Oblivion v Doom??

[Spectre8]

ZeniMax - owner and publisher of Bethesda/Bethsoft has just bought out id software.

Two AAA software development and distribution companies coming together... Great news from my perspective.

id Software are seen as the masters of FPS shooters, having pioneered the genre, from Wolfenstein3D and Doom to the Quake series. With founders like John Carmack and John Romero - these icons of the industry have had arguably the greatest impact on steering modern game design.

So for them to have been bought out by ZeniMax means what? Time will tell all, but for me, I'm excited! I'm a huge fan of Bethesda, specifically loving the way they blend First Person with Role Play elements. While I'd never classify Fallout 3 as an FPS - it's a brilliant blend of the two different genres. Imagine what could be achieved if these two studios teamed up...

While ZeniMax have stated that id will handle it's own IP's, and there's no talk of any co-developed games in the works, combining two giants of the industry can (hopefully) provide us with more gaming goodness over the years to come.

[Ned]

id Software have always been great with organising anti-cheat software (Punkbuster) with their games. I hope this doesn't stop!

[Chief]

lol, just read this on gamespot, had a good laugh at this bit:

"However, such enthusiasm was not shared by id Software co-founder John Romero, who left the company in 1996 to develop Daikanta at Ion Storm. "ZENIMAX??????? Disgusting," he declared on his Twitter page, before going on to muse, "Fallout 3 bought DOOM. Wow."

[Spectre8]

Yeah well - he did have the industries respect once upon a time...

[Drac]

John Romero is an ass. He hasn't done anything even halfway decent since he left Id except talk himself up. He should of either stayed with Id where is ass-talking could be backed by ass-kicking games or just left and shut the hell up.

I can't say I'm at all upset by this news. Id dominate FPS and multiplayer gaming history and Bethesda have been making awesome open world games since before Quake 1 (they did Terminator: Future shock, a single player open world shooter on a very early version of the Morrowind/Oblivion engine back before games were all 3D accelerated, one of my favorite games of that period).

I see nothing but good coming from any cross-talk these studios may now have.