Today Bethesda posted on
their blog news of a
"Doom 3: BFG Edition" scheduled for release this fall. This news has me feeling a bit conflicted...
On one hand, I remember my own pre-PC days when all I had was the original XBox and thus the releases of Doom 3 and Resurrection Of Evil that included the classic versions of the game were the only means by which I had to play them. For folks who have only console platforms (which I'd wager is rare these days) this is possibly great news.
Then there's the part of me that can't help but think that this is yet another example of Bethesda trying to re-sell to me things that I already have. Sure, this time around Doom 3 and Resurrection Of Evil are supposed to be "re-mastered for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in stunning 3D for an even more terrifying FPS experience" but honestly, how much better could it be? The release will also contain Doom and Doom 2 and thus is billed as "the ultimate collection of groundbreaking games that defined the first person shooter" but I think most of us know that with no Master Levels, no Plutonia Experiment, no TNT: Evilution or No Rest For The Living this actually is only two-thirds of "the ultimate collection". The only thing about this "new" release that has even the slightest possibility of making me want to buy its PC release would be that it is said to include seven new levels called the "Lost Mission". (Of what I've read thus far, it is unclear whether these new levels are for the classic game or for id's Tech 4 engine).
Either way, in my opinion this is another shining example of the classic Bethesda sales formula we've all come to know so well: why sell something new when we can re-package and re-sell something we've already sold by calling it a "Game Of The Year Edition" or, in this case, the "BFG Edition"?
