Kotaku: John Carmack

John Carmack is Down on 720p, Wants 1080p for Next-Gen Consoles

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST

Today's high-end gaming consoles can play games in 1080p resolution, but many Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games still run at 720p or less. The average person may not see a difference, but the graphics-minded co-creator of Doom does. More »

Watch a Man Shoot a Home-Made Rocket Called Quake all the way Into Space

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:30:00 EDT

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Among amateur rocket-launching circles, there's a bounty called "The Carmack Prize". It's named for id boss, Doom co-creator and budding rocket scientist John Carmack, and will reward anyone who can get a home-made rocket 100,000 feet into space and capture some GPS data from it. More »

Why Was The PC Launch of Rage Such A "Cluster!@#$"?

Brian Crecente — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:20:00 EDT

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The idea from the start was a game that blurred the lines between how games looked on console and PC. More »

iPad 2 "About Half" as Powerful as Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Says Man Who Would Know

Joel Johnson — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:00:00 EDT

The iPad 2 is "about half" as powerful as modern games consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, according to graphics genius John Carmack. More »

Watch One of John Carmack's Fabled QuakeCon Talks

Brian Crecente — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:20:00 EDT

The John Carmack keynote at Quakecon is always memorable and a bit of a mental marathon. The man builds games, invents gaming tech and created real life rocketships in his spare time. More »

John Carmack Explains How to Make Rage Look Terrible

Joel Johnson — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:00:00 EDT

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This afternoon, in an empty conference room inside the Hilton Anatole—a bizarre amalgam of hotel, conference center, and shopping mall—John Carmack sat alone in an uncomfortable metal chair, staring straight ahead. The technical director and co-founder of id Software, the company that invented the first-person shooter genre that now dominates much of the hard core video game industry, patiently waited to give the opening keynote of Quakecon 2011, a fan conference held annually in Dallas, Texas since 1997. More »

Choice Quotes from John Carmack's 2011 QuakeCon Keynote

Joel Johnson — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:40:00 EDT

Rage has been in the pipe for six years. "We invented this genre and we followed it a long ways...Maybe we shouldn't have been quite as ambitious."

id Sets Doom 3 Source Code Free Post-Rage

Mike Fahey — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:00:00 EDT

During his kenote speech this afternoon at QuakeCon 2011, id Software's John Carmack revealed that the source code for Doom 3 would be released to the public later this year, sometime after the October release of Rage. More »

Minecraft Creator Calls Bullshit on 'Unlimited Detail' Graphics Hype

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EDT

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Euclideon, a Brisbane, Australia-based tech company, claims it can stuff 100,000 times the amount of visual data into a 3D world with its Unlimited Detail rendering software. It's visually stunning stuff. But one prominent game developer calls it "a scam." More »

The Next Time You Slag Off Call of Duty, Bear This in Mind

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:30:00 EDT

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Some wise words from a man who knows a thing or two about both first-person shooters and making a ton of money. More »

Is The End Of Gaming Handhelds Near?

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 06:30:00 EST

Video game handhelds are getting a run for their money, and they're getting it from smartphones. But are they good enough as dedicated handheld game machines? Most serious games would offer a curt "no". More »

What's Next For id's Mobile Rage

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:40:00 EST

The big new iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch game from id Software will receive Game Center support and might even gain a feature a fan suggested on a message board, the game's lead creator John Carmack told Kotaku yesterday. More »

The Co-Creator Of Doom Knows His Limits, And The iPad's

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:40:00 EST

John Carmack's biggest gift to gaming was Doom, but he keeps on giving, releasing possibly the best-looking game on the iPhone and iPad yesterday. He's been bullish on iOS gaming, but yesterday he was refreshingly realistic. More »

The iPhone Version of Rage Hits Tomorrow

Brian Crecente — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST

If id Software founder John Carmack can be believed, the iPhone version of shooter Rage is due to hit iTunes tomorrow. More »

This Is John Carmack's Next Rocket

Stephen Totilo — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EDT

Doom co-creator John Carmack also helps create rockets. At QuakeCon 2010 in Dallas, Carmack was displaying his latest, which he hopes to launch this month. It's designed to go up 100,000 feet and then come straight back down. Theoretically. More »

A Bright Idea For Doom 3 That Comes A Little Too Late

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT

John Carmack's thoughts today on Doom 3. The programmer says id Software was legitimately "dinged" for making the 2004 game too dark, wishing he'd added more lighting options to the tech, adding "the artists hiss at us if we turn on lights." More »

Doom 4 Absent From QuakeCon 2010

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:00:00 EDT

We really thought that id Software would give us an update on Doom 4 at this year's QuakeCon. After all, id CEO Todd Hollenshead said at last year's event that we'd hear more about the next Doom in 2010. More »

id Unleashes Impressive Rage On The iPhone [UPDATE]

Mike Fahey — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:00:56 EDT

During his keynote speech at QuakeCon 2010, id Software's John Carmack demonstrated Rage on the iPhone, running at 60 frames-per-second and able to "kill anything done on the Xbox or PlayStation 2." More »

Doom Creator Helping Bring Rockets To Racing

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:30:00 EDT

You may know John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and lead programmer of Doom, keeps busy building space rockets with his Armadillo Aerospace team. But rockets aren't all they do. More »

The Ghost Of id Software's Past

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:30:00 EDT

John Romero haunts game developer id Software. Yes, he co-founded the studio and thus more than earned his place in id history. But Romero only worked there between the years of 1991 and 1996. More »

John Carmack Has Three Lifetime Achievement Awards, No Early iPad

Stephen Totilo — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:20:27 EDT

Doom co-creator John Carmack earned a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Awards, but he's not done. Oddly, he wasn't sent an early iPad despite being a big iPhone games booster. We discussed that, plus, naturally, Pokemon. More »

Sims Creator Explains Why Doom Creator "Rocks"

Brian Crecente — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:40:00 EST

Will Wright, the fast-talking, rocket-loving man behind The Sims, took to the stage at last night's Game Developers Choice Awards to present John Carmack, the fast-talking, rocket-loving man behind Doom, with a lifetime achievement award. Guess what he talked about? More »

GDC Awards Honor John Carmack's Lifetime Achievement

Mike Fahey — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:20:00 EST

id Software co-founder and one of the fathers of the first-person shooter, John Carmack is being presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards. More »

Carmack: Working With Apple Is a Rollercoaster Ride

Brian Crecente — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

John Carmack has a long history working with Apple on gaming products, not all of it positive. More »

id: Probably No Dedicated Servers for Rage

Owen Good — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST

id Software's John Carmack is mindful of the anger over Modern Warfare 2 dropping dedicated server support. That's why he's glad Infinity Ward is going first, because he plans to do the same thing with Rage. More »

Carmack on iPhone Fallout, Quake Live and Elves and Orcs

Brian Crecente — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

What started as a lark, playing around with an operating system that would allow Doom creator John Carmack to quickly produce portables games, has become a thriving business, the famed developer tells Kotaku. More »

Doom Classic Now on iPhone

Brian Crecente — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

In case you missed it, Doom Classic is now available in the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. More »

John Carmack Builds Another Spaceship, Could Win $1 Million

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:40:00 EDT

Armadillo Aerospace - the company founded and owned by id boss and Doom co-creator John Carmack - has a good chance of winning itself $1,000,000 after taking an early lead in NASA's lunar lander challenge. More »

John Carmack And The Hideo Kojima Sunset

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:40:21 EDT

Famed Metal Gear designer Hideo Kojima once told me that there was something beautiful he'd been striving his whole career to create in video games: The perfect sunset. I recently asked John Carmack what his sunset is. More »

Carmack OK With Id Not Becoming An Epic Or Valve

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:00:59 EDT

John Carmack said he's a reason id Software didn't become more like Epic. He doesn't regret his company's graphics tech no longer being a go-to system for the industry. More »

Carmack: Quake Live Needs User-Paid Component

Stephen Totilo — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:30:10 EDT

Programmer extraordinaire John Carmack threw cold water earlier this week on the idea that id's popular free shooter can survive without charging some users something. More »

The John Carmack Keynote: Liveblogging QuakeCon

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:09:00 EDT

Stephen Totilo is live at this week's annual celebration of all things id: QuakeCon. The keynote is getting ready to kick off, so park your browsers on this page and follow along. More »

Doom Creator On Whether New PlayStation Or Xbox Will Be First

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EDT

You know John Carmack. He's the programming wizard responsible for games like Doom. You know what John Carmack thinks? More »

PS3 Version Of Rage Has Some Catching Up To Do

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

What's this? A predominantly PC-oriented developer (in this instance id) having trouble getting a game (in this instance Rage) running well on the PS3? You do. Not. Say. More »

Carmack: Just About Everything id Makes Coming To iPhone

Mike Fahey — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Doom Resurrection and Wolfenstein 3D Classic are only the beginning for id Software on the iPhone, with everything from Wolfenstein RPG to the upcoming Rage making their way to Apple's platform. More »

Doom Resurrection: The iPhone Game That Nearly Wasn't

Mike Fahey — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:20:00 EDT

With the rail-shooter Doom Resurrection for the iPhone hitting the App Store at any moment, Kotaku spoke to John Carmack about design decisions, multiplayer, and why the game was nearly canceled months into development. More »

But What Does John Romero Think? [Updated]

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EDT

ZeniMax Media, parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls studio Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it is purchasing legendary Doom and Wolfenstein developer id Software. What does id co-founder John Romero think? More »

id: Why We Sold To ZeniMax

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:40:26 EDT

In an interview with Kotaku, id's John Carmack and Todd Hollenshead explained how changing circumstances with Activision and other studios spurred id's sale to Bethesda parent ZeniMax. More »

id Software Bought By Bethesda Parent Company, ZeniMax

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:45:26 EDT

Doom, Fallout, Oblivion, Wolfenstein, Carmack, Howard... all in one company. More »

id Resurrects "Next-Gen" Doom On iPhone Next Week

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:20:14 EDT

Quake developers id Software are very fond of Apple's iPhone as a gaming platform. The first-person shooter focused id has already released Wolfenstein 3D Classic and is planning double the Doom, including a scaled down semi-remake of Doom III. More »