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Danger Mouse, MF Doom Ready Dangerdoom LP
Pitchfork - Oct 04 11:49 AM There's nary an MC as prolific while being consistently "dope" as the one MF Doom ("Definition: super villain, a killer who loves children"). And hot-shit producer Danger Mouse has been on a roll since that whole Grey Album fiasco, more recently taking the reins for Automator in Gorillaz.
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Cheap designer knockoffs come at a high price
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Wrigley's Offers Dooney & Bourke Handbags
adrants - Oct 02 7:44 AM Want a new Dooney & Bourke handbag? Head over Candystand where candy maker Wrigley's has partnered with Dooney & Bourke to host a contest to give away handbags. It's all to introduce the company's new packaging for its line...
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Dora to explore Lynn Meadows
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Dorothy Draper's Design Legacy
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N.J. court broadens sex-offender label
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Bush's approval drops to all-time low
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It's No Gag: Bay Loaded With Grouper
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PR Newswire Issues September 2006 'Retail Review & Comparison'
[Press Release] PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance - Oct 05 9:22 AM A compilation of sales figures from leading U.S. retailers, PR Newswire's "Retail Review & Comparison" provides a company-by-company analysis of monthly and year-to-date retail results.
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Left In Limbo: GPs Blocked From Returning To Work By Funding Cuts
Medical News Today - Oct 07 3:11 AM At a time of family doctor shortages, experienced GPs are being prevented from returning to work because of the Government's decision effectively to scrap funding for the highly successful GP Returner schemes, the BMA said today (6th October 2006). [click link for full article]
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Glass and steel reflect the irresistible winds of change
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HuffingtonPost - Oct 08 7:32 PM When even Armed Services Committee chair John Warner (R-Va) confesses that the Iraq war effort is "drifting sideways," its time to revisit even previously unpalatable policy alternatives that begin to look better alongside the abyss. One such proposal is Les Gelb's idea of trying to refashion Iraq into a confederation of 3 essentially separate states: Kurd, Sunni and Shiite. The Baker-Hamilton
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Live Firing on Dragonfly Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by Staff Writers Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Oct 09, 2006
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Music Listings
San Francisco Bay Guardian - Oct 03 4:18 PM Music listings are compiled by Duncan Scott Davidson. The music interns are Hayley Elisabeth Kaufman, Todd Lavoie, and Aaron Sankin. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us.
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Art Galleries
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Best Bets for Oct. 5-Oct. 11
Carroll County Online - Oct 05 6:28 AM We're not at the circus anymore... Tommy the Clown and the Hip-Hop Clowns present "Krumping!" at 2 p.m and 8 p.m. Saturday at Strathmore in North Bethesda.
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USA Today - Oct 05 7:57 AM They may be college teachers and students, but they're also pioneers exploring strange new worlds that exist nowhere on Earth. That's because their classes and field trips take place only on computers, using an online digital world called Second Life.
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Jump! Ultimate Stars details dished
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Jump! Ultimate Stars details dished
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Drag Racing Victim's Family Speaks Out
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Lifeline: Quick hits
USA Today - Oct 04 9:01 PM Singer Chris Brown will be a guest star during the fourth season of Fox's The OC. Plus, singer Smokey Robinson is set to guest on NBC's long-running Days of Our Lives.
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Savant artist's remarkable list-like drawings are winning recognition
Seattle Times - Oct 05 12:27 AM If Gregory Blackstock's drawings were poems, they would have meter and rhyme. There's an orderliness to them that satisfies the pesky drill...
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U.S. sovereignty at stake, top WND book says
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Neville cooks up musical gumbo in Tallahassee
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Massage therapist is living the dream in style
Belleville News-Democrat - Oct 08 1:13 AM The brick courtyard behind Kelly Crocken-Figi's massage place is not only quaint, it's good for business.
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WirelessEmporium.com Partners with Movaya Wireless to Add Games, Graphics and Ringtones to Product Line
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Little Squaw Reports Encouraging Drill Results From Chandalar, AK
SYS-CON Media - Oct 04 7:41 PM Little Squaw Gold Mining Company (OTCBB: LITS)has received assays from 12 of the 39 orientation drill holes completed inSeptember on its Chandalar, Alaska gold property (See Press Release 11-06,September 13, 2006). The reverse circulation drill results are from theSummit and Little Squaw prospects. Assays are pending for 27 holes drilledat the Kiska, Eneveloe, Jupiter, Ratchet Ridge, Uranus,
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How the 'HERO Bus' Prevents Drunk Driving for Twenty-Somethings Group
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Drunk Driving Suspect Is Arrested in 2 Deaths
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Chicago Sun-Times - Oct 04 2:24 AM If you're standing at the right corner at the right time, you might get a movie star to drive you to work.
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He has the drive to succeed
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Linear Servomotor is suitable for piezo replacement.
ThomasNet - Oct 06 6:08 AM With 10 x 10 mm forcer size and 9 g weight, 4 mm Linear Shaft Motor strokes as long as 40 mm and features coreless construction that eliminates cogging. Motor offers quiet operation due to absence of friction, and stiffness characteristics allow it to be used in high precision positioning applications where 0.09 nm resolution is achievable. It operates in harsh conditions such as vacuum
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Navigate around town with your cell phone
San Jose Mercury News - Oct 09 3:22 AM Ever wish you had a GPS navigation system, perhaps when you're out of town driving a rental car or walking around an unfamiliar city?
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Texas to face off against Santa Fe
The Frisco Enterprise - Oct 08 9:32 PM The Texas Tornado will kick off its 2006-07 home campaign with a two-game weekend series against the Santa Fe Roadrunners at the Frisco Dr Pepper Star Center.
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| Doom 3 |
|
| Developer(s) |
id Software |
| Publisher(s) |
Activision |
| Engine |
Doom 3 engine |
| Latest version |
1.3 |
| Release date(s) |
August 3, 2004 (Windows)
October 4, 2004 (Linux)
March 14, 2005 (Mac)
April 4, 2005 (Xbox) |
| Genre(s) |
First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) |
Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
BBFC: 18
ESRB: M (Mature)
OFLC: MA15+
PEGI: 18+ (violence) |
| Platform(s) |
Mac, Linux, Windows, Xbox |
| Media |
Win/Lin: CD (3); Mac/Xbox: DVD (1) |
| System requirements |
1.5 GHz CPU or better, 384 MB RAM (512MB RAM for Mac), 64 MB video card, 2 GB drive space, 8x CD-ROM drive. |
Doom 3 is a sci-fi horror first-person shooter computer game developed by id Software and published by Activision.
Set in 2145 in the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research center on Mars, it is a reimagining of the original Doom, with a completely new game engine and graphics.
The game was developed for Windows and ported to Linux in 2004; five months later, it was also released for Mac OS X (ported by Aspyr) and Xbox (co-developed by Vicarious Visions). The Xbox version is graphically similar to (although less detailed than) the original and features an additional two-player online co-operation mode. An expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, developed by Nerve Software and co-developed by id Software, was released on April 4, 2005. A Doom movie, loosely based on the franchise, was released roughly six months later on October 21, 2005.
|
Contents
- 1 Gameplay
- 1.1 Weapons
- 1.2 Atmosphere
- 1.3 List of levels
- 2 Story
- 3 Development
- 3.1 Software patent controversy
- 3.2 Web integration
- 3.3 E3
- 3.4 Linux
- 3.5 Development team
- 4 Trivia
- 5 Reception
- 6 References
- 7 External links
|
Gameplay
The shadowing and lighting on the marine's face exemplify the unified lighting engine
Interactive displays replaced traditional switches
According to John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id, the "tripod of features" in Doom 3 technology are:
- Unified lighting and shadowing
- Complex animations and scripting that show off the real-time, fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing.
- GUI surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game
The key aspect of the Doom 3 graphics engine is the unified lighting and shadowing. Rather than computing or rendering lightmaps during map creation and saving that information in the map data, most light sources are computed on the fly. This allows lights to cast shadows even on non-static objects such as monsters or machinery, which was impossible with static lightmaps. A shortcoming of this approach is the engine's inability to render soft shadows and global illumination.
To create a more movie-like atmosphere, id interspersed the gameplay with many in-game animated sequences of monsters ambushing the player or just lurking around.
To increase the interactivity with the game-world, id designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Rather than using a simple "use key", the crosshair acts as a mouse cursor over the screens allowing the player to use a computer in the game world. This allowed an in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, such as a readily apparent door-unlocking button, and a more obscure function allowing an astute player to unlock a nearby weapons locker.
Other important features of Doom 3 engine were normal mapping and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, dynamic, ambient soundtrack and multi-channel sound.
Weapons
-
Main article: Doom 3 weapons
Doom 3 inherits a number of weapons from its predecessors Doom and Doom II, while adding several new weapons and modifying several of the old standbys. The iconic chainsaw and BFG 9000 return, as do the pistol, shotgun, chaingun, rocket launcher, and plasma gun. New additions include the flashlight, vital as a mêlée weapon and light source, grenades, a machine gun, and an alien artifact known as the Soul Cube.
Atmosphere
The most important element in the gameplay and action of Doom 3 is the atmosphere. Most of the levels are very dark, to create the feeling of helplessness and scare the player. It also relies heavily on other lighting effects to set the mood.
The in-game story explanation for the pitch-darkness is as follows. The portals to Hell could only be sustained for a short period of time, which was nowhere near enough to conduct any serious experiments. To rectify this, the power grid was illegally tampered with, diverting a significant amount of power from the non-critical systems (Such as Lighting) of the rest of the facility to allow the machinery to sustain the portals for a much longer time. This did not go unnoticed however; the staff were becoming increasingly suspicious of the massive amount of power being drawn (The huge energy consumption caused frequent overloads on power-grid components).
Creatures may appear just as well unexpected as anticipated. Surprising ambushes, usually from dark places, tend to shock players and test their reflexes. On the other hand, exploring new areas against a background of theme music makes the player expect a monster to appear behind each corner. Frequently vents and wall panels will pop off and loud noises will issue, making the player turn in expectation of facing another demon. However, the player finds that there is nothing there. Sometimes footsteps can be heard; when the player investigates, a demon jumps at the player from behind.
The emergence of stronger enemies (bosses) is backed up by new lighting effects and/or cutscenes. To achieve best effect, this usually happens in a dark room or the room darkens suddenly.
Almost the whole game takes place indoors, which provides many opportunities for surprise. A frequent phenomenon throughout the original Doom game is the "Monster Closet", where a door disguised as a wall suddenly opens and an enemy issues forth in an attempt to startle the player. Some corpses will also "play dead" and then suddenly spring to life and attack when the player steps near them.
Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds meant to scare the player, or to relay instructions from other NPCs. The use of logs in this way is similar to the use of logs in System Shock 2 (in fact, the log discs picked up are visually almost identical to those in System Shock 2). Ken Levine, lead designer of System Shock 2 said of the logs in Doom 3 "It amazed me when I played Doom 3 that they didn't mix their recordings into the ambient space of the world. The people sound like they're in a recording booth."[1]
List of levels
There are 27 levels in Doom 3. Most of them are quite large and typically require under an hour each on a player's first run through the game.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- Introduction (Mars City 1): A short tutorial on the basic features of the game. The player also picks up the first assignment from Sergeant Kelly ("Sarge").
- Mars City Underground: A shorter tutorial covering a few more features in the game. In the communications building, the atmosphere becomes awry; the shooting begins here. The imp is introduced at a cutscene.
- Mars City (Mars City 2): The same level as the Introduction, but after the demon invasion.
- UAC Administration: The pinky (demon) is introduced at a cutscene. The chaingun is also makes its first appearance in a Martian Buddy cabinet. Monsters start to teleport in the base, beginning where the growth taking over the base is first seen.
- Alpha Labs – Sector 1: Built in 2095 and located on Site 2, Alpha is the UAC's center research lab. Sector 1 houses the EPD (Elemental Phase Deconstructor) and the Hydrocon. Maggots are introduced.
- Alpha Labs – Sector 2: Trites give their first appearance soon after the first web sighting. There is a glimpse of the Bravo Team through a window.
- Alpha Labs – Sector 3: Contains a secret plasma rifle on ceiling pipes as well as an optional hallway with the chaingun.
- Alpha Labs – Sector 4: The player must navigate either the EFR or the bridge. The BFG can be seen in use from a window. There is the infamous "they took my baby" sequence, the plasma gun is available from a hidden location, and the Vagary (first boss) appears at the end.
- Energy Processing (EnPro): Bravo Team cutscene. The lost soul is introduced in a cutscene, and wraiths begin to appear later on. Some rooms are less claustrophobic but more acrophobic. As the EnPro plant produces plasma cells as a byproduct, an abundance thereof is scattered throughout. Swann and Campbell give up their attempt to intercept the marines sent to transmit a distress call, and therefore travel by vehicle to the communications complex.
- Communications Transfer: There are several outdoor areas. The first Cacodemon appears at the start, and the chainsaw zombie makes its first appearances here. The berserk powerup appears for the first out of two times in the game.
- Communications: The player is confronted with the decision to transmit or cancel the distress call.
- Monorail Skybridge (Recycling – Sector 1): Where trash is processed in the UAC. The Revenant is introduced in a cutscene, and this is the only level with toxic waste pools.
- Recycling – Sector 2: A trap is sprung on the player by Betruger, slowly filling the building with toxic gases. The Mancubus is introduced in a cutscene, and Cherubs make their first appearances.
- Monorail: Commando zombies are introduced in the opening cutscene. The player must reach the Delta Labs by monorail.
- Delta Labs – Level 1: This level contains no demon altercations of any kind for quite some time upon entering it. The player must initiate power by turning on main reactor.
- Delta Labs – Level 2A: Player goes through the teleporter for the first time. The BFG9000 is first received.
- Delta Labs – Level 2B: Arch-Viles begin to appear, shortly after their haunting cackles are heard.
- Delta Labs – Level 3: The player is hot on the heels of Betruger and travels through several second-generation teleporter units.
- Delta Labs – Level 4: Hell Knights are introduced in the cutscene. Betruger sends the player to Hell through the main teleporter after the battle.
- Hell: The player has lost all weapons and ammo through the teleporter. The player must trek through Hell in order to defeat the Guardian (second boss) and retrieve the Soul Cube.
- Delta Complex (Revisited): The player has once again lost all weapons and ammo. From hereon, there will be no more zombies other than commandos. The trites make their first and only appearance.
- Central Processing: The effects of the growth in the base are evident.
- Central Processing (Server Banks): The player fights the third boss, Sabaoth, the demon transformation of Sergeant Kelly. Sabaoth has integrated Campbell's BFG into his cybernetic tank-body, and uses it against the player. After defeating Sabaoth, the player acquires Campbell's BFG.
- Site 3: Where archaeological entities are brought to and where the research is done. This is the last level where the surface of Mars is visible.
- Caverns – Level 1: The player advances towards the primary excavation site, where the Hell portal is located. Level 1 contains the oldest, original Mars base.
- Caverns – Level 2: Features an ancient Martian temple. The Vagary makes another appearance at the end, and may come in a pair.
- Primary Excavation (Hellhole): The player must defeat the fourth and final boss, the Cyberdemon, in order to seal the Hell portal. An exploratory player may find the hidden "id Software" PDA, containing messages from several id Software employees.
- PDA Room: This level is only accessible via the debug console, and it consists of every PDA and video disc in the game.
Story
Similar to the story of the original Doom, the game focuses on the marine who is transferred to Mars and sent out on a routine mission. In contrast to its earlier disdain for storytelling, this time id Software employed a professional science-fiction writer Matthew Castello to write the script and assist in story-boarding the entire game. id Software focused on retelling the story and creating a tense horror atmosphere. The game's events and atmosphere show a great deal of influence from George Romero's Living Dead series and James Cameron's Aliens, as well as Valve Software's Half-Life.
Unlike in previous id games, there are now cut scenes that give purpose and context for the player's actions and introduction to new enemies. Similar to other science fiction action/horror games such as System Shock, System Shock 2 and Aliens versus Predator 2, hundreds of text, voice, and video messages are scattered throughout the base. The messages are internal e-mails and audio reports sent between lab workers, administrators, maintenance staff, and security personnel at the Mars base. The messages explain the background story, show the feelings and concern of the people on the Mars base and reveal information related to plot and gameplay. Video booths and televisions give planetary news, corporate propaganda, visitor information and technical data about the base.
The story of Doom 3 surrounds the discovery of ancient ruins underneath Martian soil. Tablets found at these sites record how an ancient Martian race developed a form of teleporter technology. They realized an important fact all too late, however; the route the teleporter took passed through Hell. Quickly invaded by demons, this alien race created and sacrificed themselves to a weapon known as the Soul Cube. This cube, powered by the souls of almost every being of this alien race, was used by their strongest warrior to defeat and contain the demons in Hell.
Having done so, the remainder of the alien race constructed warnings to any who visited Mars, warning them not to recreate this technology; to avoid opening another gate to Hell. They then teleported to an unknown location, fleeing Mars; there are hints that at least some of them fled to Earth, and that humans descended from them. It's stated that the demons once inhabited Earth in an unknown context, but lost possession of it due to an unknown cause. Consequently, the demons want to reclaim Earth.
The UAC, discovering the Soul Cube and the warnings, used them to invent the same teleporter technology. Discovering that they opened a gate to Hell, scientists decided to explore further (encouraged by the head scientist, Malcolm Betruger), sending teams in and even capturing living specimens from the realm at great loss of life. The portal experiments also had strange and disturbing effects on the Mars City research facility where the experiments were conducted. Scientists and workers, unaware of the nature of the work being performed by Dr. Betruger and his team, frequently reported strange phenomena and unlikely industrial accidents. A general sense of paranoia and fear spread throughout the facility, leading many workers to request a greater marine presence and/or weaponry accessible by themselves.
In response to numerous industrial accidents, complaints, and requests for transfers off Mars, the UAC on Earth sends Counselor Elliot Swann to investigate these problems. Accompanying Swann are his personal bodyguard Jack Campbell (with attaché case) and a single marine (the player). Upon checking in, the marine is called to Marine HQ to meet Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly, the marine commander of the facility. He sends the marine to track down a missing member of the science team. On the way, he overhears a tense meeting between Swann and Betruger.
The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, preparing to send out a warning message about Betruger's extreme portal experiments. The message warns that Betruger's tests are threatening to overload the portal's containment fields, which would create a catastrophic scenario. The scientist was unable to finish and send his message before the next portal experiment.
As soon as the portal opens, Betruger takes the Soul Cube into Hell and apparently made an unknown kind of deal with the creatures there. Under his direction, the demons again invade Mars, confident that the only key to their defeat lay safe in their hands. The marine and scientist watch on the monitors and radio as chaos erupts throughout the base. The marine watches as a fellow marine in the Delta Labs is possessed by a demon, as another flies through the screen to possess the scientist. Under Sergeant Kelly's orders to all units, the marine returns to Marine HQ. Along the way, the marine overhears radio chatter as various teams attempt to coordinate their efforts or give their last screams for help.
Returning to Marine HQ, the marine is sent by Kelly to assist Bravo Team (one of the few surviving squads) in reaching the Communcations Tower to send a distress signal to the fleet. Bravo Team is carrying a military transmission card which contains the encoded message. The path to the tower leads through the Alpha Labs and Energy Production plant, both of which are heavily infested with demons. The attack has left most of the Mars base population either dead or as zombified slaves. Most marines who had survived the first attack were wiped out by the demons and the undead Mars security forces in a matter of minutes.
After entering the Administration sector, the marine overhears another conversation between Swann and Betruger. Insisting on taking over command of the situation, Swann is rebuffed by Betruger, announcing that he will handle things personally from the Delta Labs. Swann realizes he must take matters into his own hands, and Campbell opens his case to commence "Plan B."
As the marine enters the EnPro facility, Brave Team is ambushed at the nearby motor pool. Before the marine can reach them, he learns that Swann is also heading for the communcations tower. However, Swann wishes to prevent the transmission to the fleet. Unable to find Bravo Team's communications card, he and Campbell grab a vehicle and drive to the tower. The marine later obtains the card from the last member of Bravo Team, who was hiding from Swann. The marine is catching up, but was not able to get to the tower's control room before Campbell destroys the computers with his BFG9000.
Believing they have succeeded in stopping the transmission, they head off towards the Delta Labs, where the main portal (and source of the invasion) is located. However, the marine is able to find a way into the satellite control room and access the transmitter directly. The transmission calls for a full ground engagement with no orbital bombardment. Swann contacts the marine and tells him to abort the trasmission, arguing that until they understand what they are up against, the base must remain cut off from the outside world. Kelly presses the marine to send it. The marine must make a choice.
After leaving the communcations tower, the skyway to the monorail station is crushed by an invisible power, forcing the marine to find an alternate route through the waste treatment plant. In the plant, he learns that Betruger plans to wipe out the reinforcements that are on their way, and then use their ships to take the demons to Earth in order to conquer it. If the marine aborted the transmission at the tower, Betruger announces that he will send the distress signal himself. Betruger then attempts to trap the marine in the plant, which is filling up with toxic gas.
Surviving the attack and fighting his way out of the plant and through the monorail station, the marine ultimately reaches the Delta Labs, where the main portal is located. The marine also learns of the Soul Cube and the portal to Hell where it is held.
The marine, pursuing the Soul Cube, is sent into Hell by Betruger via the main portal in the Delta Labs. After losing all his weapons during the teleportation, he rigorously picks up the scattered weapons while fighting his way through the demons. Finally reaching the Soul Cube which calls out to the marine, "Save us," he is confronted by the The Guardian of Hell — a gigantic, near-blind demon who uses smaller creatures, named Seekers, to "see." With the Guardian of Hell defeated, the marine takes the Soul Cube back through the teleporter to Mars, where he learns that his actions have made Betruger unable to use the teleporter technology.
Resurfacing at the Delta Complex, the marine must again find his weapons, and battle the remaining demons in the base. Betruger, upset by his loss of the teleporter and the Soul Cube, vengefully tells the marine of a natural portal to Hell which could transport millions of his minions from Hell. On the way to the new portal, the marine encounters Counselor Swann, who is found wounded and unable to move. Swann, who is unwilling to allow the invasion of Earth, grants his PDA to the marine, and directs him to go through Central Processing and then to the caverns, where the portal is located. Swann warns that Sarge is no longer human and that Campbell has gone after him.
In Central Processing, Campbell is found dying on the floor without a weapon. As he dies, a demonic voice begins to taunt the marine, who is approaching the mortifying monster. Once the arena is treaded on, the BFG-wielding Sabaoth reveals himself as a mutated hybrid of Sarge and a military tank. After the battle is over, the spoils — the BFG9000 — is seized by the marine as he advances to Site 3 and transfers to the caverns.
At the Primary Excavation site of the caverns, the portal to Hell has been opened at the site of the alien ruins. There, the marine uses the Soul Cube to defeat "Hell's mightiest warrior", the horrific Cyberdemon, and seal the portal. The ending scene shows the marine (revealed in Doom 3's expansion pack, Resurrection of Evil, to be the only survivor) being rescued by the fleet, and Betruger reincarnated as a dragon-like demon called the Maledict.
Spoilers end here.
Development
In June 2000, John Carmack posted a plan [2] announcing the start to a remake of Doom using next generation technology. This plan revealed controversy had been brewing within id over the decision.
Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack, two of id Software's owners, were always strongly opposed to remaking Doom. They thought that id was going back to the same old formulas and properties too often. However, after the warm reception of Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the latest improvements in rendering technology, most of the employees agreed that a remake was the right idea and confronted Kevin and Adrian with an ultimatum: "Allow us to remake Doom or fire us" (including John Carmack). After the reasonably painless confrontation (although artist Paul Steed, one of the instigators, was fired in retaliation),[2] the agreement to work on Doom 3 was made.
The game was in development for 4 years. In 2001, it was first shown to the public at Macworld Conference & Expo in Tokyo [3] and was later demonstrated at E3 in 2002, where a 15-minute gameplay demo was shown in a small theater. It won five awards at E3 that year.
Some speculated that id software was targeting the 2002 holiday season, although others believed a 2003 release date would be more realistic. After E3, there was no further press release from id Software regarding the project; the company's website only had Return to Castle Wolfenstein as the latest game. Late in 2002, a couple of employees at ATI Technologies leaked a development version of Doom 3 onto the Internet.[4]
Next year, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003 and soon afterwards the id software homepage was updated to showcase Doom 3 as an upcoming project but it was also announced that Doom 3 would not be ready for the 2003 holiday season. According to some comments by John Carmack, the development took longer than expected. Originally, the game was planned for release around the same time as another highly anticipated game, Half-Life 2, in Christmas 2003. Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Halo 2 were considered among the most anticipated games since their announcements in 2001/2002, though all three of them would not make the planned 2003 holiday season.
Doom 3 achieved gold status on July 14, 2004, and a Mac OS X release was confirmed the next day on July 15, 2004. Doom 3 was released in the U.S. on August 3, 2004. Additionally, a Linux version was released on October 4, 2004. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. The game was released to the rest of the world on August 13, 2004 (except for Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, where official localisation was delayed and caused the game to be released about four months later, on December 10, 2004).
Two days before its official release, Doom 3 was released by pirate groups onto the Internet. As the game's focus is its single player mode, the need for a valid retail serial number for online multiplayer gaming was a weak deterrent against piracy.
Software patent controversy
A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX audio technology in Doom 3 reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. id Software would have been putting themselves under legal liability if they used the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits. [5]
Web integration
Shortly following the announcement of Doom 3's development, a promotional website(www.ua-corp.com) was released that serves as the homepage of the fictional corporation operating on Mars in the game. Until the announcement of gold status, the site served as a teaser; later a countdown to the release date was added. The website for Martian Buddy, a fictional corporation prominently featured in the game, was also revealed before the game launch.
Some other developers have also created websites for in-game companies in the past. For example, Rockstar Games created sites for most companies mentioned in commercials on the in-game radio in Grand Theft Auto.
E3
Doom 3 was announced at E3 2001, and the gameplay demo was shown in both E3 2001, Quakecon 2002, and E3 2002. At E3 2002 and Quakecon id showed an interactive demo. This version, known as the alpha version, was leaked on the Internet; speculation indicated that it may have been leaked by ATI.[4] id Software developers were extremely concerned by the quality of the leaked product, as it was still a bug-ridden, experimental stage of the product's evolution. Despite fears of poorer sales, the game went on to sell well.
Linux
Doom 3 continued id's long track record of creating games that were Linux compatible. This was primarily a result of id's decision to use the OpenGL standard for the graphics engine as opposed to Microsoft's proprietary Direct3D API which is only available for the Windows line of operating systems. The executable for the Linux version can be found on id's FTP [1] or BitTorrent server. It can also be downloaded from Doom Wad Station. TTimo also has a Wiki with information regarding the Linux version [2].
Development team
- John Carmack — Co-owner, Technical Director
- Timothee 'TTimo' Besset — Network code, GtkRadiant, Linux conversions (formerly a contractee hailing from Paris, now part of the team in Texas)
- Graeme Devine — Sound engine
- Seneca Menard — 3D modelling (formerly of DreamWorks)
- Kenneth Scott — Lead artist
- Fred Nilsson (worked on Antz and Shrek at DreamWorks as an animator) — Animation
- Jim Dose — AI and scripted scenes
- Robert Duffy — Lead programmer
- Jan Paul van Waveren — Game engine (physics)
- Tim Willits — Co-owner, Lead designer (according to the Doom 3 manual, he released a series of maps for the original Doom for free distribution on the Internet. id liked his work and hired him as a designer in 1995).
- Adrian Carmack — Artist
- Patrick Duffy — GUI designer
- Paul Jaquays — Level designer
- Jerry Keehan — Level designer
- Steve Rescoe - Level designer
- Malvern Blackwell — Level designer
- Christian Antkow — Level designer
- Kevin Cloud — Co-owner, Artist
- Todd Hollenshead — Co-owner, CEO
Some work was done by outside specialists:
- Chris Vrenna — (one of the first members of Nine Inch Nails who wrote the music for Quake) — Music (Note: Trent Reznor left part-way through development and no longer has sound or music in Doom 3)
- Ed Lima — (Contract sound designer brought on after Reznor's departure)
- Matthew Castello (a science fiction writer who worked on the famous games The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour) — (non-id) — Game script
- Splash Damage, Ltd. — The company that co-developed Doom 3 multiplayer maps
Trivia
- When the player first receives the PDA at the beginning of the game, the man at the desk who handles the marine's transfer is typing the marine's information into the computer. In the 'additional notes' section of the text on the screen that the marine transfer is very rude for standing behind his shoulder to see what he's typing and even types "Stop it." If the player can see what he is typing, he or she must in fact be standing immediately behind the man at the desk.
- According to the Doom 3 manual, id programmers wrote over 500,000 lines of script code, and id artists generated more than 25,000 image files to create all of the graphical interfaces, computer screens, and displays throughout Doom 3.
- There is a hidden id Software PDA before the final fight. If the player turns left at the very end before the bricks open up, there is a little branch-off hallway with the id logo on a brick at the end. By selecting it as one would a computer in the game, a wall opens up, and on a table in the room is a PDA with congratulations and personal messages from the id developers.
- The Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 arcade game is in the kitchen on Mars City (the switch is on the back). Upon attaining a score of 25,000 points or more the player receives a special email on his or her PDA.
- Steve Blum, a popular American voice actor who is best known for voicing Spike Spiegel in the dub of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, appears in Doom 3 playing various marines, technicians and zombies.
- There is a reference to the British sit-com The Office in the game. One of the PDAs contains a message addressed to "Finchy" from "Brent" wherein they discuss tactics for an upcoming quiz night, with a recommendation that they brush up on their Shakespeare to avoid being beaten by a team from administration for a second time. In a first season episode of The Office, Brent and Finchy's team lost to Tim and Ricky on a Shakespeare-related tie-breaker.
- There is a reference to "Weird Al" Yankovic in the email of Jack Smith. The email 'Buddy System?!' states "Tell me how a buddy system would have prevented Joe 'Torsoboy' Moss from having his arms and legs hacked off by the Albuquerck Capacitor?". Al mentions 'Torsoboy' in the song "Albuquerque" on the Running with Scissors album.
- The first ever Doom 3 multiplayer competition was held at the Assembly demo party, only a few days after the game's release.
- In Site 3 of the Artifact Research area, the last of the four tablets has a picture of the mighty warrior using the Soul Cube. The picture is identical to the original cover of Doom, save that the warrior is holding the Soul Cube and a portion of the Tablet is broken, so his head is not visible.
- In one of the Alpha Labs, on the desk where the player can view the security cameras, to the left of the computer is a magazine with a red stapler on it. It reads "Who took gary's stapler?" Gary's red Swingline stapler was an integral part of the popular movie Office Space.
- The Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 arcade game cabinet marquee is similar to the marquee of Street Fighter Alpha 3, and the Nabcon logo uses the same style the Capcom logo uses.
Reception
As of August 23, 2006 Doom 3 has garnered an average review score of 87%, according to 97 media outlets on GameRankings.com. By the same source, it is in the top 10 PC games of 2004.
E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best of Show, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, Special Commendation for Sound, Special Commendation for Graphics
References
- ^ "The Vault: System Shock 2". PC PowerPlay (January 2006), pp.108.
- ^ a b Carmack, John (6/1/00). 6/1/00 .plan document for Doom 3. GameFinger. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ MacWorld Tokyo: iMac, GeForce3, price cuts. Geek.com (2001-02-22). Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ a b Hales, Paul (2002-11-04). Doom III leak sparks witch hunt for mole. The Inquirer. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Gibson, Steve (2004-07-28). Creative Labs Patent & DOOM 3. Shacknews.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
External links
- Official Doom 3 website
- Doom 3 at the Internet Movie Database
- Doom 3 World Doom 3 technology knowledge database
- Doom 3 at Mobygames.com
- Doom 3 cheat codes
- PlanetDOOM
- Mods
- idDevNet Official MOD support website for the Doom 3 engine
- modwiki.net — Doom 3 engine reference material
- Doom 3 Cooperative Modification "Last Man Standing Coop" — Co-op support for the PC Version
- Classic Doom for Doom 3 The first episode of the original Doom, remade with the Doom 3 engine
- DungeonDoom — Roguelike single player total Conversion
- Doom Wad Station — Maps, reviews, Total conversions and more for Doom3
| Games: |
Doom - Versions and ports of Doom - Doom II - The Ultimate Doom - Master Levels for Doom II - Final Doom - Doom 64 - Doom 3 - Resurrection of Evil - Doom RPG
Fan-made: Doom 2D - DoomRL - see Category:Doom mods for fan-made DOOM games that use the original executables |
| Technical: |
Doom engine - Doom 3 engine - WAD files |
| Spinoffs: |
Doom spin-offs and homages - Doom (film) |
| Characters: |
The Marine - Malcolm Betruger |
| Enemies: |
Classic Doom enemies - Doom 3 enemies - Maledict - Mother Demon |
| Companies: |
Union Aerospace Corporation - Martian Buddy - Mixom |
| Other: |
The Artifact - BFG9000 - Soul Cube |
Categories: 2004 computer and video games | Activision games | Computer and video game remakes | Computer and video games featuring cooperative gameplay | Computer and video games with limited editions | Doom | Doom 3 | First-person shooters | Futuristic games | Linux games | Mac OS X games | Multiplayer online games | Windows games | Xbox games
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