"I totally understand your point and I'm sure many companies will try it, but I think few will succeed at it."

I hope you're right, I really. I think it's terrible what is happening to American programmers in general. I want to believe the games industry employees are immune to the cut throat practices the rest of the working business world is dealing with. I have a high degree of respect for game developers, the level of math, physics, and just general intelligence it takes to program a computer game has always impressed the hell out of me. I always said if I was going to stay in tech the only thing I would do is game development because of the challenge and reward it presents.

I can certainly see greedy, unscrupulous (sic?) dev houses like EA try to outsource their work to India, and I hope they fail miserably and lose lots of money in the process.

Is what is going on in the game industry supposed to be different than what is going on in the tech industry in general? I think not. I got out of tech four years ago because I saw the handwritting on the wall. I couldn't have made a wiser decision. Working in tech is terrible, that won't be changing any time soon. Salaries are coming down across the board, working hours are going up, job security and benefits are going way down, to the point of being non-existent. Welcome to being underpaid, overworked, and under-appreciated.

I don't know why game developers somehow are just learning about this now, but I guess they are in for a rude awakening. Maybe game developers thought they were immune from the realities the rest of the industry faces, nope. A career in tech is a dangerous one for sure, proceed at your own risk. That includes you guys working on the lastest PS2, XBOX, PC game...

I've already heard about a few small game development compainies outsourcing their dev work to India. I suspect game development outsourcing will start to pick up over the next couple of years to the current level of business development outsourcing. I'm not saying it's right, but if you think it won't/can't happen you're not living in reality. Does Joe Gamer really care who programmed Need For Speed Underground 10, or just that it's a fun game to play on his shiny new XBOX/PS2/PC?

"I am anit-war" Umm... what the fuck does that mean? "Anti-war", when I hear people saying that they just sound dumb beyond reason. So does that mean if America was invaded you would sit back and let it get taken over, or worse if we got into a nuclear conflict with Russia or China we should just let America get blown to smithereens with no retaliation? Or, are you anti current Iraq war? Is that what you meant to say?

I still have mixed reservations about whether invading Iraq was necessary at the time we did, but I'm certainly not anti-war. There is a time a place for war unfortunately, and that will never change. Some of the peacenik hippie/liberals would be content to never engage a hostile enemy to America, but I believe America is worth fighting for when necessary.

And before you morons start telling me that I should enlist, I already tried but the army unfortunately was not looking for 36-year-olds when they invaded Afghanastan.

Planet X,

The dumbasses I think are funny are the ones who make fun of Gabe's weight. I'd pay cash to see photos of the dorks who are calling him names. Anyone who gets off on making fun of someone like that probably has SERIOUS self-esteem issues of their own that need to be addressed.

I couldn't agree more. It's the ultimate in bad taste. I'm really hoping the types who do make fun of him for his weight gain are 14 year old punks who don't know any better. Here is a guy who has delivered one of the best gaming experiences ever to the pc, is always there for the community giving back, and then to have people constantly making fun of him for something like that is beyond distasteful.

I really do believe that with the exception of a few, my experience over the past 10 years of video gaming is that most of them are immature, self centered, rude, condensending, greedy morons. Obviously you and a small percentange of the rest of the community are not like that.

Hey Gabe, if you read these boards, big congratulations to you and your company. Half Life was all time favorite gaming experience, can't wait to pick up the 2nd installment. And I hope the idiots who stole your code base last year will be rotting in prison for many, many years.

So what I want to know, is all of you who have posted over the past year what an evil company Valve is for delaying "your game" for the past year, and how much they suck, and how much Gabe Newell sucks, and all of the rest of the crap are going to be camping out at your nearest Best Buy the night before to buy the game on day one?

It goes something like this for the typical gamer when a game is delayed: *bitch, moan, whine, cry, scream, complain, curse, throw temper tantrum*, and then a gold annoucement comes and it goes something like this, "sweet!", "Valve rocks!", "I love you Gabe!", "OMG I'm gonna feint!", "You guys are the best!", "Half Life 2 is gonna Rox!", "I WANT THIS GAME NOW!!!"

Gamers crack me up, they really do. I love reading these boards just for that.

What's funny is that all of the people coming on here and bashing the game will be the same rabid fanbase who were at Bestbuy the day the game came out (or more moronic, the preorder types) paying $55. I choose to read a few reviews before plunking down my hard earned cash and after reading those reviews came to the realization that Doom 3 will be better for me at a 1/3 rd of the price. But the typical fickle gamer is way to impatient to read a review to see if the game will be to his liking. I get a laugh out of some you folks, I really do.

I don't believe they are still working on this game anymore. I think at this point they are saving face, because I'm not sure what would be worse, to admit they are no longer working on DNF or to actually release the game. If they admit they are no longer working on DNF the gaming community will laugh at them for years to come, if they release the game the gaming community will laugh at them for years to come, either way they lose. I guess it's just better at this point to keep telling people they are working on the game than to admit failure.

I wonder if anyone knows what 3DRealms(Apogee) cash position is like at this point. I wish they were a public company so I could take a look at their 10K. How many millions have they spent on DNF, would anyone like to wager (that is if they are really still working on it)?

"and if youre wrong?? if hl sucks or never sees the light of day and goes sits in the corner with duke.. then what?"

While I'm looking forward to playing Half Life 2 more than any game in the past six years, whether the game is actually any good or not doesn't matter. The technology behind the Source engine is why it will probably be the most licensed next gen engine, not how good/bad Half Life 2 the game is.

And come on man, do you really think Half Life 2 is going to suck? That is a very, very, very remote possiblity and I doubt anyone truely believes the game will not be anything but stellar.

"Why do gamers have the tendancy to repeat opinions that have already been stated millions of times? It seems like for every HL2/doom 3 news there is, some forum user has to complain about how doom 3 is lackin lights/AI/originality ect. Cmon, I think we get the point. Its not like your respect meter goes up for stating the same arguements over and over again. If your going to flame Doom3, at least add in some fresh material."

I didn't post my impressions of Doom 3 to "impress" you, or anyone for that matter. But like it or not Doom 3 and Source are next gen engines being released at the same time, so comparisons are inevitable. I would go on a limb and say that Source will be seeing more licensees than Doom 3. Like I said, it does everything Doom 3 does and it does it better. I'm sure the price of each engine is probably pretty similar from a licensing standpoint. Id has always had the market on FPS tech for licensing, but I see that changing with the Source engine.

The Doom 3 engine is an amazing piece of work but from the E3 presenations and screenshots of Half Life 2, the Source engine is truely a next generation technology. Everything Doom 3 does the Source engine does, and does it better.

Unlike Doom 3, where developers are going to put the engine to great use to make great games, I firmly believe Half Life 2 is going to be the best game of the year, if not the best FPS experience ever released. There is just an insane amount of talent and vision at Valve. Half Life 2 will be the only game in the past six years I will purchase the day it hits store shelves. The last game I did that was for Half Life.

Still haven't purchased Doom 3 and have no intention of buying until the price comes down significantly. Monster closets, random behind-the-back monster spawning, unlimited weapon carrying, artificial gimmicks to advance game play (no lean key, no nightvision technology, and gun or flashlight only?), zero team AI, zero monster AI, and generic story are all enough to keep me away until the $55 price tag is a third of that. After the advances made by Half Life (six years ago) and most recently Halo, NOLF (1 and 2), COD, MOH, Undying (the best horror FPS ever), and Deus Ex, I don't appreciate 1993 gameplay.

George B, if you read this board let it go man. How long are you going to shovel the bullshit down our throats? I remember for Prey you kept that going till the very last minute until you finally had to come clean it was a dead game. The sad thing is you didn't learn from that experience. Pray was just too over ambitious for its own good, and DNF is obviously falling into that trap. Do you realize George B that DNF would have to be the best FPS shooter ever made to justify the development time and comments made over the years by you and your partner? That is a lot of pressure and you know you can't deliver. Even a fun game at this point wouldn't cut it. Unless DNF was revolutionary in every way there would be hell to pay from reviewers and the gaming community. Daikatana has nothing on the venom that would be spewed forth unto DNF.

Let it go George, admit you and your partner's project management skills are for shit, and move on to something else. Much like Right Said Fred, or Milli Vanilli, Duke Nukem was a one hit wonder. I can live with that, one hit wonders are fun while they last and I certainly had a blast with Duke Nukem back in the day.

Eah, still haven't purchased the game yet. All the reviews have confirmed my worst fears, standard run and gun with the excellent tech we can expect from Id. The whole flashlight thing is completely idiotic. Is the game supposed to be realistic or not? If so it's impossible to believe there is not one single hat lying around with lamps on it, or that in the far future weapons don't have light ampliphication modules. Howabout night vision goggles, guess that is too high tech for the future too. The biggest insult to common sense is that the marine can't fire a damn weapon while holding a flashlight at the same time. Id really blew it here by forcing atmosphere and forgoing all logic and common sense at the same time. These are welcome mods, screw how Id wanted you to play the game, it's retarted.

Not digging the cheap respawning I've been reading about either. There is nothing I hate more than having an enemy respawn behind me. It's a cheap way to make a game harder. Apparently Id said to hell with AI, we're going to make the game really dark, make your marine some incompetant invalid who cant shoot a gun and hold a flashlight at the same time, and have monsters spawn behind you to make the game seem creepy and hard.

I may buy the game now that Target has it for $45 just to see the technology. But it's apparent that other developers will use the tech to make a real game, since Id is still using 11 year old gameplay elements wrapped in a new engine. Half Life 2 can't come out soon enough. I need a game with substance and technology.

If you break down the game into distinct areas (gameplay, storyline, etc), you will see that it doesn’t impress in any way, other than graphics and the horror atmosphere, and that there are other games that fare a lot better in each of the individual areas. The storyline is average, the environment interactivity is limited, the levels are pretty repetitive up until the second half of the game and there is no real motivation for the player to finish the game, other than to see the final cutscene and add Doom 3 to the “finished games” list. Moreover, the heavy scripting means that the singleplayer replay value is close to zero and without the continued support from the community, the multiplayer won’t attract too many players, since id already stated that the singleplayer was the main concern in the development of the game.
All in all, Doom 3 has a name that transformed itself into a legend during this past decade to back it up. And the fans that wanted nothing more than a remake of the old titles, with updated graphics and the same horror atmosphere will not be disappointed. But by comparison, Doom 3 doesn’t bring anything new to the table, and in some respects it feels obsolete compared the FPS that were released in these last years. This year marked the birth of the “Far Cry” generation, not “Doom 3”.

That review pretty much sums up why I will wait a long time to purchase Doom 3.

Unbelievable. The game just came out today and you people have already finished it??? Talk about having no life. I thought I didn't have a life (yes I'm an insomniac) but some of you people take the cake. How in the world do you find the time to sit in front of a computer for 10 to 20 hours straight, playing a game with absolutely nothing else to do? And for you people who somehow illegally downloaded a copy, I'm not talking about you losers.

I've alwasy been a fan of the genius of Carmack, but never a fan of Id games. It sounds like Doom 3 is no different than every other Id game to come before it, and in the post Half Life day and age, that doesn't cut it. I need pretty graphics and innovation to go with my fps, and in that regard I have no doubt Valve will deliver. The demo I saw last year of Half Life 2 is still one of the most amazing I've yet seen. I'll be taking a pass on Doom 3 until it hits the bargin bins, but Half Life 2 will get my money day one.

Doom 3 is obviously great tech. Now the wait begins for other dev houses to make a great game with it.

As for unemployment, I don't know much about how it is over there, but the numbers our administration are showing are completely B.S. They fail to mention that after a person has been unemployed for x months, they no longer are considered part of the unemployment. Likewise, a lot of the numbers for the rising "employment" are people that are taking McJobs so they have something to live on. I'm not saying this is Bush's fault per-se, just that they're trying to tell us everything is alright, and that outsourcing is "good for the economy."

Good post, it's obvious you're not some salivating gamer whose only drive in life is to play Doom 3. Jeez, I've never seen so many people desperate for a game, ever. It's no wonder I've never had any desire to attend a lan party, not my type of crowd. I'm possibly going to buy the game this weekend, where Circuit City will undercut everyone by $10, and if I can get it cheaper someplace else I'll wait even longer.

To address your post, you're absolutely right. The govt has been feeding us BS employment figures for the past few months. It's no surprise, I don't believe a single thing this administration says. I don't blame all of the 3 million jobs lost since Bush took office on the President, much of it would have happened anyway. But he certainly hasn't done much to help get those jobs recovered. More people working harder than ever before, and for less pay. The Bush administration can only spin the employment numbers for so long, this was is from today's news:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127894,00.html

Here's a little advice for people who haven't bought Doom 3 yet.

WAIT FOR THE DEMO!

I got it today, played for about 3 hours so far. It's so fucking repetitive it's not funny. It's basically walk into a room, 5 monsters spawn, kill them, walk into next room. And pretty much all rooms and corridors look alike. And there's 20 hours of this according to stupid pcgamer.

It's needs something like separate missions like unreal 2 or something. It's just level after level of run, gun, repeat.

Anyway, if that's what you like, then fine. Don't believe me? Who cares. But I'd wait for the demo if you looking for something more than like a exact remake of Doom 1 and 2.

Hmmm, this actually sounds like good advice. I'm not planning on purchasing the game until this weekend, and I'm sure there will be a flood of reviews between now and then. If they all read like this I will be waiting for the demo and saving my money for the game I know will be truely groundbreaking, Half Life 2.

Thanks for the early review. I love Id, but damn they've pretty much made the same game for the past 12 years now. It doesn't sound like Doom 3 is any different than Wolfenstein 3D, except for 12 years and whole bunch of technology later. For wonderful engines and repetitve gameplay go to Id, for gameplay innovation go to anyone else.

Reading the various game boards over the past few weeks, it's kind of pathetic how desperate some people are for a game. Reading stuff like "don't know how I'm going sleep this week", or "I've been calling my favorite [insert name of store here] store bugging them every day when they will have the game available for purchase" is just embarrassing. What is it with this overwhelming need to play a game that your whole life goes on hold? Sheesh people, get a grip.

Me, I'll buy the game this weekend when Circuit City will have in on sale for $44.

I'm wondering how many people over the years during Doom 3's development who posted stuff like "ID can't write single player games!!!", "the game is going to suck, ID is just an engine company!!!", "Doom 3 costs $55, no way I'm I buying that game!!!", "Half Life 2 is going to kick Doom 3's ass, no way am I buying Doom 3!!!" etc, and all of the other comments over the years, have not only spent mad money on hardware upgrades but will probably be sleeping outside their nearest CompUSA/EB/Best Buy with cash in hand the minute the store opens the following morning. It's been an amusing ride, I'm sort of sorry the development is over, I loved reading those kinds of posts over the years.

The fickle gamer is always good for a laugh. I suspect all the people wishing eternal damnation on Valve for the September 30th release date fiasco will all be camping out together in September for that game too. The best will be when DNF goes gold someday. I can't WAIT for that announcement...

They said that their source code was ripped in October.

From what I read Valve said the code was stolen in September, towards the end of the month.

The thief said he had everything, but he never put it out; why? Because what he had was a bunch of poo.

He did put it out, everywhere. If you go to Russia you will find copies of the game based off the source code.

The reason that Valve got their shit broken into in the first place was because they had the security equivalent of having their computers on the front lawn at Valve Headquarters with a sign reading, “Please don’t steal this, it’s really valuable”.

Yes, their security sucked. Still, I'm not going to hate them because their sysadmin didn't know what he was doing. Just because Valve is a big time dev doesn't mean they are immune to small time mistakes. Multi-billion dollar corporations have their shit stolen all the time, both internally and externally.

If the thief did have everything, the game would have been put on the net for downloading and it would have been a Warez wet dream. As it was, the friends of mine who grabbed it said it was a bunch of poop, full of scripted sequences, lacking any semblance of AI at all, with maps of the equivalent of a small child with a crayon in hand.

I'll take your word for it. I had no desire to download something stolen from Valve in the first place, but I know many were curious about it. I heard the game was playable from start to finish, so I guess I heard wrong.

The game simply wasn’t finished. The release date came & went, THEN the code was stolen.

No it wasn't. Valve announced the theft after the Septemeber 30th release date passed, but it was stolen mid September. If you can prove me wrong do so, I don't mind being proven wrong if I am.

Except its not that simple. They lied AND COST ME MONEY. I bought a 9800pro the week before, thanks to that dickhead Lombardi. Thanks for leaving me with carrying what was then a VERY expensive card, which now to all intents and purposes, is nearly reaching budget prices. And no, I don't play a lot of games, so I didn't get much value out of it at all in the last year.

Bro I hear you. I understand being mad about that, and especially because you based an expensive hardware purchase off of a false release date. I really wish we could find out how far back the code theft set them. A better question would be, if the code was never stolen how far past the September 30th release date would Valve have been?

Valve made a mistake by misstating the release date for sure. But cut those guys some slack, they've given a lot to the gaming community and I'm sure they would have released the game on the 30th if they could have. It's not like Valve were intentionally trying to screw gamers over, it was a mistake. Hopefully some of the people who made early hardware purchases and whatnot can forgive and move on, I'm sure Half Life 2 is going to kick major ass when it hits shelves in a month. I'm sure it will be worth the wait.