in any way.. Macs suck.

  • manny_stlye

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 7:12 pm PT

    Looks really beautiful, hopefully 3rd party PS3 developers(the handfull of them) can learn something from id and have their games come out on the 360 as well. Any way no game should be over 20 GB, son it would only be two DVD's on the 360

  • snorlaxmaster

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 6:43 pm PT

    Sounds cool!!! A nice addition to the PS3.

  • link631

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 6:20 pm PT

    nice!

  • KillerJamJam

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 6:19 pm PT

    Cool, another post - apocalyptic anarchy based game. Thats a cool concept providing its not overdone. Looks interesting.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 5:08 pm PT

    I'll get the X360 version, as I worry that the PS3 version will somehow try to take advantage of the PS3's "innovative SIXAXIS controls", and I'm a whore for points, and I realize the PS3 is trying to copy that whole achievement system, but I already have quite a bit of X360 achievements to want to add to; yes, I'm that shallow

  • Dr_Corndog

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 5:01 pm PT

    "You can't spell 'garage' without 'rage'". That's stretching it just a wee bit.

  • sancezz

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 3:23 pm PT

    Cool. I like games with more than one disc, gives a sense of a much bigger game, like the Final Fantasy games on the PS1. They FELT huge, because they came on 3-4 discs...as well as the fact that they WERE huge. But yeah. Anyway Rage looks like a game to watch, glad ID are moving away from Quake and Doom, they're getting a bit...behind the times nowadays.

  • don_juvin

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 3:06 pm PT

    I thought that the "disc limitation" wasn't going to be for another year or two. disc swapping isn't a big deal. but this issue about space has come alot quicker than expected. oh well.

  • TheKretinousQ

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 3:01 pm PT

    Dude that looks swish. Kinda wish the 360 wouldn't need two discs but that's just the way it is. Must say looks/sounds amooozing

  • GamerYnoX

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 2:42 pm PT

    For those saying "ps3 aint doin so good" u guys gotta remember the ps3 is still a "kid". Many good games r still to come so it can only gets better...
    Don't remember any great games that came to 360 on its first year.
    360 have the titles but its been longer out there so I'll see what happens in the future... As for consoles im getting a PS3 for sure.

  • Williedude87

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 2:22 pm PT

    Haha all you MS fanboys trying to claim Sony has not been vindicated. Sure, swapping disks is not that big of a deal, but all of you guys have been saying "Games this generation will NEVER require that much space, with compression DVD's will never be filled for games." I'm sorry, but its time for all of you to eat a little humility and humble pie. Sony and the people that said games will want it are vindicated. When your wrong, your wrong. Just admit it you egotistical fanboys. You guys are worse then politicians.

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