New Enemy Territory: Quake Wars details revealed

GRAPEVINE, Texas--The creators of the popular free modification, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, are now hard at work on their next project. While the previous game was based on Gray Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the new game will be based on id's and Raven's upcoming game Quake 4. Like with that game, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will take place during the conflict between the human soldiers of Earth (known as the Earth Defense Force, or the EDF) and the evil Strogg alien invaders.

The game will be powered by id Software's Doom III engine, but unlike last year's dark, horror-themed shooter, Quake Wars will take place in many varied environments, several of which will be outdoor areas. The new game will use a new "megatexture" technology developed by John Carmack, of id Software, that will let the developers create environments that render terrain all the way out to the horizon (rather than forcing the game to occlude parts of the landscape with fog or other effects to cover up a limited draw distance).

According to Wedgwood, the new technology will also let the development team assign different physical properties to different parts of the level, such as making certain surfaces made of asphalt (which will be noisier to walk upon but offer better traction for land vehicles) and others made of sand (which will be quieter to walk upon but will bog down those military jeeps). Apparently, since the game takes place on Earth just prior to the first invasion conflict that preceded the events in 1997's Quake II (in which players took on the role of a lone soldier who had to hunt down the invading Stroggs' leader), the game will take place in varied environments on the planet. In fact, it will take place not just in the desert region shown in the E3 demo movie but also possibly in temperate and jungle zones.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars doesn't have a final release date. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more updates.