Wed, Jun 20, 2012 | 00:23 BST
Carmack “not all that excited” about new hardware
The next batch of consoles won’t bring a heck of a lot to the table, according to respected technical wizard and id Software luminary John Carmack.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, Carmack said current hardware is already sufficient to meet most HD gaming needs.
“When people ask how tapped out is the current console generation, PCs are 10 times as powerful but you really are still not technically limited,” he said.
“Any creative vision that a designer could come up with, we can do a pretty good job representing on current generation and certainly on PC. In many ways I am not all that excited about the next generation.”
Carmack said the next set of consoles will allow developers to “do everything we want to do now, with the knobs turned up”.
“If you take a current game like Halo which is a 30 hertz game at 720p; if you run that at 1080p, 60 frames with high dynamic frame buffers, all of a sudden you’ve sucked up all the power you have in the next-generation,” he predicted.
“It will be what we already have, but a lot better. You will be able to redesign with a focus on D11, but it will not really change anyone’s world.”
The leap in quality won’t be like the sudden jump from flat graphics to 3D, Carmack said. The legendary engineer seemed far more excited about the possibilities of the head-mounted display tech he was showing at E3.
“[Next generation graphics] won’t be like putting yourself in the virtual world. All the little things you can do on that, such as playing an audio cue over here, and turning your attention to that. That will be more of the discontinuous step like we’ve had with first going to 3D or first using a mouse,” he said.
11 
Posted in: Development
Tags: john carmack
11 comments
#1
HauntaVirus
20/06/12, 12:29 am
Sorta like I’m “not all that excited” for RAGE 2…
#2
Stardog
20/06/12, 12:54 am
People underestimate how much your resolution affects performance.
In PC gaming there were a bunch of idiots who made a fast jump to 1980×1080 monitors and expected games to run smoothly at that native res. These numbskulls hadn’t grown up playing games at 640×480 on their 800×600 monitor. Then they start throwing the phrase “unoptimised engine” around when their hardware isn’t nearly good enough to be running at those res’s.
I’m surprised that we have many people playing beyond 1600×900. We had a smooth switchover from 640×480 to 800×600 to 1024×768 to 1280×720, but after that it’s been messy, and some people made too big a jump.
#3
Talkar
20/06/12, 12:55 am
He is essentially saying what another id developer said at E3. They are turning their focus back to the PC and further away from consoles. Which IMO is a good thing, considering how id got their great reputation.
#4
OlderGamer
20/06/12, 1:24 am
I agree with Talkar.
And really PC ftw anyways.
#5
Se_7_eN
20/06/12, 1:47 am
@3 – Completely agree.
I would love to see the return of classic id software!
#6
Kuwabara
20/06/12, 7:10 am
This is why i’m against the idea of a new console for atleast 3 to 5 years or untill there is a giant leap in AI and physics. It’s because of damm microsoft that sony is rushing towards next gen.
#7
Maximum Payne
20/06/12, 7:33 am
@3 They said Doom 4 is going to be made first on PC then ported to consoles.
*cross fingers*
#8
Edo
20/06/12, 8:48 am
Hey Carmack can we get a story in your next game along with that tech demo?Thank you.
#9
Gheritt White
20/06/12, 9:44 am
I disagree with JC. He’s talking purely from a programmer’s perspective, not an animator’s, a script writer’s or an artist’s.
#10
TheBlackHole
20/06/12, 10:10 am
He’s turning away from consoles because his console-released titles have been average at best. Had he sold a fuck-ton of Rage he would be all over the next gen like a cheap suit.
#11
Da Man
20/06/12, 7:40 pm
I’m not that excited about id software since about Doom 2.
You can have more fun with Direct3D samples than their video games.