The blog format doesn’t lend itself to theses, of course; 150-word can generate as much traffic as a 1500-word. Still, the odd full-bodied local piece would be appreciated.

The US site, on the other hand, does sporadically come up with some great content… even if it’s not produced by its staff writers. An example of such content? This article by Laura Michet.

Ever found a minigame in a title that’s as (or even more) enjoyable than it’s parent? Wished said minigame was its own product? Welcome to the crux of Michet’s post.

The most intriguing idea to come from the exercise is “Herbalist Adventure”, based on the potion-crafting aspects of Bethesda’s Oblivion. To quote Michet:

Herbalist Adventure would be my favourite game of all time. You’d be practically helpless: a weakling lost in a VAST world (let’s make it much bigger than Oblivion; make this a Just Cause-sized world, a huge thing with a million different kinds of plants). Your only skill: the ability to turn flowers into juices. All combat – what little of it there’d actually be – would be enabled by the crazy cocktail of stimulants and steroids you’d chug before every encounter. See a kobold? DRINK THAT POTION OF STRENGTH! DRINK TWELVE!

While the open-world bit makes me ill to my toes, the rest is golden.

Distilled To A Purer Substance [Kotaku Australia]

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Incoming Carmack quote:

“We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am.”

It’s the usual stuff from a press release about an acquisition, but it’s weird hearing it from the mouth of the straight-shooting Carmack. I think it’s unlikely ZeniMax will sit on id Tech 5, with titles like Oblivion and Fallout under its belt, gagging for new tech. I’m sure Bethesda’s brand of Gamebryo is nice, but it has its roots in NDL, the same engine that powered Morrowind many moons ago.

In the back of my mind I can’t help but think that id has suffered under the pressure of the financial crisis. But that’s just speculation on my part. Would make a great interview question – if you could wrangle an honest answer.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software [ZeniMax]

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