In an effort to educate "a new generation of would-be pirates," the Software & Information Industry Association (previously the Software Publishers Association) has released a modern sequel to its classic 1992 anti-piracy music video, "Don't Copy That Floppy."

As "MC Double Def DP" raps "turn your talent and your passion into a career" at the 3:25 mark, the video provides a quick look at some models from id's shooter RAGE, an appearance from id CEO and outspoken anti-piracy advocate Todd Hollenshead, and a glimpse of the monsters that lurk behind desks at the studio known for DOOM.

"'Don't Copy That 2' uses humor to bring a serious message to today's youth and remind us all that copyright piracy is a crime," explained SIAA Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement SVP Keith Kupferschmid, who then added... Read more

All things considered, the interview was progressing normally. id CEO Todd Hollenshead and I were sitting across from each other in the QuakeCon Press Lounge. I had just asked when id's next game, Rage, was coming out. I didn't expect a straight answer.

Nor did I get one, but that's beyond the point. Because, as Todd was explaining why id is so reluctant to provide a date--"we don't work to a time, we work to a quality level"--fate intervened in the form of an extremely inquisitive mystery woman. She wanted to know what kind of press would cover video games. And if we were from Game Informer.

The result? An interview that I, and most likely Todd, won't forget any time soon.

Todd Hollenshead: The next Wolfenstein is going to be internal at id. The next big Quake game is going to be internally developed at id. Rage, obviously, and the next Rage, and Doom as well. ...Read more

An Xbox Live Arcade version of id software's 1994 shooter Doom II: Hell on Earth is being shown on the floor at QuakeCon, expected to be officially announced later today.

A whole new episode will be included, along with all of Doom 2's original content. Four-player split-screen multiplayer will be available in addition to online play.

Neither release date nor price are currently known for the port, which is being handled by Doom XBLA porter Nerve Software.

Vintage properties continue to flood onto the iPhone and iPod Touch, with today's release of EA Mobile and id's turn-based shooter Wolfenstein RPG marking the latest.

Priced at $4.99, the 33MB download boasts eight hours of play with nine levels, sixteen weapons, turn-based combat, cut scenes, hidden treasure to hunt, and chickens to kick.

id continuing plans for the iPhone include a multiplayer-enabled Doom, an RPG version of Doom II, and no less than three flavours of Quake--Quake, Quake 2 and Quake Arena.

If John Carmack is id Software's mad scientist, then Doom: Resurrection is his latest experiment. Developed largely by id/Ritual veteran Tom Mustaine and his team at Escalation Studios, Resurrection is a rail shooter take on Doom 3, priced at the premium rate of $10.

With the launch of the game today, I sat down with Carmack and Mustaine to talk about the risky project. Also covered are Carmack's criticism of the iPhone's current shortcomings, his take on how the ZeniMax acquisition will affect his time to develop pet projects, and what's coming next from id Mobile.

John Carmack: The biggest worry about the platform in general is that if everybody thinks all games are going to cost $1.99, you're never going to DS or PSP-like original titles coming on the iPhone because it just won't be justified. But there definitely is that worry, if people think that iPhone games just really have to be cheap. Obviously people pay $20, $30, $40 for a DS, PSP title coming out at the high-end. Read more..

id Software's John Carmack today confirmed to Shacknews that the company plans to bring three of its Quake titles to the iPhone platform--though Carmack himself may not be heavily involved in the projects.

"We will be trying to put some other developers on the future classic titles," said Carmack. "I don't think I'm going to be doing all of the work on Quake, Quake 2 and Quake Arena on there."

Added the Carmack: "I may need to go in there and make sure certain specific things are done the way I want them to be."

As for his future plans on the platform, the ZeniMax acquisition will apparently change little in id's aggressive mobile strategy. A version of the company's upcoming shooter Rage is being considered for the platform, while Wolfenstein RPG, Doom 2 RPG and Doom Classic--a port of the original Doom with multiplayer support--are planned for release.

"ZeniMax is behind the iPhone," he said. "Todd Howard at Bethesda is a huge iPhone fan. I don't think anything likely is going to change."

"I certainly want to do this MegaTexture demo for the 3GS stuff, work on that myself," added Carmack of his ambitious plans to apply the id Tech 5 technology to the mobile platform. We'll have more with Carmack in an interview to be published later today.

Update: As expected, Doom: Resurrection is now available through iTunes.

Original: Shacknews has learned that after a minor delay, id Software and Escalation Studios' iPhone shooter Doom: Resurrection will hit the iTunes App Store today.

The technically-impressive game, controlled by way of accelerometer motion, has been priced at $10. While the game offers only a singleplayer campaign at launch, Bluetooth-enabled multiplayer and downloadable content are planned for future updates.

A rail shooter that makes use of Doom 3 assets, Resurrection is the product of nine months of work at Escalation. The title is controlled by tilting the iPhone to manipulate an on-screen cursor. Shacknews had the chance to briefly play the game this weekend, and we found the innovative controls--including a button to take cover during firefights--to work as advertised.

For more on Resurrection, stay tuned for an interview with id's John Carmack and Escalation's Tom Mustaine later today.

Following the surprising news that Bethesda parent company ZeniMax had acquired legendary developer id, the studio has issued a lengthy statement explaining the reasons behind the acquisition and shed some light on its plans for growth.

"We will add a third major development team," id co-founder John Carmack told VentureBeat, noting that the Doom and Rage developer "already had a plan in place."

Carmack explained that the Quake Live team, "which had less than a dozen people," will work with id's other two major teams on multiplayer for Rage and Doom 4 as an "intermediate step" to "get familiar with our technology there."

Following that, the team will be assigned one of id's "main intellectual properties," a catalog that includes Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein and Commander Keen.

"It's not clear what that [property] is," said Carmack. "That's all we wanted: three teams. It's not as if we wanted to create four, five and six teams. We have two teams doing big titles now. We have our mobile teams doing other work. But we'll add that... Read more

Update: id co-founder John Romero has apologized for his admittedly "harsh" reaction, noting that he is actually "positive about the Zenimax deal."

"i guess i was shocked and sad to see the id Software of old changed forever today," Romero explained in a later Twitter update. "it's a new day and a new id."

Original: While id Software steward John Carmack was more than pleased with Bethesda parent ZeniMax's acquisition of the infamously independent developer today, fellow id co-founder John Romero harshly criticized the deal in a pair of public messages.

"ZENIMAX??????? Disgusting," wrote Romero on his Twitter feed, later adding, "Fallout 3 bought DOOM. Wow."

id Software was founded in 1991 by Romero, Tom Hall, John Carmack and Adrian Carmack. Romero left the company in 1996 to co-found ill-fated developer Ion Storm, and is now developing an unannounced MMO at Slipgate Ironworks.

At least one industry old-timer was less downbeat in his reaction.

"There's no better company that could have bought id," wrote... Read more

Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media has just announced its acquisition of well-known video game developer id Software (Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D).

"id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack," vowed ZeniMax. "No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles...at the studio."

Founded as an independent game developer in 1991, id Software is currently working on the post-apocalyptic shooter RAGE (PC, PS3, 360) and the long-awaited Doom 4.

"Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best--make AAA games," said ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman. "Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it... Read more

With id's first-person shooter classic Wolfenstein 3D having already arrived in iPhone form, the studio today issued details on the forthcoming iPhone adaptation of Doom.

The game is expected to be finished up and submitted to the iTunes App Store in the next month, id technical director John Carmack explained in a progress report.

"Wolfenstein 3D Classic was a quickie project to satisfy my curiosity and test the iPhone waters, but Doom is a more serious effort," he explained." In addition to the millions of people with fond memories of the game, there is still an active gaming / development community surrounding the original Doom, and I don't want to... Read more

Doom and Quake creator id Software expects to reveal some unannounced "new stuff" at E3 this June, CEO Todd Hollenshead revealed in an interview with GameSpot.

"I'll leave that as a tease," said Hollenshead when pressed for more details. Currently, the studio has three announced major projects: Wolfenstein, co-developed with Raven and due out this summer, Rage, which definitely won't arrive this year, and Doom 4. Additionally, id is continuing work on the free-to-play Quake Live, currently in open beta.

Doom 4 is "not a sequel to Doom 3, but it's not a reboot either," the CEO teased further, entirely ignoring the bit where GameSpot asked if it was a prequel. "It's a little bit different than those, and if I told you why, I would get my ass kicked."

However, that doesn't mean Doom 4, already said to be "significantly different," will abandon its roots. "Everything I've seen on it is classic Doom, so I don't really have worries that people aren't going to like it and start talking about it... Read more

id Software today released its classic first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D on the iPhone and iPod Touch via the iTunes App Store. The 9.9MB download is priced at $4.99.

Packing the original six episodes, complete with the famed MechaHitler boss fight, the game offers two different control methods. One has players navigating and shooting with the touch screen, and the other sees players tilting the device for movement.

id Software programmer and co-founder John Carmack personally led the project. The official debut follows yesterday's release of the Wolfenstein iPhone source code.

An iPhone release of DOOM can be expected "fairly soon," Carmack reckoned in his development notes for Wolfenstein 3D iPhone. In addition, he recently helped Electronic Arts with the upcoming iPhone port of the Wolfenstein RPG.

Thanks to Shacker burgertime for the heads up.

While acclaimed studios such as Doom creator id, Unreal Tournament developer Epic and Crysis veterans Crytek have cited widespread piracy of PC games as the impetus to pursue console development, id CEO Todd Hollenshead has accused PC makers of viewing piracy as a "hidden benefit" for consumers.

"I think they are [secretly happy about PC piracy]," he explained to GamesIndustry. "The size of the [PC game] pirate market actually is larger than the legitimate-goods market in many cases."

"I think that there's been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception of free content--even if you're supposed to pay for it on PCs--is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games."

Though Hollenshead was confident that there is no conspiracy... Read more

Steadily decreasing PC software figures have prompted acclaimed Doom and Quake creator id Software to focus more on consoles than PCs for the future, id president John Carmack has revealed.

"It's hard to second guess exactly what the reasons are. You can say piracy. You can say user migration," Carmack told Tom's Games at this year's QuakeCon. "But the ground truth is just that the sales numbers on the PC are not what they used to be and are not what they are on the consoles."

The statement follows remarks made by id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead at last year's Game Developer's Conference, where he claimed that that "piracy has pushed id as being multiplatform" at last year's Game Developers Conference.

"We still think the PC is a market worth supporting, but we're not making decisions around the PC," Carmack added. "It's probably more of the junior partner in... Read more

Midway through the second hour, even most of the die-hard nerds started to leave.

On stage was a man who, by all accounts, did not need to be there. Wealthy, successful, busy programming rockets and enjoying family life--id Software president John Carmack has plenty of excuses to be a recluse, not the least of which is his admitted lack of "people skills."

But there he was regardless, lecturing away on a Thursday night, professor to his students. Seemingly undeterred by his thinning class, he moved from topic to topic in Picard-like fashion, holding the microphone as the rock king of computer programming.

Though the overall scent noticeably improved with each departure, the buzz within the ballroom also noticeably quieted. Near the end you could almost hear the soft death rattles of fizzling laptop batteries, exhausted journalists resorting to pen and paper, or just plain giving up. Still he rolled on. And on.

Through hour one. Hour two. Hour three.

And then he took questions.... Read more

During an interview with Shacknews, id Software president John Carmack revealed that the company has previously turned down publisher proposals to develop a massive multiplayer version of its shooter series Quake.

Saying that id had passed on several offers of "good money" to develop a Quake MMO, Carmack added that the company would not be attempting a similar project anytime soon.

"id has no interest in MMO development," said Carmack, who added that while he is familiar with the technology, he is also "fully cognizant" of the challenges and risks of creating a game in the genre.

id Software is currently dabbling in web-based online gaming with its upcoming Quake III Arena port Quake Live. In an interview with Shacknews last month, Carmack said development of the game required a "significant effort" for id due to the company's relative inexperience with internet databases.

"We did not have the experience in website development, database management, and all of that web world type stuff," said Carmack on developing Quake Live. "And honestly, we underestimated the challenge involved in that."

In an interview with Shacknews, id Software's John Carmack and Matt Hooper talked up new details on the company's upcoming shooter Rage (PC, 360, PS3). Revealed last year, Rage is a post-apocalyptic shooter that will feature a significant racing component. Though Rage will not be a traditional "sandbox" game, it will see players racing across open spaces towards instances that contain traditional shooter sequences.

Few concrete gameplay details have been released since the game's announcement, but today the developers did let a few extra details slip.

Highlights:

• Two player online co-op is confirmed for consoles and PC. Console players will also have the option of split-screen co-op.
• Co-op will be an entirely separate mode that will not include the story elements of the single player campaign.
• Hooper mentioned "armor" and "inventory" systems, and indicated that there will be some type of world economy that the player can participate in.... Read more

Speaking with Shacknews today, id Software's John Carmack and Matt Hooper revealed details of the company's cancelled big-budget game Darkness.

And as it turns out, Darkness was cancelled in part because it was, well, too dark.

Conceived as a survival horror title, Darkness would have begun with a plane crash, with the game taking place on an island. Darkness also would have included jump-out-and-scare horror, in the vein of the company's last title Doom 3. But after 18 months of work, production was abruptly halted when the developers realized Darkness was covering ground id had previously tread.

"We would have been keeping Doom 3's faults," said Carmack, who agreed that complaints of the "contrived nature of monsters hiding in closets" and overly dark environments of Doom 3 were "completely valid."

Carmack also explained that the limited sales of M-rated horror games factored into the decision to create Rage, a title that id is expecting to receive a "T for Teen" rating.

As Carmack related the story, he and id Software co-owner Tim Willits made the decision to cut the game one afternoon, then asked the project leads to gauge the staff's reaction.

As production of Darkness had already been extensive, Hooper noted that the announcement of cancellation was a delicate process within the company.

"There was some fear that we would alienate the artists," said Hooper.... Read more

id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead expressed interest in producing another feature film adaptation of the developer's Doom shooter series, the developer told Kotaku.

"Personally I'd like to do another Doom movie, I thought working with it was a blast," Hollenshead said. "There are some lessons we learned. The best way to do things better is to get the experience."

Doom was first brought to the big screen by director Andrzej Bartkowiak and Universal Pictures in 2005. The film, which starred Karl Urban and wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was released to mostly negative reviews and fan backlash following significant changes to the core mythology of the hell-spawn shooter series.

"We'll see what happens when we get further along in development of [Doom 4] and there's more buzz and we share more about what the game will be about," Hollenshead added,

The CEO further noted that the decision would fall to Doom distributor Universal, which owns the rights to the movie and any possible sequels. "As the buzz meter starts to go up that may kind of kick start the guys over at Universal."