John Carmack 'not all that excited' by next-gen
- Posted June 20th, 2012 at 06:50 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 10 Comments
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, has admitted he’s “not all that excited” by the arrival of next-generation consoles.
Speaking with GI.biz, Carmack, who was responsible for creating classics such as Doom and Quake, noted that superior hardware isn’t always the way forward, pointing to the Wii and its implementation of motion-control gaming despite being technically inferior to its competitors.
“Sony and Microsoft are going to fight over gigaflops and teraflops and GPUs and all this. In the end, it won't make that much difference,” said Carmack.
"When you get to this, it makes a really big difference in the experience. Nintendo went and brought motion into the gaming sphere and while only having a tenth of the processing power was able to outsell all of them in all of these ways. I think someone has an opportunity to do this here," he explained, referring to VR gaming.
In fact, this is a technology that he feels Sony “conceivably could have a product out in the next year.”
As it stands, Carmack isn’t too convinced that meatier specifications are enough to justify the arrival of fresh hardware.
"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.
"It will be what we already have, but a lot better."
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Super_Lilith
- 7:12am EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 1
In before the "Carmack doesn't know what he is talking about" brigade comes in.
In some ways I agree, jumping from 30f 720p to 60 frames 1080p is not really worth £400 if the experiances are going to be really similar.
PS3 and 360 have all the shizzle with good graphics, good games and motion control, next gen would have to be more than just more than improved graphics.
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Ivan Osorio |
TETNUS- 7:47am EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 2
I agree totally. Sony should just sit back and make a PS3 with better capabilities online, focus on PSN, cloud and put a solid state drive. Also work on integrating the VITA as a control for the PS3 drop the price on it before the WIIU and beat the Big N to the punch. I think if they release a PS4 people will not buy it because they will still be playing this generation's games online. Unless they force us by not supporting the current gen which I doubt considering how much of the rest of the world will still be on the PS3 much like the PS2.
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Soldier 95B |
Solder_95B- 8:53am EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 3
I am not all that excited about John Carmack.
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GunTeng
- 10:00am EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 5
In some way I agree aswell, but there is always a chance that "something" just could not be achieved this gen because of tech. Just as somethings were achieved this gen because of the better tech.
The very same scenario's apply to PC gaming (his & mine) and always has. Personally, Im not looking for better visuals next-gen. If thats the way things are headed, then I will quit gaming. I want to see much more detail in gameplay (not visuals), many more playable options....everything that this gen has failed miserably to provide.
Maybe LBP will have 5 platforms next gen, instead of this gen's 3. Or maybe it will go to the 3rd dimension?? Maybe proper tactical shooters will make a come-back?
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mikeghtmare
- 10:55am EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 7
...and so the John Carmack nagging begins.
He's always whinning, same thing happened with this gen, he whinned and whinned, if he doesn't like change he should just retire. -
honomaru
- 12:27pm EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 8
Carmack's made quite a stupid point here to be frank. Or rather he's made a good point but defended it stupidly. If he is deterred by the fact that processing power needs to be increased in order to facilitate aesthetic improvement, and that this process is one of the main methods by which we measure advancement, then either he is stubborn, or he's just been out of the game (so to speak) for a LONG time. Yes nintendo's sold more, because motion controls appealed to casual gamers. You know...sort of like the run of the mill iphone games that currently dominate the handheld market? Does that make the Wii the all around best system? Does he think Iphone games are the way of the future? Does he believe Kinnect and Move are the best moves made by the two companies he chastised? What then does he think about the WII U. Im guessing not much since he's still not looking forward to next gen? Is that new technology not new enough for him? Essentially, if that's his stance on the matter then I take his opinion on this issue with a grain of salt.
I will say I definitely am with him with his general opinion. I dont find the idea of next gen to appealing, THIS EARLY. That's because this gen isnt physically that dated yet. Someone else here made a point under another article that I definitely agree with. If you look at high end pc games of today and compare them to consoles, there is no night and day difference in graphics. Back in the ps2 days, you had Oblivion, which definitely could NOT be run on that system even if you dumbed it down quite a bit. We just dont have that gap yet. So yeah I do think he's made a good point overall, but that's where the similarities end.
I feel like Carmack thinks with every new generation, some mind blowing innnovation needs to be made. The guy's got the mind of a little kid from the 80's who just finished watching Back to the Future when it comes to games. It's like he wants us to be playing video games entirely inside our heads without tvs within the next ten years or he's not interested. The closer we get to that by increasing the demand of these little quirky peripherals he loves so much (despite their lack of technological depth) the more content he is. John Carmack was a genius (and still is in many respects) but he's gone Gary Busey on this one.
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Sryche22 |
Sryche- 1:24pm EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 9
...have cpu's changed since late 2006?...yes
...have gpu's changed since late 2006?...yes
...have there been advances in harddrive technology since late 2006?...yes
...has more RAM been required for new PC games since late 2006?...yes
...has there been an upgrade to b/g wireless since late 2006?...yes
...have there been advances in Bluetooth technology since late 2006?....yes
...have there been advances in lossless audio codecs since late 2006?...yes
My PS3 is almost a full 6 years old. I've bought a new TV in that time period and a new home theater system as well. It's time for an upgraded and beefier Playstation hopefully with a slightly easier architecture for developers so the learning curve isn't so steep.
For us early tech adopters who have the money, we're ready.
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montopolis
- 11:54pm EDT - June 20th, 2012
- 10
"It will be what we already have, but a lot better."
Yeah Carmac, that is excatly what I want, a lot better.
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