Carmack considers developing for Wii

By Robert Purchese Published 25 February, 2009

Plus: Quake III running on iPhone.

Clever-clogs John Carmack has revealed that id Software is considering a Wii project based loosely on existing IP.

"We've been pitched and talked about a project that would fit well on the Wii, and it's actually related to an iPhone title that we're doing. But that's still kind of up in the air as to what other developer we would partner with on there," Carmack told MTV Multiplayer.

"I'd like to do something there, because I love a lot of what Nintendo has done with the Wii and the DS, but it's just out of sync with the developments that are currently going on at id.

"It would have to be a completely different game," he added. "We would use one of our existing IPs where we have a little bit of leverage. It's not something that really any of our titles under development currently would be appropriate for."

Carmack said he spends far more time playing Wii with his son than on any other console, which makes him "sympathetic" to the platform.

As for the iPhone, id Software has a "spiffed-up" version of mobile game Wolfenstein RPG about a month away from launch. This has high-res graphics, better sound and 3D acceleration, but is still far from a specifically-built iPhone title.

"We have another title, which isn't announced formally - we've been working with a partner company here locally in Dallas - that is designed from scratch for the iPhone using some existing id assets. And it's very graphically impressive, but we don't have an official release date for it yet," said Carmack.

He added that this game will share the same concept, or a "very similar" concept to the potential Wii title.

"And I know that's very cryptic, but we haven't made any official announcements about it because we've had some difficulties during the development. And we don't want to announce something and then retract it. We want to make sure it turns out good before we actually talk about it," he said.

Carmack went on to say that he had been rifling through old id Software titles and is "really looking forward" to establishing an "id Classics" portfolio for the iPhone.

This, he explained, would start with Wolfenstein 3D and then go through Doom and Quake and so on and so forth.

"I'm a really big booster of the platform, and it frustrates me to no end that here we are without product shipping on the iPhone. We've had a couple of thwarted attempts at different things; I'm frustrated about it and trying to do something about it!" Carmack explained.

Excitingly, he added: "We have Quake III up and running on the iPhone. It needs a new redesign of the render to make it fast enough to be really good playing on the iPhone.

"We may go back and take all the changes that the Quake Live team has done from the original code base and make more of a modern Quake III Arena based on the Quake Live work, which would be pretty cool."

In closing, Carmack said we would probably hear more about id Software project Doom 4 over the next 12 months as the developer polishes to pitch to publishers.

Glimpses of Rage will be more immediate, as will those of Wolfenstein - although the latter will be bossed by Raven and Activision and not so much id.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • superjag86 #1 3 years ago

    Doom on Wii confirmed

  • crwoody #2 3 years ago

    Wii is Doomed; confirmed?

  • the_dudefather #3 3 years ago

    their first title: 'Shamblerz' to be published by Ubisoft

  • aliki #4 3 years ago

    Not sure what the big deal is about Quake III running on the IPhoney.

  • greenthumb #5 3 years ago

    FPS on the iphone would suck, the controls will be shite

  • septimus #6 3 years ago

    "Not sure what the big deal is about Quake III running on the IPhoney."

    Because Q3 is good?

    It's a good phone, and a good way to play games on the move. You seem a touch envious?

    "FPS on the iphone would suck, the controls will be shite"

    Ever tried one? No. Some have been done well already, and it's id FFS. If anyone can make it work they can.
    Edited by 1 at 25/02/09 @ 11:09

  • aliki #7 3 years ago

    "It's a good phone, and a good way to play games on the move. You seem a touch envious? "

    Yes, I am envious because my 4 year old PDA can already run Quake III Arena ages ago, as well as PS1 emulation...

  • DeveloperPump #8 3 years ago

    "Yes, I am envious because my 4 year old PDA can already run Quake III Arena ages ago, as well as PS1 emulation... "

    But being a 4 year old PDA won't have multitouch...hence the shite control method. In this form factor control method is all important.

  • Fodder #9 3 years ago

    What good FPS games are there on iPhone? I've only tried Cube which looked nice, but the controls were awful.

  • Tomo #10 3 years ago

    I can't see Q3A working on the iPhone either. It's predominantly a multiplayer game, not the kind of thing you spend 20 minutes playing on the bus. Prey could work on the iPhone because at least it's a decent single player game which you can save when you like and need to.

    This is all assuming the controls actually work too which I'm fairly skeptical about.

  • aliki #11 3 years ago

    "But being a 4 year old PDA won't have multitouch...hence the shite control method. In this form factor control method is all important."

    True. But it has a more important control than marketing gimmick - tactile buttons.

  • Nomgle #12 3 years ago

    Given that an average latency over a 3G connection is in excess of 300ms, you won't be playing much Quake III on your mobile anytime soon !
    The latest standards get this down to around 50ms - but they aren't finalised yet, and it'll be a good few years before they become commonplace.

    (For reference, you need less than ~50ms for a realtime-game like Quake to work well - you get around 30ms to nearby-servers over your home Broadband)
    Edited by 1 at 25/02/09 @ 12:04

  • stampax #13 3 years ago

    lol at aliki. Iphoney - that's genius. Yes the iphone really is just a marketing gimmick. If you like.

  • Xerx3s #14 3 years ago

    Iphone late to the party? All the previous FPS ports to sybian and winmob where shit, mobiles simply don't have the controls.

  • skillian #15 3 years ago

    I still can't play FPS with a two stick controller, so the idea of trying to do so by jabbing my fingers onto a 3" screen just seems ridiculous to me.

    I'm not surprised they've already had a couple of "thwarted attempts". I think I'll stick with Bejewelled...

  • Xerx3s #16 3 years ago

    They already ported quake 1 and 2 to mobiles, iirc, the control systems where atrocious. Something like wolvenstein or doom could work though. Those games don't require you to look up and all that.

    Device in landscape mode, slide->press finger left/right = turn left/right slide->press finger up/down = forward/backward. Tap screen/press hardbuttons = fire/use.
    If they made it like that for my touch HD I might actually buy doom. /massive doom fan

  • BadBoyBonner #17 3 years ago

    Nomgle

    (For reference, you need less than ~50ms for a realtime-game like Quake to work well - you get around 30ms to nearby-servers over your home Broadband)

    Clearly you never played much Counterstrike over 56K dialup - a ping of 110ms on Jolt ensured it was faster than most peoples (170ish on Freeserve etc) and very serviceable. Spent years playing it and Day of Defeat without hitting sub 50ms until broadband myself.



  • Xerx3s #18 3 years ago

    What wush said. The HL engines are about the worst offenders I can think off with lag compensation. Anyone with a shitty connection was king and anyone with an awesome connection was screwed.
    Game developers who implement any form of lag compensation should be taken out back and shot.

  • Zaltan #19 3 years ago

    They could probably get Wolfenstein 3D running on Wii.
    Edited by 1 at 25/02/09 @ 15:28

  • BadBoyBonner #20 3 years ago

    Anyone with a shitty connection was king and anyone with an awesome connection was screwed.

    Well I got broadband very early and held a noticeable advantage over most (not snipers) using the STG44 in DoD - and while we all know about the compensation I'd say that it was a genius stroke offering us the future of gaming far earlier than it should been possible to witness rather than lament it.

    Pushing the good/bad old days aside - surely the answer is in your reply - everyone would have a shitty connection so there would be no kings - it would certainly be fine for some games - although I can't ever say I felt like a gaming king with a 300ms ping in any of the Valve games.
    Edited by 2 at 25/02/09 @ 15:45

  • BadBoyBonner #21 3 years ago

    They could probably get Wolfenstein 3D running on Wii.

    Anyone who has played Call of Duty:World at War on the Wii would hold much higher hopes than Wolfenstein 3D running on the Wii.

  • smelly #22 3 years ago

    @Zaltan:

    ho ho ho hahahaha..

    With your stunning wit i bet you're REALLY popular in your school arent you?

    Actually probably not..

  • bivith #23 3 years ago

    "Given that an average latency over a 3G connection is in excess of 300ms, you won't be playing much Quake III on your mobile anytime soon ! "

    Sounds like my dialup pings back in the day, and I managed OK. Quake III's predictive netcode was pretty good.