Carmack: iPhone a serious threat to other hand-helds

In an interview with Chris Morris for CNBC, id Software founder and chief programmer John Carmack said that Apple’s iPhone may be a serious threat to the hand-held gaming market - specifically Nintendo’s DS and DSi.

It’s a pretty interesting comment if you consider that earlier this week a prominent analyst (who I won’t name here) said that the iPhone - in the long term - will not be a viable game platform. Carmack sees it another way - and he should know, he’s been working on the platform and selling his games via Apple’s app store for quite some time.

Earlier this week it was announced that there are now 100,000 apps available on the iPhone, and while not all of those are games, a good portion of them are and many of them sell for anywhere from 99 cents to $9.99 USD.

“I think mid- to long-term it’s a significant threat,” he says. “I don’t carry a DS or a PSP around, but I’ve got my iPhone everywhere. So if it plays good games, I’m less likely to pick one of the others up. … I think the stars could align and it could start to eclipse those other systems in terms of unit sales.”

While Carmack is a PC guy through and through, he has fallen in love with developing games for the iPhone. He describes his time developing games on the system “fun.”

“I wouldn’t be shocked if someone has one in development right now, though they probably don’t realize it will run that high yet,” he told CNBC. “If a title could do well at $9.99, you could put [Nintendo] DS level development expenses into it.”

id Software has made it their goal to release one iPhone game every quarter over the next year. Most recently the company released an iPhone remake of the classic DOOM game called “Doom Classic.” iPhone versions of one of my favorite id Software titles - Quake - and a follow-up to the popular Doom RPG are also in the works. id Software is also planning on having its latest game, RAGE, ready to go for the iPhone when it is released in 2010.

Source: CNBC

QuakeCon 2009 moves to Grapevine, Texas venue

The organizers of this year’s QuakeCon have a simple message on the front page of the official website: “We’ve Moved.” The annual game dedicated to all things Quake has been moved from Dallas to Grapevine, Texas. Those who booked a room for the event at the Hilton Anatole Hotel will have to rebook a room at the event’s new venue - the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas. The good news is that id Software will soon announce reservation rates at the hotel at the same rate or maybe ven for a little less. We’ll see. Here’s the official word that is on the QuakeCon web site:

“Attendees who made reservations at the Hilton Anatole Hotel will have their reservation at the Anatole automatically cancelled and will be required to make a new reservation at the Gaylord Texan at an equal or lesser rate.”

So just to be clear: QuakeCon is hosted at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas from August 13 - August 16, with the first day of the volunteer effort kicking off on Monday, August 10, 2009.

Zenimax Media Acquires id Software

ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks and Zenimax Online, announced that it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio, id Software, creators of such hits as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE. Bethesda Softworks will publish all future id Software releases - other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers.

Founded in 1991,  created the popular first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, and went on to set new standards in the genre with DOOM and QUAKE titles. In addition, id Software develops cutting edge, proprietary game engine technology with the id Tech engine which powers many notable FPS titles, and continues to make great advances in game technology under the direction of John Carmack, one of the country’s technology leaders and a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.

“This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. “In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am.”

id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack and no changes will be made in the way id Software develops its games. All the principals at id Software have also signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed at press time.

Quake Live Goes Open Beta

When you think web powered games you don’t think of slick first-person online action or John Carmack, but Quake Live has changed all that. The browser-based online action game that is completely free to play is now in open beta. If you didn’t get the chance to try the game in the closed beta, head on over to the official site and get started. The game is apparently proving to be popular with some wait times to download the client, according to anecdotal evidence around the Internet.

While the game is mostly a port of the popular Quake 3: Arena, Quake Live is designed to serve all kinds of skill levels by matching players up based on performance. The online only game features 30 arenas, five game modes, 50 characters to choose from, leaderboards, and deep player profiles packed with all kinds of stats, scores, awards and more.  You can continue to read about it or you can stop listening to other people and find out for yourselves. I recommend the latter.