In practice, idtech4 is still current id engine, so carmack will only release it when rage comes out, which will be the first title using idtech5.
Also: http://www.giantbomb.com/news/how-id-an ... ther/1472/
And the interview with carmack: http://kotaku.com/5302139/id-why-we-sold-to-zenimax
I love irony, one day after I read the book Masters of Doom, which basically talks about the history of id, this happens... (great book btw, i totally recommend everyone to read it)
ZeniMax Media Acquires id SoftwareBrings together two of world’s best game studios
Library of powerhouse franchises will include DOOM, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls,
QUAKE, Wolfenstein and RAGE
June 24, 2009 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, today announced it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio, id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE. The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the finest, most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the first person shooter (FPS) expertise of id Software with acclaimed role playing game (RPG) developer Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2008 Game of the Year, Fallout 3, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Bethesda Softworks will publish the titles of id Software other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers.
Founded in 1991, id Software established itself as an industry leader with some of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed video games of all time. id Software created the original first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, and subsequently set new standards in the genre with the blockbuster releases of its DOOM and QUAKE titles. In addition, id Software developed cutting edge, proprietary technology with the id Tech engine which powers many notable FPS titles, and continues to make great advances in game technology under the direction of John Carmack, one of the country’s technology leaders and a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.
Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on the transaction: “This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, 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.”
id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.
“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am."
Robert Altman, the founder, Chairman & CEO of ZeniMax Media stated, “We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand.”
ZeniMax Media Inc, which is privately held, was founded in 1999 to create quality interactive entertainment products to meet the growing worldwide demand. The Company is headquartered in Rockville, MD and maintains offices in Hunt Valley, MD, London and Tokyo. Among its wholly owned subsidiaries are Bethesda Softworks, a premier publisher of video games, Vir2L Studios which develops games for the casual market, and ZeniMax Online Studios, a studio dedicated to massively multi-player online games (MMOG).
Bethesda Game Studios, the development group at ZeniMax Media, is one of the top video game studios in the world. Its most recent release, Fallout 3, was the 2008 winner of more than 60 Game of the Year awards, including The Associated Press, Official Xbox Magazine, Yahoo, PC Gamer, IGN, Game Critics Awards, Game Developer Choice Awards, and Gamespy. Bethesda also created the 2006 PC and Xbox 360® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the 2002 PC and Xbox® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Bethesda Game Studios has created 2 of the 10 best games of all time, Fallout 3 and Oblivion, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation® 3 platforms, as reported by the industry scoring system found at http://www.metacritic.com.
I would never, ever, ever, had foreseen id being bought... jebus, wtf. I always though id wanted to stay independent.
We needz translation!!
Oh man, I'm loving this... pls, don't make me come back to CS:S! 
Ah. so that's what you meant!
Yeah man, Lot's of people do that, and I did it in the past (I used that technique with the crate, although very subtle), but I found that it doesn't really work very well, it also really depends on what engine you're using to render your stuff. A good specular should be enough to give it a little bit of depth illusion to the scratches. After all, it's scratches, not indentations on metal. Which is also a good thing to do on this kind of stuff!
Btw, the worflow you mentioned is correct, but it's not enough to just put that generated normal map on overlay. After that you should go to curves, and put the blue channel to 128.
Quote from Sa74nyou should really watch out for ao bugs resulting from overlaying details, especially concave ones, on the highpoly model. its worth fixing that stuff in photoshop.
Yeah, I did that but I had to rush it so some of the areas were left intact. it's the downside of using lot's of flotaters. The normal maps comes out clean, but one must do lot's of clean up on the AO map.
Thanks dude! 
Quote from Senturahahaa
Maybe... lol
I seriously hate that lamp tho! If I didn't knew better I'd call you gay...
Colors are nice, yeah it could use some variation here and there, but the pic sentura posted is just too aberrant.
But it's the Dof / blur that kills me in those shots! it's horrible...
also, I'd put a little bit more vegetation, like volumetric grass.
Sorry Pampers, but I don't really understand what you mean. Could you elaborate on that?
NightWolf, nice! 
Yeah, it's a face with two tris!
I'll post a wire of the HighP, I can even share the .MAX if you guys want to take a peak at it, and/or the PSD's.
Some things are cool forever man... like
I believe we had a thread about this movie but couldn't find it anywhere.
Anyways, this last trailer is MIND blowing!
(make sure to watch the HD version)
ah ah 
I know the feeling dude... but a Wii?! damn...
Thanks for the comments guys!
Nysuatro and D3ads, when I have the time, I'll see if I write a small tut on modeling hard surface high polys, and using floaters, etc.
here's something I did for a speed texturing compo over at game-artist.net
Render:
[Blocked Image: http://www.helderpinto.com/ssp_director/albums/album-6/lg/STC41render.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.helderpinto.com/ssp_director/albums/album-3/lg/STC41textures.jpg]
Indeed, it's pretty relative these days...
Anyways, we could have some kind of speed modeling / texturing compo, a-la Game-artist.net
Well, I don't know how to start criticizing this.
You got loads of problems on this map, but before i start keep in mind I'm talking just by watching the shots you've posted, I have not played your level.
First, the design is horribly placed, there's near to none cover spots for the player, and I get the feeling that most of the props we're just placed randomly. Those rocks in the floor for example, they are all the same model, you didn't even bother to rescale some of them to make them appear a little bit different and natural.
The exterior really lacks life as well, it makes me remember those old HL1/CS1.6 empty maps, this is 2009 and It's UE you're working with. You really can and should go a little bit crazy with texture variation and props placement. there's no trees or any kind of vegetation, and there's vegetation all over the place in real life, even in desert. you could have placed some dry brushes in there. (Edit, I do see some trees on the 3rd shot, but they just don't look real. Why? because they have just been placed on a single spot on the map, and I don't see anymore of them on the rest of the map, it just isn't natural. the scale is the same as well.)
Also, why is there aren't any shadows in there? Or any contrast in lighting whatsoever, it all looks so bland and pale. Some particles would spice things up a little as well, like dust or wind. Even a little bit of fog would be good, just to give it atmosphere.
the interiors look way better than the exteriors, although i still find them very pale and lacking contrast in the lighting. digging the light shafts tho!
bottom line, you need to study a bit of variation, and i advice you to look at photos that might reassemble the kind of the environments you are trying to recreate. refs dude! refs, refs, refs, refs! you can never have enough of them! 
Woa, another one? ah ah
Lucky bastard...
