E3 2011: A Word With John Carmack

I love listening to this guy. There's always so much reason in everything he says and explains.

@billnyethesciencepie said:

When carmack speaks, YOU FUCKING LISTEN

This

Nice interview Patrick.

@clumsyninja1 said:

I need John Carmack on the podcast. Pretty please guys

Yes, this would be awesome. Also force Brad to ask the questions. :P

Holy fuck that first answer was almost four minutes.

John Carmack makes Brad's sideburns quiver.

This was great. Wish it was longer.

John Carmack is a hero.

Very nice interview

John Carmack is a legend, and he doesn't even have to try and show that. He simply irradiates it. I just wish he had more time to talk.

Man he looks young. I'd give him 25 years,or less, but not 40?????

Awesome interview. Good questions and responses. This makes me want to go find more video of Carmack talking. I had no idea he was that engaging.

John Carmack is a golden god!

That was a really great interview. It was great to see someone with a technical background talk about the future of consoles and the applications new and upcoming hardware. Most interviews with John Carmack on the internet will focus on Rage and what's happening with that, but it was really interesting to see his thoughts on the wider happenings in the Video Game industry.

@Taku128 said:

Am I the only person who doesn't think 60FPS is the best thing ever? For fighters or racing games I think it makes sense, but otherwise I prefer the more film-like look that 30FPS gives. 60 frames per second just looks too smooth, like a home video when compared to a movie.

Actually I prefer 120FPS/HZ, it looks and feels WAY better and I don't think games and/or movies can run "too smooth". The more frames you got the smoother everything is when you move your mouse/analog stick, and the more precise aiming and movement become.

That's honestly the first time I've ever heard anyone say that. :)

You can't help but like the guy. Genuine in answer, and to the point. I like that he really answers the questions in mathematical terms and not just in philosophy.

Okey, this may seem wierd but I recently saw season 3 of Boston Legal. In that season there is a chararcter named Lincoln and he looks quite like Carmack in this video. You be the judge.

Too bad Brad didn't muster up the courage to ask his idol some questions (or at least it appears that way from this video). But honestly being a game programmer myself, Carmack is an idol of mine and I would probably end up being a bit tongue-tied.

Poor Brad, I hope he at least shook his hand and wet his pants.

He's like a crack technologist whom one would entrust with the task of building the next generation rocket technology. 
Oh, wait...

Damn, the man's a god and all the points he's made about console hardware were true, good to see a developer speak his mind

I love this guy.

Has anyone ever mentioned that Brad looks a lot like John Carmack?  Granted, with glasses and his face is a touch thinner...but I see some resemblance.

Jesus christ this man is fucking brilliant

Great to listen to him. Thanks for this interview.

"On there"

Where: "On there"

How: "On there"

Why: "On there"

This is John Carmack's verbal Tic. Once you notice it you can't ignore it.

I enjoyed this interview with him as well: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/306236/news/id-softwares-john-carmack-20-minute-video-interview/

Mostly the part where he says he made a mistake by not focusing on PC.

@emem said:

@Taku128 said:

Am I the only person who doesn't think 60FPS is the best thing ever? For fighters or racing games I think it makes sense, but otherwise I prefer the more film-like look that 30FPS gives. 60 frames per second just looks too smooth, like a home video when compared to a movie.

Actually I prefer 120FPS/HZ, it looks and feels WAY better and I don't think games and/or movies can run "too smooth". The more frames you got the smoother everything is when you move your mouse/analog stick, and the more precise aiming and movement become.

That's honestly the first time I've ever heard anyone say that. :)

Yeah, 60 fps, at least in the PC realm, is the bare minimum for a shooter. The person with more frames always has a hand up because they have more time to react.

This guy knows his onions!

Carmack is a treat for interviewers - he does all the work. He's a great extemporaneous speaker though and I really enjoyed listening.

Carmack's Twitter is not meant for laymen:
http://twitter.com/#!/id_aa_carmack

Carmack is like Levine - I wish I could listen to him talk for hours.

Good interview. I think he speaks the truth, we shouldn't be seeing any other new consoles for a while until there is an actual generation leap in the technology. Right now the jump would be like going from DVD to Bluray (ie. not that big a deal to most).

@digitalsea87: Brad can totally pull off a halloween costume as carmack, like drew did for dexter.

NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!

I keed, I keed. I love Carmack.

This interview has convinced me to pre-order RAGE, not only that but I feel bad for not having done so already. 

It's too bad we couldn't squeeze in everything he was saying before the camera started rolling, too; while Vinny was setting up, him and I went back and forth for another 10 minutes or so.

@digitalsea87 said:

@andyl620 said:

Has anyone ever mentioned that Brad looks a lot like John Carmack? Granted, with glasses and his face is a touch thinner...but I see some resemblance.

It's the nose and mouth. I can see it too.

That's right, I'm talking about Brad's mouth.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Purdy.

The first thing I thought was hey, it's Brad's long lost older brother.

NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!

I keed, I keed. I love Carmack.

I could listen to John Carmack for days.

John is one the most fascinating people to listen to.

This dude says so many big words that you only hear from him. Incredibly bright dude.

Carmack is always so dam interesting.

@CaLe said:

I just watched this John Carmack interview on there and it's as entertaining as always to see him go like a madman on there. I just finished reading Masters of Doom recently on there so that deepened my respect for this guy by a lot on there. His passion for his work shows on there and one day I imagine him doing something extremely innovative not only for gaming but for the computing world in general on there.

On where? there?

Don't have any interest in Rage, but John makes a damn fine argument. Great interview, even though I was hoping to see Brad get really nervous. I'm surprised Patrick was able to keep his cool.

I feel like a dumbass listening to this guy. I wanna keep up and remain interested but Carmack talks like my old university professors :(

I find John Carmack so interesting, I wish there was a longer interview.

John Carmack is an interviewer's dream. You ask him one question and off he goes talking for ages but it's all interesting and engaging stuff.

Great Interview, but what's up with the sound, bad Mic or ?

There was a bit of hiss during the interview, when he talked, haven't heard it before in the other interviews.

They weren't kidding, that was hell of interesting