It's gotta be hard on John Carmack and the guys over at id to watch what's been their baby over the past 4 years get skinned alive. I feel for them.
There's been so much bad press about Rage, so many 'sale killing' forum posts about the games perceived shortcomings, that at this point, id and
Bethesda can better count the money they stand to lose, rather than the revenue they might have expected. That is, at least until licensing fees start
adding up for id Tech 5.
Unfortunately, because of all the negativity surrounding their latest release, Rage, after only 3 weeks on the market, seems destined to be a more
sought after 'used' title, picked up on the cheap because of ugly reviews and lessened interest, than a new purchase for most gamers.
That of course, is going to hurt. And as much as that may pain Carmack, his crew, and fans of id in general, the reason why is something id needs to own upfront.

Rage, sadly, is kind of a stinker. A beautiful stinker, one whose images make a lasting and indelible impression, but whose impact and legacy will never
grow past that. Rage is a pretty picture to stop and wonder at for a second before quickly moving on towards something more substantial. And that's exactly
what I hope id takes away from this. But, even if they learn nothing and release a stunning, corridor crawling throwback in Doom 4, maybe they shouldn't be blamed.

Carmack's been making games for over twenty years now and for all the muscle that Rage wants to display, you can see the tired reflexes and stubborn adherence
to old rules of practice throughout the game's design. The silent protagonist. The looping hallways and narrow paths of progression. The focus on action instead of story.
These are all things that have slowly become displaced with the arrival of new, talented developers like Naughty Dog and the evolution of video games from tech limited
distractions for gaming enthusiasts to what the industry wants to become, what gamers want it to become; fully interactive movies. Completely alternative lives to
to drop in and out of when the need to escape suits us. While there will always be a market for simple, pick up and play games like Pac-Man or Angry Birds, the desire to
completely and entirely disappear into the brand new world of a game's imagination is the road triple A titles have been moving down for some time.
As the technology that powers these games has become ever more obscene, so has our obsession, willingness, and need to feel overwhelmed by them;
to be indefatigably immersed inside a different world.
That's what Rage got wrong. It's far too empty, too shallow and repeatedly disengaging to be anything more than a distraction. A pretty picture.

In my opinion, Doom 3 was the absolute perfect combination, the zentith, of old guard game design eschewing the new direction the industry sat on the brink of.
The silent protagonist still worked. The corridor firefights still worked. The tight, restricted pacing and unavoidably linear gameplay still worked.
That was seven years ago. Rage, even though it attempts to open things up a bit and bring id into a more modern light, retains a lot of what made Doom 3 work so well,
and, regrettably suffers because of it.

The guys over at id know exactly where video games are heading and they developed id Tech 5 to help get us there. So for that I'd like to thank them.

oops. sure didn't look like that when I typed it up. sorry if tends to be a harder read because of the formatting.

You forgot to put in the main reasons why the game is a fail.

1. No Real Multiplayer - no versus mode team death match AND

2. release date up against GOW3, BF3, MW3 and Skyrim -

also, Id is not selling the Tech 5 engine so they are not making any money...its a loser all around for Bethesda...I would not invest money in them until after Skyrim sales are projected and locked in.

It is sad that the pioneers of FPS gave us a really cool SP experience with no Visceral competitive edge because of the lack of real MP.

Oh, and I doubt they are frustrated...seems to me like they really don't care...according to Tim Willits - combat Rally Racing is the future of MP gaming - either they don't care or they are clueless or both.

I can agree with you on some of your points, but I think it would have done somewhat better if it hadn't been released with all the tech bugs. I also think the Tech 5 engine is primarily a console engine and everyone knows it. Seems to me that most of the 6 years they took to make the Rage, all they did was make sure it would be great on the console, and the PC was only a small part of their thought process. And just before John Carmack released the game he started back peddling and making excuses for not concentrating more on the PC. IMO, I think the old id is gone, they have given their souls to Magruder and there is no going back, but I am hoping I am wrong so I am taking a wait and see attitude. I also hoping they will scraqe the Tech 5 engine and start over, there are to many disadvantages to it. IMO :shrug:

*just fixed few typos

A lot of people make it sound as Rage has no problem on consoles whatsoever. I've played both the Ps3 version and the Pc version and the Ps3 version of Rage is a disaster. It's only marginally better than the pre-patch Pc version in terms of texture pop-in and it's also plagued by very noticable screen tearing in certain areas. The only version that seems to be safe is the Xbox 360 version (which was the platform that Rage was developed for). The other platforms just got lazy ports. It's not only the PC that got shafted in terms of quality.

Actually, that doesn't surprise me at all. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and see who matters the most.

Games for Widows, Xbox 360, and Xbox Live are the first three...... intentional or not, to me, it says something!!

that would seem to indicate that they care about PC users the most. so all the PC users can stop lamenting that they fell shut out.


;)

Noo!!, I want more control and a story....I don't want more story less control...if games are headed to be more a passive experience that would be a bad thing....might as well watch a movie. A trend does not make an industry...I think the style works now because there are more noob gamers now more than ever and it spans so multiple generations...I don't think Bethesda lost too much money with RAGE and with further DLC and the holidays I think the very worse is that it breaks even.

RAGE could have been more and I think most of it's shortcomings are due not to the game design albeit not perfect but the physical size of the game and content being cut out. The pacing was fine except cor the abrupt ending. The sky isn't falling on year type of games, testimony that most user reviews of this game on the console side are very positive, you paint a much gloomier picture.

I think a large part of this is down to the fact that id haven't had an active, current release for too long. They're a little out of touch with the market, a little out of touch with consumer's requirements, and a little out of touch with the state of play regarding hardware (the AMD fiasco is strong enough evidence of the latter). At the same time however, a lot of the reactions to Rage are a mite on the extreme/lunatic side. When I see someone writing something like "f--k you id, you betrayed PC gaming and I'm never buying anything you make ever again" I suspect that what the writer really means is something like "id didn't make the game that I want (and screw everybody else's opinion) so I'm going to kick up a squealy fit over it".

The truth is that - gameplay wise - Rage gave a lot of people more-or-less exactly what they wanted and they're having fun with it. For the most part only those who are complaining (or who have an axe to grind -- see later) are making noise on forums. A lot of people are just quietly getting on with enjoying the game. Hell, I've even seen some people start out with a negative attitude towards it, play it for a coupla hours, and do a complete turnaround.

I also wonder how much of this is backlash. id are long overdue a backlash; they've been the golden boys of gaming for a long time, and it started with Doom 3 ("it's too dark, you can't use the flashlight and shoot at the same time, linear corridors, monster closets, etc") and I wonder if it's just kicking into high gear now.

I also wonder if much of the negativity is due to id having sold to Zenimax, and if it's the case that no matter what game they released they would have gotten flak anyway on account of that.

Overall I'm seeing a combination of factors here, with the one overriding thing being that Rage is nowhere near as bad as it is being painted.

My problem was there wasn't enough story or action. What was there was good but there just didn't feel like there was enough combat areas and the areas we got were just short by standards then to make you go back through them was rather lame since they were linear.

The story just didn't deliver as well. What was there was okay, they needed to establish better motivation. The first part was good, "Hey I saved your life but by doing so put us all in danger help us out" well yeah he did so you kind of owed it to him so you went along with it but then came the Authority who they couldn't keep their story straight on. The main details were solid but each character kind of drifted back and forth on what they were like it was just some vague group.

The game felt kind of gutted like there should have been another half a game there.

Races were fun but I feel the game could have done with some more customization. I'm not a racing fan but IDs classic style racing really appealled to me but I felt kind of limited and when you were on harder difficulty it felt like your enemies had access to better parts than you did.

@Jimmy shelter I agree with everything you said, you summarized perfectly.

well, as for Rage, what I wanted and to be fair to id, what I might have over expected, was the shooter gameplay and to an extent the open ended world of Borderlands, with the immersive storyline of Fallout, along with some racing and light rpg elements, which really lend themselves well to the post-apocalypitc style. I mean, that's kinda what they said.
id and bethesda kept using the term 'wasteland' knowing full well that term would play as a comparison to both those games. It's not a wasteland,
it's more like a waste-neighborhood; it just doesn't feel like your travelling or going anywhere.
Mid-way through Wellpsring, you're asked to deliver supplies to the north guard station. Now, right around the corner from this 'guard station' within throwing distance almost, there's one of those wooden towers with a rival clan's gunner manning a chain-gun. That's just nonsense, what exactly then would that north station guard be guarding against.
Little things like that throughout the game, little common sense things that make an already, extremely poor game script even worse.
Simply put, the game isn't what I wanted or expected. I wanted more. I expected more. This game, along with Crysis 2 are perfect examples of what every gamer knows, great graphics do not make a great game, and sometimes, not even a good one.

Wow, I appreciate the heads up that a game I've been loving so much, with ZERO problems on PS3, is actually a stinker that's full of fail.

Or wait, could it be opinion stated as fact?

@devilmosh... of course it's my opinion. That's pretty obvious. As is it yours when you stated, "a game I've been loving so much" The world is full of different people devilmosh and not all of them are going to feel the same as you. Everyone's allowed to have their own opinion towards things like games, movies...etc. But running through forums and posting sarcastic, juvenile replies to threads you disagree with doesn't change anything and really, only leads to pointless really devoted fan nonsense.
Judging from your picture, I would think you're a little old for that kinda stuff.
Grow up. I'm allowed to think the game falls short without listening to irrational people tell me I'm wrong.

The irony of this response is hilarious XD I'm guessing your handle is your age.

But on the serious side, the title of this thread and the long diatribe after it implies that all is lost for id's Rage because it was such a stinker, and they must be feeling pretty "frustrated" about it. Again, an opinion stated as fact. I love hearing differing opinions, but it's "frustrating" when people carry on as though an entire company is suffering and a game is doomed to failure simply because they didn't like something. Sounds like the Harold Camping of the gaming industry! LOL

"Carmack's been making games for over twenty years now and for all the muscle that Rage wants to display, you can see the tired reflexes and stubborn adherence
to old rules of practice throughout the game's design. The silent protagonist. The looping hallways and narrow paths of progression. The focus on action instead of story."

I guess you haven't played the old doom games, since they actually had plenty of complex, and some rather open levels. Those narrow paths of progression aren't "old rules of practice".

I wish they had gone with more of those "old rules of practice" since then we would have complex levels with multiple paths, a game that would be nearly impossible to most people who dared try the highest difficulty (instead of basically making you feel like your playing with god mode on the whole time), no regenerating health, much more focus on action, instead of driving from point A to B to get to the action, and a less disappointing ending (since even if the story would svck we would at least get some big ass boss, or some kind of an epic last fight).

to what the industry wants to become, what gamers want it to become; fully interactive movies

I can't stand it when people proclaim to speak for all gamers
You do not speak for me.
I, for one, definitely DO NOT want the above.

I want LESS talking & MORE action - I want, Monolith, id & Epic to keep turning out wicked action heavy titles with beautiful graphics.
I couldn't give a monkey's itchy bollox about interactive dialogue.

It became cool to hate on RAGE by PC elitists who were pissed it didn't max out the rigs their parents brought them.
And because our console cousins don't 'deserve' the same quality we do.

My game ran without issue 4 days after release.

The genius of idTech5 has been missed by the masses obsessed by 'low re textures.'
The same people who proclaim Deus Ex to be potential GOTY when it looks, at very best, 5 years out of date.

The brilliance of RAGE isn't in the story or the ending. Go read a novel.
Its brilliance is in the slickest, most intuitive UI I can remember. It's in animations & character models that are utterly beyond anything seen. Ever.
It's about a flawless combat experience running at 60fps on my 3yr old rig.
It's about running around in a digital environment with NO repeated texture assets, & a stunning, understated colour palette.
Video gaming in concept art.

I look forward to DLC & what dedicated fans can do with mods.
And contrary to the embarrassing collective negativity of many PC gamers, I hope id made a ton of cash with RAGE.

Peace out.

@the guvernor... you mentioned Epic, so you must mean Gears of War, which is another example of games and gamers gravitating towards big budget, hollywood style, set-piece.... STORY DRIVEN .... games. When I said 'interactive movie' that's exactly what I was talking about. Games have become more realistic graphically and more immersive because of it. When the game's done right, when EVERYTHING falls in place; graphics, gameplay, and story then that's exactly what you have; an interactive movie.. an interactive book and the further technology advances, the more immersive they're going to become. So..not trying to be a smart#$&, but if you're a fan of Gears or Call of Duty, than it looks like I was speaking for you. Sorry.

the game's been out for over three weeks right?... id's first big release in over 5 years. Lot's of expectations, lot's of coverage at industry events like E3, marketing in gamer mags and websites.
It still hasn't even broke 1 million in sales, across three different platforms, which for a major release from such a respected and revered developer like id, should have been a given.
If you want to think that all the negativity surrounding the game and it's luke-warm reception from critics and tepid sales figures aren't frustrating to the guys
over at id, fine. But I can't imagine how those things wouldn't be. You think they're happy with how's it's been received... seriously?

Id just need to rethink their priorities when making a game, that is all.

Well something you should know about idTech 5 is that it is amazing, and no one seems to have a clue what it really is.

First, it doesn't "port" games to the PC, it is able to create the games for all 3 platforms. If you think idTech5 ports to the PC, then it doesn't make any game at all, just ports to all 3 systems. And that's not what it does.

Secondly, you might not have understand how incredible the megatexture technology is because Rage had horribly low resolution blurry textures, unlike in their Tech Demo, which showed something different, as usuall. Texture popping also seemed to be everywhere, although you can easily get around it, on the PC. The PC should be their main system anyway, it's ages more powerfull than the consoles, and always will be.

If you really want to see the idTech5 potentiall, watch the tech demos, not the game. Tech demos are made for the sole purpose of showing how good the engine is, the games are made to show how good the developer is.

Other: Lol, and don't expect any new IP at all to sell like candy, no matter who makes it. People will buy it if it looks good to them, at least if they're smart. If you're smart, you shouldn't but any game just because the "#1" developer is making it. I personally have never bought any Quake games, they aren't my thing, but I've liked every other id game (from 1993 and up). I won't buy Quake just because id made it, and they are indeed my favorite developers.