Category Archives: Doom

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Down Goes Activision! Bought by Microsoft for nearly $70B

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For an extensive look at the glorious early years of Activision, have a read of my article, here: https://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=console/activision

Microsoft has a deal to buy long-time video game company Activision, to the tune of $68.7 billion. That’s a lot of CoD Points! Looking back at the history of Activision, there’s a certain amount of schadenfreude in them being finally snapped up themselves. Through the years, the company has done a fair bit of acquiring of their own. For example:

  • In 1997, they acquired Raven Software, makers of the Heretic FPS games. With Raven closely associated with Doom and Quake makers id Software, this eventually gave Activision an in with id itself. Raven was eventually eviscerated with targeted lay-offs, and as with many dev teams within Activision, is now part of the Call of Duty factory.
  • Neversoft, makers of the Tony Hawk skateboarding games, got picked up in 2000. It was shuttered by Activision in 2014, its remaining team members redirected to… you guessed it… cranking out Call of Duty games.
  • Speaking of Call of Duty (which you do a lot of when it comes to Activision), developer Treyarch was drafted into Activision in 2001. Which marches us to…
  • Infinity Ward had made Medal of Honor: Allied Assault in 2002, and was subsequently picked up by Activision in 2003. They would, of course, be the impetus Call of Duty developers. Activision switches between Infinity Ward and Treyarch as lead designers of each new version of CoD.
  • Grey Matter Interactive (ne: Xatrix Entertainment) had a deal with id to make Return to Castle Wolfenstein in 1999. With id’s close relationship with Activision, Grey Matter ended up gobbled up by them in 2002. Spoiler Alert! They ended up merged with Treyarch to make Call of Duty games! Surprise!
  • RedOctane made their name by pairing with Harmonix to make the Guitar Hero games. After being purchased by Activision in 2006, they were spared the ignominy of having to toil away on the Call of Duty rockpile by being closed down in 2010.
  • There’s few long-standing developers as creative-minded as Toys for Bob, started by Paul Reiche III (the Archon games with Freefall Associates, Mail Order Monsters) and Fred Ford in 1989. After making the first two successful Star Control games (we don’t talk about Star Control 3), they found huge success with the Skylander games, marrying real-life figurines with video games. Picked up by Activision in 2005…. do I really have to say this… they’re put to work on Call of Duty games in 2021.

And of course, there’s the big one, when Activision merged with Vivendi, owners of World of Warcraft makers Blizzard Entertainment, to form Activision Blizzard in 2008.

So, when it comes to Activision these days, to paraphrase The Dark Knight: You either get shut down as a developer, or live long enough to see yourself working on Call of Duty games. In the above list, there wasn’t one description of a developer acquired by Activision where I didn’t also have to include the title Call of Duty! That’s what Activision has become: a Call of Duty factory. Game developers are bought, their talent steadily stripped away, and often eventually shuttered or absorbed. It’s a long way away from the initial vision of Activision, that of under-appreciated game designers lifted out of the enforced anonymity of Atari and allowed to take wing as gaming superstars.

For an extensive look at the glorious early years of Activision, have a read of my article, here: https://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=console/activision

The 12 Video Games of Christmas: Doom Classic for iOS

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As the 12 Video Games of Christmas extravaganza continues with a nice little gem from id Software. Doom Classic is a faithful recreation of one of the most popular FPS games of all time. If you’re here reading this you probably don’t need Doom explained to you but for the sake of context here’s a little background.

In 1993 id Software released Doom much to the chagrin of office Managers everywhere. By 1995 the game was estimated to be installed on more computers than Windows 95. The game catapulted id from an obscure Texas based game developer to the holy ground of shooter game development. Now, the game that filled a thousand BBS’s in shareware form can be yours for Christmas for the bargain price of $4.99. 
Doom Classic isn’t just a cheap cash-in port either. There have been features implemented like tilt strafing and tilt turning and “auto use” which opens doors or pushes switches automatically that take advantage of the unique idiosyncracies of the iOS platform. 
If you’re expecting some iTunes cards for Christmas then definitely put Doom Classic on your “list of things to get with that iTunes card I got for Christmas” – or that Dimensional Shambler won’t be pleased. Here’s a link to expedite potential Doom-ing: Doom Classic

If you (like myself) wasted much of your young life playing way too much Doom then share some experiences in the comment section. Whether it was forgetting to eat or talking back to the quit messages it’d be great to hear them! 

Video Games, Are They Art? The MoMA Says Game On!

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Facing Their Doom

When Roger Ebert reviewed the film ‘adaptation’ of id Software’s seminal FPS PC game Doom in October of 2005, while savaging the movie he also fired a shot at its source medium:

“The movie has been ‘inspired by’ the famous video game.  No, I haven’t played it, and I never will…”

This dismissive attitude towards video games raised a few hackles from gamers,  and fires were further stoked in Ebert’s Answer Man column, where he continued to state he considered video games as not worthy of his time.  He finally dropped the hammer on any possible artistic aspirations of video games in his column that November:

“I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art.”

And so the debate has raged for years, “Can video games be art?”.   A counterpoint to Ebert’s protestations otherwise has come previously in the form of the 80 games of various genres inducted into the Smithsonian American Art Museum in March of 2012.  And now, the Museum of Modern Art will be displaying a collection of video games starting next March.  Some of the initial entries will include Pac-Man, Myst, The Sims and Portal, with the museum aiming to add the likes of Space Invaders, Street Fighter II and even Minecraft at a later date, totalling 40 games in all to be interred at the MoMA’s Philip Johnson Galleries.  A particularly interesting entry will be Zork, the classic text-only adventure by Infocom.  Such an example of the brilliant prose found in video games will make an excellent addition.

Kandinsky’s Composizione VIII

Are video games art?  Yes, definitely.  If I were to classify categories, I would say that early video games fall under abtract art.  The sparse mazes, outlined mountains and  geometric characters are all iconic representations of reality.  You could say the renaissance arrived with the lush visuals of games like Dragon’s Lair and Myst.   Modern day entries represent an on-going attempt by game artists and programmers to approach hyper-realism; in lighting, physics and the human body.  Yes, it is art.  To ride the ranges of Red Dead Redemption, as a burning sun sets behind a wide, rusted mesa, is to ride through a Bierstadt or Moran painting come to life. Yes, video games are art, as much as Picasso and Matisse are art.   Especially considering the limited technological canvas most of these electronic artists had to paint on.

via The New York Times
Composizione VIII available at art.com

The Breeding Continues

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Any self-respecting  gamer with an Amiga computer back in the 90’s had to have a copy of Alien Breed, created by Team 17 in 1991.  It started as a hardcore top-down shooter in the style of Gauntlet, that tested the mettle of many an Amigan with its endless hordes of alien attackers and stingy attitude towards health and ammo.

Enter the ravenous maw

 

In the game-changing wake of Doom, Alien Breed morphed into an FPS with Alien Breed 3D in 1995, becoming the first type of game in that genre for the Amiga.  While the view the player had of the world in front of him was shrunk down to avoid over-taxing the Amiga’s processing power, the 3D Breeds included more graphical flourishes, such as advanced lighting effects, more detailed floors and ceilings, and more intricate level design.  Labelled a Doom-killer, the dwindling user base of the Amiga computer platform ultimately left Doom developer id Software with little to fear.

Will Kevin Bacon be eaten by the evil alien?

 

Team 17 has returned to its Gauntlet inspired roots with a new series of top-down Alien Breed games for the PSN, the last of which, Alien Breed: Descent, has just been released.  Both single and multi-player co-operative modes are available for this go-round with the Alien scum. Here’s a video from The Dot Eaters of some gameplay of the original 3D game.

Check the link here for more info on the new Alien Breed game.