id Software unveils Rage

By Tom Bramwell Published 3 August, 2007

Shown on id Tech 5.

"'Rage' is the game that we've been working on internally," John Carmack announced at QuakeCon tonight, at the conclusion of a video showing the game running on id Tech 5.

Given its id Tech 5 platform, it's due on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac.

Tim Willits is leading the design on game story and gameplay, and the game will play into the strengths of the new technology. "Maybe it's time for id to do something that's not so dark," Carmack joked.

In fact, we can expect lots of bright and sunny gameplay. It's got vehicles, and a video showed first-person gunplay and deformed, zombie-esque monsters. We particularly like the man who appears to have a sack on his head.

In contrast with past id games, a lot of Rage focuses on its racing element, with players adventuring to build up funds, tackling enemies in traditional FPS settings and navigating vast landscapes - that draw upon the developer's "megatexture" technology - using ATVs and other vehicles.

Rage will fill up two DVDs or one Blu-ray, Carmack said. It's costing tens of millions of dollars to make across a four-year dev-cycle.

Asked why he wouldn't do an HD-DVD version for the PC, he said that he didn't see the point in confusing retail with a third SKU when the game is only on two DVDs.

It's multiformat status also raised the question of whether Rage will use DirectX 10. "There's no DX10 feature that's going to be driven in Rage," Carmack said. "We're not going to make any of those centrepieces of our technology...There's nothing there that I'm dying to get my hands on."

The game itself "probably won't have standard deathmatch", he said, but it will have co-operative elements, particularly with its vehicles - you'll be able to have a gunner on top. There'll be head-to-head racing, too.

Don't expect cross-platform play though. "I am not a proponent of that," Carmack said, echoing the sort of comments made recently by Epic Games. "It's a technical gimmicky sort of thing," he added. "I don't think expanding your opponent base across that is worth the burden...it's certainly not a goal of mine."

Oh, and it will be out when it's done, obviously.

Expect more on Rage soon.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Calgon #1 5 years ago

    First! *my first too*

    Well people did complain about too many dark corrodor trawling games... a nice sunny outdoor environment with blue skies is a good move(sounds like he will be trying a new direction with this engine always nice to see what Mr Carmack can add to different feilds, how does it compare to Cryengine2 then or has no one seen it yet?).
    Edited by 2 at 04/08/07 @ 01:01

  • James173 #2 5 years ago

    Prediction: people complain it sounds too much like "Doom"; a short snappy title. Advance response: the name means nothing.
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/07 @ 00:53

  • Tomo #3 5 years ago

    Woot. Sounds like an id game which is always great. Do well.

  • JayPee #4 5 years ago

    Our game iz da bestest coz it fillz up sooo many dvds!

  • Gurgeh #5 5 years ago

    Apparently they're going for a Mad Max style game

  • M83J01P97 #6 5 years ago

    Yeah, they described it as Mad Max, meets WipeOut, meets Doom.

    Which sounds interesting to me.

  • Tomnd #7 5 years ago

    4 year dev cycle.. so when did they start it?

  • JamesBrophy #8 5 years ago

    The id game.. Maybe, but the tech 5 I want to get a look at. one thing you can say about Carmack is that he builds interesting engines. not the fastest or best looking off the blocks but definitely the most interesting.

    The "Infinite" detail texturing that allows you to put massive texture resources on screen is certainly going to be interesting to see once it gets into the hands of the mod community.

    Remember Dr Kliner's lab in hl2?
    You walk in to a room and look at the cork board on the wall. The pictures, news clippings and notes tell the story of the time that you have been away. If your not running with the texture detail set to max.. you dont get any of that content.

    Not a problem for tech 5, you get all that content pin sharp and crystal clear.

    It certainly makes the engine an interesting prospect for people wanting to build first person adventure games.. the clue can now be on the item, as opposed to the text box associated to the item.
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/07 @ 02:05

  • Kami #9 5 years ago

    "a video showed first-person gunplay and deformed, zombie-esque monsters"

    In what way is this a new idea or a fresh concept?

  • Poorandugly #10 5 years ago

    enemy zombies = lazy ai

  • spongebob #11 5 years ago

    I am going to start the commenting on this subject, since no one else did:

    Note how Rage fits only on 2 DVDs, but on BD it's only one! What do you say of them apples?

    (Just so you know, I don't care, at least if the DVD change is unobtrusive to gameplay).

  • smoothn00dle #12 5 years ago

    Blu-Ray, See John get back his touch.. side with the winner.

  • Scimarad #13 5 years ago

    Good point - I seem to remember a certain Mr Carmack having a go at the PS3 (or possibly consoles in general) not that long ago...

    That said, I'm a bit more open to playing games on the PC now I can use a 360 pad.

  • Scimarad #14 5 years ago

    Oooh, that's a good sign!

  • evild_edd #15 5 years ago

    Disc-swapping = unimportant IMHO.

    Didn't stop the Sony fans enjoying Final Fantasy VII I'd imagine. Didn't ruin Resi' 2, if I recall correctly. Perhaps a little disc-swapping is a good thing - a way of introducing us lazy gamers to a litle exercise....

    ... hey - perhaps disc-swapping is Microsoft's counter-attack to Wii fit!!!! ;0)

    ***Edit: Typ0***
    Edited by 1 at 04/08/07 @ 09:41

  • jiveguy #16 5 years ago

    Dear id,

    There are more colours than brown.

    Regards,
    Brian.

  • ExplodingClown #17 5 years ago

    @disc: thanks for the link, and yep, looks like fps with buggy racing (shame it seems more 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' than 'Mad Max' 1 or 2) which seems a rather schizophrenic mixture. Doesn't seem to be so much Mad Max/WipeOut/Doom as Fallout-lite/Motorstorm/generic Doom 3 shoulder pad fest.

    The trailer reeks of one of those 'plot contrivance forcing you to periodically win races to advance the plot' scenarios (sort of 'Need for Speed' with shooty bits and less emphasis on you being "Da Man";). Which could very neatly alienate both racing and shooting fans by forcing you to play the bits you don't like. Although being an Id game, there will of course be no plot you couldn't fit on the back of a fag packet.

    The snarling chappie ("I know what you want, forgotten man, but you've got a long road ahead of you";) in his office seems thematically reminiscent of the Trader in STALKER.

    One of the baddies getting shot seemed to resemble a fursuit enthusiast.

  • Pablo2k5 #18 5 years ago

    Carmack couldn't have made Rage sound more boring and crap than he has here. id software have had their day...

  • Skeletor #19 5 years ago

    Looks and sounds cool so far, especially the bits about turning your postapocalyptic dune buggy into a rolling death machine. When it comes to the whole scenario...guess somebody played Stalker and liked it, nothing wrong with that ;-)

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #20 5 years ago

    "4 year dev cycle.. so when did they start it?"

    Good question. I asked Tim Willits and he had a think and said "18 months".

  • peak_performance #21 5 years ago

    What are you smoking Xiphos?