John Carmack, id's engine genius, part-time rocketeer and the man behind the original Doom and Quake engines, has revealed in a brand new interview that Xbox 360 will be id's chosen console platform as the company embraces its next-generation future.
It's a bold statement to make, given id's almost exclusive PC development history (although recent forays have included Doom RPG for mobile and Quake IV on 360) but Carmack told PC Gamer UK that the 360 is a 'really sweet development system' and that it will be his main 'target' for future id games.
So could id commit the ultimate PC heresy and switch to Xbox 360 as its primary development platform? Well not quite yet, but it's a distinct possibility as Carmack notes, "It probably will be. All of our tools are on the PC, and we're maintaining the game running on the PC, but probably all of our gameplay development and testing will be done on the Xbox 360."
-d's next much-debated-but-never-disclosed project will certainly be feeling the 360 love though, as Carmack confirmed that it was being developed at the same time for both platforms: "Our internal project is not currently announced ...[but] we're doing simultaneous development on Xbox 360 and PC."
However, there was good news for PC fans reeling from the shock of seeing one of their favourite developers switching its focus from PC to the supposed console dark side. Carmack admitted that despite 360's impeccable tech credentials, it still wasn't a match for the big beige box. "They can quote these incredibly high numbers of giga-glops or tera-flops or whatever, but in reality they're significantly slower than a modern high-end PC."
Unsurprisingly for a man who built his reputation as one of the world's leading engine builders,it was the Xbox 360's graphical capabilities which had Carmack most excited: "The graphics systems are much better. The capabilities of the Xbox 360 are really good on the graphics side - although, not head or shoulders above any PC stuff you can buy at a higher price point."
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