Listen up, QuakeCon attendees: id Software's LANtastic event is changing venues to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, the location of the show in 2004 and 2005. The people most affected by this change are folks who made reservations at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. Those who made reservations through the QuakeCon website have had their room "automatically canceled." Reservations at the Gaylord Texan will be at an equal or lesser rate, and reservations will begin "very shortly."

The dates for QuakeCon have not changed. The event will be held August 13-16 and is still a free event open to the public; however, if you plan on bringing your own computer, you'll have to register ASAP.

Stat tracking is nothing new for FPS games, but we have to hand it to Raven for being thorough. According to MTV Multiplayer, the upcoming Wolfenstein keeps track of not only how many Nazis you kill, but the manner in which they died. Multiplayer asserts that it saw a stat screen at 36 percent completion, which noted that 639 kills had been made. Using some simple math, the blog calculated that a total of 1638.4 Nazis will meet their doom by the end of the game.

Now, we hate to criticize, but that's assuming the rate of Nazi influx is constant, which it almost assuredly is not. Still, regardless of exactly how many have fallen by the end, we take comfort in the fact that we'll know exactly how many were dissolved, dismembered, burned and electrocuted. Strangely, the game doesn't appear to keep track of the number that have killed the old fashioned way: with a bullet.

In an interview with Joystiq, id's John Carmack stated that he is "pretty passionate about the benefits of the iPhone" and plans to continue supporting the platform. "I've got a slate of iPhone titles, I expect to have an iPhone release every two or three months for the next year," said Carmack, noting that id will likely continue to plow through its classic titles (hope you like Doom!) before moving on to titles like Doom RPG and Wolfenstein RPG and eventually something based on id's upcoming title Rage.

Carmack stated that iPhone projects don't require much of id's focus, saying, "These are things that get a few people put on them for a little while, are fun for everybody involved."

"So far it looks like they're making pretty good money," said Carmack, "but they're not the blockbuster titles that they go do $100 million dollars."

Read the entire interview with John Carmack and Zenimax CEO Robert Altman right here.

Well, that was unexpected. id Software, the game studio behind Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and the upcoming Rage, has just been acquired by ZeniMax, parent company of Fallout 3 developer Bethesda Softworks.

Despite the acquisition, ZeniMax expects id Software to continue operating as before. "No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games," the press release states. "id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack ... All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games in the future." In other words, don't expect major folks at id to jump ship.

A large emphasis is being placed on how id will benefit from ZeniMax resources. "Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand," said Robert Altman, founder and CEO of ZeniMax Media. "Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games." Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, also agrees that the acquisition will result in better financial security for the team: "We will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans."

While it appears id has much to gain from the merger, we're more intrigued by what Bethesda can gain. While Fallout 3 has earned heaps of critical praise, many will agree that graphics tech is far from Bethesda's strong suit. With Carmack and idTech now owned by ZeniMax, future Bethesda titles are sure to benefit. See John Carmack's statement after the break.

Assassins are usually very discreet and very deadly, and those found in upcoming Wolfenstein appear to be no different. In the trailer above, we get a good glimpse at what these near-invisible, blade-wielding stalkers can do (see: stab you silly). Thankfully, BJ has his trusty Veil Sight to help him spot what's hiding around him, and lots of guns to put these baddies down.

And because we couldn't waste this gem of a one-liner: Assassins do it in the dark.

Admittedly, there are plenty of new things in Wolfenstein. Veil Sight, a bigger, badder Nazi opposition, and new, destructive weapons are just a few of these things. But, as much as things change, some things stay the same, including protagonist BJ Blazkowicz and his penchant to shoot first and ask later. You know, if BJ tried to talk it out instead of resorting to violence at the drop of a Nazi helmet, he might have less problems in his life. But, then again, if that was the case, you wouldn't be reading this amazing post on Joystiq.com.

Big surprise, we know, considering the evidence of late, but we're happy to be able to officially confirm that Wolfenstein 3D is in fact coming to Xbox Live and PSN on June 4 and June 5, respectively (no price mentioned). Playing through Wolfenstein 3D will also offer more incentive than the sheer joy of mowing down a gigantic Hitler, as the classic will allow players to "earn accolades and be awarded gold for customizable weapon upgrades" in the new Wolfenstein, which is slated for an August 4 release.

We've put in word for clarification on the price of Wolfenstein 3D and will get back to you as soon as we hear something.

We wish all devs were as forthcoming as id's John Carmack. His update on the status of the iPhone version of Doom (or Doom Classic, as he's calling it) is exhaustive, but it's also rich with information and insight into porting an old-school classic onto new tech ... and doing it well.

We've dug up a few nuggets for you, like the fact that Carmack says he should be able to submit the game to the App Store by next month and that the game will use the original Doom sprites, but you should really take a few minutes to read the whole thing, it's really interesting stuff.

[Via Shacknews]

Hey, how's it going? Having a nice day? Got a busy schedule, huh? Lots of work to do, right? We're sorry to hear that -- see, here's how we see the next week or so playing out:

1. You'll fire up this recent, spot-on Flash port of Doom, Heretic and Hexen.
2. You'll play them until you're about to starve to death.
3. You'll eat.
4. You'll repeat steps 2 and 3 until, regrettably, you forget to do step 3.

Seriously, folks -- a Newgrounds Flash aficionado (simply named "Mike") has created one of the most accurate, free-est ports of three of id's gibbiest shooters (or wand-ers, in Heretic and Hexen's case). We highly suggest checking them out.

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

As promised in an a forum post earlier in the month, id will be rolling out new maps for their successful in-browser shooter Quake Live in the near, near future. However, we didn't really expect their benevolence to come in such enormous portions -- starting tomorrow, they'll be adding a new map to the game every week for six weeks. Why, that's ... hold on. (Carry the one, find the square root, find the value of B ...) That's six maps!

Tomorrow's new battleground is a remake of Hidden Fortress, ripped from the Dreamcast version of Quake III Arena. id has promised to include more classic maps in its upcoming downloadable salvo, so keep your eyes peeled for more familiar fragging grounds over the next month and a half.

Sure, id Tech 5 may be an impressive piece of middleware which manages to get 90% of game code working across PC, Mac and the more powerful consoles, but if you're going to be a licensee you have to be special. id Software's CEO, Tedd Hollenshead, has told Gamasutra that the company's "philosophy really hasn't changed from what it's always been, which is games first, licenses second." Rage and Doom 4 are currently id Software's top priority.

In terms of licensing the engine out to developers id Software has been focusing on "targeting developers" and "working with them on an individual basis," rather than offering it out to anyone with a devkit. Hollenshead says the company's "philosophy on that has been that we'd rather have a small number of good-fit, high-quality developer licensees than a bunch that aren't really good fits." Makes perfect sense to us, and could save id Software some legal heartache in the long run.

If destroying Nazis is on your agenda, nothing quite gets the job done like a particle cannon. Why futz with bullet-riddled corpses or, even worse, exploded viscera? With the particle cannon, enemies simply disintegrate, making for vary little mess and easy cleanup. You can see it in action in the latest trailer for Wolfenstein. This particular particle cannon is fairly effective, though it does seem to harbor one small design flaw: it disintegrates everything but hats.

We're guessing the Allies probably consulted with the ACME Corporation on the particle cannon's design.

We understand that much of the appeal for id's free-to-play browser shooter Quake Live comes from the rich veins of nostalgia that lie therein -- but that doesn't mean we don't expect the game to improve upon the franchise's roots. Fortunately, id Software just clued in their forumgoers to a few welcome additions coming to Live in an update that's due out mid-May -- an update that will bring new maps, tutorial modes and better mid-match team balancing.

However, the forum post also mentioned a ton of changes they're planning on rolling out in the near future, like the addition of Mac and Linux support, private servers and matches, and the revivification of awards and leaderboards. For further details on their plans for improvement, check out id's latest forum update!

[Via Big Download]

Imagine our surprise today when we tried to log into Quake Live for our usual 10 a.m. session of noob-fraggin' therapy, only to discover the image above. id has decided to do away with rocket jumping and replace it with epic mount riding, as it has revealed World of Quake Live. Much like the game of a similar name, this title promises epic mounts with up to four weapon slots (you can stack them with four BFGs!), as well as a new leveling system. Oh, and Aspir from Ludicrous Speed calls this the "best game evar." You should listen. Dude totally knows what he's talking about.

During our Activision GDC preview, we got a closer looks at id Sofware's Wolfenstein reboot and the game's supernatural aspect, "the Veil" -- or as we like to call it, "turning on the HUD." This new Wolfenstein features mystical powers that are learned during the course of the game and activated through the d-pad or button combos. It's an element that's fairly common in many games today, but it's still the only feature of Wolfenstein that makes it anything more than a ho-hum World War II shooter.

The drawbacks we noted in our Comic Con preview are still present in the current build, especially the poor enemy AI. There were times when enemies were clearly looking at us and tracking our movements, yet weren't firing their guns. It was almost as if they were saying, "Just go ahead and shoot us. We're Nazis. We deserve it."