Like the original, Doom III casts the player as a lone space marine in a Martian military base where a group of scientists have unwittingly opened a portal to hell. But it's hardly a rehash. The new game sets a benchmark for computer graphics, just as so many of Carmack's innovations have done in the decade since id released the first Doom. By ushering in the age of 3-D acceleration with Quake in 1996, Carmack all but invented the graphics card industry currently dominated by Nvidia. Today, at a time when few applications stretch the capabilities of a $500 PC, Carmack creates programs that require high-end systems. "Carmack's games always push the envelope," says David Kirk, chief scientist at Nvidia. "Doom III is the harbinger of technology to come."