You may recall that back in October of 2010, Doom mysteriously vanished from Xbox Live Arcade. Well, mysterious at first–ZeniMax later confirmed that the reason behind the disappearance had to do with “expiring rights”, but that it should be back “soon”.

Fast forward over a year later–which I suppose is someone’s definition of “soon”–to today, and Doom has finally made its return to Xbox Live. Bethesda sent word today that the infamous shooter from id Software is available once more on Xbox Live in all regions.

In case you missed Doom on Xbox Live the first time around, this is a port of the original, not a remake. That doesn’t mean it’s without any new features–players can partake in co-op chaos with their buddies over Xbox Live, or dive into some competitive versus multiplayer.

The game may be nearly 20 years old now, but I’d say it’s still worth the reasonable 400 Microsoft Point ($5) asking price for those who want to take a trip down nostalgia lane, or possibly even experience the FPS for the first time. I’m sure there’s someone who hasn’t already played it.

Will you be picking up Doom now that it’s back on Xbox Live?

Doom returns to Xbox Live is a post from: The Inquisitr

After 18 years first person shooter Doom had been removed from Germany’s controlled titles list, a designation that made the game only available for sale at “adult only” stores in the country.

ID Software announced on Thursday that the game had been removed from the list after parent company Bethesda managed to convince the Germany Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprufstelle) that the pixelated violence portrayed in the game poses no threat to young German gamers.

As part of their argument the company pointed out that current FPS titles are far more violent and offer more realistic type blood and gore.

Speaking to the BBC Bundesprufstelle officials said their decision wasn’t based solely on graphical merits, but also:

“Drastic portrayals of violence directed against human or human-like beings”. It added, “If the game then does not contain any real alternative scenes which might on the whole ‘neutralise’ the violent parts, then the game is likely to be found to have a harmful effect on minors.”

In the end the group decided that that game was a title of “mainly historic interest” which was unlikely to be played by children.

Basically German officials decided that Doom equated to an old piece of furniture in an antiques store and we all know how much kids hate antique shopping.

Germany has thought about banning all violent video games, which could make this whole point moot, but only time can tell.

Do you think games like Doom will be played by children in Germany or will they pass for more modern options.

Doom Game Ban Lifted In Germany After 18 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

Getting up in the morning can be a painful experience even for adults. After all who really wants to pry one’s eyes open at some ungodly hour only to have to go through the boring repetition of our daily getting one’s shit together.

Even worse than adults though are our kids. Man, trying to get a kid up in the morning without them turning into some demon spawn is a challenge at the best of times but this father seems to have found a really cool and geeky way to rouse his son.

Yes that is him wandering through the hall after loading up his Thunderstorm Super Soaker singing the theme from Doom. Then once he locates his still sleeping son he lets him have it full blast.

Yes dad you are cool and one of the geekiest dads we know.

via DVICE

Every kid should have an awesome Doom singing water pistol shooting father like this kid [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ever notice how old games look pixelly and so damn OLD? Well researchers Johannes Kopf and Dani Lischinski did, and evidently it pissed them off because they developed a program to smooth down pixels. As a result, you can now make everything in Mario’s world look sandpapered to heck.

Designed specifically to work with 8-bit games, Kopf and Lischinski’s algorithm takes every pixel in a 2D image and turns it into a soft, gooey blob. It’s something of a step forward: whereas other programs may discard pixels it deems unimportant, this one hangs on to every pixel, allowing for completely smooth, accurate gradations (the following pictures are from dvice):

It’s not perfect, however – its creators acknowledge that it isn’t too hot on more anti-aliased graphics, as this image of the marine from Doom demonstrates:

Also, I just can’t get used to curvy Space Invaders. I don’t want to surrender to these. I want to cuddle them:

[ExtremeTech, via dvice]

Looking smooth: New program smooths out 8-bit graphics is a post from: The Inquisitr

ZeniMax Media has acquired id Software, creators of games including Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D. ZeniMax Media is the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios, creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Under the deal, id Software will continue to operate as a separate 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 and all the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts.

id Software is a legendary company in the games business, creating some of the best known games of the last 20 years. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software is a post from: The Inquisitr

Feel like goofing off for an hour or so and play some good old fashioned blood and guts first person shooting?

Then I may have just found the perfect playground for you to fire up in your browser and relive some original Doom glory. Not only that but you can also switch over to two other classics from the iD collection – Heretic and Hexen. Doom may have gotten most of the press back in the day but both Hexen and Heretic are just as good.

This goodness is brought to you by Newgrounds and is totally playable within your browser of choice. The only caveat being you will need Flash 10 installed.

Relive classic gaming in your browser for free is a post from: The Inquisitr