It’s been 15 months since RAGE released. As id Software’s first new property since 1996′s Quake, it had some pretty big shoes to fill, and didn’t quite manage it. But regardless of the game’s critical reception and an unfortunately buggy PC launch, the new engine at the heart of it – id Tech 5 – is still a glorious piece of engineering.

And now you can get in and fiddle with it at last. The RAGE Tool Kit is available now on Steam, via the Tools section where you’ll find other mod suites like Skyrim’s Creation Kit. The 35GB download includes idStudios, game maps, and assets.

This isn’t a user-friendly WYSIWYG editor, but aimed at the really celever modders among you, so before you get started check out the handy welcome guide and FAQ; the latter also includes an EULA.

If you have any success with the tools over the next few weeks, let us know; I’d love to see what you do with one of the most interesting engines out there today.

Source: Bethesda Blog

After quite some time, Bethesda have announced that RAGE is about to receive a new DLC pack by the name of ‘The Scorchers’. Described as “an all-new maniacal bandit clan,” this new enemy requires new allies, whom you’ll apparently fight alongside in an effort to “thwart the Scorcher clan’s deadly plot to destroy the Wasteland”.

According to Bethesda’s official site, The Scorchers DLC also include “‘Ultra-Nightmare’, a new high difficulty mode, as well as an ‘Extended Play’ option that allows you to play past the original ending of the game – giving you the opportunity to finish collecting items and achievements.”

You can check out more and see a bunch of screens as well over at the official site. This DLC arrives next week and will retail at $4.99 (that’s USD, we’ll update when we have AU pricing).

Source: Bethblog

When RAGE shipped a year ago, it was supposed to come with modding tools. The game received pretty lukewarm reviews in any case, but id Software founder John Carmack has said in a tweet that they should be coming soon — and he feels as frustrated as his fans.

“BFG work pushed the Rage tools, but Real Soon Now. I hope. Sigh. I think we have made poor decisions on this all year,” Carmack tweeted.

The BFG edition of Doom 3 came out just last week, and id are probably focusing on Doom 4 for the foreseeable future. There was talk about supporting the Oculus Rift in Doom 4, in which case the company has to toss up between working on supporting a space headset straight out of science fiction versus working on modding tools for a mediocre-selling game over a year old, so… we’ll hopefully see the modding tools soon, or perhaps not at all.

Source: Joystiq

Id has released John Carmack’s Quakecon 2012 keynote, which you can enjoy right here in the comfort of your web browser. Amid three and a half hours of talk which occasionally strays into the techno-babble zone, the legendary developer spends a few moments apologising to id’s rock solid PC hardcore fanbase for RAGE’s troubled PC launch, in particular poor driver support. There’s also some talk of what id has been up to with id Tech 4 for DOOM 3: BFG Edition, and word that the whole company is now almost exclusively working on DOOM 4. No release date though, alas.

Source: YouTube