Wii leading market as second system a "good problem to have!" - Carmack

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 August, 2008

He doubts they're all that bothered.

Id Software's John Carmack has laughed off suggestions that Nintendo will care about being a lot of gamers' 'second system' after a PS3 or Xbox 360.

Asked how Nintendo could overcome that - or even if they want to or care to - Carmack laughed and told Eurogamer, "Yeah! Do they have to? They're selling more, making more money selling more units. Good problem to have!"

Nintendo has raced to a leadership position in the so-called console war between itself and Sony and Microsoft, recently announcing that worldwide sales of the console have nearly reached 30 million - not that much less than Xbox 360 and PS3 sales combined.

Pushed a bit more on the subject, Carmack simply said: "I would chalk that up to not a problem. We're checking our bugs off - not a bug!"

Carmack has never ruled out working on the Wii, telling GameDaily last year that "maybe [id Software will] look at partnering with somebody with some of our older technology that really would push the limits of the Wii and look at our brands and which are appropriate".

Look out for the full John Carmack interview next week. We're still transcribing it - he talks so fast that our tape recorder exploded and now we're dead.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (14) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • J.C #1 4 years ago

    Doom 3? the xbox managed it.

  • kangarootoo #2 4 years ago

    This dude just talks so much sense. That is what we need, more people who when confronted with talk of console wars and 1st and 2nd choices, just laugh and say "yeah, whatever, like that shit really matters".

  • Pulsar_t #3 4 years ago

    Carmack, go back to making your pretty little engines and while you're at it hire some people who can design real games will you? :p

    As for this remark I totally agree. Nintendo doesn't care anymore but they'd better have a contingency plan, or a third act as they call it.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 23:20

  • quantumsheep #4 4 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Couldn't have put it better myself :)

  • bionutz #5 4 years ago

    well the Wii is my second console. To Playstation 2 harr harr tho', there are simply still too many games on PS2 that I still have to play and they're good and cheap.

  • tardo #6 4 years ago

    Ha, strange to think that in a short while the Wii will have sold more than both of the other two consoles, and so surely wouldn't be able to be viewed as a 'second' console anyway.
    the xbox 360 is my 'second' console (as in i bought it a year after the wii), but i have oodles more wii games.

    the above post wasn't meant to sound like some wii-fanboy post.

  • Waffleaber #7 4 years ago

    Headline should read:

    Eurogamer asks silly question, Carmack takes piss.

  • IronCladChicken #8 4 years ago

    lol@Waffleaber

  • Bluetribe #9 4 years ago

    good to hear he's interested in developing for the Wii

  • drumbaby #10 4 years ago

    Maybe ID could shovel some old stuff onto the Wii, and simply add wavey-wavey goodness...like Capcom etc do. It's the way forward, obviously.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #11 4 years ago

    @drumbaby

    You've obviously not played LostWinds. But I guess you could always just fuck off, instead of continuing with the tiring derogatory remarks.

  • Khab #12 4 years ago

    Do you have any idea how much Doom 3 sold?

  • Eraser #13 4 years ago

    "Doom 3? the xbox managed it."

    My thoughts exactly. Shouldn't it be able to run Doom3 or Quake 4? Maybe it has less (video) memory than the XBox had which could be a problem.

  • kangarootoo #14 4 years ago

    "The man just doesn't understand the modern market"

    Such a ludicrous statement. Name me an iD game that has lost money.

    "And if you think sales figures is the only measure of critical successs then I hope you enjoy listening to Celine Dion and NSync there, while tucking into your Maccy Ds and reading pulp romance fiction. Your point is utterly irrelevant."

    Anyone who has to resort to insults like that (and pretty unimaginative ones at that) obviously has no faith on their own point of view.

    And whilst we are talking about points that are irrelevant... a second ago you were talking about understanding the market, now you are apparently talking about artistic integrity. I'm not sure the two are the same thing at all. So the relevance of your little rant is lost somewhat.

    John Carmack has made shed loads of games that gamers (even you) want to buy. If that isn't understanding the market, I'm not sure what is.