Release
Doom 3 achieved gold status on July 14, 2004 and a Mac OS X release was confirmed the next day. Doom 3 was released in the United States on August 3, 2004 and to the rest of the world on August 13. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. Additionally, a Linux version was released on October 4, 2004 by Timothee Besset. The Mac OS X version was released on March 14, 2005 and on February 20, 2006 the patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture. Finally, the modified Xbox conversion was released on April 3, 2005.
A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX audio technology in Doom 3 reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. id Software would have placed themselves under legal liability for using the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits.
During the keynote address at QuakeCon 2011, John Carmack announced that the source code for the Doom 3 engine would be released. The source code was open-sourced under the GPL on November 22, 2011. It contains minor tweaks to the shadow rendering code to avoid potential patent infringement with a patent held by Creative Labs. Art assets such as 3D models, music, sound effects etc. remain subject to the EULA.
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Famous quotes containing the word release:
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)