Doom, Quake – id Software were star gaming developers of the 90s. Less high profile this century id are still a big(ish) deal. So today's news that ZeniMax Media (the parent company of Oblivion publisher Bethesda Softworks) have snapped them up is pretty interesting. Not because this yet another sign of industry consolidation - it is - but mainly because anything that helps make the first-person combat more fluid in Bethesda's sprawling and wonderful role playing games has to be a good thing. Or maybe I'm reading too much into the release when it says:

The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the finest, most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the first person shooter (FPS) expertise of id Software with acclaimed role playing game (RPG) developer Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2008 Game of the Year, Fallout 3, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Bethesda Softworks will publish the titles of id Software other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers.

Veteran coder and founder of id John Carmack will remain in charge of the studio and seems very excited.

We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am.

But clearly the question here is are *you* excited? Id were great back in the day, especially if you had a PC and an internet connection, but are they still relevant today? Or is this simply just great news for gamers?