It's not every day you get to play a new id game. If you're not counting iPhone games (and we're not counting iPhone games) or re-releases, the last new title the studio released was Doom 3. And that was in 2004.

So this week's release of post-apocalyptic buggy death simulator RAGE is something to be treasured, whether it ends up a triumph or something...less triumphant.

Given the fact that id has been around for twenty years now, and in that time has released some of the best games ever made, I figured today was as good a time as any to look back on them.

In the gallery above you'll find clips of most of id's games. Some of them all-time classics, some of them games very few of you have played, and others are from the Commander Keen series. Because Commander Keen is awesome.

Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement (1990) - The game that started id, John Romero's unauthorised Mario port (using his Dangerous Dave character from a 1988 game) proving that id had the chops to pull off tech (in this case side-scrolling) on a PC nobody thought was possible.

Commander Keen (1990-1991) - One of the best, if not the best platforming series on the PC, id's Commander Keen saw six released in just two years, making the Green Bay Packers famous to millions of gamers outside the US.

Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion (1991) - John Romero's Dangerous Dave makes his id debut in another great platformer. Note the shotgun. id will be somewhat preoccupied with it in the future.

Rescue Rover (1991) - If you want to see what Portal would have looked like if it had been released in 1991 (and starred a dog), go play Rescue Rover. It would get a sequel in the same year.

Shadow Knights (1991) - id does Shinobi in yet another platformer, this time with ninjas.

Hovertank 3D (1991) - id get some 3D experience under their belts with Hovertank, which, as you can see, is Wolfenstein. With tanks.

Catacomb 3D (1991) - What the hell were id doing in 1991? Working nine day weeks? Catacomb was another 3D game, this time much more fully-realised, and clearly pointing the way towards....

Wolfenstein 3D (1992) - The game that gave id their big break. One of the most popular PC games of all time, and credited (if unfairly) of birthing the first-person shooter genre. Would get an expansion, Spear of Destiny, a year later.

Doom (1993) - Everything Wolfenstein did, Doom did better.

Doom II (1994) - A year after Doom, hell came to Earth with Doom II, which was bigger, badder and better than the original (if also largely identical, if you know what I mean).

Quake (1996) - Wolfenstein was a technical revolution. So was Doom. Could id's third shooter series continue the tradition? You bet it could. The world's first true 3D shooter was a revelation.

Quake II (1997) - Quake got itself an upgraded sequel a year later. It remains my favourite game of the series.

Quake III (1999) - Quake III tried something different, basically eschewing singleplayer content altogether in favour of a balls-to-the-wall multiplayer focus.

Doom III (2004) - All in all, a...disappointing game. A number of serious flaws, including a ridiculous flashlight mechanic, resulted in the first id game in over ten years to be met with anything less than overwhelming praise.

Rage (2011) - id's first major game release in seven years, its first designed with consoles in mind and its first since Hovertank to feature vehicles. To say it'll be interesting to see how it all comes together is something of an understatmenet.

Cult classic PlayStation 2 game Okami got a Wii port. It never got a NES version, because that system was well before the game's time. But what if it did?

Website 72pins reckons that the game's 8-bit cartridge would look something like this. It also reckons that you can buy this mock-up for US$20.

Other what-if NES cartridges include God of War, Dead Space, and Shadow of the Colossus. Some, such as Halo and Katamari Damacy, are sold out.

Other cartridges, such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Resident Evil, are forthcoming.

The cartridges do not contain the actual NES versions of the game, but rather, a random playable NES title.

Don't let that stop you from playing NES Killzone—in your head.

72pins [Official Site via it8bit]

We've seen this Aliens: Colonial Marines demonstration twice now: Crecente caught it at E3 and I saw it at Gamescom. We both walked away rather impressed. Now you can see how you walk away.

The demo has, rather belatedly, been released publicly by publishers Sega, and contains around eleven minutes of gameplay and combat from the opening sections of the game, all narrated by Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford.

I've got no idea how this plays, since we haven't got our hands on it, but as you're about to see, at the very least Gearbox have got the look of Aliens nailed down nice and tight.

After so many decades, so much merchandise and so much tinkering, it's easy to forget just why so many people fell in love with Star Wars as a kid.

It's because of moments like this. Watch, as four year-old Faris is treated to his first viewing of Empire Strikes Back, the film's spoiler having been dutifully kept from him.

Until now.

It's enough to warm even the darkest, blackest heart.

Kinect hacks provide an endless rabbit hole of would-be tech wizards using the peripheral for a rainbow of results. Some of them are amazing, such as this Kinect-controlled drone. Some of them are silly, such as this.

This is a multiplayer-supported Kinect hack that gives both women and men "giant breasts" that they can shake about and even even playfully jiggle.

It's a refined version of last fall's man boob tracking hack.

The hack is supposed to be available via its official site. Virtual cleavage, here we come.

Kinect巨乳 [Official Site via Kotaku Japan]

There are PS2 games coming to the PlayStation Store. An inevitable, if unfortunate turn of events. And just to be clear, these are PS2 games through and through: no remastering, no fancy updates, nothing.

I mean, that seemed fairly obvious yesterday (given the nature of the announcement and the means of delivery), but there are those left wondering, so for those, here it is. These are the original PS2 games, warts and all. There are no trophies, no new textures, no multiplayer, no bonus features.

Simply throwing old games onto the PlayStation Store with no enhancements is a surefire way to get a lot of them up quickly (Sony seem on track to do around 4-6 per month), but it will also grate with those who own those games on PS2 and, once upon a time, could have played them on a PS3 for nothing. A little polish, even trophies, would have soothed that savage beast.

The first five games to be made available sometime later today are GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Ring of Red, Odin Sphere and God Hand.

Introducing ‘Only On PSN' For New Exclusive Games Throughout October [PlayStation]

Ever since Kamen Rider first fired up his motorcycle over forty years ago and kicked evil Shocker ass, one thing has been missing: a pleated-skirt and sailor-suit-wearing rider. That will change.

Kamen Rider is a tokusatsu series that debuted in the early 1970s. It's since spun off movies, toys, and video games.

This December, Kamen Rider will get its first schoolgirl rider, played by popstar Erina Mano, in upcoming flick Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Megamax. The 20-year-old Mano first got her start in Morning Musume's talent agency.

Schoolgirl characters are not new to Kamen Rider (heck, the latest Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Fourze, is set in a high school). This isn't even the first female Kamen Rider as the series has had lady riders for years.

(東映)

Mano, however, will play a mysterious student named Nadeshiko Misaki, who transforms into Kamen Rider Nadeshiko. This is Kamen Rider's first schoolgirl rider.

The moniker "Nadeshiko", which traditionally refers to the ideal Japanese woman, actually comes from Japan's female soccer team Nadeshiko Japan, which recently won the World Cup.

Kamen Rider Nadeshiko's outfit is inspired by the female soccer team's uniform, not to mention traditional schoolgirl sailor uniforms.

The character even has a special move that's in a reference to Homare Sawa's backwards heel kick World Cup goal.

"She's tough," Kamen Rider producer Hideaki Tsukada told Sponichi. "In that outward cuteness, there's also an intense degree of strength. Her appeal lies in the gap between those two points."

Creators have long been using the gap between cute and violent in schoolgirl portrayals, whether that be Japanese exploitation films like Terrifying Girls' High School or anime Blood: The Last Vampire—or even video games like Street Fighter. And in December 2011, it will be used in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Megamax.

The integration of a tough schoolgirl and women's soccer is far more welcomed (and interesting) than that uninspired Kamen Rider idol group launched late last year. Megamax, they weren't.

Custom toy creator KodyKoala, who you've seen here once or twice (or thrice!) , is back with another great piece based on the Mushroom Kingdom.

And it's a Mushroom Kingdom gone bad.

Luigi has eaten a zombie mushroom and turned flesh-eater, depicted here trying to eat his brother's face off and wear his guts for garters (zombies having antiquated fashion sense). To defend himself, Mario has a trusty pipe, a knife and a pistol, which for some reason is holstered.

No Mario, no. If there's ammo in that pistol, use the pistol. Inviting a zombie to dance up close is dancing with fate itself.

If you're interested in buying the piece, it can be found (along with a ton of other gaming mash-ups) in KodyKoala's store.

Kodykoala's Custom Mario and Zombie Luigi [KodyKoala, via Tomopop]

Earlier this morning, at around 9am Pacific, Xbox Live went down for a little while. What's interesting is not the downtime itself (it was brief), but the cause: human error.

A Microsoft statement issued later in the day reads:

The root cause of this outage was human error. A change resulted in an interruption to normal traffic flow within our datacenters, which logged users out and prevented them from logging back in. We're sorry for this, and we'll be updating our processes to prevent this from happening again in the future.

Not being privy to the inner machinations of these services, I find it fascinating there are humans involved at any point at all. Though I guess there should be, somewhere. We don't want Xbox Live becoming self aware. It might increase our Gold subscriptions to cover the cost of its upcoming war against humanity.

Issues with Xbox LIVE earlier today [Microsoft]

id Software's Rage is out there ready to be purchased, or rented, and played. But should you invest the time and money? Here's Kotaku's Gut Check:

Evan Narcisse: Buy it to see whether ID can make a game with modern sensibilities, or how appealing their old-school approach still is. Buy it to see where the tech for the next-gen machines starts. Buy it because it's pretty and the closest thing to a Road Warrior experience we're getting anytime soon.

Verdict: Yes

Stephen Totilo: Yes, if you are weird like me and play first-person shooters for their campaign, since this one looks good and has very satisfying gunplay. But if you need your shooter to have competitive multiplayer, wait for Battlefield or Modern Warfare 3.

Verdict: Yes

Brian Crecente: Yes, absolutely. Rage is a shooter that feels like a role-playing game. That makes it the other side of the Fallout coin, perfect for people more interested in shooting than talking. Eight hours in and only just settling into the game's second disc, what few qualms I have about the game are completely overwhelmed by the endless things I love about its design, look, feel and even sound.

Verdict: Yes

Make sure to check back next week, once the game and its multiplayer has had a chance to breathe, to read my full, in-depth review of Rage. It's also worth noting that the PC version of the game was not accessible to anyone until the game officially launched at midnight. These gut checks are based on the console versions.