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Last week during the QuakeCon keynote address, John Carmack pulled an iPhone 4 out of his pocket and shocked the audience by showing a demo of id Software's next game, Rage, running on the device. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Rage will have elements of racing games and first person shooters. There's also said to be RPG elements in the game as well, making it sound similar to both the Fallout series and Borderlands. Information is still limited as the game isn't slated to launch until 2011, but either way the following demonstration is beyond impressive:

We've spoken at length with John Carmack at length in the past, where he's mentioned potential upcoming id Software titles such as Doom 2, Quake Classic, and the rest of the id back catalog coming to the App Store. Wondering what the state of all these projects were, we once again pow wowed with Carmack to see what he's been up to since we last spoke.

According to John, id has restructured a lot last year and several people from the mobile team has since been sucked in to other big projects, and they've only recently got the mobile team staffed back up to the proper size for iPhone development. Carmack admits that after releasing Doom Classic [$6.99] he hadn't even opened up Xcode until last month to start working on Rage technology.

Currently, id is completely focused on Rage, and John isn't sure when they will get back to the classic games "even though it makes a lot of sense." He also explained that while both Doom II RPG [$3.99] and Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99] have done well on mobile phones, their performance on the App Store has been less than ideal, leading to the decision to not bring the Orcs & Elves games over to iOS.

Carmack admits he's had a lot of fun working with iOS 4 recently, and wished he had more time to devote to it. And while it's more than a little disappointing that we won't see the classic id games anytime soon, with how impressive the Rage demo was, I'm A-OK with John Carmack and the rest of the id Software team working on the forefront of iPhone development instead of focusing on porting retro hits– I doubt I'm alone in that.

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QuakeCon 2010 is a free four day gaming festival that takes place down in Dallas, TX every year. QuakeCon is host to a massive LAN as gamers from all over bring their PC's to come play games locally, see the latest software and hardware from various vendors, and compete in various tournaments. I've never been able to make it to the event, but it's always been high on my to do list as friends of mine who go every year routinely rave about what an awesome time QuakeCon is.

…But just because we're not in Texas this weekend doesn't mean we're missing out on all the QuakeCon festivities, as to celebrate the event id Software has significantly dropped the price of all of their iPhone games. These games are all worth owning, and highly recommended.

DOOM Resurrection, $6.99 → $1.99 – Everything that is awesome about a modern Doom game applied to a rails shooter. The fact that the game is on rails was a point of tons of controversy when the game was originally released, but we thought it was absolutely awesome in our review and is still high up there among the best looking iPhone games to this day.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum, $1.99 → 99¢ – It's hard to get much more classic than Wolfenstein 3D when it comes to first person shooters. The iPhone port has a wide array of control options and since its initial release was update to Platinum which includes more maps, more bosses, and even custom map support. There's also a lite version to try.

DOOM Classic, $6.99 → $1.99 – This game hardly needs an introduction, but much like Wolfenstein 3D, this classic first person shooter is right at home on the iPhone with a ton of control options, along with 36 missions to play through across four episodes. Doom Classic has both deathmatch and cooperative multiplayer, but unfortunately you can only play with local players.

DOOM II RPG, $3.99 → 99¢ – This odd spin on the Doom universe still has you killing demons with huge guns, but this time it's in a turn based RPG setting. It's a little weird, but once you get past the whole Doom going from a first person shooter to an RPG, Doom II RPG is a ton of fun. For more details and gameplay video head over to our review.

Wolfenstein RPG, $1.99 – This isn't on sale as it's published by EA, but it's odd to mention the rest of id's lineup without Wolfenstein RPG. It plays very similar to Doom II RPG, although the plot and events that transpire in Wolf RPG seemed substantially more wacky. Check out our review for more information on exactly how many chickens you'll be kicking in this game.

QuakeCon goes all weekend, and these sales will only last for the duration of the event. If you've been thinking of picking any of these games up, make sure you do it by Sunday night.

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In celebration of Spring, EA has discounted a number of their games until April 5th. The list includes a wide range of titles included below:

• The Simpsons Arcade – $0.99
• Spore Creatures – $1.99
• Madden NFL 10 – $4.99
• NBA Live – $4.99
• Spore Origins – $0.99
• Dragon's Lair – $2.99
• Monopoly (Classic) – $2.99
• Scrabble – $2.99
• Trivial Pursuit – $2.99
• Battleship $1.99
• Boggle – $0.99
• Connect 4 – $1.99
• The Game of Life – $1.99
• Yahtzee Adventures – $1.99
• American Idol $0.99
• <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anytime-pool/id310787099

?mt=8">Anytime Pool – $0.99

• Clue – $0.99
• Mass Effect Galaxy – $0.99
• Star Trek – $0.99
• Wolfenstein RPG – $0.99
• Snood – $0.99
• Mystery Mania – $0.99

The sale lasts through the weekend until April 5th.

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Our February game ratings are in place now, and here are the top of the heap. Our monthly "best of" round-up summarizes the top rated games that we looked at in the previous month. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a 3 or higher is considered a "good" rating.

Our final scores are not the product of any traditionally objective measures such as graphics or sound, but simply reflect the games we would most recommend to others.

5 Stars

Space Miner – It's probably no surprise that this game topped our list for February. Space Miner: Space Ore Bust has an unusually broad appeal successfully mixing shooter and RPG genres into a humorous and well scripted package. Whatever sort of gamer you are, don't miss out on this one. (Review, App Store)

Plants vs. Zombies – Popcap's breakout hit for PC has come to the iPhone — and it's great. Popcap took the standard tower defense formula and greatly simplified it. Instead of a path to build towers along, you drop seeds in your yard which then grow in to plants that have various offensive or defensive capabilities. While it does lack a few gameplay modes from the original, the iPhone adaption is very well done and highly recommended. (Review, App Store)

4.5 Stars

Doom II RPG – Like Wolfenstein RPG before it, id Software’s latest venture into the world of Doom has more in common with turn-based dungeon hacks than twitch shooters. While it may seem like a strange direction for the franchise to explore, it really works. The excellent game design kept us on the edge of our seats throughout. (Review, App Store)

X2 Snowboarding – We were happy to report in February that a quality snowboarding title had finally landed on the iPhone. X2 Snowboarding from Exient is a highly enjoyable romp on the slopes that sets itself apart from the crowd in graphics, controls and gameplay. With a great sense of speed and immersion, this is our snowboarding game of choice for the iPhone. (Review, App Store / Lite)

The rest of February game ratings can be seen in their respective rating categories (also found in the sidebar navigation): 5 Stars, 4.5 Stars, 4 Stars, 3.5 Stars, 3 Stars, and 2 Stars.

As always, we expect there will be some debate about relative scores, but keep in mind that everyone's personal ratings may vary based on individual tastes.

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Like Wolfenstein RPG before it, id Software’s latest venture into the world of Doom has more in common with turn-based dungeon hacks of the 80’s than with the shooter genre from whence it sprang. Don’t get me wrong – there are guns aplenty here – but instead of relying on twitch-fingered accuracy and eagle-eyed precision, Doom II RPG [App Store] shifts the series focus to strategy and exploration. It’s a strange direction for the franchise to explore, but it works.

In each of the 9 levels presented here your goal will be the same; explore your surroundings until you’ve managed to uncover the exit. How you’ll go about that, however, can really differ from level to level. In some instances you’ll need to find hidden keycards. In others you’ll need to power up doorways or use a robot to explore gas-filled rooms. Level design offers up enough variety that things never really begin to feel stale.

The bulk of the gameplay offers up what you’ve come to expect from the Doom franchise – killing demons with big ass guns. Unlike the rest of the series though, you’ll really need to think about which guns to use in which situations and how best to approach your opponents. Sure you could go in guns blazing, but in a turn-based situation with no ability to gain cover you’re just asking to get yourself killed. Little tricks like hiding around a corner after you’ve been spotted to coax an enemy in front of you, or sending in a robot helper to get a good look at a situation before you walk into it, can make all the difference in the world.

Controls are fairly simple and will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played Wolfenstein RPG. You’ll be able to rotate your character 90 degrees in any direction with the aid of an on screen D-pad and sidestep by swiping your finger in the direction you want to move. Weapons can be cycled through by tapping your weapon icon, and shooting is done by tapping the screen. If you want to activate your inventory to restore some health or apply some armor, just tap on the health indicator. Everything is kept incredibly approachable, with every action requiring only a single touch.

Like all Doom games before it, the story here is essentially Aliens meets The Gate. Hell has once again opened up in space – this time on the moon – and you’re part of the team sent to investigate. There’s a good deal of sophomoric humor in the writing, yet I was surprised at the effort that was actually put into making the story interesting and providing the world with some depth. You’ll encounter different survivors that provide key information on what you’ll need to do to advance through a level. Computer terminals are found around the complex with emails open that give insight into the events that unfolded before you arrived. They’ve really done a bang up job of framing the story in a way that will keep you more engaged than you might suspect.

I was also taken aback by how well they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat with anxiety and occasionally jumpy with fear. When you remove the real-time components of a game like this and opt to keep the visuals campy and old school, your expectations in terms of nail-biting excitement are set relatively low. Yet time and time again, the level design would lead me into a situation where I was surrounded by demons with seemingly no way to get out.

The game also managed to have a few cheap carnival-ride thrills. In one instance I walked into an empty bathroom to refill my holy water gun in the toilet. Let me stress again — the room was totally empty. But when I looked in a large mirror on my way to the exit there was a zombie standing right behind me! Sure these are cheap carnie thrills here, but it made me jump nonetheless.

Silliness also manages to sneak its way into the game more often than I’d expect. Shooting a demon with holy water, for example, will make his eyes bug out like a Looney Tunes animation. Searching the corpses of demons will occasionally turn up useless items like human fingers and pocket lint. It’s the sort of stuff that would have made me laugh when I was 12, and for some reason it still manages to illicit a chuckle out of me. This is a game where you can throw toilets at hellspawn — who wouldn’t crack a smile at that?

As you can probably gather from the bulk of this review, Doom II RPG is a game that left me tickled pink from beginning to end. Still, we’d be remiss to not mention the few questionable design decisions that popped up from time to time.

I loved that enemy sprites were cut and paste from 1994, but they looked a little too fuzzy when you got up close. Couldn’t they have been cleaned up just a little for their 2010 re-introduction? Doom II RPG is also in desperate need of an auto-save feature. Each level would take a minimum of 30 minutes to complete, and on more than a few occasions I forgot to save and ended up having to replay huge chunks of the adventure. Also, for a Doom title, the game world is seriously lacking in the satanic scenery found in previous games of the franchise.

Still – with so few complaints, Doom II RPG is a game I enjoyed from beginning to end.

App Store Link: Doom II RPG, $3.99

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Id's Doom II RPG [$3.99] was released yesterday, and so far has had an overwhelmingly positive reception in our forums. Much like Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99], Doom II RPG is a turn-based 3D game chock full of crazy humor, items to loot, and enemies to slay.

Here is some gameplay footage of the first few moments of the game:

We're still powering through the game for our full review, but right now, it's safe to say if you like silly turn based RPG's, Doom II RPG is a worthy purchase.

App Store Link: Doom II RPG, $3.99

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Today, an iPhone port of the well-reviewed mobile title DOOM II RPG [App Store] from id Software LLC appeared in the App Store. Doom II RPG was created by the same team that brought us Wolfenstein RPG and offers a turn-based take on the Doom universe:

The forces of Hell have invaded our dimension once again, and only you can stop them from their ultimate goal—conquering Earth!

A mysterious distress signal calls your team—two hardened Marines and a rookie scientist—to a Union Aerospace Corporation research facility on Earth’s Moon, but you were unprepared for what awaits you. The forces of Hell itself have taken hold of the station and its inhabitants! Zombies and demonic monsters roam the halls, killing all who cross their path. Your backup squad is dead. Mysterious scientists conspire against you. Even the facility’s AI cannot be trusted. You are being hunted from all sides. Now, you must fight to survive, and try to stop the invasion—and uncover the truth—by any means available. The fate of all humanity is at stake!

The game challenges you to choose one of three available characters through which to take on a veritable menagerie of Hell-spawned beasts. Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds — they're all here for your goring enjoyment.

Among the game's features as listed by id:

• Battle through 9 maps, spanning the Moon, Earth, and Hell itself. Over 8 hours of gameplay!
• Over a dozen unique weapons to find, plus improvised weapons such as Sentry Bots or even plumbing fixtures.
• Eleven different enemy types—each with multiple, increasingly-powerful forms—plus four bosses.
• Auto-mapping feature and mission-tracking PDA functions ensure you’ll never be lost again.
• Customizable controls; change the size, style, and placement of the control inputs.
• Three levels of difficulty will give players of all skill levels a challenge.
• Detailed graphics and complex levels which take advantage of the power of the iPhone.

As with Wolfenstein RPG, the pace of Doom II RPG game is entirely different than the first person shooter versions that we all know. We'll offer a closer look in time, while first impressions are being collected in our forums.

App Store Link: DOOM II RPG, $3.99

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