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doom posts

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Eliminate now available on the App Store


Ngmoco's Eliminate has been building up buzz ever since it was announced, and now the first-person shooter is out on the App Store to try for yourself. As you can see above, it offers some relatively basic FPS gameplay when compared to shooters on other platforms (I've been having a lot of fun with Borderlands lately), but given that this is the iPhone we're talking about, this kind of twitch 3D gameplay is actually pretty impressive. You can play online over 3G or Wi-Fi, and as you play, you can earn credits and level up, which gives you access to more weapons and better gear. The game itself is free, but it's all based around a microtransaction system where you buy "energy" which allows you to earn those aforementioned resources. You get a certain amount of energy per day on your own, and if you use it up, you can't progress any further unless you get out the wallet or wait another day. And the game uses ngmoco's own Plus+ social interface to track leaderboards and accounts. Interesting plan, and we'll have to see if players vibe with it or not. Some have already voiced strong concerns about the in-game pay-to-play microtransaction system.

If that doesn't vibe with you, and you'd rather play some old-school (and old business model) FPS gameplay instead, id's Doom Classic also got released on the App Store last weekend. That game comes at a cost of $6.99, but then again, with old-school Doom, you know exactly what you're getting into. And you won't have to buy any extra energy to charge your BFG and slay any demons you happen to come across.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Doom Resurrection on the iPhone now, lots more id games to come


Fellow shooter fans rejoice -- id software's John Carmack has begun delivering on his love of the iPhone with a brand new game made just for the platform called Doom Resurrection, available right now on the App Store for the price of $9.99. There's nothing small about this game at all -- it offers up 76 mb of original id shooter, including eight levels total, six on Mars, and two more (spoiler?) in Hell, all set in a graphics and control engine designed just for Apple's handhelds (you control aiming with the accelerometer while the game runs you around on rails, and hit the various on-screen buttons to shoot or jump into cover). Unfortunately, there's no lite version to test out (though we can probably expect one eventually, considering Wolfenstein Classic got one), but early reviews say that if you like Doom, you'll enjoy the game.

And that's not all -- besides this original version of Doom, Carmack and id continue to have big plans for the iPhone: Quake and Quake 2 are headed there for sure, and Quake 3 probably isn't far behind, as well as a RAGE-related title. And that doesn't even include the rest of the mobile stuff they have planned: apparently Wolfenstein RPG is ready to go, and Carmack hints that they've got even more original titles like Doom Resurrection here up their sleeve. Good to see a major, established developer like id is really committing to delivering new games for the iPhone.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Multimedia, Software

Cyan porting Myst to iPhone


An employee of Cyan Worlds (proprietors of the legendary Myst series of games) has announced that they will be porting the original Myst to the iPhone. Apparently it's an "outside-funded" project -- though who might be funding it isn't yet clear -- and is apparently proving to be an "interesting and fun" project with a small team of just three people. No word yet on how it might work (or work differently) from the original, but the classic puzzle/exploration of Myst is good gaming no matter what platform you're playing it on.

Starting with the NES emulator, the iPhone was following the evolution of gaming pretty well -- at least until the App Store started mixing things up a bit. After Myst, I think we're right around Wolfenstein and Doom at this point -- those were available jailbroken, but it's about time we get an FPS officially as well. Carmack, you interested?

[via TouchArcade, which is strangely down as of this writing]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hacks, Open Source, iPhone

iPhone Doom updated, close to playable


Here's the latest build of iPhone Doom, sent to us by Stephen T a.k.a. psychochromatic, who recently took over the application from stepwhite. Last night on the Talkcast we were chatting about the biggest stories of 2007, and I totally should have mentioned iPhone NES and iPhone Doom-- these were two huge projects we heard about in the early days of iPhone hacking that really set the pace for putting third-party applications on there.

Psycho says that this build is not quite playable yet, but he's got it faster than ever and working in widescreen mode. The control scheme is definitely interesting, too, although not quite as intuitive as you might hope. At any rate, steps are being made. I continue to be impressed with the potential of the iPhone in terms of gaming-- here's hoping, yet again, that the official SDK will let us do this stuff as well.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Open Source, iPhone

Doom on the iPhone... almost

After the NES emulator, you knew it was just a matter of time, and now Doom is running (though not playable yet) on the iPhone.

stepwhite is behind this one, too, and he worked it up because he'd promised a friend he would (not to mention that he was prominent requests for it on Waxy.org, and some other little Apple site you might know). Unfortunately, he hasn't implemented a controller system yet (all you can do right now is watch the demo scenes), but that's the beauty of open source-- no doubt some intrepid programmer out there has an idea on how to do it. Also, you gotta turn that thing sideways, man! This isn't the iPod; let's use the whole screen space.

Geez, after Doom, what's left? Quake III Arena? I stand in awe of what you programmers have been able to do with the iPhone.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Apple

Games coming to iPhone?

In response to the rumor of videos in to the iTunes UK store, our friends at Download Squad did a little poking around and found something else that might be imminent: games for the iPhone. (Official ones, that is-- there are already quite a few for the iPhone)

Inside the iTunes localisation strings, is the following sequence:

/* ===== iPhone Game Item Strings ===== */
"4329.001" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected game from your iPhone?";
"4329.002" = "Are you sure you want to remove the selected games from your iPhone?";


This basically confirms that Apple is bringing games to the iPhone. The only question, however, is: Which games? Are we going to get more Sims Bowling (ugh), or will Apple's new friends at id actually hook them up with something cool?

I'll leave it at this: if Apple can get Doom on the iPhone faster than the hackers can, I'll finally cave in and pick one up. Of course, that's a win-win proposition-- no matter what happens, iPhone-owners will be playing Doom. But if Apple wants my money, I want some games worth playing in return.

Filed under: iPod Family, Video, Hacks

Found Video: iPod with NES Controller

Our sister blog Engadget found this pretty dang cool iPod hack. Somebody has hooked up an old NES controller for use with an iPod Photo to play Doom. As you can see on the original site, this involved adding a USB port to the bottom of his iPod to which the controller connects. And of course the software is courtesy of the iPod Linux folks (which we've mentioned before). Before you break out that soldering iron, make sure your iPod is supported.

[Via Endgadget]

Filed under: Gaming, Steve Jobs, Apple

A decade of NeXT and Apple

In the summer of 1989, I had a really, really tough assignment: I had to evaluate the NeXT Cube for a publishing company. What a hardship to have that black box on my desk, along with that 400-dpi laser printer! I don't know how I ever managed.

It's hard to believe that it was ten years ago, on 12/20/1996, that we welcomed Steve Jobs and NeXT Computers back into the Apple family. Legendary game developer John Romero remembers, and he's got a fascinating post up about the role of NeXT in bringing his babies to market.

According to Romero, the original development environment for both Doom and Quake was NeXTSTEP; in fact, the first four years of id Software's efforts were on NeXT. He fondly remembers the days of simultaneously building for three different architectures, and side-by-side map editing across the LAN with cofounder John Carmack.

Romero ends his post by noting that he spent the 15 years prior to 1996 working on computers built by Steve Jobs, and that "maybe someday I'll get one of those kickass iMacs." Cue the salivary glands of Mac gamers everywhere...

[via IMG]

Filed under: Hardware, Macbook Pro

MacBook Pro vs PowerBook 2.0 GHz benchmarks

No, that headline is not a typo. I found an extensive set of MacBook Pro benchmarks over at Bare Feats that pits the machine against a Dual Core G5 2.0 GHz, an iMac Core Duo 2.0 GHz, a MacBook Pro Solo 2.0 GHz (for good measure I guess) and a PowerBook G4 that has been upgraded to 2.0 GHz, thanks to Daystar Technology. Yes, from checking out their site it looks like it's possible to upgrade some PowerBooks to 2.0 GHz G4 chips, but it'll cost ya - the upgrade is $499.

Getting back to the benchmarks topic: Bare Feats ran the typical Cinebench and Photoshop tests between these machines, and as usual the iMac Core Duo typically won out, with the MacBook Pro pleasantly nipping at its heels. They also produced some pleasant frame rates when testing Doom 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004.

Bare Feats also tested whether matching memory pairs - such as two 1 GB sticks - made any difference in performance over a 1 GB 256 MB configuration. Fortunately, there was virtually no difference in their tests, save for small, single digit improvements in iMovie and Photoshop CS that aren't really anything to write home about.

[via IMG]

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Universal Binary

Quake 4 requirements revealed

At last, Aspyr has finally released the system requirements for the upcoming Quake 4. So, without further ado, you'll need:

  • Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
  • a PowerPC G4, G5, or Intel-based chipset
  • a 1.67GHz or faster CPU
  • 512MB or higher of memory
  • 64MB or more of video memory (VRAM)
Quake 4 is built on the Doom 3 engine, and the game's storyline is set just months after the events of Quake II. Aspyr is currently taking preorders for $50.00US.

[Via MacNN]

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