You know how you get my attention when you’re a company that sells robot lawnmowers? Release a video of Doom running on it.
Husqvarna just announced that Id Software’s 1993 classic first-person shooter Doom is playable on one of its robot lawnmowers. This means that if you get tired of cutting the grass, you can take a break and mow down a few pixelated demons with a chaingun.
Doom will only be available on the company’s Nera robotic lawnmower starting in April, but it’s the real deal. Once you download the game, you can play it via the Nera’s built-in display by rotating the lawnmower’s control knob left and right to move Doomguy, holding it down to move forwards and pressing it in to shoot.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Doom Husqvarna port is coming to the U.S. or Canada and that it will be exclusively available in Europe. Hopefully, it makes its way here at some point. To get access to the game, you’ll need to sign up for a software update at this link, then the update will be available for download on April 9th, 2024. On September 9th, 2024, another update will remove Doom from the Nera lawnmower.
Why is Husqvarna pulling this stunt beyond getting tech bloggers like me to cover its latest robot lawnmower? The company says the concept was inspired by the Doom x Husqvarna robotic lawnmowers it had at DreamHack Winter 2023. In other Doom running on everything-related news, researchers were recently able to get the title running on gut bacteria, and the game is also playable on a pregnancy test.
Image credit: Husqvarna
