id Tech 5 Engine Used to Power Classic Doom Games on PlayStation 3

As you may know, the upcoming Doom 3 BFG Edition from iD Software comes with remastered versions of Doom 3, Doom 2 and Doom. What you probably didn’t know, however, is that the first two games are being ported (for the PlayStation 3 version specifically) using the company’s newest id Tech 5 game engine, the same engine that powered 2011’s Rage.

This tidbit was mentioned during John Carmack’s QuakeCon 2012 keynote address, but was detailed in more depth during an interview with id Software creative director Tim Willits (via Joystiq). Willits said that this method was the “easiest way” to get multiplayer network support working on the PS3.

“We never released Doom 1 and Doom 2 on the PlayStation Network. So we’re like, ‘OK, what’s the easiest way to do this?’ And what the guys did instead of rewriting all the network support, [support for] friends, and all that kind of stuff, is they took Rage, took out all the ‘Rage‘ bits and put Doom 1 and 2 on top of it.”

However, before you get too excited, the games themselves have not seen any sort of graphical enhancement, they look identical to their initial ’90s versions. So, as fantastic as it would be, don’t expect Doom 1 or 2 to look anything like Rage.

Regardless, it’s a brilliant way  to handle the porting of classic games to newer hardware. Doom 3 BFG Edition will launch later this year.

[via Joystiq]