Back in April, id Software’s design director Matt Hooper, spoke about Doom 4 and explained that it'll be quite different from its previous other shooters, including the recently released RAGE. While the game has still yet to be officially announced, even id's John Carmack talked about Doom 4 over the summer and how, like previous id titles, will push tech to the next level and require a lot of disc/hard drive space.

With RAGE releasing the other week and failing to meet expectations, id Software and Bethesda may be re-thinking the current gameplan for Doom 4...

Kotaku heard from an insider that Bethesda held a big meeting in Dallas which resulted in a decision "indefinitely postpone" development on Doom 4, mainly due to reviews and the shortcomings of RAGE. RAGE of course, is the first game to showcase the new id Tech 5 engine, an engine Bethesda will keep exclusive to their own games.

Bethesda's Pete Hines responded to a comment request, denying that Doom 4 has been delayed in any way.

"We don't comment on unannounced games and DOOM 4 hasn't been announced (though I appreciate that id has previously referenced DOOM 4). Games are done when they are done and no title under development at id has been postponed — indefinitely or otherwise."

Someone's not telling the truth. So, dishonest/unreliable source or simple PR sealed-lips response?

[Update: Matt Hooper commented on Twitter that this rumored postponement was silly and all things are moving along nicely.]

"Doom 4 rumor is a bit silly... We're still cranking away on Doom & Rage ... and btw, we're still looking to hire even more talent."

Understandably, Doom 4 has to be very different. From RAGE and even this year's release of Duke Nukem Forever, gamers aren't interested in an "old school" FPS gameplay and it needs far more than just graphical prowess to earn itself acclaim and sales in today's constantly busy video game release schedule.

RAGE may be one of the best looking games to date, but it was a little lacking in gameplay and story (read our RAGE review) - Doom needs to do everything right and compete with the big boys with something unique and special if it wants to make a proper comeback.

What features would you like to see id Software bring with Doom 4?

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Source: Kotaku