Doom is BOOM! BOOM! BACK!

It's been nearly 11 years but Doom is back.

Bethesda Software has released a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser for the reboot of the famous first-person shooter and confirmed the game will be “unveiled” on June 14 at the E3 2015 games show in Los Angeles.

It's been a long time since we've seen a truly new version of the 22-year old gaming franchise that, for computer users of a certain age, was the first real introduction for how good PC gaming could be. A reboot has long been mooted, but seemed stuck in development hell

Before you get too excited though, the teaser is just that - four seconds at best. It features what looks to be a Super Shotgun, the weapon of choice for the artistic Doom player, and an update one of the game’s cannon fodder, the Revenant.

Youtube Video

First introduced in Doom 2, the Revenant is a noisy, armored skeleton with rocket launchers for shoulder pads that has troubled many a space marine. By Doom 3 the creature had been neutered somewhat, but still carried a punch. The new version looks formidable.

But we’re going to have to wait for the big reveal on the new Doom game; platforms. The PC version is likely to be first off the blocks, with console versions shortly behind. But it’s the possibility of a virtual reality version, ever since one of Doom’s masterminds jumped ship for Oculus, that has fans excited.

Oculus has a consumer headset coming out in the first quarter of next year (although it’s PC only for the moment). And as we have seen, a popular game can make a platform - just look at Xbox and Halo.

If Doom is good enough to attract long-time fans and bring in a new generation it could be the game Oculus needs to establish the platform - and gamers are notoriously high-spenders when it comes to tech.

Another venerable PC game, Elite, has successfully ported itself to the Oculus headset and the results are very impressive, based on this hack's tryout. The gaming industry has the software ready, now it’s up to the hardware to prove its case. ®