14 DAY TRIAL // id Software, the company that shaped the way gamers look at first person shooters with titles like Doom and Quake, is one of those developers that tend to answer most inquiries related to release dates with the well worn phrase “When it's done.” So, it's quite a surprise to hear the Chief Exeuctive Officer of id, Todd Hollenshead, saying that its shooter Rage will definitely not be coming in 2009.
In answering a direct question coming from Gametrailers TV, he said, “No, it won't be out this year.” id was thought to be preparing two games for 2009, in Rage and in the remake of Wolfenstein. Rage had been initially presented in 2007 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2007. id is developing the game for the PC, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Mac platform.
The immediate reference point for Rage seems to be Mad Max. We've seen humans fighting in the wasteland against mutants, riding motorcycles and make shift vehicles, updating them with various pieces of armor and a quite varied array of weapons. id Software has boasted about the huge numbers of weapons a player would find and would be able to use in Rage. Let's hope this doesn't turn out to be a repeat of the more than 1,000 endings for the Fallout 3 fiasco.
Sadly, we won't get to use them until 2010. But players will have a chance to take on Nazis again, as the Wolfenstein remake from Raven Software and id Software is set to be released later in the year. Doom 4 is also said to be in development at id and the company is eager to create a game that focuses not only on mindless shooting but also on a strong narrative, if we take into consideration the fact that a distinguished novelist has been hired to pen the script.