During today's QuakeCon keynote John Carmack unveiled a flurry of announcements including id Software's newest franchise, Rage, and confirmation of a Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie. They also told the crowd that the new Wolfenstein game is being developed by Raven Software for the PC, 360 and PS3. The mutiplayer portion of the game is being worked on by Threewave Software.

Here's the breakdown:
id Software's New Game Unveiled
Quake Zero Announced
Quake Arena Headed to XBLA
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Dated
id Forges Deal with Valve
Hollenshead Talks Wolfenstein Movie
Orcs & Elves II Hits Mobile this Holiday

At the end of the QuakeCon keynote Todd Hollenshead had Katherine Anna Kang, founder of Fountainhead Entertainment, take to the stage to show off a bit of Orcs & Elves for the DS.

After a bit of play, she announced that Orcs & Elves II will be hitting mobiles this holiday.

While not totally finalized, Todd Hollenshead confirmed with me today rumors that id Software has indeed licensed the film rights to an adaptation of Return to Castle Wolfenstein and that Roger Avary will both be writing and directing the movie.

"We are super excited to have Roger Avary attached to the project," Hollenshead told me. "I met personally with Avary and he has an enormous amount of enthusiasm for the project. That makes us incredibly excited. Movie projects are tough unless you have a really good writer and we want this to be great."

When I mentioned the mixed reaction to the Doom film, Hollenshead first said he loved the movie but then went on to say that they always want to take their previous experiences and "learn to do things better."

Before penning the deal, id folks met with the studio to agree to some "creative guidelines" for the upcoming picture.

"We want to make sure things like BJ is the hero, it's set in World War II and the Nazis are the bad guys," he said. "But a movie does need to be different than the game, so there is going to be some changes made."

He added that id will stay involved in the project as the movie is being made and technically, the deal is still in the works. id just wanted to get the word out there during their annual Quake Con.

Looks like the rumors are true, id and Valve have decided to partner up to sell all of id Software's library, well almost all of it.

Todd Hollenshead told me today that that all of (well like 99 percent of) id Software's games from Commander Keen on up to Quake 3 will now be sold on Steam. The distribution deal also includes a mega pack, that lets you download all of those games for $70. Or $60 if you use the $10 discount code given out at QuakeCon today.

The games should be available now on Steam. Hit the jump for the full list of games and packs.

id GAMES on Steam
• Commander Keen, Episodes 1 through 5
• Wolfenstein 3D
• Spear of Destiny
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• Ultimate DOOM
• DOOM II
• Final DOOM
• DOOM3
• DOOM3: Resurrection of Evil
• QUAKE
• QUAKE Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon
• QUAKE Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity
• QUAKE II
• QUAKE II Mission Pack: The Reckoning
• QUAKE II Mission Pack: Ground Zero
• QUAKE III Arena
• QUAKE III: Team Arena
• Heretic
• Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
• HeXen
• HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
• HeXen II

id PACKAGES on Steam
• DOOM 3 Pack: Includes DOOM 3 and DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil
• QUAKE III Pack: Includes QUAKE III Arena and QUAKE III: Team Arena
• Wolf Pack: Includes Wolf 3D, Spear of Destiny and Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• DOOM Pack Complete: Includes all DOOM games released by id
• QUAKE Pack: Includes all 8 QUAKE Titles available on Steam
• Heretic\HeXen Pack: Includes Heretic, Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, HeXen, HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, HeXen II
• Id Super Pack: Every id game on Steam

Select packages are 10% off until August 10.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will be hitting the PC on October 2, id Software announced today during their keynote at Quake Con 2007.

Now word yet on when the title will be shipping for the PS3 and Xbox 360. One more reason to save up your money for this fall.

ID SOFTWARE CONFIRMS LAUNCH DATE FOR
ENEMY TERRITORY: QUAKE WARS (WINDOWS PC) AT QUAKECON 2007

Santa Monica, CA - Aug. 3, 2007 - Gamers in attendance at QuakeCon 2007 were rewarded with a special announcement when id Software and Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) unveiled that Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™ Windows PC will be on EU store shelves on September 28, 2007 and North American store shelves beginning October 2, 2007. The game, which is in development by Splash Damage, pits the armies of Earth's Global Defense Force (GDF) against the invading alien Strogg in the multiplayer strategic shooter that transports players to the front lines of an epic new war for Earth.

Offering the ultimate in objective-based multiplayer action either online or offline with bots, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is set within the expansive QUAKE® universe in the year 2065. Gamers choose to play as the human GDF or alien Strogg in one of five unique character classes. Employing an arsenal of weapons, vehicles and deployable armaments, players engage in an action-packed test of skill and coordinated teamwork through a series of combat objectives. Persistent character growth and achievements reward players for teamwork, while clearly defined mission and class objectives guide new players to meaningful contributions on the battlefield.

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is also in development for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft (Nerve Software) and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system (Activision Foster City).

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars has been rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB.

Speaking with id CEO Todd Hollenshead earlier today, he told me that Quake Arena is currently under development for a release on the Xbox Live Arcade. Pi Studios will be working on the port.

Hollenshead said id was very pleased with the Xbox Live Arcade version of Doom and that he had a lot of fun playing it.

"It was amazing, sales were incredible," he said.

During today's Quake Con keynote the id folks announced that they have a team of developers working on a little pet project called Quake Zero.

QZ will be a free web-based version of Quake 3 multiplayer. Todd Hollenshead told me they decided to kick off this project for several reasons. First and foremost, id hated to see their game, once quite popular for online matches, losing its prominence in the online gaming scene, this will allow virtually anyone with a computer to play matches of their games.

Hollenshead said id also wanted to dip their toe in in-game advertising, and that this seemed like the best way to approach it. So expect ads to be running on the web page when you play Quake Zero,but free games for ads seem absolutely fine to me.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, walked me through what to expect from the game and the Quake Con presentation earlier this afternoon.

"It's more than just a first-person shooter, we will show vehicles and racetracks, driving and racing elements," he said. "It is an action-oriented game but with a lot of adventure elements. It will be story driven, but you can also choose your own route to go through things."

The game's basic story is one centered around an oppressive "machine" you are rallying against. While the game, which id has been working on for more than 18 months, will still have indoor and outdoor shooter elements, it will also have plenty of racing including some road rage and the ability to mod and soup up your vehicle.

While Rage will be the first game to launch on id Tech 5, that doesn't mean that id has ruled out future versions of their exiting franchises hitting the new engine, Hollenshead said.

"We haven't made the decision that that's not going to happen, it just isn't internally." he said. "We've been helping out with Quake 4 and with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, but we wanted to do something new and different and get everyone's creative juices flowing. That's the impetus behind this. id is a studio that has the ability to launch new IPs and give people something new and not have to swim as much upstream."

While the fact that id Software is working on an entirely new franchise is exciting, the big news, Hollenshead said, is the engine the game is running on an engine that can allow a developer to create games for the Mac, the PC, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 simultaneously by using identical media for all four platforms.

"Rage looks the same on all four platforms. It's all the same media, it's the same art, literally" he said. "It's damn hard to do that, but if you're a genius you'll figure out how to do it and that's what (Carmack) has done."

The brief tech demo of Rage shown at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference was running at 60hz on the Mac, something it will do on all platforms without any discernible difference, he said.

Typically when a game is being developed for multiple platforms, Hollenshead said, you have to lower the resolution for different platforms, or have less stuff in the environment going on. But with id Tech 5 there is no changes in any of the versions, Hollenshead said.

"That is huge, you don't have to have a second, third development team working on your different ports," he said. "For instance with a game based on a movie license, where you are tied to a specific launch date, previously you had your problem platform and you would put 150 people on it to get it to work. There's no need for that with id Tech 5 as long as you are prudent with your production management."

I asked Hollenshead about the whole furor surrounding Unreal's engine and accusations that it doesn't work as well with the Playstation 3. Hollenshead acknowledged that the PS3's architecture does have some interesting challenges, but said they figured them out. id brought on one of the top PS3 programmers in the world to help with the design of the engine from the beginning.

"From a architectural standpoint, (id Tech 5) was intended from the beginning to be a multiplatform engine," he said.

While id Software plans to eventually license their new cross-platform engine, that probably won't happen until closer to the end of this year.

Expect to hear some news in just a few from the QuakeCon Keynote. id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead and technical director and co-founder John Carmack will be taking the stage for the back-to-back press conference and keynote address.

"We look forward to QuakeCon every year as an opportunity to have a great time partying and playing id games with our fans," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "QuakeCon's continuing popularity is a credit to the dedication of our volunteers and grass-roots support of sponsors and exhibitors; and the fans' enthusiastic and passionate response to our big announcements is inspiring."

Check back to read the news and our interview with Hollenshead.

Today and the rest of the weekend is a wee-bit convention heavy. We're simultaneously covering the 2007 QuakeCon, BlizzCon and Fan Faire. The news seems to be chugging along pretty steadily, so if you want to track just what's happening at your con of choice click the appropriate link below, or you can just catch them as they hit the main page.

BlizzCon
QuakeCon
Fan Faire

Beta 2.0 for Enemy Territories: Quake Wars is going live today. The new beta will include a new map, wider access and plenty of extra features:

• New Map: Valley (temperate climate, GDF-offensive map)
• Wider Access: All current ETQW Fileplanet Beta participants, plus an additional first-come/first-serve 20K participants will be eligible to join
• Offline play against the computer mode added
• Improvements to bots, game physics, audio and game interface
• Punkbuster added
• LAN game support added
• Player statistics tracking and leaderboards added at http://stats.enemyterritory.com
• Unranked server support included

Get it while it's hot over at File Planet.

File Planet

This year's QuakeCon kicked off at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas today with crowds expected to reach 6,000. Although the John Carmack keynote and press conference doesn't hit until Friday night, the Bring-Your-Own-Computer folks have already set up and tourney check in is well underway. The assorted tournaments will get under way this afternoon, with some running through till Saturday night.

"We look forward to QuakeCon every year as an opportunity to have a great time partying and playing id games with our fans," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "QuakeCon's continuing popularity is a credit to the dedication of our volunteers and grass-roots support of sponsors and exhibitors; and the fans' enthusiastic and passionate response to our big announcements is inspiring."

id will be giving away 3,000 VIP keys to the upcoming Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Beta 2.0 and their are even a number of booths packed in with all of the PCs in the 25,000-square-foot exhibit area. NVIDIA, Activision, Antec, Armadillo Aerospace, Bgears, DeVry University, Dust-Off, EA Mobile, FSP Group USA, GameRail, The Guildhall at SMU, Ideazon, IN WIN, iZ3D, MSI, PNY Technologies, proGAM3R magazine, Patriot Memory, steelseries, Tritton, Turtle Rock Studios with Valve Software, and Wintec Industries will on be on hand to show off their wares, both hard and soft.

Quake Con

GAMERS UNITE AT QUAKECON 2007
id Software Slated to Make Major Announcements

DALLAS - August 2, 2007 - id Software once again welcomes the loyal fans who make the pilgrimage to gaming holy ground at QuakeCon 2007, August 2-5 in Dallas' Hilton Anatole Hotel. This year's QuakeCon is expected to draw more than 6,000 attendees from around the world. Todd Hollenshead, CEO, and John Carmack, Technical Director and co-founder of id Software take the stage Friday evening for a back-to-back press conference and keynote address where several major announcements will be made.

"We look forward to QuakeCon every year as an opportunity to have a great time partying and playing id games with our fans," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "QuakeCon's continuing popularity is a credit to the dedication of our volunteers and grass-roots support of sponsors and exhibitors; and the fans' enthusiastic and passionate response to our big announcements is inspiring."

Now in its twelfth year, QuakeCon continues to innovate in LAN party tournament action with all new gaming competitions. This year, the event organizers will host the first tournament using id Software's new landmark game, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. QuakeCon 2007 will also mark the debut of the first Quad Damage tournament spanning all four QUAKE games. The total QuakeCon Championship Tournament purse will be $100,000, courtesy of title sponsor NVIDIA.

id Software will also use QuakeCon 2007 as an opportunity to launch its Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Beta 2.0 with IGN's Fileplanet (www.fileplanet.com), giving away 3,000 VIP keys to the loyal fans of the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) Area. Beta 2.0 will feature "Valley," one of the maps being used in the QuakeCon Championship Tournament.

QuakeCon 2007 is organized by a dedicated group of 30 year-round volunteers, 200 on-site volunteers and video game pioneer, id Software. The four-day action-packed event offers 96 hours of round-the-clock parties, entertainment, and fierce gameplay action.

QuakeCon consumes more than 100,000 square feet of gaming righteousness, including a 2,800 seat Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) Area and exhibit space that features demos of the latest video games and displays of next-generation hardware from NVIDIA, Activision, EA, Philips, Logitech, Dell and Valve among others.

QuakeCon goers can win swag and gear by participating in fan appreciation events that will take place throughout the four-day event, including a Guitar Hero II competition and NVIDIA's kickoff event which will spoof popular game show challenges, including classics like Win Lose or Draw, Let's Make a Deal and The Dating Game as well as new game shows like Deal or No Deal.

The QuakeCon 2007 sponsor line up includes industry giants: id Software, NVIDIA, Activision, Philips amBX, Cenatek, Dell, D-Link, Intel, Logitech, MyInternetServices.com, Haptx, siteofchampions.com, and Sierra's World in Conflict.

The 25,000 square foot exhibit area at QuakeCon 2007 will include booths from NVIDIA, Activision, Antec, Armadillo Aerospace, Bgears, DeVry University, Dust-Off, EA Mobile, FSP Group USA, GameRail, The Guildhall at SMU, Ideazon, IN WIN, iZ3D, MSI, PNY Technologies, proGAM3R magazine, Patriot Memory, steelseries, Tritton, Turtle Rock Studios with Valve Software, and Wintec Industries.

For fans unable to make the journey to Dallas for QuakeCon 2007, the official event web site (www.quakecon.org) will have links to view broadcast footage from the event 24/7 from both static cameras and roaming hand-held cameras.

About QuakeCon:
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®, DOOM3®, and now Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™.

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.

AMBX FRAGS QUAKECON 2007

Dallas, TX, USA - Philips amBX today unveiled an amBX-enabled multiplayer demonstration of id Software's QUAKE 4, which will be available for both the press and public to play on a dedicated amBX booth at QuakeCon, Dallas, USA, from 2nd to 4th August 2007.

QuakeCon is a free convention held every year in the Dallas area where PC gamers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to play on a giant gaming network in one room together, see the latest technology and compete in world-class tournaments. Volunteer run, QuakeCon is sponsored by id Software, makers of the hugely popular and successful DOOM, QUAKE and Wolfenstein series of games.

Shorthand for 'ambient experiences', amBX revolutionises the gameplay experience by extending the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world. amBX delivers a full 'sensory surround experience' by equipping game developers with a tool box to use light, colour, sound and even air flow through enabled devices, including the Philips amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range of LED colour-controlled lighting capable of representing 16 million different colours, rumble peripherals and variable speed desktop fans.

The Philips amBX team has crafted a mod for QUAKE 4 which, when played with amBX peripherals, will see fans, lights and rumble effects, including 360 degree environmental lighting, form an integral part of the gameplay. Players running and jumping in the game will actually feel the air move around them and the effect of landing and impacts. Weapons will generate custom effects, including surrounding light, rumble shudder and fan blast effects from the rocket launcher. On a more subtle level, rear view lighting is darkened when players use a weapon scope mode, to draw players into the sniper frame of mind. On the receiving end, damage feedback is displayed through a multi directional red light blood splatter and bullet impact vibration. Finally, power and pick ups are represented through different light effects, including a light blue aura for Quad Damage, pulsing red for Regeneration, a fast yellow pulse for Haste, green light for Health and blue light for Mega Health.

"Multiplayer gaming doesn't come any bigger than QUAKE and QuakeCon is our chance to show the world just how awesome FPS multiplayer gaming can really be with amBX," commented Jo Cooke, Chief Marketing Officer, Philips amBX. "Fragging will reach a whole new dimension with light, wind and rumble effects taking in-your-face explosions right out of the gaming screen and into the hall at QuakeCon."

"With thousands of the most enthusiastic gamers from all around the world attending, QuakeCon is a fantastic venue to introduce new game technology, " said Todd Hollenshead, id Software's CEO. "We are excited about having Philips as a new QuakeCon partner this year and seeing attendees duel it out in heads up QUAKE 4 matches enhanced by Philips' exciting new amBX technology. "

The amBX-enabled QUAKE 4 will be in good company as QuakeCon 2007 will be ground zero for never-before-seen gaming competitions, with the first official tournament using id Software's new landmark game, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and the first ever "Quad Damage" tournament spanning all four QUAKE games.

Philips is setting a global standard by licensing the amBX technology to computer game developers, publishers and peripherals manufacturers including Codemasters, THQ, Introversion, Gearbox Software, Zombie, Riot Games, Brain in a Jar, Invictus Games, Instinct Technology, Kuju, Revolution, Sumo Digital, Rivers Run Red, Philips Peripherals & Accessories and SpectraVideo.

Philips is currently in the closing stages of agreements with a number of other high profile companies regarding amBX-enabling all kinds of games.

Maybe this is the year I should finally make my way to QuakeCon to check out all of the coolness going on in my old stomping grounds. (Texas, not Quake).

This year's QuakeCon will be home to the first ever sanctioned tournament of upcoming shooter Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. It will also host a Quad Damage tourney that will see pro PC gamers playing against one another in all four Quake games.

More than 6,000 gamers are expected at the four-day event which takes place in Mesquite, Texas from Aug. 2 through Aug. 5. The total purse for this year's QuakeCon will be $100,000, thanks to sponsor NVIDIA. Hit the jump for the press release. Brian Crecente

ALL-NEW COMPETITIONS IN NVIDIA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT QUAKECON 2007

MESQUITE, Texas - June 26, 2007 - The NVIDIA Championships at QuakeCon 2007 will be ground zero for never-before-seen gaming competitions with the first sanctioned tournament of id Software's new landmark game, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars; and the first ever "Quad Damage" tournament spanning all four QUAKE games. The tournaments will take place during the 12th annual QuakeCon which is being held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas from August 2-5. More than 6,000 gamers from around the world are expected to attend the four-day event. The total QuakeCon Championship Tournament purse will be $100,000, courtesy of title sponsor NVIDIA.

"This years QuakeCon is shaping up to be the best one yet," said Roy Taylor, vice president of developer relations at NVIDIA. "With the first ever 'Quad Damage' tournament, more attendees than ever before and the best gaming hardware on display, QuakeCon 2007 is guaranteed to be the gaming event of the year!"

"For over 10 years gamers have debated who the best overall QUAKE player is, and this year we're giving our competitors the chance to stake that claim in our world exclusive Quad Damage tournament," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "We're also giving teams the chance to be crowned the first ever Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars champions, and thanks to NVIDIA's $100,000 total prize purse, the competition will be more intense than ever."

Following is the tournament line up:

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars makes its tournament debut at QuakeCon 2007. 32 teams will compete in the incredible battles between Earth's Global Defense Force (GDF) and the invading alien Strogg. Each 6-person team will battle it out in a double-elimination bracket-style tournament, with each team having the opportunity to both attack and defend. With a focus on objective and class-based gameplay, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars will test each team's ability to combine skill, strategy, and teamwork in tournament play like never before.

QUAKE Quad-Damage Tournament
This year brings a new twist to QuakeCon's classic 1 vs. 1 competition with the inaugural Quad Damage Tournament. Spanning all four QUAKE games, this year's champion will need to be a master of a variety of weapons, maps, and play-styles - from QUAKE's lightening fast action and dominating rocket launcher, to the more strategic gameplay and precision weapons found in the later QUAKE games. 256 contestants will be divided into 4 man groups with each player battling the others in a set of round-robin 1 vs 1 matches. Two phases of round robin play will reduce the competition down to the top 32 players, who will then battle it out in a single-elimination, best of 3 bracket to determine who is truly the QUAKE Master.

More information, including map names, prize money distribution, detailed format and rules, and sign-ups for both tournaments will be available very shortly at www.quakecon.org.