Today, we reach yet another new frontier in the race to make the game that defined shooters playable on every device under the sun: you can now play Doom on a lawnmower.
Or rather, you will soon be able to play Doom on an extremely expensive class of robotic lawn mowers from Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna. The company has just announced an official collaboration that'll bring Doom to the NERA line of automowers starting on April 9, 2024. If you're not up to date on the world of high-end robotic lawnmowers, these are basically grass-cutting roombas that automatically roll around to trim your lawn.
The NERA line includes an onboard display and control knob, which is how you'll be playing doom. As an FAQ on the official site explains, "Players navigate the game by using the robotic lawnmower’s control knob to turn left and right. Pressing the start button will make you run forward. To fire, players press the control knob." No word on controls like strafing, switching weapons, or even opening doors, so I suspect this might not be the most viable way to play Doom.
But hey, when has viability determined the limits of the devices people have wanted to put Doom on? This is a game that runs on everything from earrings to Halloween candy, and this collab isn't even the first time somebody's put Doom on a piece of outdoor power equipment. Back in 2022, a hacker got Doom running on a John Deere tractor as a piece of right to repair activism - which is admittedly way cooler than this Husqvarna marketing stunt.
In the end, I'm still writing about this marketing stunt because it's a fun one, which I guess means it's effective. If you do happen to be in the extremely narrow crossover audience of Doom enjoyers and automated lawn maintenance enthusiasts, there are two more catches - this promotion is not available in North America, and on September 9 a software update will permanently wipe Doom from your lawnmower. That hurts me plenty.
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