The offical ENWorld Doom 3 reaction thread.

[KenM]

Most places are getting Doom 3 in either tonight or tomorrow, I want to know what other ENworlders think of game. I loved the orginal. I have one minor beef with Doom 3 though, I picked up the strategy guide, and all the human don't have any hair, they color some sections of the head on some characters to give the illison of hair, but they still look pretty bald. I guess the new engine can't handle hair.

 

[mmu1]

Well, it's good. The graphics are Id at the top of their game, but the production values and the level of environmental detail go way beyond what you'd expect based on their previous work - they're basically as good as anything else out there today.

Creepy as hell, too - those zombies jumping out of dark corners, combined with really nice locational damage effects... Eugh.


I'm going to have to go back and check on the hair, but IIRC, characters definitely have more than just different textures drawn over smooth skulls.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Most places are getting Doom 3 in either tonight or tomorrow, I want to know what other ENworlders think of game.

BBC reports, as picked up by Gamespot and Gamasutra, as follows

At one point, the network's technology correspondent Alfred Hermida counted 50,000 peer-to-peer users downloading the 1.5 GB game--$2,749,500 worth of software at Doom 3's $54.99 sticker price. Other reports put the figure between 30,000 and 20,000--$1,649,700 and $1,099,800 of software, respectively.

Whichever figures are accurate, it is clear the piracy of Doom 3 is costing developer id Software and publisher Activision millions of dollars. However, it was unclear what steps the publisher was taking to stop the piracy, given that it had not commented as of press time.

All games get pirated - but this is FAR worse than normal.

It is no secret that that PC market is rife with piracy and it is no secret that is why there are so few Triple A PC Games in development. It's piracy. It's not some other reason. It's piracy, simpliciter.

Even on a conservative estimate, taking into account piracy in North America alone, the ratio of pirates to buyers is 7:1.

And that's ALREADY discounted from the 15:1 of those who grab it but would never have bought it so it's not a "lost sale".

Europe the number go up higher. Asia? You'd be lucky to FIND a legal copy in a lot of countries. (ok - not a lost sale perhaps - but not a ripe market for expansion either).

So what's my reaction to Doom3?

I think if this sort of piracy prevails, we can expect triple A game development to cease, or expect **massive** intrusion by online activation codes such that the game will ONLY work with a live internet connection.

I don't mean "in a while". I mean the shockwave will start "this quarter". The number of new triple A's in development was already low. The number of new ones after this? You'll be lucky to find more than 5 in all of 2005 starting new development.

Most companies won't bother going the route of trailblazing new technology on a triple A - they'll just switch to Xbox and say "screw this". And I don't blame them a bit.

PC Game development has been swirling the bowl for the past few years. Ever tried to get funding from a publisher? GOOD LUCK boyo.

But this *obscene* level of piracy on a Triple A game like Doom3 is going to mark the beginning of the end of the market as we know it.

That's what I think of Doom3.

And its damned sad - that's what it is.

 

[Cergorach]

Most companies won't bother going the route of trailblazing new technology on a triple A - they'll just switch to Xbox and say "screw this". And I don't blame them a bit.

Oh... You men that you can't download games for that system?

Do you want to know why it's downloaded so fast? First it's because it's available earlier online then it is in the stores. Second for those folks in europe, they'll have to wait up to two weeks before being able to buy the game.

Same thing happened with Neverwinter Nights, i had it on my computer for a week or so before i could finally get the paid version from my local computer store.

The problem is the game distributors, if they moved along with the game market they would not loose so many sales to piracy. If i could have downloaded Doom3 legally last night for $55 or so i would have been happy, now i'll have to wait a week or two before being able to part with my money. Possibly already hearing very bad reviews and finally deciding that it isn't worth the money...

Although i do agree that to many people don't put their money where their mouth is...

 

[Dark Jezter]

Guys, while video game piracy definately is a serious issue, don't you think this discussion would be better held in another thread? KenM started up this thread so that people could give their impressions on Doom 3 itself, not talk about the effects of piracy on the PC gaming industry.

Back to the main subject of this thread; I'll be picking up Doom 3 tomorrow afternoon, and will give my impressions of the game then. I hope I can sleep tonight, because everything I've heard about Doom 3 makes it sound absolutely incredible.

 

[KenM]

I saw that Game Spot article on how many people pirated Doom3, I agree with steel wind, if this continues it will kill the computer game market. The people that iileggally download games would not like it if they're work was stolen and would not see any money for they're hard work. End of rant.
I'm picking Doom 3 up today, if it makes me feel like I did when I played the orginal, i'll be happy. I have to correct what I said about hair, its just the main characters you talk to that are bald. Why they did it like that, don't know.

 

[Henry]

Let's put the piracy issues down, or move them to another thread, please. This one is about Doom 3, and player's reactions to the game.

 

[Anthraxus]

Wish I had the money to pick it up this week, but local gaming conventions last weekend and this weekend quashed that idea. Oh well, at least I get to play lots of D&D!

Can't wait to hear what people think of Doom3.

-A

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I too am picking it up today. The EB Games close to my work only ordered enough copies for their pre-orders... WHAT IDIOTS!!! 3 other people had walked in to pick it up so by not ordering extra copies EB lost $200 worth of sales in less than 30 seconds.

The game's screenshots look incredible. If you do a bit of searching you can check out the new Cyberdemon... too cool for words. The Cacodemon is the one I'm really looking forward to seeing. The first time the Cacodemon hissed at me in Doom 1 I about messed my drawers.

Another good game that hopefully will be out soon is Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. I'm beta testing it and in a word it is "awesome". I'm just hoping that should they choose to put out an expansion that they'll include the Tyranids, Necrons, and Imperial Guard as playable forces.

 

[KenM]

Picked it up, love it. Brings back the old gameplay feel of the orginal with new graphics, better phyisics, ect.. Looks great and runs great on my medium end system.
My only beef is with multiplayer. Most of the multiplayer I have played so far have played far has been laggy, thats when i could get on a server. Also it would say a server only has one person out of 4, I go to join it, and it says server is full. I also have "non password only" selected for servers, and I go to join a sever, and it asks me for a password. They need to work on the multiplayer a bit, IMO.