DALLAS - August 3, 2007 - John Carmack, co-founder and technical director of id Software, took the stage today at QuakeCon 2007 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas for his annual keynote address and reaffirmed the company's status as a video game industry and pop-culture leader, beginning with the unveiling of id Software's new intellectual property, RAGE, complete with video footage from the highly-anticipated game. Additionally, Carmack shared details about id Software's new gaming engine, id Tech5.
In a separate presentation, id Software's CEO, Todd Hollenshead, shared a string of surprise announcements that outlined the breadth of the company's activities, ranging from its impressive lineup of games to other initiatives in development.
Hollenshead revealed plans for id Software's second video game-to-feature film project: Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Academy Award®-winning screenwriter, Roger Avary, will write and direct the Return to Castle Wolfenstein live action motion picture. Avary's credits include Pulp Fiction, The Rules of Attraction and the upcoming Beowulf. The project re-teams Avary and producer Samuel Hadida who worked together most recently on last year's box office winner Silent Hill. Hadida has had success with video games having produced the Resident Evil series. Other news included:
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Catalog of Games via Steam: Gamers worldwide will have the opportunity to find their favorite id Software titles digitally with a catalogue that ranges from the classic Commander Keen all the way to DOOM3, being made available immediately on Valve's Steam game delivery platform.
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QUAKE Arena Arcade: Coming to Xbox Live in partnership with Microsoft and Pi Studios.
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Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars On Shelves: The game is slated to be on North American store shelves on October 2, 2007
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Wolfenstein: Fans were given an update on id Software's new Wolfenstein title in development by Raven Software for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 with multiplayer by Threewave Software.
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In-the-Works: id Software then unveiled plans for a project codenamed
QUAKE Zero, an exciting new version of QUAKE Arena driven by a web front end and completely free to gamers that is being developed by a new internal team at id Software.
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QuakeCon 2008: Returning to the Hilton Anatole in Dallas from July 31 - August 3.
Finally, Hollenshead invited Katherine Anna Kang, founder of Fountainhead Entertainment to the stage for a live look at Orcs & Elves for the Nintendo DS, along with an announcement that Orcs & Elves II will be available on mobile this holiday season. Mobile gaming enthusiasts have responded to id Software handheld titles developed by Fountainhead Entertainment, generating impressive sales and numerous awards for DOOM RPG and Orcs & Elves.
About id Software:
id - defined by Freud as the primal section of the human psyche; id Software, located in Mesquite, Texas, was founded in 1991. From inception to present day, id Software has relentlessly provided technical, design and artistic leadership as an independent game developer and technology provider. Transcending the games industry, id's iconic brands such as Wolfenstein, DOOM, QUAKE and Enemy Territory have become staples of popular culture for generations of gamers. More information on id Software can be found at
www.idsoftware.com.
About QuakeCon 2007:
Often described as the "Woodstock of Gaming," QuakeCon was created in August of 1996 by a group of friends on the IRC network's EFnet who had a desire to meet in person. Less than 100 attendees gathered at the Best Western in Garland, Texas that first year to play and talk games and compete in the first QuakeCon tournament. id Software's lead programmer John Carmack and several other id team members stopped by to chat with fans about DOOM, QUAKE, and the future of an up-and-coming id Software.
Going into its 12th year, QuakeCon remains true to its original mission as an event created by gamers, for gamers. Sponsored by id Software and other industry-leading software and hardware manufacturers, QuakeCon continues to be run by a dedicated group of 30 year-round volunteers and more than 200 on-site volunteers. More than 6,000 people attended QuakeCon in 2006, and the event has expanded to include the entire series of QUAKE® games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein®, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory®, DOOM 3®, and now Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™.
