Rage due out in September 2011

id Software has announced that Rage will be released on 13th September 2011 in North America and two days later on 15th September 2011 in Europe.

Prior to the announcement, designer Tim Willits and colleagues from the development team had demonstrated the game on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously - one system on each of the three big screens behind the main QuakeCon stage.

"We are going to have the biggest, coolest, most badass launch possible," Willits told the audience, whipping them into frenzy.

Joking that the studio's mantra of "when it's done" was "usually because we really don't know", he said id was prepared to draw a line in the sand this time, for the first time.

"We are committed to not trying to rush this game out," he said, presumably in reference to the slightly distant date - over a year away. "We're going to hit that date."

Willits said the decision to demo the game on all three formats together was a counterpoint to the usual patter during demonstrations about platform parity. "Today you can see for yourself."

The demo took in a new ruined industrial area, followed by the town of Wellspring and a mission fighting Ghost bandits in the depths of the well beneath the town.

It then moved on to Dam Facility, a level dominated by the Wasted bandits with their quirky cor-blimey-guvnor British accents. The session concluded with a pitched battle against mutants among the toppled skyscrapers of Dead City.

As the players fought regular mutants, a much taller and more aggressive one turned up and attacked with ranged explosives. Once everyone was all dealt with the ground began to shake, loosening dust from surrounding ruins, before a colossal adversary rounded a corner and roared.

While the PC version was noticeably better-looking with sharper textures and resolution, all three systems ran at a chirpy 60 frames per second more or less throughout - the only other differences being that the Xbox 360 and PS3 builds took about 20 and 40 seconds longer to load respectively at the outset.

The Xbox 360 version also crashed at one point. "If it was finished, we'd ship it," Willits quipped.

At the end of the presentation Willits also invited every member of the Rage development team to stand up, and said he was "humbled and honoured" to work with them. It was all very sweet.

Look out for more on Rage soon.