Being the giant id Software fanboy that I am, QuakeCon is and always has been my favorite gaming event every year. The annual keynote address, typically kicked off by Todd Hollenshead and wrapped up by John Carmack, has a lot to do with that sentiment.
This year's event was no different than QuakeCon keynotes of yore, starting with Mr. Hollenshead rattling off several awesome-sounding QuakeCon-related game sales. Every iOS game put out by id (Rage/Rage HD iOS, Doom II RPG, Wolfenstein, etc.) will be at least half-off throughout the weekend. Furthermore, if the Rage Facebook pages gets 100,000 likes by the end of the weekend, the Rage iOS games will be free for a limited time. For the PC gamers out there, there are plenty of deals to be had, too; the Doom/Quake pack (which includes every Doom and Quake game available on Steam) is only $29.99. You can also buy the "QuakeCon Pack," which includes every Bethesda Softworks and id Software title available on Steam, for only $69.99. That price goes down even more if you pre-order Rage, Skyrim, or both.
The one sad bit of news to come out of QuakeCon 2011? There will be no mention of Doom 4 at this year's event. id wants to keep all of the focus on Rage, which is understandable, but we seem to recall Todd Hollenshead promising some sort of Doom 4 news in 2011 during his QuakeCon 2010 keynote. For now, however, we're stuck with "better luck next year."
After the new Rage trailer debuted and Hollenshead gave the introductory remarks, John Carmack took the stage for one of his legendary QuakeCon talks. Over the course of about 2.5 hours, Carmack touched on Rage ("...the most enjoyable game I've ever done"), the Android platform ("...[I have] too many other things on my plate to make Android development a personal crusade") and how patents are causing a headache for everyone ("...everyone's infringing and everybody knows it; it's a parasitic cost for the computer industry").
Carmack also had some choice words for NASA, saying the entity was no longer "a good value," and that the recently-closed Space Shuttle program was an experiment that lasted two decades longer than it should have. As for his own Armadillo Aerospace, which actually had an operating profit this years, John revealed that AA would no longer seek government contracts and focus on its own internal goals and experiments.
Other exciting tidbits:
- There is no plan or team in place for a future Quake title.
- The id Tech 4 engine (Doom 3, Quake 4, Brink) will be come open source "later this year."
- Quake Live is a "business failure" - it loses money for id Software - but they don't plan on shutting it down anytime soon.
- Doom 4: Will probably run at 30 Hz for single player, and 60 Hz for MP. Most of the Rage dev team will migrate to Doom 4 once the game ships later this year.
- Rage 2 is going to happen after Doom 4, assuming Rage 1 is a success.
- Rage will not have dedicated servers, and there will be no Eyefinity support at launch.
- id Software currently has no Mac or Linux strategy.
We'll be posting more news as the weekend progresses, and we should have some id Software interviews to post as well in the coming days. Stay tuned!
[Ed. Note: For the lucky few attending QuakeCon this weekend: If you see me - look for the Tom's Hardware press badge- don't be shy! Say hello! If you follow me on Twitter (@devinconnors) I'll try and keep my whereabouts updated. -Devin Connors]
