John Carmack, wearing a t-shirt that reads "I don't get older, I level up," was recently interviewed on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. The co-founder of id Software and CTO of Oculus discussed—among other things—the release of Rage, one of id's less well-received games. Rage picked up several "game of show" awards at E3 in 2010, four years into its development, but when it finally came out in 2012 it the response was muted. 

"By the time it got out the world had changed around us," Carmack says. "The technology decisions that were made for some earlier systems weren't necessarily the right thing for the very latest ones. We now had Call of Duty and Battlefield coming out as these juggernauts that we were competing with, and I look back [at that] as one of those real decisions, I think we should have done whatever it would have taken to ship that two years earlier. Be less ambitious with some of the technologies and get it out earlier."

Carmack goes on to say that though "Doom was the optimal game to ship at the optimal time" he would have been happy to get a less ambitious version of Quake out earlier as well, perhaps putting some of its features into "a Super Doom" and saving the rest for a later game. "Quake was challenging and painful enough that maybe we could have done some things slightly better there."

In the two-and-a-half hour conversation Carmack also touches on the value of releasing source code for older games, moddability, the future of VR, turbocharging Ferraris, and also explains DOTA to Rogan in a conversation about the popularity of esports.

There are games that leave a lasting impression—stories that will live on in memory for the rest of my life. Rage is not one of those. I couldn't remember anything about the game other than it involved vault-things called Arks being buried in the earth to survive the impact of an asteroid, which of course didn't work out as planned. When Rage 2 was announced, I decided to go back and replay Rage as a refresher. I finished the game when it was new, but besides being surprised that there was no real "big bad boss battle" climax, the main thing I recall is that Rage was the showcase for the id Tech 5 engine.

A big talking point for id Tech 5 back in the day was megatexturing. From a purely technical perspective, megatexturing (or virtual textures) wasn't even new in id Tech 5—it was also used in id Tech 4. But id Tech 5 allowed for textures up to 128Kx128K instead of 32Kx32K in id Tech 4, and more is always better, right? The main goal with megatexturing is to allow artists to build a world without worrying about hardware limitations like VRAM. The game engine streams in the textures as needed (and at quality levels that fit into memory). Every surface can have a unique texture, so you don't get the repeated textures so often seen in other games.

Rage apparently uses 1TB of uncompressed textures, which is a massive figure when you think about it. That's like a single 524288x524288 texture, and I could use up my entire monthly bandwidth allotment just downloading that much data. Rage didn't use a single overarching megatexture—there were multiple 128Kx128K megatextures, each containing the artwork for specific areas like Wellspring, Subway Town, the outdoor desert environment, etc. The problem is that an uncompressed 128Kx128K texture is still 64GiB in size, so HD Photo/JPEG XR is used to heavily compress the megatexture, and then pieces are transcoded on the fly into a usable texture.

Ultimately, Rage ended up being a 20GB install (with 17GB of textures), at a time when 5-10 GB games were the norm. It's use of (mostly) unique textures for every surface made for a more visually interesting environment at times, and even now, eight years later, Rage looks decent. But while the scenery can look good from afar, getting up close to the textures shows some limitations.

The compression lends everything a somewhat grainy look, which is perhaps part of the Rage aesthetic. Look at a wall from across the room and it's not too bad, but get up close to most objects and there's a ton of blur and fuzziness. Character faces and some other objects get higher quality textures, but there's no way to store high resolution textures for every surface (without modern 50GB and larger HD texture packs, at least), and in Rage a lot of objects probably ended up with a 64x64 or even 32x32 slice of the megatexture.

But Rage also forged new territory in other ways. Rage would dynamically scale texture and scene data based on your PC's capabilities, aiming for a steady 60fps experience. I remember playing it on a GTX 580 at launch, and even at 2560x1600 with 8xAA it would run at a steady 60fps. It would also generally run at that same resolution and 60fps on far less capable hardware—though it might not look quite as nice. Today, armed with an RTX 2080 Ti, Rage will still run at 60fps at 4k, and it will also do 60fps at 4k on just about every other dedicated graphics card currently sitting in my benchmark cave (it's like a man cave, for PC hardware nerds).

This got me wondering: How does Rage run on Intel's current integrated graphics? I fired up my trusty Core i7-8700K test system, sans graphics card and using Intel's UHD Graphics 630. Capturing the framerate data was a bit difficult as Rage appears to lock out the keyboard shortcuts for starting/stopping frametime logging (for FRAPS, OCAT, and PresentMon), but I got around that by switching to the desktop, starting the PresentMon capture, and then switching back.

The short summary: Rage is completely playable even on Intel's integrated graphics, running at 1080p and "maximum" quality settings. I get around 48fps on average, and even 1440p plugs along at a reasonable 30fps. Minimum fps does dip into the low 20s at times for 1440p, and 4k drops to 16fps average, but I can't feel too bad. As a comparison point, Borderlands (released two years before Rage) only averages 28fps at 1080p max quality using Intel's UHD 630.

Of course, it really isn't that surprising that Rage works okay on Intel's UHD 630. After all, that's a 1200MHz part with 24 EUs (192 shader cores), which means 460.8 GFLOPS. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 both have about half that level of theoretical performance. Time is the great equalizer of performance.

How does Rage look running on integrated graphics? Only slightly worse than on a much faster GPU, the most noticeable difference being the streaming in of textures when you turn quickly, and that only lasts for a fraction of a second.

I mean that literally: I captured a video of Rage running on UHD 630 while spinning quickly outside, because I couldn't snap screenshots fast enough. It takes at most about five frames to go from the blurry initial image to the "final" image shown in the above gallery (note that a lot of additional compression artifacts are visible in the above gallery because I had to resort to using screenshots from a video source). On a modern dedicated GPU, it's 1-2 frames at most, and usually only the first time you see a texture.

Ultimately, for me Rage was more interesting from a technical perspective. It was the first id Tech 5 game, but its implementation had some clear flaws. Later id Tech 5 games would remove the fps limit, or at least increase it (eg, Dishonored 2 has a 120fps cap, though you can get around that with Nvidia cards by forcing vsync off). id Tech 5 was also the last of John Carmack's engines, as id Tech 6 was developed after his departure and changed many elements of the engine, though megatexturing remains. Ultimately, like other id Tech engines, id Tech 5 didn't see widespread use.

Perhaps more surprising is that Rage 2 will ditch id Tech completely and go with Avalanche Studios's Apex engine, from the Just Cause series. That should be good for the open world gameplay, and I'm planning to run a full performance analysis when it arrives on May 14.

The wingstick is a quality weapon. In Rage you can tap Q to send one of these tri-bladed boomerangs arcing out towards an enemy's head, with just a touch of curve to let you decapitate an enemy in cover. Sometimes the wingstick swoops back into your inventory, but sometimes it smashes and clatters to the floor in bits. That's too bad, because you're going to have to fork out 25 in-game bucks for a new one, or look in some bins for enough bits to craft one.

For some reason from about 2007 tight resource management started to become important in first-person shooters. Crysis gave us amazing super powers and half a Duracell to power them. Bioshock gave us magic powers and a thimble of Eve to power them. In Rage you need to engage with a dull crafting system or shops to keep your cool gadgets primed. 

It's a real shame, because while Rage has a lot of problems (boring vehicle bits, pointless open world zones, terrible texture-popping) the guns and gadgets are fantastic.

You start with one of PC gaming's crappiest pistols, but if you fight past the NPC dialogue and the driving bits you eventually get a shotgun that fires microrockets, a crossbow that fires mind control bolts, and a minigun that fires hadoukens. As well as wingsticks you eventually get turrets, spider bots and RC car bombs. A lot of Rage 2's manic energy is locked away deep inside the game, hidden behind a dusty, familiar vision of a Mad Max style post-apocalypse.

It is quite beautiful once the textures have loaded, but Fallout, Borderlands, Mad Max and many more games have done deserts to death. The big problem with Rage is that it imposes the scarcity of a post-apocalyptic scenario onto a game that would be much better as a dedicated corridor shooter. Is it interesting to keep track of my wingstick supply in combat, or to know that I've only got three revolver rounds left? In Stalker—a game about tense encounters with highly lethal enemies—absolutely. In a game that assaults you with hordes of crazed British punk fans, absolutely not. It's just annoying.

The good news is that the sequel may have taken these lessons on board, if the first Rage 2 trailers are to be believed. The zany wastelander vibe feels Borderlands-lite, but scenes of a high-tech double jump rocket launcher attack gives me favourable flashbacks to the fantastic 2016 Doom reboot. Now there's a game that's happy to give the player big toys with few constraints. The more games move towards heavily padded open world settings, the more I appreciate a focused game about guns vs. mutants and monsters. Give me great weapons, plenty of ammo, and let me loose on the wasteland without constraint.

Walmart leaked it, Twitter teased it, and Bethesda confirmed it, all within the space of a week. Rage 2 is happening, we learned for certain yesterday, with Doom masterminds id Software and Just Cause and Max Max developer Avalanche Studios at its helm. 

Monday's live-action announcement trailer echoes the latter, with a cast of excitable road warrior types punching, kicking and dousing themselves in lager. Now, we know Rage 2 is out next year, we know the premise of its story, and we've got a glimpse at how it'll look in practice.

First, an explosive gameplay trailer:

Second, story details. Rage 2's post-apocalypse comes courtesy of an asteroid that's wiped out 80 percent of the world's population. Filling the dusty boots of Walker—"the last Ranger of the wasteland"—you've lost your home to The Authority, an autocratic gang who rule with an iron fist.

"Now you’ll have to rage for justice and freedom," says Bethesda in a statement. "With ludicrous vehicle combat, super-powered first-person mayhem, and an open world full of emergent madness, you will tear across an unforgiving wasteland battling sadistic gangs to find the tools and tech needed to crush the oppressive rule of The Authority once and for all."

With that, players are given a "vast and varied" landscape to explore, filled with jungles, swamps and desert plains. You'll do so on foot or at the wheel of everything from monster trucks to gyrocopters as you pursue your adversaries. You'll leverage an arsenal of upgradable weapons, 'Nanotrite' powers, and 'Overdrive'—"the ability to push your guns beyond their mechanical limits"—in order to succeed. And you'll fight an ensemble of hostile natives, mutants, and monsters, lest you succumb to the badlands. 

More information on all of that can be gleaned from this blog post. No concrete launch date as yet, but Rage 2 is expected at some point in spring 2019. Expect more from Bethesda’s #BE3 showcase on June 10 at 6.30pm PST/June 11 at 2.30am BST.  

Update 2: In the wake of Walmart leaks and Twitter teases, Bethesda has now officially announced Rage 2. 

Much like the short GIF posted below, the following announcement trailer contains an ensemble of angry road warrior-styled folk screaming, shooting and simulating insults with what looks like shotgun shells. Meanwhile, the tune in the background tells us to get ready to die.

No in-game footage, then, but Bethesda promises an "official gameplay reveal" tomorrow at 7am PST/3pm BST. 

As spotted by Resetra user Stygr, the Bethesda site notes that Rage 2 is "developed in association with Avalanche Studios, trading as Fatalist Entertainment AB". Avalanche is best known for the Just Cause series, as well as 2015's Mad Max.

Check back for more tomorrow. 

Update 1: As Shaun duly notes in our original story below, Bethesda looks set to officially reveal Rage 2 later today. 

The tweet below suggests an announcement trailer. A tweet from Wario64, however, appears to tease what we might expect. 

The video within has since been pulled, but the following GIF portrays Mad Max-esque characters screaming, blowing kisses, lifting weights and firing guns while plumes of neon-coloured smoke bellow at their backs.

Make of that what you will. Look out for the official reveal later today—we'll update as and when we know more. 

Original story: 

Does Rage 2 exist, or does it not? I'd argue that yes, it does, but nothing is confirmed until publisher Bethesda announces it. That's the bloody rule, and that's clearly what's scheduled to happen tomorrow, according to a new Tweet from the official Rage Twitter account.

(It's worth adding that if you're in Australia or anywhere else in the southern hemisphere, that "Monday" will likely mean "Tuesday").

Following a Walmart leak early last week, Bethesda has issued a bunch of inscrutable images on its Twitter account, most with an overt purple theme. There was an image of London's Big Ben with purple paint on it, an image of a rocket ship with purple paint on it, and... an image of what appears to be a Rage cosplayer (there's a purple jacket in the image too, naturally).

The Tweet embedded above is the second missive from the official Rage account. The first one came last week, poking fun at Walmart's leak. 

Earlier today, Walmart Canada accidentally posted a list of new games, some announced and others not, that will presumably be revealed next month at E3. One of the surprise games on the list is Rage 2. The original Rage wasn't exactly a smash hit that demanded a sequel, after all, and neither Bethesda nor id Software have dropped a hint about it since Bethesda vice president of marketing Pete Hines allowed that Rage may have sold well enough to warrant a sequel. That was two years ago. 

Not long after reports of the Walmart leak began to surface, the official Rage Twitter account, which had been dormant since mid-2015, sprang to life—not with a confirmation, or a denial, but... something else. 

Take it for what it's worth, but I have a feeling that we'll be seeing more activity from that account in the relatively near future. Hines suggested the same thing, retweeting that helpful bit of advice while noting, "This is why we can't have nice things." 

I could be off-base, but I also get the feeling that he's not entirely happy about it.

This week on the Mod Roundup, a mod lets you uncap your FPS and removes FOV limits for id Tech 5 games such as Rage, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. Plus, a new release of The Dark Mod arrives with a level editor, an introductory mission, and other goodies. Finally, a Fallout 4 mod lets you rename just about any item you like.

Here are the most promising mods we've seen this week.

id5 Tweaker

Download link

This mod for id Tech 5 games does a lot of nifty things—in particular, it lets you change the FPS limit in games like Wolfenstein: The New Order and Rage. You can also widen your FOV, rebind any action to any key and disable the minimap (in Rage), and it also bundles various config files into a single file. There's a lot of commands to learn and installation instructions here, so read carefully.

The Dark Mod 2.05

Download link

The Dark Mod, originally a Thief-inspired mod for Doom 3 (now a free standalone game) has been around since 2009 and won our award for Mod of the Year in 2013. And it's still being improved! The latest release includes a level editor and the first of three planned story missions. There are also some performance increases and new assets. Note: old saves are not compatible with the new version, so if you upgrade you'll lose your progress.

Rename Anything, for Fallout 4

Download link

This mod simply does what it says: it gives you the ability to rename Fallout 4's items directly from your Pip-Boy menu. Weapons, notes, clothing, keys, holotapes—you name it, you can rename it. This makes finding your favorite items much easier, and the vanilla 26-character limit has been removed so you can make names as long as you like. Requires the Fallout 4 Script Extender.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA has announced it will be handing this year s Fellowship award to none other than John Carmack.

This means the man behind Doom, Quake and now Oculus Rift (as well as some rockets on the side) will be honoured with the Academy s highest honour, which is awarded in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games .

Carmack will receive his one-eyed face trophy thing and I d expect a hell of an ovation at the British Academy Games Awards, taking place April 7 at the Tobacco Dock, London.

Carmack commented thusly on the award:

Receiving a BAFTA Fellowship is a great honour. Over the course of my career, I ve remained passionate about the potential for engineering and technology improvements to expand the range of human creativity. Graphics, networking, extendable platforms, and now virtual reality; each has enabled magnificent new things that delight millions of people. I am as excited about the future today as I was when I started.

Hopefully he ll give a Quakecon-style keynote at the BAFTAs, discussing all manner of ludicrously interesting concepts for a couple of hours. A man can dream...