What is HOXAR Inc.? Apparently, John Romero knows

A source tells us Romero Games is building a new game revolving around this company.

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Update: Our source must be good. Romero just retweeted us.

Original Story: I just came across an interesting website that a credible anonymous source has told me is related to a new game coming from former id co-founder and co-creator of DOOM and Quake John Romero through his company Romero Games. Romero has already suggested he is working on a new shooter for PC.

Take a gander at HOXAR Inc. The site looks like your normal company website, but it has a few interesting links that hint at something deeper.

There is this section on "predictive memory technology," and the "BLACKROOM." And the press releases call the company "the cutting edge developer, fabricator, and operator of holographic solutions around the globe." Holodeck anyone?

How this exactly ties into the as-yet-unnamed game is unclear at this point, as the source wouldn't offer too many details. The domain registration, which occurred on Feb. 4 of this year, reveals nothing other than the registration is private. We'll just need to keep watching the site for updates and additions.

The faux company, "based" in Scottsdale, AZ, has the usual social media hooks already. The Facebook page is still a bit barren, but a Twitter account is a bit more fleshed out. It came online on April 13, promoting the company and its job openings. The feed went so far as to tweet that its Chief hNode Engineer Dr. Santiago Sonora would be speaking at "a virtual entertainment summit" in August. Yes, the plot thickens. Will Sonora be the bad guy?

So the groundwork has apparently been intricately laid to make this as believable as possible. Anyone else get a Black Mesa, Aperture Science or even Abstergo Industries feel to this?

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 15, 2016 12:57 PM

    John Keefer posted a new article, What is HOXAR Inc.? Apparently, John Romero knows

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:03 PM

      Exclusive to the Shack folks. Give it lots of love

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:09 PM

      Hmm interesting

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:11 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        April 15, 2016 7:57 PM

        Ueber here, saw this on his Twitter feed just a now and had to come laud the Shacknews ref. I am loving it!

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:15 PM

      Whoa! New fps?

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:21 PM

      I get a SiN feeling to this...at least I can hope!

      • reply
        April 15, 2016 2:01 PM

        Whatever it is, earlier this year romero released a fantastic doom map and was tweeting and posting on doomworld that it was done on the side over the course of a few days in his spare time as he was getting warmed up for designing maps for his new game. Romero interviews always highlight that the man knows and understands design and what makes a game fun. I really hope with him doing actual grunt work and not just publicity this will be a return to form because he and sandy pertersen are in retrospect the guys that defined doom/quake for me.

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:26 PM

      is he going to make me his bitch this time?

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 1:52 PM

      I knew all the times I defended him and his beautiful mane against the shack hate train would come to fruition. COINCIDENCE?

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 2:32 PM

      Romero, you need to teach nu-id a lesson!

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        April 15, 2016 2:39 PM

        This has been posted a million times (by others and myself) but I think for a long time when doom and quake fell out of what appealed to the zeitgeist the things that made the game so great have been overlooked. But even before nu-doom coming there has been a revival and acknowledgement of dooms design. These two links are really insightful :

        https://youtu.be/yuOObGjCA7Q and http://vectorpoem.com/news/?p=74

        I hope the sp of the game adheres to this design even if the mp clearly doesn’t.

        • reply
          April 15, 2016 2:59 PM

          Both those links are fantastic, Hoax. I completely agree. While nu-id seems Doom as shooting shotguns in a demonic landscape, they appear to have missed the subtle strategy and systemic agency that gave the game its long life. Matthias Worch (SiN & Mafia 3) gave a great talk at GDC about the latter a few years ago:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEF4GVNzkUw#t=21m05s

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            April 15, 2016 3:06 PM

            Thx, 5 min in and its really interesting.

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      April 15, 2016 2:48 PM

      who the fuck is John Romero?

      • reply
        April 15, 2016 11:52 PM

        A guy who's going to make you his bitch

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 2:57 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      April 15, 2016 3:08 PM

      Updated the story with Romero retweeting our story. Definitely legit. I never doubted my source

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      April 15, 2016 3:23 PM

      Maybe it's HoxaR.

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      April 15, 2016 3:36 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 15, 2016 3:49 PM

      Anybody remember Slipgate Ironworks?

      ...


      Didn't think so.

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        April 15, 2016 4:06 PM

        Whoa, that takes me back. Did anything ever emerge from that like screens, demo reels, or even just a general concept? Tom Mustaine was involved with that, right? He's heading up Snapmap at Escalation for nu-id now.

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          April 15, 2016 4:18 PM

          Mustaine was involved with Severity, the CPL game which Romero was chairman of the board for according to Wikipedia. Not really sure what Romero's involvement was for that other than hyping yet another project that went no where.

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      April 15, 2016 8:01 PM

      I will damn sure support anything the man does at this point. I don't even care if it sucks. It's my hope now that he and Carmack and the rest of original id team do a spiritual successor to Doom, since id is now nothing like they used to be.

      I've tweeted this to Romero before and he liked it, I think he's always fancied the idea of getting the guys back together.

      Look what the parallax guys are doing with Overload. It can happen! I have the faith brothers!

      • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
        reply
        April 15, 2016 10:43 PM

        Great story, Keefer!!

      • Ziz legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        April 16, 2016 3:55 AM

        He's already made you his bitch.

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        April 16, 2016 4:38 AM

        I'm sure Romero wants to but Carmack seems happy just working at Oculus and never seemed very nostalgic. I think the other probably from ID would be up for it but I just don't see Carmack doing it.

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          April 16, 2016 6:21 AM

          I think if all of them propositioned him he'd do it. I know he's got some churlish beef with Romero from way back. Time heals though.

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      April 15, 2016 8:11 PM

      isn't this like the 6th company john romero has founded? hasn't ever managed to really recapture that id success.

      it would be so cool if he did though. can you imagine? like the guy just coming screaming back with a few last great hits.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      April 15, 2016 10:19 PM

      His track record over the course of the 21st century doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

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        April 15, 2016 10:52 PM

        Yeah. I'm not sure he's relevant except as a speaker and general industry dude.

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          April 16, 2016 1:22 AM

          So when exactly did he become not relevant?
          He (imo) still has a relevance for the fact alone, that he worked on some of the most iconic games in the history of games -ever-.
          I'm tired of how everything has to be 'new' to have relevance. Hell - I'm tired of how everyone seems to be judged solely on the last thing they did. This is a huge flaw in western world society.

          • reply
            April 16, 2016 3:53 AM

            counterpoint: Peter Molyneux

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            April 16, 2016 6:07 PM

            I'm not judging him on the last thing he did. I'm judging on his succession of things after his very successful one. It's entirely possible he's contributing greatly to his industry and I am unaware. At some point "guy who contributed to DOOM" can't grant him a Midas touch everywhere he goes. For me he lost that long ago.

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        April 16, 2016 1:32 AM

        So far. Even as a guy who had a to play through Daikatana for review, I'm willing to give him a chance.

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          April 16, 2016 4:25 AM

          Daikatana actually had a lot of cool ideas and was ahead of its time in many respects. It's just that the core gameplay sucked ass.

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