Tough breakups aren't easy by definition, and the breakup between legendary programmer John Carmack and former employer ZeniMax has probably been one of the most worded of all. Now, Oculus Chief Technology Officer John Carmack has filed a lawsuit against ZeniMax for $22.5 million, money he claims ZeniMax still owes him from id Softwares' $150 million sale to ZeniMax back in 2009. Carmack says the amount he is filling for is part of the $45 million owed to him for the sale, of which he has already been able to convert 22.5 million (the non-missing half) in ZeniMax shares. However, Carmack says ZeniMax is unlawfully withholding the remaining $22.5 million because of "sour grapes".

Carmack claims ZeniMax is holding back the payment as payback for "a series of allegations regarding claimed violations of Mr. Carmack's Employment Agreement", referencing the Zenimax/Facebook lawsuit over the supposed theft of trade secrets. However, Oculus was recently found not guilty of stealing trade secrets, though the court ordered the company to pay $500 million for copyright infringement, false designation and the violation of Palmer Luckey's NDA. Oculus is appealing the case, calling the prior ruling "legally flawed and factually unwarranted."

Most of you are familiar with the name John Carmack. For those who may not be, he's the legendary game developer and engineer who was one of the four founders of iD software and the creator of classic genre establishing games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. If you play any first-person shooters on your PC you can add Mr. Carmack to the list of people to thank for that

After 20 some years with iD Software, Carmack became very interested in the advances of virtual reality after iD released its latest game Rage, especially with Oculus VR's Oculus Rift headset, and last August signed on to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) over at Oculus VR. At the time, he was splitting his time between Oculus VR and id Software. In November of 2013, Carmack left iD Software to devote all his time to working with virtual reality at Oculus VR.

For all those who missed the 2004 cult classic Doom 3, Bethesda and id are remastering it for today's gaming platforms (widescreen PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3). Called Doom 3 BFG Edition, the new title includes the entire back catalogue of the Doom franchise, plus Doom 3 (main and Resurrection of Evil) with added levels, that's remastered (our wishlist includes higher resolution textures, improved special effects, tessellation maps, and EAX 4-like sound effects over software). What's more, the perspective will finally be optimized for 16:9 and 16:10 widescreen displays.Bethesda and id will detail the title further at E3. For now, check out the groovy trailer after the break.

This month is the 20th Anniversary of Wolfenstein 3D. To celebrate id Software and Bethesda have given us all a free browser-based version of its seminal shooter. John Carmack has also given a director's commentary, full of the usual fascinating Carmackchat. You can play the snazzy HTML 5 version of Wolf 3D if you're browsing in Firefox 10, Chrome 16, Internet Explorer 9, Safari 5, or newer. Fingers crossed that your work computer is updated vaguely frequently. id Software got distracted by Doom and Quake after the release of a Wolf 3D prequel, but the series returned in 2001 with Return to Castle Wolfenstein from Grey Matter and Nerve Software. Splash Damage followed this with the superb free multiplayer spin-off Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, then the last entry in the series was Raven's Wolfenstein in 2009. The iOS version is also going temporarily free in the App Store some time later today. Here is the Link

Despite the less than mind-blowing title Rage, gamers who have been around long enough have come to know not to take id Software and its upcoming games lightly, especially if they're from one of its star franchises such as Doom and Quake. AllGamesBeta posted what it claims to be leaked screenshots of Doom 4, which it also goes on to claim as being "doomed" (cancelled), citing rumors. Close to two dozen of these screenshots can be found at the source. They reveal what [could have been] the setting of Doom 4, probably of the horrors unleashed on Mars (in Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil) finding their way to Earth.

Anno 2070's Draconian DRM: Guru3D's Graphics Card Review Killed Off (UPDATED)

Hilbert Hagedoorn of well-known PC tech review site guru3d.com recently bought a copy of Ubisoft's Anno 2070 and wanted to use it in one of his graphics card reviews. However, he became badly unstuck. This game comes on the Steam platform and the store page states: "3rd-party DRM: Solidshield Tages SAS 3 machine activation limit". Unfortunately for Guru3D, they found out exactly what this means, which resulted in just one performance graph, an aborted review, an unplayable game - and bad publicity for Ubisoft once again. They have published an article about their experience, pledging not to use their titles again because of this DRM.

AMD introduced a special BETA Catalyst driver for AMD Radeon graphics processors, that improves performance on the latest title from FPS pioneer id Software, Rage. Bluntly called the "Catalyst Rage Performance Driver", this driver has been rushed in by AMD to address performance issues. It provides "signifacant performance gains" for Rage in both single GPU and CrossFire configurations. The improvements are effective only on Radeon HD 5000 series and Radeon HD 6000 series graphics processors, and is available only for Windows 7.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst Rage Performance Driver for Windows 7

id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment have announced that they have come together to create a new division of id Software, simply called id Mobile. The two developers have previously worked together on Orcs & Elves, Orcs & Elves II and Doom RPG. Orcs & Elves was the 2006 Interactive Achievement Awards Mobile Game of the Year. Fountainhead Entertainment Founder and former Director of Business Development at id Software, Katherine Anna Kang, will serve as president of id Mobile. The studio will develop games for cell phones and portables such as DS and PSP. Currently in the pipeline at id Mobile is a mobile version of Wolfenstein as well as a follow-up to the successful Doom RPG.

id Mobile is poised to shake up the emerging mobile gaming space.

said Katherine Anna Kang, president, id Mobile.

In a recent interview with Ain't It Cool News, Avary gave the first details on his upcoming "guys on a mission" WWII action film. Acknowledging the complaint many gamers have concerning the treatment of their beloved game franchises, Avary noted that while the movie will still be about "blowing s*** up, storming bunkers, busting dams, derailing trains, and killing Nazis," it won't strictly adhere to the game's plot.

"Whenever someone whines to me about breaking canon...I remind them that the original book, video game, or poem will ALWAYS exist in its original form for their enjoyment, but that a movie has special needs and compromises that occur due to a variety of real-world constrictions," said Avary. He went on to emphasize that it is more important to be true to the spirit of the character and franchise than it is to adhere to the game's plot.

id Software is adding a new franchise to its popular lineup of first person shooters. During QuakeCon in Dallas, Co-founder John Carmack and CEO Todd Hollenshead revealed their newest title 'Rage,' a FPS that operates on the new id tech5 game engine. The game will provide plenty of indoor and outdoor shooting and will also include racing elements and vehicle customization. The HD Trailer can be seen here

id's lead designer Tim Willits had the following to say regarding id's iminent move to join up with Windows Live Games in order to combat game piracy.

Some people say it's a little too Big-Brotherish, but it's a legitimate progression of making the PC feel more - not like a console, but like a closed system. For us, if there's a way to link a Live account into your security for your game in a nice closed system, it would help reduce the piracy, which kills us, and is killing the industry. At least Microsoft is doing something, and I think that they're in a position to do it