E3 2011: A Word With John Carmack

He did somewhat confirm that the Wii U isn't a step beyond PS360 btw. In the end of the interview 'by playing barely catch-up'. Unless I heard it wrong.

God damn this guy is smart as shit. I wish I could be nearly as intelligent as him some day.

No one man should have all that (brain)power!

John Carmack sure loves to talk in great lengths, it's interesting to hear him say that neither he nor his competitors had fully tapped this current generation hardware.

@coolwhip83 said:

@Alphazero said:

NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!

I keed, I keed. I love Carmack.

I was about to post that he got a lot less nerdy over the years actually.

He has made good use of his nerdiness. His Ferarri and spaceship company are nicer than mine, that's for sure.

worst interviewer ever, NOT !
great interview Patrick 
 
is it me or they both look like 18yo kids?

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.

Damn, John Carmack sure can talk a lot. Very interesting stuff!

I could listen to this man talk all day

John sure knows how to give a good interview. No offense Patrick, because you are one hell of video game journalist for your age, but I'm really glad John gave you the time of day to speak about past & future hardware. It's really hard to believe he's been programming state of the art game engines for as long as he has. God, he makes me feel really old to have been around for the entire ride

fantastic interview

I remember when Doom 3 first came out. The shadows used in that game were mind blowing at the time. I can't wait to see what Karmacks been up to these past few years. I'm predicting that Rage might not be the greatest but the tech behind it is really going to amaze!

Carmack is awesome, I always really like to hear what he has to say.

Great interview. It just flew by so quickly.

Patrick is a fucking kid. 

I love John Carmack. I have loved him since the 90's, and even though I knew Doom 3 had problems, I still somewhat enjoyed it and really hope that Rage is a lot more current than what Doom 3 was in 2004.

John Carmack is finished. id tech 5 is shit. It looks either no better or only slightly better than its competitors. The days of id setting tech standards are over. 

Carmack on 60 fps!

Where is the shot of Brad drooling? I want that.

WTF! I though Brad did this interview!

Carmack has an ego disproportionate to the quality of his current graphic engine.  Nothing about Rage is special, people. Not the engine, the art style, the concept, or the gameplay. And this makes me sad because I used to love id. Maybe Doom 4 won't suck.

The days of id setting tech standards are over. 

I was reading Wikipedia and they're calling the Wii U a part of the 8th Generation. I like Nintendo products, but the Wii U, in my mind, is still a 7th Generation console. The adorable Wii which I loved was more of a 6th Generation Console if you ask me.

Where was Brad! I thought he was gonna burst in half-way through and take the reins on the interview or thats what they made it seem like from listening to the bombcast.

Loved this. John likes to give long, interesting answers!

Another thing that sucks is how focused on business and money Carmack is. Kind of gets old, fast.

<3 John Carmack

That dude is smart

@cazamalos said:

worst interviewer ever, NOT !great interview Patrick is it me or they both look like 18yo kids?

I definitely wouldn't guess he's 40. He totally doesn't look or sound it.

John Carmack is a GENIUS!  p.s. Patrick can't interview for shit.

Carmak is Brad with glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great interview and John's a great interviewee, but God damn, would I hate to be stuck at a bar with the guy.

Was hoping to see a nervous Brad get in some questions.

John Carmack is finished. id tech 5 is shit. It looks either no better or only slightly better than its competitors. The days of id setting tech standards are over. 

All I could think of during this interview is John Carmack is one seriously smart dude. I'm glad we have guys like that in the industry.

Lol I was thinking it looked like Brad with glasses too. Then Carmack opened his mouth and all I heard for the next 9 minutes was Pssssssszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzasdfasdfjaskldfasdjklfjasdkfaskdjfklasdfkljsadfksa 60 fps instead of 30fps asdjklfaspdfjpasodjfklllllll;jklajskfdjfkajsdk;fjklasflkadskfdk

Carmack can't not give a great interview.

Interview was awesome! Patrick hate is upsetting :C

@SiN13 said:

Was hoping to see a nervous Brad get in some questions.

The last question was mine, Patrick just paraphrased it for me. By the end of the interview I had totally chilled out, Carmack couldn't be a nicer guy.

Damn Carmack interviews himself!  Really good stuff. 
 
P.S. Brad you're a wimp :P

What I love about John Carmack is that as video game development becomes more and more complicated, he is still in there, writing code and making innovations in the industry instead of just sitting back and providing a creative vision. 
 
I read a comment where someone said he looks a bit like Brad. To me he looks a lot like Matt Braga from Tested.

That man is brilliant. I could listen to him talk forever.

John Carmack is a LEGEND! Thanks for bringing us this interview Giantbomb!

Very interesting, great interview.

@Delta_Ass said:

Where's Brad, cowering in the corner?

Have you ever seen them both in the same place at the same time? Exactly.

Eloquent.

GREAT interview! You guys asked some good questions, and then JOHN EFFIN' CARMACK answers, and.. yeah, I wish this was way longer. 10 minutes is better than the 5 I was fearing, but still, too short! 
 
And about those long answers, I'm guessing it's because his mind goes so many places at once and all of them are very relevant, so thus.. yeah, dude is absolutely brilliant, can totally understand why Brad was nervous.

Great interview.