December 21, 1994: Mac gamers get their hands on Marathon, a sci-fi first-person shooter designed as an answer to the massive success of PC title Doom.
Created by Bungie, the team that would later make the Halo games, Marathon introduces important features to the FPS genre. Just as importantly, it isn’t available on PC. Marathon quickly becomes a favorite among Mac gamers.
It still blows my mind that Doom and Doom II, games I remember being awestruck at the existence of on a home computer, can now fit onto a device the size of a deck of playing cards.
Now, thanks to an update by developer Bethesda, the iOS ports of these two classic titles are now better than ever. Here’s what they’ve added to this duo of gaming classics.
Trapped in an oppressive single location, allowing no-one to get within breathing distance of you, while the apocalypse teeters ever closer on the horizon… Life in coronavirus lockdown? Maybe. But it’s also an apt description of Doom and Doom II, the classic first-person-shooters which just got a nifty update on iOS.
With a variety of improvements and more than 30 new levels to enjoy, there’s never been a better (or more appropriate) time to check out or revisit this grisly duo of classic 1990s blasters.
Bethesda Softworks gave Gen Xers a reason to get nostalgic when it released updated versions of Doom and Doom II into the App Store. The versions packed all the pixelated monsters and massive weapons you could hope for on an iPhone or iPad.
But while folks were justifiably excited to don their flannel shirts, put on some alt rock in the background, and head back to the glory days of the mid-1990s, the games didn’t totally deliver on their promises. A number of people pointed out that the audio and lighting weren’t correct in both ports. Those problems have now been fixed.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Doom, Bethesda Softworks relaunched Doom II for iPhone and iPad. It promises “more demons, more weapons, more action” — just like it did back in 1994.
Aspyr has confirmed plans to ditch its entire catalog of 32-bit games developed for Mac.
The news comes just a few weeks after Apple announced macOS Catalina — the first version of its operating system that won’t support 32-bit apps. A number of big titles will get the boot, including Call of Duty, Civilization, and Sims.
Id Software co-founder John Carmack was behind some of the most iconic computer game of the 1980s and 90s. This week, the legendary coder behind the smash hit games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake shared some memories of working with Steve Jobs.
Writing on Facebook, Carmack described some of his interactions with Jobs over the years — for better and for worse.
The new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar might not be the most useful tool for professionals quite yet, but it’s quickly becoming a perfect playground for retro gaming. Two new hacks bring classic games Pac-Man and Lemmings to the Touch Bar.
The MacBook Pro’s tiny OLED display seriously limits gameplay, though: You can barely make turns in Pac-Man, but it still looks better than Doom on the Touch Bar.
Get a peek at the Touch Bar gameplay in the videos below.
The jury is still out on whether the Touch Bar will become a useful tool, but one clever coder has already discovered that it’s absolutely terrible for playing video games on.
The Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is officially the latest absurd piece of tech to run Doom. Apple’s guidelines specifically bans games from running on the Touch Pad but that didn’t stop a developer from porting it onto the narrow screen that’s only 60 pixels heigh.
Check it out:
The demons are back. The first trailer for DOOM‘s campaign mode was revealed this morning by Bethesda, and it’s way more intense than the original version you fought through on your Mac back in the 90’s.
The game puts you in the boots of the iconic DOOM Marine who wakes up to find out the Union Aerospace Corporation’s facility on Mars has been decimated by Hell’s worst demons. You are humanity’s last hope armed with an array of unbelievably awesome weapons, but based on the new trailer humanity is, well, doomed.
Watch the gory action below:
Apple’s currently “stumbling” — and it’s the fault of a “negative,” “strict,” and overly “harsh” corporate environment, claims U.K. newspaper The Guardian.
“At Apple, you’re gonna be working 60-80 hours a week and some VP will come yell at you at any moment,” one coder is quoted as saying. “That’s a very hostile work environment.”
From a gamer’s point of view, if not a developer’s, the ultimate metric of a new device is its TTD, or Time To Doom. Ever since the source code to the classic first-person shooter was released over a decade ago, it has been used as the standard measurement of a new device’s capabilities.
Now, Doom has been ported to the new Apple TV and watchOS 2.
I’m not much of a video gamer, but Doom holds a special place in my heart. It’s the first game I can remember playing on a Mac, and while the next game in the sequel has been in the works forever (see: 2008), we finally got our first look at the gristly game today.
Publisher Bethesda will show off more of Doom at E3 next month, but for now the company released a super short teaser that has everything you could wish for: shotguns, and demons with monster guns.
Check it out below:
You know that scene in a horror movie where everything seems to be good, but things are just a bit too quiet?
Well, according to analyst Abhey Lamba of Mizuho Securities, Apple is there right now. With the company coming off its most profitable iPhone launch ever, exciting new devices on the horizon and a stock price that recently hit an all-time high, what else is there for the self-respecting analyst to do but predict that doom is right around the corner?
What is the metaphorical monster ready to leap out of a cupboard and savage Apple to bloody death, so soon after it hits its glorious peak? Why, the Apple Watch of course.
And according to Lamba, it could cost Apple big.
Id Software’s seminal first-person shooter franchise, Doom, came to the iOS platform back in 2009, with Doom Classic. It debuted as a $6.99 game, and we were all willing to pay for admission to a game that stole our hearts (and our free time) as young gamers.
About a year later, Doom II RPG showed up on the App Store at $3.99. It’s the sequel to 2005’s Doom RPG, a turn-based, more strategic take on the Doom universe.
Both titles are a part of gaming history, and they’re both available for $0.99 on the app store today. How long will they stay at this low price? Who knows? Not us.
We’ve hit peak Apple – there’s nowhere to go but downhill now, a former employee claimed in a UK newspaper today.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31omgvWDTQ
Up until 1996, id software’s Doom engine was pretty much the de facto technology driving the best and most advanced PC computer games on the market, including Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, Hexen and Strife. Then id software released their next game engine, Quake, which boasted true 3D environments, and any game that still ran on Doom’s 2.5D engine was barely worth a laugh.
That was very unfortunate for HacX when it was released in 1997. The last commercial game using the Doom engine, HacX boasted some incredible enemy, weapons and level design, but was ultimately as ignored at retail (where it was passed over for flashier games running on truly 3D engines) as it has been forgotten by all but the most die-hard retro gamers.
I was delighted to hear, then, that HacX has gotten a new lease on life, as it has been ported as a free app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s still using the Doom engine, just this time it’s using the updated iPhone engine released by id software’s own lead programmer, John Carmack.
Here’s hoping that HacX can finally get some of the recognition it deserves this time around.
