John Carmackameleon interviewed: Lots of Rage and nerdspeak

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:35 pm

Also, consoles are shit.

RPS transcription

JC (but not Christ. Or Denton) wrote: â€œWhen we started on the game six years ago, I looked at the consoles and said â€˜These are as good as the PCâ€™, and our development strategy was to develop live on all the platforms. And now weâ€™re looking at PCs that have ten times the horsepower of the consoles. Iâ€™m making a large change in my direction just saying â€˜We should be building things efficiently on the PC and then deploying on the consoles.â€™ And we didnâ€™t make that as crisp of a distinction as we could have.

â€œMy development system now has twenty four threads and twenty four gigs of memory, and we can start putting on half a terrabyte of solid state drives, and these are the things that are gonna drive the development process on the PC. Iâ€™m actually as excited about how weâ€™re developing tht titles in this coming generation as the graphic enhancements and things that Iâ€™m gonna make.

â€œâ€¦it is unhappily true that we have these consoles here running at sixty frames per second, and we could have these massively more powerful PC systems that struggle sometimes to hold the same framerate because of unnecessary overheads. If we were programming that hardware directly on the metal the same way we do consoles, it would be significantly more powerful.â€�

Video
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/30 ... interview/

Good stuff, of what I watched meself. 2nd half for later.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:11 pm

Carmack is a good man sticking up for PC's and all that when the rest of the industry is basically shitting on us PC gamers.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:17 pm

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:45 am

I appreciate how candid this guy is, whereas most in his position wouldn't stray to far from PR-speak.

3 things stand out.

First, considering he's apparently a programming genius, that he only wants to develop and optimize tools with which the actual artists can work with. +1

Second, considering he's the biggest tech geek on earth, that graphics are good enough as it is, time to start focusing on gameplay. +1

Lastly, considering he makes games, PC a viable market. +1

IIRC this guy hasn't done a single game that I'd consider a favorite, yet in this industry of Howards and Koticks, this is one guy that's the jan-u-wine ar-tee-cal. Respek.

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:30 am

You act almost like you've never heard of Carmack, the inventor of DOOM. The man is a bona fide genius, read up on him. He made thermite as a kid to break into his school and steal computers to code, he's started his own company that makes rockets for space ships as a side project, and to top it of he is a programming genius. Hell, he even predicted the fall of John Romero with Daikatana through playing D&D with him.

He's a legend in the industry and to most computer gamers, at least any one whose been playing PC games for a long time.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:36 am

Tofu Man wrote:IIRC this guy hasn't done a single game that I'd consider a favorite

to quote manoil: "i am a disappointed son"

Post by **Manoil** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:22 am

What do you think is going on in Russia right now

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:07 am

Manoil wrote:What do you think is going on in Russia right now

Nothin' but a bunch of shit like always?

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:45 am

â€œâ€¦it is unhappily true that we have these consoles here running at sixty frames per second, and we could have these massively more powerful PC systems that struggle sometimes to hold the same framerate because of unnecessary overheads. If we were programming that hardware directly on the metal the same way we do consoles, it would be significantly more powerful.â€�

There should be some type of thing where like when a game runs it's the only thing allowed to run on the computer so all the computer juice can be used to create bigger explosions.

Either way John Cormack looks like one of my 2nd cousins who is allergic to milk. I'll have to read up more on his history because that DnD game with John Romaro sounds kind of cool.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:49 am

He's just an evil nerd dude who created some very innovative games/weapons for the entire industry so you can't help but respect him... lots, but I sure as hell don't love him either.

The guy invented FPS and all the fun that comes with it. I think he has a few popular sci fi weapons to his credit as well, like the rail gun, which I think the US government has developed actually but I don't know any details.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:18 am

SenisterDenister wrote:You act almost like you've never heard of Carmack

Not really, hence the "considerings". It's that last I heard of him he was designing a rocket ship for that X-Space something or other with the million dollar prize thingy, and since then we've mostly been limited (outside of Mattchats) to hearing from games people who know marketing and I found it refreshing to hear from a games person that knows games.

I wouldn't call him a legend, but then that isn't a word I use to describe people. Unless they're legendary assholes.

Gimp Mask wrote:
Tofu Man wrote:IIRC this guy hasn't done a single game that I'd consider a favorite

Quick, name one id game you'd take to a deserted island. Over Fallout. Over Civilization. Over Pirates. Over Theme Park, Sword of the Samurai, Deus Ex, Thief, Dungeon Keeper, VtMB, Blade Runner, I dunno. What do you like? Half-Life, Total War, Counter Strike, Grim Fandango?

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:52 am

depends on the island. is it like a paradise island because then i'd take flip-flops and a pina colada and leave computer games at home.

so you just have a different taste in games and prefer a park building simulator over a hard-core fps action experience - fair enough. for the rekkid i would definitely take say doom over most the games you listed.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:19 am

Well, yeah to be fair Hospital was an oversight of sorts. Couldn't remember anything so I typed it, and don't get me wrong I played it loads and I liked but nowadays i'd probably rather play doom instead. Oh well.

flip-flops and piÃ±a colada'd beat the shit out of that plan tho, who needs fucking computers in a paradise island

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:51 am

Tofu Man wrote:who needs fucking computers in a paradise island

http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/profi ... le&u=11468

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:21 am

HA. kid just needs his knob polished. then all he'll use the pc for is to spam DaC with pictures of naked women. Then again he might just start arbitrarily pasting vaginas into his "art".

Cimmerian Nights · Post by **Cimmerian Nights** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:49 am

Yeah...Carmack, sure he was innovative in the build a better bazooka kind of way, but straight FPS it's just running down hallways blowing shit up, never stimulated the cockles of my prostate.

Burnov · Post by **Burnov** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:49 pm

When we started on the game six years ago, I looked at the consoles and said â€˜These are as good as the PCâ€™, and our development strategy was to develop live on all the platforms. And now weâ€™re looking at PCs that have ten times the horsepower of the consoles. Iâ€™m making a large change in my direction just saying â€˜We should be building things efficiently on the PC and then deploying on the consoles.â€™ And we didnâ€™t make that as crisp of a distinction as we could have.

This is how it should be, honestly console exclusive gamers wouldn't tell the difference regardless.

rad resistance · Post by **rad resistance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:49 pm

Dead thread is dead.

Megatron · Post by **Megatron** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:49 pm

i only play recent games on consoles now because either my pc is shit or games on pcs look like chugging shit nowadays its pretty dichotomous when u think about it

on the other hand i am a old school son of a junkyard dog who takes no prisoners and only really plays old games if ever now if u no what i mean im from a generation where an x-box was a treasure chest you shoved all your ex-wifes junk in and a ipad was a bandage you put on your face when you got shot playing hockey sticks in the street sippin old spice and only being able to stand 1 metre from the phone jk but never mind the point still stands prob??!

Redeye · Post by **Redeye** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:32 am

Stalagmite wrote: I think he has a few popular sci fi weapons to his credit as well, like the rail gun, which I think the US government has developed actually but I don't know any details.

Ancient idea, but never got it to work well enough in RL for actual deployment.

Yet.