Over at Engadget, you can read a liveblog of the Steve Jobs keynote at WWDC (World Wide Developer’s Conference). The thing that jumps out at me from that keynote so far is that John Carmack is there, and he’s debuting a brand new id Software engine.

No, we don’t know what game it will be powering yet, but we do get a chance to peek at what it can do. Apparently, the new engine is called id Tech 5 (although I wouldn’t be surprised if that changed once the game it’s powering is announced).

Carmack had this to say, “So the last couple of years at id we’ve been working in secrecy on next-gen tech and a game for it … this is the first time we’re showing anything we’ve done on it publicly. What we’ve got here is the entire world with unique textures, 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game.”

Carmack closed with, “We’re going to be showing on a Mac, PC, PS3, and Xbox at E3, we’ll have another Mac announcement at E3.” It certainly looks like id is putting forth an effort to field a title that can hit every next-gen platform out there. One thing you can bet on is that no matter what the title is, it’ll be HUGE news when it hits.

Anyone remember the Hexen series? C’mon, you know you do. Swords, spells, all sorts of enemies, and it was one of the coolest first person shooters of the day. It’s only been 10 years since it launched! Heck, if you still don’t remember, you can find out pretty easily what it was all about. Check out the official id Software page, where you’ll learn that:

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse lurk in the shadows before you. They are Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War. They are the root of all that is evil. They are the least of your worries. The last know Serpent Rider, Eidolon, lives. As the Necromancer, the Assassin, the Crusader, or the Paladin, you must defeat the dark generals and their Hell-spawned legions before you can face the Archfiend and attempt to end his ravenous onslaught. Go in peace and you will surely die.

Hexen II is back, in a way. A PSP port of the classic title is now available. It’s based on the Quake PSP port, and on the original Hexen II source code.

At least for me, I’m going to have to have this one. Since I haven’t been able to find a whole lot to tide me over on the PSP, Hexen II would definitely occupy some downtime for me. The notes on the port are after the jump.

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You remember that Activision conference call we told you about on Friday? Well, there’s some pretty good news for ET: Quake Wars fans that dropped in there.

The multiplayer first-person shooter is expected to launch in the July-September 2007 time frame. Now, you should keep in mind that this is Activision talking, not id Software. As anyone familiar with id will tell you, it won’t be released until it’s ready. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it usually means that we get a well-polished product, rather than one that needs a dozen patches to get there.

If you haven’t checked out ET: QW yet, it’s Strogg vs. GDF in an online shootout on PC, PS3, and XBox 360. For all sorts of trailers, you check out the FileFront game page here.

There are many gaming titles in this world that I would like to play, but I refuse to pay $40 or more on something that I am sure I will never play again. Granted, anything Zelda, Morrowind, Silent Hill, Kratos or Mario Cart related, I just hand over my wallet and say thank you very much. Games like Fatal Frame, Condemned, Clock Tower, or The Mark of Kri, well you either rent those or you buy them used. When you finally decide that you have enough coasters and could use some cash or a new game though, you take it down to your local game store and either trade, get credit, or sell it out right. Everyone has done this, and it works well for the consumer. This, however, could change and it already has in some states.

Call it, the Brady Bill of Gaming if you will. What it boils down to is this: a mandatory 15-30-day period before the used game can be resold. WHAAAAA???? Yep. It is already a fact in Florida, Utah, and Toledo, and Ohio – although different cities and areas may vary. It is pending in Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Stores such as Gamestop and EB Games enjoy a 50% profit margin on sales of used video games. What this means for the consumer, is that the impatient (aren’t we all?) will have to pay full price for a new game, and the publishers will no longer miss out on the “used” sale. This puts the gaming stores in the same category as a pawnshop. Maybe some crazy entrepreneur will combine the two one day, and you will able to pawn your wedding bands and used beta and cassette players while purchasing a nice used Commodore 64 or Super NES game. That is all I see at pawnshops around here anyway. Who knows, maybe we will see Kratos sitting next to a display of gold nugget rings someday.

The crew over at XBox360fanboy.com has a great preview video of the recently released Gears of War Hidden Fronts Map Pack. Here’s the deal: Watch the video, and THEN decide if it’s worth 800 points.