Gamasutra has a must-read interview with id Software’s John Carmack. The brilliant programmer covers a wide variety of topics in this four-page interview, including Rage, frame rate, the decision to stop licensing id Tech, the benefits of being acquired by ZeniMax, the true power of mobile devices, and more. I highly recommend reading the whole thing. You’ll be a smarter gamer for it. Here are some highlights:
Why the company stopped licensing its id Tech engine:
It’s interesting when you look back at our technology licensing — it was never really a business that I wanted to be in. In the very early days, people would pester us, and we would just throw out some ridiculous terms, and we were surprised that people were taking us up on it.
I didn’t want to be in the process of supporting a lot of outside teams — because we feel beholden to not make radical changes, and pull the rug out from underneath lots of other people. If it’s your own team, you can make the sensible decision of “It’s going to be worth it. It’s going to suck for a while, but we can make our way through it.” But you don’t want to do that to other people.
Why Microsoft gives its Xbox 360 developers expensive tools for free:
Microsoft has got some pretty good static analysis tools, and normally they make you buy, like an $8,000 professional edition of Visual Studio, but they give it for free to all Xbox developers — which I think says an interesting thing about this stuff. Where Microsoft figures that, well, nobody blames them for crappy software on Windows, but they do blame Microsoft a bit for crappy software on 360, so it’s in their best interest to put more static analysis tools available there.
One of the biggest problems with PC game development:
It’s pretty sad, the fact that we have these PCs that are sometimes 10 times as powerful, and we have more trouble holding 60 frames per second on the PCs because of drive and OS unoptimalities. And there are reasons for all of them. I’ve done enough driver work on OpenGL to understand why things wind up the way they are.
And sure, on the PC, you can go ahead and you’re running two megapixels. You can turn on anti-aliasing, and you can have much bigger page tables for the virtual textures, and all this stuff. But still, if you want it to get done in like 16 milliseconds, the graphics drivers are a huge hindrance right there.
As I said before, it’s a fantastic interview. Carmack is awesome. I guarantee you’ll learn at least four things from this story. Now go read it!
Mark Cerny is one of the sharpest guys I’ve met in the videogame business, so when he says that traditional single-player games aren’t long for this world, I listen. At a recent Sony Computer Entertainment event during GamesCom 2011, Cerny had a lot of say about how a “connected” world is changing single-player videogames. Here’s a quote from Eurogamer:
I believe the traditional single-player game experience will be gone in three years. Right now you sit in your living room and you’re playing a game by yourself — we call it the sp mission or the single-player campaign. In a world with Facebook I just don’t think that’s going to last.
We’re already seeing the wall starting to crumble a bit. Demon’s Souls, even though on one level it’s a single-player game, as you’re walking through the world you’re seeing the ghosts of everybody who died in that world via the internet. You can leave messages for them. They can leave messages for you. There’s actually a boss you fight in that game which is controlled by another player.
I think he’s right to a large degree. Videogames on consoles and PCs are definitely moving in that direction. Will they become the norm in five years? I’m not sure, but Cerny is exponentially smarter than I am, so why not?!? As for the “traditional” single-player experience, I’ve been using my iPad 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo 3DS for gaming that’s more along the lines of what I grew up with. The portable consoles are becoming more social, but “real” gaming on phones and tablets is in its infancy. While phones and tablets are obviously connected devices, they still offer that solitary experience I’m used to because the development environment isn’t as sophisticated as consoles (yet).
A lot of you know that I’m a Cerny mark and won’t question his word (I’m slightly exaggerating). With that in mind, please let me know what you think about his prognosis. Are traditional single-player games done? Does a world that has become smaller through social networking require single-player videogames that are more connected? Leave a comment and let me know (please)!
Check out this interview of Irrational Games’ Ken Levine talking about BioShock Infinite. The game was one of the best things I saw at E3 2011. Ken is awesome, BioShock Infinite will likely be awesome, and your day will be better for this double dose of awesomeness.
Check out this interview of Irrational Games’ Ken Levine talking about BioShock Infinite. The game was one of the best things I saw at E3 2011. Ken is awesome, BioShock Infinite will likely be awesome, and your day will be better for this double dose of awesomeness.
During John Carmack’s QuakeCon 2011 keynote, he mentioned that there will not be a partial-install option for id’s upcoming Rage. Gamers can either run the game off of the disc or opt for a 22GB hard drive installation. Here are his exact words according to ShopTo News:
On the 360 we don’t have a partial install option; it’s all or nothing, which is kind of unfortunate. This means you have to install 21/22GB of stuff which takes a long time but if you’ve got it and you play it on the 360 that’s the way to go.
On one hand, 22GB is a lot of space and a full install would take a long time. On the other hand, it’s id and John Carmack; this is, perhaps, a case where gamers will bite the bullet simply because of the developer. Are you willing to give up 22GB of hard drive space for one game? Or is that too excessive? Will you make an exception because it’s id and John Carmack? Kindly take today’s poll and discuss!
Sad news hit early this morning from Japan when G-Mode announced that company founder Takeshi Miyaji passed away at age 45. Old-school gamers will remember Miyaji from his days at Game Arts, where he worked on the Silpheed, Gun Griffon, and Grandia games.
As a huge JRPG fan, I’m sad that a talented game creator that dazzled me for dozens of hours passed away at such a young age. I’m going to dig for my Grandia games and pop them in to remember Miyaji-san. If you enjoyed any of his games, please take some time out of your day to remember him.
I highly recommend downloading highlights from the Interactive Achievement Awards and DICE 2011 through Xbox Live. Just head on over to the Zune section of the dashboard. You’ll be able to find the awards highlights (search “interactive”) and three DICE panels (search “DICE”). Here are the panel descriptions from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences:
Richard Garriott, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Portalarium, speaking on his foray into space and its influence on him from a game creation standpoint in his session titled, “Achieving the Impossible – Creating Games and Gateways to Space!”
John Stevenson, filmmaker and director of Kung Fu Panda, speaking on passion and pursuing his dreams as an animator in his session titled, “Monsters, Muppets and Movies”
Dr. Dave Gallo, Director at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, speaks on diving deep into the ocean and exploring the Titanic in “Exploring the Ocean Deep in 3D: To the Titanic and Beyond”
I definitely recommend the Stevenson and Gallo panels — super interesting views on gaming from people outside of the industry. It’s hard for me to recommend a session that has Garriott showing off his adventures in space. To steal a joke that Jay Mohr laid on Garriott a few years ago, “Let me get this straight. You can launch yourself into space, but you can’t launch Tabula Rasa?!?”
Here’s my interview with Insomniac Games president & CEO Ted Price. My favorite part was when he explained why he wanted the original Ratchet & Clank referred to as a “character action game” instead of a platformer. Other topics include the company’s work on the Xbox 360, the socialization of gaming, and Insomniac’s 2011 lineup.
Confession: I really sucked in this interview. Thankfully Ted saved it with his great answers. As you can see, I wasn’t nearly as comfortable as I was during my Mike “Busta” Capps interview. I’ve known Ted for a long time and he’s a fantastic guy, but for some reason I kept thinking, “Gee, Ted Price sure is smart, successful, and handsome,” during the interview. As nice as he is, he can also be unnervingly awesome. Ha!
Here’s an interview I did with the legendary Mark Cerny. For those of you not familiar with the man, he has been designing games since he was a teenager, working on titles like Marble Madness, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Jak& Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and so much more. Since he has pretty much seen and done it all, I wanted to get his take on newer trends in gaming, such mobile, social, and motion. As expected, his answers were interesting and insightful…which was great because I totally went fanboy in the interview. I think I called him awesome like 50 times. Ha!
Anyway, check out this interview with Mark Cerny. He is awesome.
I wanted to write and post this yesterday, but my web host decided to suck. Here are some random thoughts on my GDC 2011 experience. Some of it is personal and some of it is business. All of it is the truth!
– In addition to some great networking and excellent parties, I got to have some quiet time with some of my favorite developers. Cliff Bleszinski treated me to some quiet drinks at the top of the Marriott Marquis. I caught up with Chris Cross over an excellent burger and learned that he’s now with THQ Partners. My darling friend and hottie Melissa Miller from 2K Games joined me for our annual catch-up session while devouring evil meat. Sure, I enjoyed lots of parties and meeting new people at the crazy crowded W Hotel, but these quiet catch-ups were special.
– Meeting Takashi Tokita was all kinds of excellent. The man worked on Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, and Parasite Eve. I love so many of his games and it was an honor to interview him. I totally marked out and became a fanboy when he gave me an autographed Cecil Harvey action figure. It got even better at the FFIV anniversary party when he asked me to do tequila shots with him and draw Final Fantasy characters. I’m pretty sure I produced the worst black mage, white mage, and chocobo illustrations in the history of Final Fantasy.
– I was really impressed with all the money Google dropped on GDC. In addition to hosting informative sessions, the company gave away Chrome Cr-48 netbooks, Xoom Android tablets, and limited edition Android Nexus S phones. That’s definitely one way to get developers interested in your platforms. It also threw a big and expensive party, but the vibe was totally douchey.
– I was disappointed in Nintendo’s GDC keynote. There was way too much marketing content. Last time I checked, this was a developers conference. Nintendo’s message to developers wasn’t powerful enough. Iwata’s charming was drowned out by all the sales and marketing. Honestly, the company should have copied Google and gave free 3DS units to developers. That would have taken attention away from Google and the Apple iPad 2 press conference across the street.
– Cliffy’s panel was well attended and well received. I’m so proud of all his success. I’m even prouder that one of us has matured. Hmmm, I suppose that makes me the immature and (financially) unsuccessful one. Crap.
– Battlefield 3 looked ridiculous. I didn’t really have any expectations going into the preview event, but I was floored with what I saw.
– The new Unreal Engine tech demo (That someone snuck me into. Thanks babe!) was even more ridiculous. I swear to you that it looked like CG-quality graphics in gameplay scenarios. I was half expecting to see a wizard behind the curtain after the demo ended. That said, most companies don’t have the art budget and technical skills to make games look that way. I’m sure the bar will be raised, but I’m not going to expect the majority of Unreal Engine games to look like that brilliant tech demo…though I hope I’m wrong.
– I was happy that I saw more GDC panel coverage than ever before. I’m sad that there are so many publisher preview events during the show. It takes away from the “developer” part of the conference. I understand that it makes economic sense since there are so many reporters there. I also understand that outlets get more traffic from previews than writing up developer panels. Still, it goes against the spirit of the show. Writers could be cranking really interesting and insightful articles on panels — articles that would help gamers understand more about development and help them get to know the amazing people behind the games. I remember posting an article about this at G4tv and getting heat for it. There was someone there that thought it was silly to admit that we made a mistake with our approach to coverage. Pfft.
– Absolutely loved the 1Up party. It was a bunch of old friends drinking and making a mess at the 1Up office. It was cool seeing people that I’ve known since the ’90s and hanging out with new friends. I had a blast taking over Sam Kennedy’s office, writing things on his white board, and making long distance calls to China.
– A lot of game writers use a similar rule, but if you grab me for a random demo and give me a USB drive then it better be a good size. Journalists judge PR this way. It’s true. This loud German developer grabbed (and frightened) me for a demo for an okay game that will stick in my head because of the 8GB USB thumb drive with the beta. Okay, I’m half kidding about this.
– Overall it was an excellent show with lots of great networking and a reminder that I should still try to do this. Sometimes it’s hard to see the “value” of what I’m doing and what I’m trying to do, but I’m surprised by the amazing people I’ve gotten to know over the years and even more surprised that some of them are interested in my perspective. DICE 2011 reminded me of how incredible the gaming business is, while GDC 2011 reminded me that I have a small place on the outside of the business. Prior to the show I had fears that this would be my last year covering games and that I would soon be on the management track at Burger King (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Thanks to a visit from Zoe and a great GDC, I’m determined to stay here.
It was a tremendous honor to watch BioWare’s Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk get inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hall of fame. Check out what the BioWare Docs had to say about this accolade. The legendary Bing Gordon, Cerny Games’ Mark Cerny, Incomniac Games’ Ted Price, Gas Powered Games’ Chris Taylor, Blizzard’s Frank Pearce and Paul Sams, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick, and more share their feelings on these two excellent people entering the hall.
Side notes include:
Don Mattrick revealing why Canada produces excellent game developers and pro-wrestlers
The doctors revealing which one of them is still a licensed physician
An innovative Nintendo DS developer imagining the doctors living like Bert and Ernie
I’m such a huge fan of these guys, both professionally and personally. I get warm fuzzies from watching the video and remembering the standing ovation they got from their peers during the awards. These guys rock.
