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id Software goes Mobile

Tom Magrino
By Tom Magrino

John Carmack's venerable studio forms new gaming division for portable platforms; ports of original Quake, Wolfenstein, and Doom RPG sequel announced.

With Doom, id Software chief John Carmack created groundbreaking technology that reinvented the way games look and play on the PC. In 2005, the tech-savvy programmer accomplished a similar feat for the mobile platform with Doom RPG, a role-playing take on the classic first-person shooter franchise that was codeveloped by Fountainhead Entertainment. Carmack and Fountainhead followed up that success with the equally well-received Orcs & Elves in 2006. Orcs and Elves for the Nintendo DS went on sale this week.

On the heels of that release, id and Carmack are diving headfirst into mobile gaming with the formation of a new division devoted exclusively to developing for mobile and handheld platforms, reports USA Today. id Mobile will be headed up by Katherine Anna Kang, founder of Fountainhead Entertainment and former director of business development at id Software.

"The whole reason we are in the mobile arena now is I was just really appalled at how bad [cell phone games] were," said Carmack of the new mobile division. "We're already making profit on 2 million units of games [sold], but we are kind of holding out this hope there might be a breakout moment when the industry gets five to 10 times larger."

In addition to mobile ports of the original Quake and Wolfenstein 3D, id Mobile's first projects include a sequel to Doom RPG. During this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, id also revealed that it was developing Orcs and Elves II, which continues the storyline of the original game and adds in seven new environments to the fantasy world. USA Today reports that Orcs and Elves II will be available for mobile phones in December, and will be published by EA Mobile.

Tom Magrino
By Tom Magrino

Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.

24 comments
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ctg867
ctg867

Crappy Quake and Wolfenstein ports for DS confirmed.

Proman84
Proman84

What about new "Dangerous Dave" and "Commander Keen" games? That would be cool!

MasterChief725
MasterChief725

that is great, when I get a new phone, i am getting Wolf3D, doom RPG, Quake, and the orcs + elves games! CANT WAIT!!

dorohala
dorohala

Hey its not bad playing games on your phone sweet!!!

MetalZombieII
MetalZombieII

Everyone freaking out about the cell phone thing, just chill, hes is talking about and including the PSP and DS in his definition of mobile gaming and I think those two platforms would benifit from ID making games for them. I could see playing Wolfenstein and Doom games on those two systems. Better devs making games on all mobile gaming systems = a good thing.

eric1320
eric1320

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

osxgp
osxgp

Mobile games are meant for Nintendo and Sony...Not Nokia or Motorola.

yanyatkai
yanyatkai

I doubt that how good a FPS would be on the cell phone since the screen is small and the control is probably bad.

NeoNavarro
NeoNavarro

I never played games on my cell phones my vision is Sh!tty as it is staring at a 46' Sony LCD playing the 360 I'll be blind if I played games on a 1 1/2' screen. John Carmack how did you know we all wanted crappy cell phone versions of your games? I think video games rotted his brain...

raahsnavj
raahsnavj

Just what I wanted and 1 1/2" FPS!

NnyCW
NnyCW

Fantastic news. Love the idea of mobile games, just a shame so many aren't any good at all. Nice to see iD following up on their own, which was one of the rare few that were.

GANGSTASAN
GANGSTASAN

personally, i think doom rpg is the best mobile game, i hope the next one has boss fights (bettr and more)and the chainsaw in to.

imortiferus
imortiferus

iPhone and DS... target those two platforms.

ColdfireTrilogy
ColdfireTrilogy

Hope my phone is finally supported ... silly krzr .... all hype and no support :(

SkarpHedin
SkarpHedin

totally awesome. Doom RPG was a great game, so was Orcs and Elves. I rarely ever play games on my cellphone, but those games got my attention to the end.

mashom
mashom

WoW Doom in Mobile, perfect nice i hope it work fine.

Dolacide
Dolacide

How about some more DS love?

Supernova_86
Supernova_86

It should just be for Nintendo DS. People actually buy games for their DS, unlike their phones with the inferior numeric keypads which have no place in gaming.

RobJustice
RobJustice

I would totally buy more Cell Phone games if they didn't suck so hard. Doom RPG was really cool but like Carmack, I am just really appalled at how bad cell phone games are.

Mr_Unknown
Mr_Unknown

OK, how many people here buy games for their cell phones?

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