John Carmack
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Carmack joins Oculus VR as Chief Technology Officer [Update]
John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, has joined Oculus VR as Chief Technology Officer. Carmack will begin work on the Oculus Rift augmented reality headset on a full-time basis out of Dallas, Texas. Carmack has experience in working with the headset in the past, showing it in conjunction with Doom 3 BFG at QuakeCon 2012. Whether Carmack has officially left id Software is undetermined at this time. Update: Carmack will not be leaving id Software, according to a tweet issued by the company, which states that Carmack "will continue to provide leadership for our games in development."
'Rage' franchise not dead, says Willits
Rage, John Carmack's MegaTexture technical spectacle, is not the alpha and omega of its intellectual property, id Software co-founder Tim Willits told us during this week's QuakeCon 2013 event in Dallas, Texas. "I'm proud of what we did, I'm proud of the universe that we built. The franchise is not dead," Willits said. "We're not doing anything immediately with it, but when I designed the universe, I designed it in such a way that it would be easy to step back into. I'm still proud that we did something that was different – it wasn't like the games that we've done in the past." Willits also said that Rage's development fueled innovations in id Tech 5 that continue to pay off as the engine is adapted for use on next-gen consoles and in other Bethesda products. "We really tried to do one engine that worked for everything," he said. "It really helps establish a robust tech that, as John [Carmack] said last night, we're adding stuff into it based on the new consoles, and it's allowed people to make different games because the technology is flexible and robust and works on everything."
Carmack: 3DS, Wii U, Vita 'extremely unlikely' in id Software's future
In his keynote speech at QuakeCon this week, id Software's John Carmack revealed that the company is "extremely unlikely" to pursue software development for the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo Wii U, and the PlayStation Vita platforms, citing issues with publisher acceptance and adoption rates. "I always thought that the Wii U and Vita would be great targets for Doom 3: BFG Edition," Carmack explained. "We should be able to bring that over directly, but [the platforms have] generated nothing for us on the publishing side of things, because they're somewhat marginalized platforms." "Clearly there's a difference on the handheld platforms," Carmack continued. "While the 3DS is doing okay, the Vita's really not doing particularly well." "A lot of that has to come from the fact that [...] everybody is carrying a pretty good gaming platform already, and selling a new one to them is a little bit of a harder sell," Carmack said, referring to the widespread adoption of smartphones. "I'd love to be able to develop on the 3DS and some of the other small platforms," Carmack said. "I'd like to see the games show up on the Vita or the Wii U, just to play with some of the characteristics they've got there, but it's extremely unlikely to happen. There's a finite amount of time and only so many things we can focus on."
Carmack envisions lengthy console cycle, mysterious platform configurations on the horizon
During his expansive, three-hour long QuakeCon 2013 keynote speech/dissertation on the future of basically everything in the entire world, id Software co-founder John Carmack shared his expectations for the lifespan of the newest console generation, as well as the nebulous state of our understanding of consoles in general. "I don't think there's going to be much of a push for another generation for a long time," Carmack said in response to a question from the audience. "Really, we could be doing great, innovative work even on the current generation for many more years yet. It's not like anybody's seen everything that you could do." "I'll be surprised if we see radically better games enabled because of the new capabilities on the consoles," he continued. "And, I've thought for a while we're now past the knee of the curve of the payoff benefit, so we're going to be definitely on the gradual sloping part of it going forward." Carmack added that he doesn't expect a next-next generation of consoles will be necessary until the trade-off can be made for hardware that can handle ray tracing. Should that take the form of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox 12 as we'd be accustomed to, however, is unknown in his eyes: "Whether we get something like cloud gaming owning large shares of the market before then," he said, "or people using both systems or you just play on your mobile phone and it shows up on whatever screen's near you, that could become [the] dominant gaming platform. But, a traditional next Xbox? Yeah, I think that's a long ways off, and there's a credible argument to be made that there may not be another console generation as we know it now."
Oculus Rift's latest VR headset prototype gets a showing at Gamescom 2012 (hands-on)
"This is the latest prototype," the Oculus guys tell us. That's great, now strap us in. The team decided to make a sudden stop in Germany ahead of appearances back in the US over the next few weeks -- and we're glad, because it meant we got to call in on them and grab some time with the Oculus Rift. If you didn't know, the Rift is a Kickstarter-funded VR gaming headset (stay with us) that's caught the attention of several games developers -- most notably John Carmack. He liked it so much, in fact, that he developed a special Rift-ready version of Doom 3 for the headset and Doom 4 will also be heading to the VR peripheral too. We got to play with the earlier game and while there's a video after the break, we reckon you'll really need to try this in person to fully grasp how the Oculus Rift plays. Check out our impressions after the break. %Gallery-162593%
Looking into the world of Carmack's Doom through the Oculus Rift
"When people have sort of hacked together first-person demos with head mounts before, they usually have to wind up pretending they're a mouse, which gives you this very limited interface," master of the Doom franchise John Carmack told me in a meeting during QuakeCon 2012. "It's like using it as a controller rather than really looking into the world."Carmack would like to fix that, and he is now working with Palmer Luckey and the highly talked about Oculus Rift in order to do so. By combining Luckey's hardware with Carmack's software, they hope to remove a lot of barriers gamers typically experience when trying to immerse themselves in a virtual world.When I put on the VR headset to look into the new and improved world of Doom 3 BFG Edition, I almost lost balance. My brain seemed to be fighting with itself in terms of where my body was, physically. I knew I was standing in a hotel room of the Hilton Anatole and that moving my feet wouldn't have any impact on my gameplay, while at the same time I felt like I was running through corridors on Mars, dodging fireballs from imps as I played Doom.%Gallery-161678%
Doom 4 to be compatible with Oculus Rift VR headset
Doom 4 will be compatible with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset (the one that was over-funded via Kickstarter in less than 24 hours last week), just like its baby brother, Doom 3 BFG Edition. id Software has been involved with Oculus Rift for some time, showing off Doom 3 BFG running on Rift at this year's E3 and including a copy of the game with every Rift dev kit."I'm excited for once Doom 3 ships, and gets out there, I'll put all this stuff into the Doom 4 platform, which will be nice to take our current top-of-the-line stuff and have that in virtual reality," id's John Carmack told Polygon at QuakeCon. "I'm looking forward to doing that."The Oculus Rift Kickstarter has so far raised more than $1.26 million of its desired $250,000, with 26 days to go.
id taking a break from mobile to work on Doom 4
QuakeCon is happening in Texas this weekend, and id software head John Carmack has been giving interviews to the press on hand. He told The Verge that id software has decided to step away from mobile development long enough to focus on the forthcoming Doom 4. "We did make the decision to close up our mobile development," says Carmack, "which saddens me a lot ... I hope we get back to mobile in various ways in the future, but the big real aim is blockbuster, AAA titles, and for id that means Doom 4, it means that we get the whole company behind that after we get Doom 3: BFG Edition out the door, essentially everybody will be focused on Doom 4 as a project." In the past, id has had some solid success on the App Store, both with ports of old id games, as well as versions of newer games like Rage. But it looks like for the moment, id is done with putting out new releases on the App Store. I wouldn't worry too much about this. Clearly, Carmack knows and loves Apple's mobile platforms, and its a common practice in big studios to focus the team on a sigle project, especially when its as big as Doom 4. For now, the team may be focusing in on an AAA title, but I don't think it'll be long at all before we see some more mobile work coming out of id and its developers. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
id Software closed mobile department to focus on projects like Doom 4
John Carmack didn't actually show Doom 4 during his QuakeCon keynote yesterday, but he did offer a status update – along with the tautological pronouncement that the shooter will be "done when it's done.""When it's done" will be a little sooner, as Carmack revealed just how devoted id Software is to its development. The mobile games division, responsible for Wolfenstein RPG, Rage HD and other mobile games, has been shut down, to shift focus to big games, including Doom 4. In fact, following Doom 3 BFG, all of id will focus on Doom 4.
John Carmack-endorsed Oculus Rift VR project hits Kickstarter, developer kits start at $300 (update: $250k goal met)
We heard late last month that the John Carmack-endorsed Oculus Rift VR headset would be hitting Kickstarter any day now, and it turns out today is that day. The project has just launched on the crowd-funding site with a goal of $250,000. To reach that, the team (led by company founder Palmer Lucky) is offering a variety pledge options, starting with posters and t-shirts for $15 and $25 (or $10 for a simple thanks), and of course the headset itself that is initially only being offered as a developer kit. It will set you back $300, which also includes a copy of Doom 3 BFG, and is expected to start shipping in December (signed kits and a complete bundle are available as well). Those that act fast can also snag one of 100 unassembled prototype kits, which run $275 and ship a month earlier in November. Despite that developer-only status, though, the project is already off to an impressive start -- it's raised over $50,000 as of this writing. You can find the usual video overview of the project after the break.Update: The 100 prototype kits are now sold out, and the project itself has already sailed past the $100,000 $150,000 mark. John Carmack also clarified on Twitter that he's not "backing" the project in any official capacity, only endorsing it as a "wonderful advancement in VR tech."Update 2: And the project has now easily met its goal on the first day. Those interested are still able to make a pledge any time over the next 30 days.
Project Holodeck and Oculus Rift hope to kickstart every gamers' VR dream for $500 (video)
Star Trek: The Next Generation may be coming to your living rooms soon courtesy of some hot new Blu-ray pressing, but one of the most compelling pieces of the technology shown on that series still remains elusive: the holodeck. Don't get down, sunshine, because we might soon be making our first, tentative steps into a virtual courtesy of Project Holodeck. It's underway at USC's School of Cinematic Arts as well as the Viterbi School of Engineering and starts out with a pair of Project Oculus glasses. These glasses, which were shown off at E3 by none other than John Carmack, cram a 1,280 x 800 display into a pair of glasses that present a wide, truly immersive field of view. Pair that with a PlayStation Move for head tracking and a Razer Hydra controller and you have the beginnings of a proper virtual reality environment.An early concept of what the complete system might feel like can be found after the break, a couple of people acting out a sequence from Skies of Arcadia, which could be called a spiritual inspiration for the first game designed for Project Holodeck: Wild Skies. In it, two people "pilot a massive airship through a exotic world of floating islands" -- though whether they look as kawaii as their Dreamcast predecessors remains to be seen. When you might actually get your hands on the system is also unknown, but one piece of the puzzle, the Oculus Rift glasses, are said to be hitting Kickstarter any day now -- for an anticipated price of just $500. Bat'leth and copy of Workin' out with Worf not included.
'Critical Path' trailer is loaded with games industry talent
A trailer for Critical Path, a "transmedia project exploring the art, philosophy, politics and psychology of video games" recently surfaced. The trailer, created by a Los Angeles-based studio named Artifact, shows dozens of game designers talking about their craft and the place games take in the history of expressive media. The project aims to "give game designers their due as innovators and influencers of culture."Critical Path is described as the culmination of "two years of filming and archiving" interviews, according to Artifact's site. "User feedback will influence future interviews, which will be added to the archive on an ongoing basis."Among the 37 names listed at the end of the trailer are Warren Spector, Jenova Chen, John Carmack, David Cage, Cliff Bleszinski, Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer and Hideo Kojima. You can watch the trailer here.
Doom 3 'BFG Edition' bringing Hellspawn to retail on Oct. 16 in NA, Oct. 19 in EU
Smack in the middle of the busiest game release season of the year, Bethesda is re-launching Doom 3. The publisher announced this morning that Doom 3 "BFG Edition" – which includes "re-mastered versions" of Doom 3 and its "Resurrection of Evil" DLC, as well as the new content dubbed "The Lost Mission" – arrives on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe.Should all that Doom 3 content not be enough, both Doom 1 and 2 are included in the repackaging, and the whole schebang runs $39.99 on 360/PS3, while it's $10 cheaper on PC. Of course, if you wanna play it in virtual reality, Lawnmower Man-style, that's gonna require a heck of a lot more money. And being friends with John Carmack would also help.
Wolfenstein 3D celebrates 20 years of machine guns and flag-obscured passages with free web version
To commemorate the big two-oh years since its release, Bethesda has offered up the full Wolfenstein 3D experience to play for free in your web browser. Not only that, you'll also be able to play the id original on iOS devices gratis (at least for today) and creator John Carmack has decided to offer us a director's commentary on the game's development while shooting his way through a few levels. Watch, nod and reminisce right after the break, then hit up the source to play for yourself.
Wolfenstein 3D celebrating its 20-year history by going free on browsers, iOS
Yesterday, Wolfenstein 3D was a measly 19 years and 364 days old. Puh-shaw, we say. Today, however, the game is a full 20 years old, and id Software is throwing the classic FPS a celebration. Rather than sending all the game's fans party hats and individual slices of cake, though, id's ported Wolf 3D to web browsers, making it totally free!But perhaps you're not around a computer at the moment, and you'd prefer to play on the go? id's got that covered too, making the iOS port of Wolfenstein 3D free for today only (the iTunes page still reflects a $1.99 price as of this writing, but Bethesda says it'll flip to free "later today").Or maybe you've already played Wolf 3D more than you'll ever need to? Creator John Carmack recorded a director commentary aimed at superfans of the series, which we've embedded just below the break. Let us know if he talks about rockets at all!
Doom 3 source code available now, gory customizations welcomed
Doom for everyone. It's not a particularly festive message, but as promised earlier this month, the Doom 3 source code is now out on a general public license. Programming types can meddle with the game's inner workings as wintery temperatures force them to huddle close to the warm hum of excessive gaming rigs. Doom dad John Carmack announced the release to his horde of Twitter followers, while doffing his cap to Timothee Besset, who helped sidestep some shadow rendering license issues that had dogged an earlier release. Peer into the source code at the link below, and know the true face of despair Doom.
Carmack: Doom 3's engine ready for open-sourcing, awaiting 'OK' from legal
When the granddaddy of FPS tweets, we listen. For those unaware, that's John Carmack -- you know, the guy behind games like Doom, Quake and Rage -- confirming that Doom 3's engine, id Tech 4, is all bundled up for its open-source release, only awaiting clearance from legal. To be verbose, that doesn't mean you'll be getting down with a gratis copy of Doom, but rather with the powerhouse that powers it, a veritable boon to game developers and tinkerers, alike. The release is par for the course for the company, as id Software's been routinely open-sourcing its older engines for as long as we can remember. We'll keep an eye out for when it drops, but while you wait, feel free to read an interview with the visionary himself.
Doom 3 source code 'packaged and tested,' waiting on legal OK
If you've been waiting for id Software to open source its retroactively titled id Tech 4 technology, first used in 2004's Doom 3, your seven-year test of patience is nearly over. John Carmack used yesterday's Halloween opportunity to burst out of a monster closet (on Twitter) declaring, "doom 3 source is packaged and tested, we are waiting on final lawyer clearance for release." And while seven years seems like just enough time to ensure the absence of commercial viability for the tech, remember Prey 2 will be using a modified version, which producer Matt Bisenius called "capable." We're also going to take this opportunity to prematurely mark 2018 down in our calendars, for the Rage / id Tech 5 source code release.
Rage patched on PC, Carmack comments on botched launch
Plagued by serious technical problems, the PC version angered customers with driver issues, texture pop-in and a surprising dearth of graphical options. A patch has since addressed several of these shortcomings, and id co-founder John Carmack has commented on the graphics driver issues -- what he calls a "cluster!@#$" -- that prevented some players from making it past the intro. Speaking to Kotaku, Carmack pins some of the blame on incorrect drivers issued by graphics card vendors.
