Doom 3: BFG Edition leapt from the shadows last week and brought along a new 7-level segment, improved visuals, and the unfathomable technological leap of attaching a flashlight to your weapons. Yet, replacing it in the shadows is the original version of id's jumpy FPS which quietly exited Steam, Green Man Gaming, and other digital shops, an otherwise inconsequential swap blemished by BFG Edition's lack of support for previously published mods due to its updated engine tech.

Eurogamer reports that the $100 Super id Software Pack was the sole alternative for purchasing Doom 3 post-BFG, but that also apparently disappeared sometime this week. GameFly, however, is still offering Steam codes for the original. A few gamers expressed concern over becoming locked out of Doom 3's extensive mod collection, but a Bethesda rep told Eurogamer the studio is "looking into" solutions in the short term.

If Dishonored has put you in a stealthy mood, you might want to check out The Dark Mod, the ambitious total conversion that takes the sneaky spirit of the Thief games and splatters it all over Doom 3. As RPS note, the mod - which doesn't so much remake the original Thiefs (Thieves?) as use their mechanics to tell new fan stories - has just been updated to version 1.08. Among many other things, the update notes boast of richer audio, AI improvements, and an updated training mission.

The Dark Mod team are slowly working on making the game standalone, but until they replace all of the Doom 3 assets, you're going to need that installed in order to play. (The recently released BFG Edition won't work, by the way.) It doesn't require that much effort to get The Dark Mod working and, once installed, you'll have access to a whole library of Thief fan missions, some of which compare favourably with the real thing. You can see a video of one of these below.

Doom 3 BFG edition is out this week, which makes it the perfect week for a Doom 3 BFG launch trailer. The repackaged, updated version of Doom 3 comes with 3D vision support and a new seven-level segment called The Lost Mission. The Resurrection of Evil expansion pack is included, along with Doom and Doom 2. The whole package is available at a budget £20 / €30 price point.

it sounds like Doom 3 has been significantly polished up with "improved rendering and lighting," more sensibly placed checkpoints and, countering one of the biggest points of contention, an armour-mounted flashlight. That should stop you from having to constantly choose between being able to see and being able to defend yourself. You can absorb some of that information in visual form with bonus demons in the launch trailer below.

Remember Doom 3? Of course you do. Remember it fondly? Ah. For the side of the internet nodding instead of choking on bile, Bethesda is releasing the BFG Edition that remasters the experience (though on the face of it, primarily for console owners rather than upgrading the already superior PC version), gives your futuristic marine some armour-mounted lighting to bring him up to date with 19th century coal-miners and, most importantly, adds a brand new chapter called The Lost Mission.

Here's a brand new trailer from QuakeCon that shows off a few new corners of Hell, that new flashlight, chainsaws, plasma death, and the most indecisive jump scare of all time.



Along with the Lost Mission, the BFG Edition also comes with both original Doom games, the Doom 3 expansion Resurrection of Evil, and another chance to see Dr. Malcolm be promoted from humble Research Director of the world's darkest science facility to Head of Demons in the fires of Hell itself. Hmm. I wonder if that's where he told HR he saw himself in five years time...

The Doom 3 BFG Edition blasts onto shelves this October.

The Oculus Rift -- a virtual reality headset which began as a garage project by VR-enthusiast Palmer Luckey -- is one step closer to being in your home and on your head. Oculus created a $250,000 Kickstarter campaign to acquire capital for the production of developer kits, and it's already achieved a balance of $445,844 with 30 days to go. That's momentum.

It helps when you have Gabe Newell "strongly encouraging" everyone to support the project, John Carmack calling it "the best VR demo probably the world has ever seen," and Cliff Bleszinski proclaiming himself "a believer." The Rift's powerful and influential backers are forward-thinking people (Gabe Newell is an especially accomplished predictor), which is a hint that head-mounted displays are on for real this time -- the cyberspace dreaming of the '80s and '90s is going practical.



The Rift is lauded for its low-latency head tracking and face-consuming field of view, as well as its potential price. It's not as if good VR goggles are non-existent, they're just not something you impulse buy on Amazon, and what's available for consumers doesn't tick all of Oculus' gaming-centric boxes.

The $599.99 Wrap 1200VR is designed as a "virtual display," meaning that it projects "75-inch widescreen display, as seen from 10 feet." That's not what we're hearing about Oculus' headset, which is supposed immerse us in a world with a 110-degree diagonal FOV. The same goes for Sony's higher-resolution HMZ-T1 Wearable HDTV, which advertises a 45-degree FOV and doesn't feature head tracking. Even the $1799 Z800 3DVisor quits at 40-degrees diagonal FOV.



The Rift's consumer price hasn't been set yet, but while the Kickstarter campaign is running, you can secure an assembled developer kit for $300. That price doesn't predict the consumer price -- smaller and larger backers are subsidizing these kits -- but it's not a bad sign.

The Rift dev kits are estimated to be delivered this December, and include a copy of Doom 3: BFG Edition, the first Oculus-compatible game. John Carmack's involvement in the project led to a demonstration of Doom 3 with Oculus at E3 in June, and the responses I've seen have ranged from positive to "OMG." For more about the technology, have a look at our coverage of that demo, complete with lots of over-our-heads Carmack talk.