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John Carmack knows everything. As well as being a literal rocket scientist, and knowing how to choke the life-force out of a man double his size, he was lead programmer on two of gaming’s enduring classics: Doom and Quake. At the moment, he’s on the press junket for Rage over in LA – but that hasn’t blunted the man’s razor sharp knowledge of technology and its application to games. Tim managed to pin him down for a twenty minute interview about Rage, why the PC is “orders of magnitude” above the consoles in power, and pixel fidelity. An absolute must-view for people with even a vague interest in the future of hardware.
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DarKarvin
June 08, 2011 at 9:03pm
why the PC is “orders of magnitude” above the consoles in power
well, my old e8500 and 8800gt still run rings around any console ported game nowadays, oh, that's all of em.
shrug, i was going to upgrade, and am now seeing... uh... why
and Carmack is god of the game engine
Gezzer
June 08, 2011 at 2:41pm
As always a very interesting interview. Mr. Carmack always seems to be able to cut to the heart of the matter. I guess bottom line was we're reaching the point of diminishing returns in regards to graphics. It was bound to happen eventually.
I think it's a good thing over all. No more Duke Nukem Nevers (I know it's finally coming out), but a renewed focus to develop great story and game play. Then deliver it in a reasonable amount of time instead of 5+ years in development.
As well I think it makes sense, since consoles are becoming more PC like with every generation, to develop on the PC and then port to the console, instead of the other way around.
I think as always the reports of the death of PC gaming are premature. IMHO I think that we've got a long way to go before PC is no longer a viable platform to develop for.
Makes me feel all warm inside. lol
Dysthymia
June 08, 2011 at 1:22pm
Cool, glad I got to see that. As someone who thought he wanted to program games for a living it was very interesting to hear his thoughts on things like not getting too carried away with prioritizing graphics over gameplay, etc.
Holly Golightly
June 08, 2011 at 11:57am
It feels good to see someone telling the truth out there. I wish that PC Gaming was much more bigger than console gaming. But he is right. A one hundred million dollar game exclusive to the PC will put the out of business, as us pc gamers are the minority. With that said, I really do hope to see primary focus on PC Gaming. To tell you the truth, I think PC Gaming will grow.
