, or rather their parent company ZeniMax Media. Like a nesting doll, Bethesda themselves are the parents of yet other game studios that Microsoft will also own. What of, say, Id Software? One of Id’s co-founders John Carmack reckons that the Bethesda buyout is a good thing. He says that the new Microsoft ownership could allow him to “reengage” with his old work.
Update: Microsoft say they’ll “keep the commitment” to bring Bethesda’s Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo to PS5 as timed exclusives. More below.>
Microsoft just announced they’ve bought ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda. The developers of games such as Skyrim, Fallout, Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Quake and all those classics are now technically Xbox Game Studios. Xbox boss Phil Spencer made a post welcoming the developers, in what he calls a “landmark step” for both Microsoft and Bethesda.
What a year.
Getting Doom up and running on weird and unexpected computers is a long-running jape, with Id Software’s seminal shooter having been put on everything from digital cameras to a McDonald’s cash register. Now technotinkerer Foone Turing has demonstrated playing Doom in a pregnancy test, which is the wildest I’ve seen so far. It is not a convenient way to play Doom (and you cannot use the tester for its intended function while playing Doom, obvs) but by god, there it is. May this feat drive people to find something even weirder to run Doom on.
A new update has been released for Doom and Doom II.
Offering "QOL improvements, performance optimization, and more!", the update will be coming to all platforms, Bethesda explained on its website.
For the first time in "an official port", the original Doom renderer "has been modified to natively render 16:9 without any letterboxing", and the FOV "has been increased to reveal more image on the side instead of chopping off the top and bottom".
Doom Eternal still is a very, very good shooter, though there are some key differences between this one and the one that came out in 2016. If you’re still getting to grips with the game, I’ve listed my top tips for shooting all the demons and some stuff on exploring levels.
Early on in Doom Eternal, you’ll pick up your first weapon mod. These are secondary fire effects and there are a maximum of two per weapon. You can swap them on the fly if you’ve unlocked both of them, so they can make a standard shotgun either throw sticky bombs or turn into a fully automatic shotgun. But there is a way to make them even better.
The new Gears Of War spin-off, Gears Tactics came out yesterday, and already players are turning their soldiers into characters from other games. Tactics has you recruit various soldiers as you go on, you see, and while you can’t change the general look of their bodies or faces, there are still a bunch of features you can alter to adjust them to your liking.
So, here’s a few examples you could follow if you fancy having characters like Duke Nukem or Doom Guy in your squad.
Blood, guts, and chainsaws are integral parts of Doom, but so are its bangin’ metal soundtracks. Australian game sounds man Mick Gordon was the composer for both Doom (the 2016 one) and Doom Eternal‘s soundtracks, winning multiple awards for the former back when it released. The Doom Eternal OST launched over the weekend and apparently something sounded off to those with an ear for it. It turns out that Gordon didn’t have as much a hand in the final mix as he would have liked.
Doom Eternal is a big game with tons of secrets hidden throughout. Most are just the secret items hidden throughout all of the levels, which we will provide links to here. I should warn you that the rest of this article contains major spoilers.
Doom Eternal may have seen delays but it is a very, very good shooter. There are some key differences between this new Doom game and the one that came out in 2016, so I’ve listed my top tips for playing the game and even how to kill some of the tougher enemies.
