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[navanman]

Suprised i havent seen this posted here yet but the big doom3 news going around is that Creative have basically blackmailed Id into licensing there new EAX hd support by secretly patenting the "reverse" shadowing technique that Carmack invented for Doom3 and threatening to block/sue Id when Doom3 is released into the shops.

Notice the weirdly PR from Creative:

"Creative and id Software Announce DOOM 3 Engine/EAX ADVANCED HD Collaboration.

MILPITAS, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF - News), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment solutions for PC users, today announced its agreement with id Software(TM) relating to Creative's patented shadowing technique and id's cutting-edge 3D graphics DOOM 3 engine, allowing Creative to develop EAX® ADVANCED HD(TM) 3D audio options for future licensees.

"The DOOM 3 engine ushers in a new rendering paradigm that allows id and our licensees to bring cinema quality visuals to game players in real time," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. "We look forward to further enhancing players' audio experience by working with Creative to leverage their EAX ADVANCED HD audio technology in the DOOM 3 engine."

"Working together with id Software, an industry icon, provides Creative with an exciting opportunity to enhance one of the hottest game engines around," said Hock Leow, CTO of Creative Technology. "We look forward to the challenge of implementing EAX ADVANCED HD Multi-Environment technology within the Doom 3 engine, and subsequently working with id to make these enhancements available to their licensees. We are also pleased with the agreement relating to Creative's patented shadowing technique and id's cutting-edge 3D graphics DOOM 3 engine."

A future version of the DOOM 3 engine featuring Creative EAX ADVANCED HD audio technology is expected to be available to id Software licensees later this year. For more information, visit http://www.idsoftware.com/ or http://developer.creative.com/."

Reverend from beyond3d website got comment from carmack regarding the situation:

"The patent situation well and truly sucks.

We were prepared to use a two-pass algorithm that gave equivalent results at a speed hit, but we negotiated the deal with Creative so that we were able to use the zfail method without having to actually pay any cash. It was tempting to take a stand and say that our products were never going to use any advanced Creative/3dlabs products because of their position on patenting gaming software algorithms, but that would only have hurt the users."

for more info can be found at the excellent beyond3d forum
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=14459&forum=9

 

[The Shadow]

If it was spoken about before Creative filed a patent, isn't that Prior Art? I don't see how that patent would hold up.

 

[Crazymoogle]

If it was spoken about before Creative filed a patent, isn't that Prior Art? I don't see how that patent would hold up.

It probably wouldn't. But here is a theoretical situation for you:

1. Creative sues id since they already have the patent.
2. Doom 3 is barred from sale until the resolution of the case.

 

[marsomega]

Updated

There have been some updates. Apparently Carmack found a way around it but didn't shun Creative. Supposedly for the "gamers". Regardless, I got a turtle beach card. Screw creative.

 

[TekunoRobby]

Edit: Nevermind, I followed through on the Beyond3D link and realized the whole fuss over the patent and the whole Prior Arts argument. I thought Creative was merely leveraging a patent they owned and could justifiably sue id over but that wasn't the case.