Whatever they call it, it spells 'Doom'

— -- Game developer id Software is kicking it up a notch.

The Mesquite, Texas, firm has begun working on the next Doom game, in addition to putting the finishing touches on its first-person action game Rage (for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Windows and Mac PCs). CEO Todd Hollenshead will provide an update this weekend in Dallas at the 13th annual QuakeCon.

"We are calling it the new Doom for now," he says. Doom 3, released in 2004, sold more than 3.5 million copies. "It may be Doom 4 or it might not be Doom 4, or it may be Doom with a subtitle or something descriptive of the setting," says Hollenshead, who would not reveal any story details.

The company has many projects in the works. Work on a new mobile Doom RPG 2 game has begun. A free Quake Live Web-based game is set to go public soon (quakelive.com). A reimagining of the 1991 sci-fi Nazi fighting game Wolfenstein is in production (id is overseeing its development by Raven Software) for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs. A Wolfenstein RPG cellphone game is complete.