Source code due after the release of Rage. John Carmack also challenges other developers to do the same for their old games.

id Software is planning to release the source for Doom 3 soon, John Carmack revealed in his QuakeCon keynote yesterday (via VG247).

Carmack said that he plans to release the code after Rage hits the market this fall. He also challenged other developers to release the source code for old games, which he says helps the community and id Software.

The release of source code has also traditionally been a boon for modders, who often base their own games upon the established engine. Results have included the Freespace 2 Source Code Project, which is based on the space combat shooter of the same name.

Doom 3 was released back in 2004, while Rage is due in October.

I don’t wear earrings, but if I did, these are the kind of earrings I would wear.

Etsy user Lizglizz is selling a wide assortment of the video game-theme earpieces, but the piranha plants are by far the most painful looking. As for most adorable? That would be the Kirby pair.

(via bckids1208two)

It seems that Bethesda’s lawyers are taking none too kindly to the title of Minecraft developer Mojang’s next game.

The first page of the letter Notch received, apparently from Bethesda’s lawyers.

Minecraft developer Markus “Notch” Persson has tweeted that he’s received a letter from Bethesda’s lawyers. The letter claims that Mojang’s next game after Minecraft, known as “Scrolls,” is an infringement of Bethesda’s trademark, and that consumers may confuse it with Bethesda’s own The Elder Scrolls series.

A resourceful Reddit user armed with Google Translate and a bit of common sense managed to roughly decipher the Swedish letter seen in the picture above — check it out here. The total letter, according to Notch, is 15 pages long in total.

Notch hasn’t commented in detail on the matter as yet, but has promised a blog post with a full statement later. Watch this space and Notch’s blog for further details.

The first image of Catwoman from the Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises finally surfaced online today…but we can’t help but feel the Arkham City version looks so much better.

Here are the two below for comparison, but what do you think?

(via io9)

Sony has announced the first of what it plans to be an annual program, offering a series of incentives to preorder select PSN titles.

Starting from August 9, you’ll be able to preorder the four games in Sony’s new Play program. By doing so, you’ll receive free bonus content for each game as well as a free copy of the upcoming Payday: The Heist if you purchase all four titles.

The games in the promotion include Street Fighter III Third Strike, due out on August 24; new DeathSpank adventure The Baconing, set to arrive on August 31; September 7′s 2D sidescroller Bloodrayne: Betrayal; and top down driving shooter from Sega Renegade Ops, set to release on September 14.

With every preorder from the program, you’ll get a free PS3 theme, but each game also has its own bonus item, too. With Street Fighter III, you’ll unlock bonus character Gill without having to beat the game with every character. The Baconing offers a bonus co-op character named Roesha – One Bad Mutha. Bloodrayne: Betrayal offers players a Bloodrayne-related avatar item for PlayStation Home. And preordering Renegade Ops provides players with Vehicle and Character Pack.

Purchasing all four games through the Play program by September 19 will provide players with a free voucher code to download Payday: The Heist when it releases. PlayStation Plus subscribers also get 20% off the cost of all the games in the program.

Find out more via the PlayStation Blog.

With Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike headed for online play, McKinley opines about the most niche of all the Street Fighter games, and why it’s still the pinnacle of the series.

Out of all the Street Fighter titles, Street Fighter III: Third Strike is arguably the best one. It’s the most technically sound, requiring high skill just to be competitive. And for a time, it was easily the best looking 2D, purely pixel-powered fighting game of its generation.

However, for a long time, it didn’t look like the Street Fighter series was ever going to see another entry in the “core” lineup. And in a way, it was Street Fighter III’s fault. Where Street Fighter II had been a worldwide phenomenon, spawning action figures, an American cartoon show, an anime series, a cult hit animated film, a live action Hollywood film, and, of course, more than a few sequels, Street Fighter III just wasn’t. As the red-headed stepchild of the franchise, it debuted to initial apprehension from gamers at large. And to be fair, even Capcom’s own attention had shifted to much bigger fish, with the Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK projects.

For one, the first version of Street Fighter III only featured two returning characters, Ryu and Ken, which meant many fan favorites were nowhere to be seen. Fighting games and the arcade scene were already on the decline when SFIII released, and it wouldn’t be until the third iteration, “3rd Strike“, that fans finally started to accept the game for daring to be different. Of course, the fighting engine itself was another issue altogether.

See, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike isn’t for casual fans. It’s for the hardcore players. It’s for people who really know how to play the game. If you don’t use “footsies,” if you don’t know how to parry, and if you don’t know how to block, you’re better suited playing Street Fighter IV, which is more friendly to the casual crowd. But SFIII expects — no, demands — that you learn the system, and not just the moves.

In a nutshell, that’s why Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is back. Hardcore Street Fighter fans, the ones who stuck with the core franchise in those awkward years between SFII and SFIV, never deserted it, and that’s why Capcom is rewarding them with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition.

It’s got just about anything that a fan of the original games wants, and even things that we didn’t expect. Take the “widescreen” options, for instance. While the casual fan might not pick up on this, changing the aspect ratio of the screen can affect the gameplay, as you’ll have to re-evaluate distance for pokes, parries, and special moves. That’s why 3rd Strike Online has a “true” widescreen option that preserves the original scale of the fighters, so that hardcore players can adjust to the upscaled visuals without having to compensate for the visual shift in distance.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Capcom found the original character art, scanned it for HD resolution, and reinserted it back into the game. New visual filters can give you crisp pixels, or you can see the game in scan lines. There’s a mode specifically for eight people to take turns at the “cabinet” — two fighting, and the other six waiting in line (just like at an arcade). There’s new music. You can export replays of your fights to YouTube. And that’s not even touching the extra gallery content, unlockable extras, or the training modes.

When Seth Killian and the Capcom crew came by to show us 3rd Strike OE, we talked about how characters like Makoto, Yun, Yung Ibuki, and Dudley have endured through the series and become fan favorites. Even Hugo is in Street Fighter X Tekken. Heck, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Editon is all the better because of their inclusion — doesn’t that solidify Street Fighter III’s status in the fighting game fan base alone?

Sure, SFIII hasn’t always been the most popular or well-known game in the franchise. It was too different. But its fighting engine, slick 2D animation, dynamic characters, and high level of technical chops have always put it in a place that Street Fighter IV and its several iterations just haven’t matched. In way, that’s really been the thing that no one’s understood about Street Fighter III. From a graphical and technical point, it’s always been Capcom’s best, “pure” Street Fighter game.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is back because it’s the unsung pinnacle of the franchise. It’s the major leagues. It put the EVO tournament on the map. It’s where you go to find out how good at Street Fighter you really are. It’s never been the most popular, but it’s still the best one in the series.

David Jaffe today announced via the PlayStation Blog that the new Twisted Metal game for PS3 has been delayed.

Twisted Metal was originally set to ship on October 4 of this year. David Jaffe has taken to the PlayStation Blog today to give fans an update on the game.

“We’re not shipping Twisted Metal October 4th, 2011,” writes Jaffe. “We’re going to miss our date. We’re going to be late.”

It’s not all bad news, though — the delays to the game are so that, in Jaffe’s words, his team at Eat Sleep Play can “polish our demented baby until it shines.” Not only that, though, but a brand new build of the game will be playable at Gamescom and PAX Prime later this month, featuring a new game mode known as Team Hunted. There’ll also be plenty of goodies up for grabs for fans of the game, including Sweet Tooth masks.

“There’s a great, classic industry saying by legendary Nintendo designer –- and personal hero -– Shigeru Miyamoto that goes a little something like this,” writes Jaffe. “‘A late game is only late until it ships. A bad game is bad until the end of time.’ Now, if we shipped Twisted Metal tomorrow –- going off the response from folks who have played it -– I assure you, it would never be a bad game. Not even close. But we’re aiming for a heck of a lot more than that!”

Twisted Metal will now release in the first quarter of next year.

The new RTS from the creators of RUSE has launched its official website, promising details on the game and its 320 playable units.

War. War never changes. Though its tree-rendering tech sometimes gets better.

Wargame: European Escalation is the latest RTS title from RUSE creators Eugen Systems. Set in the 1975-1985 Cold War period, the game explores hypothetical conflicts between the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

The game’s official website launched today, offering a variety of news on the upcoming PC-exclusive strategy title. As the game gets closer to its Q4 2011 release date, the site will offer a database of all 320 of its in-game playable units from both sides, allowing players to familiarize themselves with the units that will be under their command.

Wargame: European Escalation promises fast-paced real time battles, detailed graphics and a system called “IrisZoom,” which apparently allows players to zoom seamlessly from a global map view down to unit level. It sounds like it will be one to watch for strategy game fans, which presumably excludes 2K’s Christoph Hartmann.

The game will be on show at Gamescom later this month.

In further Bastion-related news, the official soundtrack to the game is out today in both digital and physical formats.

One of the most memorable features of Supergiant’s excellent Bastion is its soundtrack by Darren Korb. From today, you can pick up your own copy of the music in either digital or physical formats.

The digital album has 22 tracks, featuring over an hour of music from the game along with two bonus tracks. It costs $10. The CD edition, which costs $15, comes in a four-panel green wallet pack featuring original artwork from Jen Zee. It’s also been signed by Korb.

Digital copies are available immediately here. CD editions also include a free digital download copy of the album, and the physical editions will ship in early September. There’s only a thousand of these available though, so get in early if you want one.

Supergiant’s critically acclaimed XBLA action RPG is making an appearance on the PC later this month.

Supergiant’s Bastion for Xbox Live Arcade combines sumptuous visuals, an excellent soundtrack and great gameplay together with a rich narrative to produce a highly memorable game. McKinley was impressed enough to give the game a full 5 stars in his review towards the end of last month.

Warner Bros. and Supergiant have today confirmed that the PC version of the game game will be available on Steam for $14.99 from August 16, with versions available on other distribution platforms to follow.

The PC version will feature PC-specific remappable controls as well as gamepad support. The Steam-specific edition will support cloud saves, leaderboards and achievements, too, so you’ll be able to take your quest on the road. It’ll also be DRM-free.

Check out the game’s Steam page here.