So with id Software working on the new Doom, one would hope that some details and screenshots leak out. Here is your first glimpse at the game thanks to Zip for sending it along. (Note: I'm assuming its fake, but neeto)

Writer Matt Schwenk from Spin Magazine is working on an article with the recent news of Trent Reznor of NIN doing the music for the new DOOM game from id Software. Spinmag has setup a special email address (doom@spinmag.com) asking for what the 'hardcore' gamers would like in the music, what type etc. Thanks BluesNews for the word. Personally I think it is next to impossible to choose the appropriate music for the game when we dont even know any details of what the gameplay will be like with the exception of being in the DOOM universe. Maybe thats just me though :)

Stomped has posted a short interview with Paul Jaquays of id software. He talks about the work on Q3: Team Arena, working at id and also answers a question about Doom.

Two alert readers noticed a Doom game running at id, showing up as "DOOM 0.01 win-x86-debug Aug 9 2000" and running the map x_doom2. Here is a picture of it in Gamespy. Of course euh this doesn't mean a whole lot but it's interesting to see at least especially since multiplayer isn't a big part in the new DOOM - it might well be a hoax. Oh well it's Sunday so wtf. Thanks MindBomb and MystDragon (if this is true ;) ).

There's a good article of the John Carmack speech on Gamespy recapping what he said about PCs versus consoles, operating systems and the mod community. Here's a little quote about the mod making

This led to Carmack expressing his thoughts on the growth of the mod community since the days of DOOM. Discussing the technical difficulties that some parts of Q3A present to mod developers, Carmack explained that some of the inherent technical obstacles in mod making for the Quake series served as a sort of litmus test for amateur developers--if you didn't enjoy unlocking the secrets that enabled you to make the most basic of mods, you probably weren't going to enjoy making anything larger than that

Lot's of cool stuff in there. For the Doom stuff here is that wrapup article of Steve again. And no, Doom isn't coming out tomorrow.

AMD Zone's Jeff Tom emailed us about his QuakeCon recap article. Besides event info and photos, Jeff scored some new information on Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and his possible work on the new Doom game.

After the crowd had left, I asked John Carmack what the status of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Doom 3 was. Apparently, Trent very much wants to do the music for Doom 3. Carmack added that a title soundtrack would also be something they might do for Doom 3, such as done with Quake III, as well as an opening theme like the Quake II introduction sequence. The music should be more ambient as well than id’s two previous games, Quake II and Quake III. All those who are worried about not being able to hear enemies in the game can breathe a sigh of relief, as this will also not be an issue with Doom 3’s music.

Ok guys now that the weekend is up a bunch of you are back and probably missed the story on Doom details etc. Well here is a rehash (and updated/larger list) of all the bigger details I could remember/dig up. Of course keep in mind all of these details are subject to change.

- Doom will be going back to DLLs, and will be using C++ (with the exception of the rendering code) instead of C
- Carmack feels the visual 'wow factor' of the new Doom will be a greater jump than it was from the recent jumps between Quake/Quake2/Quake3. (Lots of neeto new effects), but it will also focus on actual gameplay instead of just that 'wow factor'
- Single player is the absolute focus, and Carmack feels it will be their best single player experience to date.
- The game and editor/tools are now combined. You'll be able to simply type doom.exe -editor for example (Or maybe even an in-game toggle) (also see story)
- Spending more time on the sound code / game code with the new programmers on the team.
- There probably wont be much discussion on the gameplay specifics since what made Doom so big is always a subject of arguments. (No talking about the game itself)
- All of the Doom code is being written from scratch. Rendering etc.
- A port to XBox is likely, Linux is likely (although it will take some work) and Mac will be OSX only.
- The game will ship including most of the dev/editing tools
- The development/test platform is Windows2000. (They will also support 98/NT)
- The target spec system is very similar to the MSXBox (700mhz range, GeForce or better, except 128megs instead of the 64megs of an XBox)
- Making mods for Doom should be much easier than previous games due to the tools that are being used being on the same platform as the target playing system
- Doom may not be the next game for pro-gaming, he did hint at possible work on Q3A in the future (although if it would be id Software or another contracted company is unknown, probably contract)
- Bots have not been decided upon, depends on how frisky Mr.Elusive is feeling
- There will be a Doom test release much like the Quakes.

Other stuff you should check out is the Carmack follow-up story, as well as coverage on 3DActionPlanet and Stomped. Over at 3D Downloads is an mp3 recording of the talk (11mb).

Slashdot carried a story early this morning with a link to my summary of stuff about the new Doom that was revealed at the recent QuakeCon talk. Well The Carmack posted a response to some of the questions. It's pretty lengthy but here is how he sums it up:

> In the same interview he said, that he doesn't like integrated editors, and will never do so.

That was a significant change in my stance over the last year. Did I actually say "never"? You can just take the short answer of "I was wrong", but here is the longer argument (I went over this some in the talk): [snip]I do think there are real benefits to the user community from having the tools with the game -- my earlier objection were always based not wanting to give up any possible advantages that we could have as developers. The advantages are going to be especially strong for the linux and mac platforms: the entire tool chain will be available from day one on every platform the game runs on.

John Carmack

Just got out of the Carmack talk and as most people were hoping he gave out a few more details on the next Doom game. I'll do a quick summary before I forget stuff and give you guys a more complete set of things by Monday. Here ya go:

- Doom will be going back to DLLs, and will be using C++ (with the exception of the rendering code) instead of C
- Carmack feels the visual 'wow factor' of the new Doom will be a greater jump than it was from the recent jumps between Quake/Quake2/Quake3. (Lots of neeto new effects), but it will also focus on actual gameplay instead of just that 'wow factor'
- Single player is the absolute focus, and Carmack feels it will be their best single player experience to date.
- The game and editor/tools are now combined. You'll be able to simply type doom.exe -editor for example (Or maybe even an in-game toggle)
- Spending more time on the sound code / game code with the new programmers on the team.
- There probably wont be much discussion on the gameplay specifics since what made Doom so big is always a subject of arguments. (No talking about the game itself)
- All of the Doom code is being written from scratch. Rendering etc.
- A port to XBox is likely, Linux is likely (although it will take some work) and Mac will be OSX only.

6pm update: I just realized I left out one important detail. Carmack mentioned off-handedly that there will be a test release of the new Doom.

Doomworld has an incredibly long opinion piece about the new Doom project id is working on getting answers from several of the developers who played a large part in the original Doom series including The Romero.

There's a guy on eBay selling a BFG. This baby features a "Knight Rider" like LED display, a digital audio generator and speaker unit and a flash generator. Only for the real crazy people. Current price is $5.50. Thanks Jeff.

Version 0.6 of csDoom, the client / server Doom mod is now available. There's a lot of new stuff available in this version, so if you still dig playing Doom go get this.

Hey we havent had something about the new Doom game id Software is working on in a while right? Here is an article on Apple.com (Thanks Rake) which has a very interesting quote from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails:

He’s Game for Games
... he’s been talking to John Carmack about scoring the music for a new version of Doom. “I would do something like that mainly because it’s a hobby of mine, I appreciate the technology, and it’s fun to work outside Nine Inch Nails once in a while. <snip>

A new version of JDoom, the popular Doom source project that has OpenGL support. Among other things now supports glBSP, multi-level demos and also has a few new command line options and settings.

Well, since we havent heard much about the new Doom since the announcement by John Carmack here is a bit for you guys. Digital-Eel managed to corner a few developers including former id Software level designer Brandon James and ask them about it. The one question they ask which is interesting is: "Should id listen to fan input when creating Doom?" Here is Brandon's response:

Nope...but it can't be helped. Too many message-boards and news pages. Oops, forgot about "fan mail". There are always great ideas to be kicked around that originate off of Scary's, EA's, etc. However I've always been for periods of "net blackouts" where the designers can sit down and focus on the overall project, or task at hand.

Yeah, we're just pulling out all the stops today. Another Napster story, and another Doom story. Dig it! Oh, we're not gonna call it Doom3 around here anymore btw, id Software has never called it that so we'll just lean towards calling it 'Doom' or 'new Doom' or something.

Gameslice's GeoffK has posted his own opinion on a new Doom game.

Over on Doomworld is a rebuttal to the Gamespy article Doom 3: Possibly The Worst Idea In The History Of Gaming, looking at why Gamespy author Chris Buecheler might be wrong on some points.

The official press release for the next-generation Doom game just came out. The PR didnt come through Activision as usual though but through a private PR company. Here is a bit of it:

... "We expect to once again dramatically advance first-person gaming both technically and artistically with this title," Hollenshead added.  "Other than that, id does not plan on issuing additional comments until the game is ready to speak for itself." <snip>

There's an opinionated article over at Gamespy, Doom 3, Possibly the worst idea in the history of gaming , with author shaithis explaining why id will fail with a new DOOM game.
update Jack - I've promoted this to a "real" story from a mini-one, since it seems people are enjoying commenting on it :-) Note that the subject doesn't represent the ol' Shack's views on the matter.

Bobby Prince (the guy behind the Doom & Duke Nukem 3D music) posted a note to his website saying that MP3.com has closed his website with Doom mp3s for the 3rd time. He encourages everyone to write in to mp3.com and tell them what a bunch of goobers they are. Thanks Ant.