Over at Console Gold, they've whipped up a new feast detailing their coverage of the Xbox 360 port and PC version experience of Quake IV, plus a several new SP and MP screenshots to boot, which you can also find on our screenshots page (we're of course not hosting the MASSIVE 4000x3000 resolution screenshots, they've been downsized to 1024x768 due to bandwith reasons, obviously lol). Here's a quote from the article:
"The sound design is especially top-notch, with a special nod going to the work on the Strogg. Imagine if the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation spoke not in English but in some bizarre alien dialect, yet lost neither their metallic echo nor their menace and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect. There are also several types of Strogg warriors, and it seemed like each one had different effects representing their own way of communicating. Fortunately, you also have several ways of communicating with the Strogg, and I personally would recommend the shotgun. It’s direct, cuts through the delicate art of negotiation like a thunderclap, and leaves you with a feeling of having delivered your message in a loud, clear voice."
As the rest of the article is an exceptional read, be sure to give it a good one!
EDGE magazine have an eye-catching cover and preview of Quake IV plus DOOM 3 engine related stuff in their next-issue:
" is, after all, the most tangible realization of virtual reality we've seen; it removes the avatar and places us nearer to the inside of the experience than is possible in any other style of game."
Next Generation have whipped up their previously conducted interview with Todd Hollenshead (CEO) and Tim Willits (map designer) of id Software regarding their insights of the development of Quake IV.
Willits on Online Play
"The big difference between Doom 3 and Quake 4 is the amount of information sent over the network. Everything can be dynamic, from the physics to the lights and the characters so there's much more that needs to be squeezed down that bandwidth. Raven reworked the network code and sped up the game logic so you could have more clients, but the biggest trick is this: Quake 3 employed faked physics, whereas the Doom 3 engine is more realistic. So there are still subtle differences that make the two games play differently, but the majority of people will definitely get that recognizable feeling."
CGW have published up online yet ANOTHER one of their impressions of the PC version of Quake IV, here's a snippet:
"The very nature of Quake IV - that of high action and invasion - means that it's far more varied than id's last offering. From the Aliens-style jumpship opening and subsequent crash landing onwards, the player is surrounded by other marines - both to fight alongside in squads and to watch die in hideous ways. While opening a door in Doom 3 would invariably prompt a scripted 'jump point', opening a Quake 4 door results in sequences that involve marines either getting mangled or pulling off some particularly nifty gunplay. There's always stuff going on to grab your attention - a real cinematic edge - and what claustrophobic solitary adventurings there are deep in the guts of the Strogg war machine are neatly interspersed with hurtling around wide open spaces on the surface in Halo-esque hovertanks and battling alongside other members of Rhino Squad. You also come across a Badger Squad, but needless to say they're not quite as cool."
Yes, the previews of Quake IV are still persistently sliding along, with GameShark posting up their preview of the Quake IV PC Version, but SP and MP modes, here's a slice:
"The game engine and physics are provided through the DOOM 3 engine which for all intents and purposes, seemed to run much better than it did for Quake 4 than it did for DOOM 3 (comparing the Q4 demo to the DOOM 3 demo when it was shown, albeit that was some time ago), and it featured more players within the game at one time. Granted, Quake 4 definitely was gorgeous, but in no way seemed as demanding as DOOM 3 was."
We're having a special get-together on the forums tomorrow, that's Saturday the 27th at 21:00 till 00:00, get your local times here.
It's been quite a while since our last peak back in December, so I'm hoping we can break the current record of 48 people online at once. So this is partly a bit if fun, partly to find out what the server can take, and partly a 3rd birthday celebration (the forums were 3 years old a couple of weeks ago).
Got some crazy topic ideas:
Some political stuff, that's always good. Xbox 360 launch title stuff. PC vs Xbox 360 vs PS3. Is gaming going stale? What would be your perfect game. The best way to destroy EA. Gabe Newguy (the fat HL2 guy) vs John Carmack, who would win and why.
Of course you can talk about whatever you want, this is just some ideas I randomly came up with to make my post look more important. Hope to see you online tomorrow!
Rumours have been spreading around of an October 11th, 2005 release date for Quake IV.
Other retailers such as Amazon.com have been claiming the same exact release date for Quake IV - October 11th, 2005, also updating the box image coverart. Same goes for several other retailers.
Although neither Raven Software, Activision, or id Software haven't confirmed this yet - this news should be taken with a pinch of salt, nothing more.
