id+EA=An Interesting idEA

id Software has been known for producing revolutionary shooters, especially considering they invented the entire first person shooter genre back in ‘93 with Doom. Another thing they’ve been known for is their long-standing relationship with game publisher Activision, who worked with id on Doom 3 and Quake 4. So it’s no surprise that id is putting out a brand new shooter that hopes to revolutionize the experience. What is surprising–they have turned to EA to publish it.

Rage is a title touted as being a hybrid of first-person shooter action and Mad Max-style death races in a post-apocalyptic world. And if the trailers (as seen below) are representative of the full experience, it’s awfully easy on the eyes. Sure, all of these elements have been present in previous games, but they seem to have been afraid of each other for some reason, with games rarely pulling off both genres well. It seems that Rage is trying to enter this niche, as a faster-paced take on a Fallout-style universe that caters to id’s established fan base.

Rage’s potential awesomeness isn’t the real news, though. Instead of sticking with long-time partner Activision, id has decided to prick their finger and sign on the dotted line offered up by Electronic Arts. To be fair, the deal does only include Rage, and doesn’t require any future business between the two companies. Reports from E3, however, have claimed that such dealings are likely.

While the official story is that id and Activision will continue working together on future projects, rumor has it that some kind of rift opened between the companies. This likely occurred after Activision rushed a couple of half-baked console ports of id’s Enemy Territories: Quake Wars. While it is certainly hard to argue that these ports were inferior to the original PC version, there is no solid evidence (yet) that it has anything to do with id’s decision.

It is a shame to see one more developer joining the EA publishing bandwagon. But in the end, if it means that Rage gets the proper treatment and snafus like the Enemy Territories incident don’t happen, then I suppose I’m satisfied. But we’ll have to wait until Rage is released to see if this really is such a good idea.