id confirms Rage, Quake Zero, Quake XBLA

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 6th August 2007

id Software has made a string of announcements this week, including the new Rage title and two new Quake games.

Alright, alright - so I was wrong with my prediction about id Software's new game. It isn't Quest, the long-abandoned RPG/FPS discussed in the history of id, Masters of Doom. It is, in fact, Rage - a truly brand new IP.

Rage, unveiled at QuakeCon '07, will be a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter built inside the idTech 5 engine. The engine is apparently the same on 360, PC and PS3, so that there's no need for complex porting to different platforms. The engine also allows levels to be edited in real-time. The new trailer (below) for Rage shows the usual technical brilliance we've come to expect of any id Software game.

Rage is, according to rumours, set to be an open-ended game with a sandbox approach and a mixed focus on FPS combat and driving. Valve and id have recently announced that the entire id back-catalogue, everything from Commander Keen to Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, is now available over Steam but there's no word yet on whether Rage too will be a Steam title.

Also at QuakeCon, id unveiled two new games which will revisit its extensive back-catalogue of games. The first is Quake Arena: Arcade, a version of Quake III which will be available over Xbox 360 Live Arcade and which is, reportedly being developed by Pi Studios.

The second game is also a Quake game, titled Quake Zero. It'll be a browser-based version of the original Quake which can be played for free and which will be ad-supported.

id Software also took the chance to confirm the release date for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which will hit shelves in Europe on September 28. The North American version will be available on October 2. The Xbox 360 version of the game is still in development and has no confirmed date just yet.

Psyched about Rage, or is Quake Zero more to your old-school tastes? Let us know what you think in the forums, after you've checked out the trailer for Rage, of course.