John Carmack, the 3D game engine guru from id Software and a game developer I hold in very high regard, and Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, were recently interviewed by GameInformer. Carmack recently received a Technology Emmy for his work and innovation on 3D engines, a well deserved award.
I was a bit surprised while reading the interview. Carmack seems to be a pretty big believer in DirectX these days, and thinks highly of the XBox 360. On the flip side, he’s not a fan of the asymmetric CPU of the PS3 and thinks Sony has dropped the ball when it comes to tools. I never realized that Carmack was such a fan of DirectX. He used to tout OpenGL so highly.
Todd and Carmack also talked about episodic gaming. Their general consensus seems to be that episodic gaming just isn’t there yet. It doesn’t make sense because by the time you get the first episode out, you’ve essentially completed all of the development. Shipping episodes at that point doesn’t make sense since you’ve already spent the capital to make the game to begin with.
Episodic games seem like a great idea from the outside, but perhaps they’re right. Traditionally, the initial games have sold well, but expansion packs don’t. Episodic gaming may be similar in nature with respect to sales. If the content is right, however, perhaps episodes will work. But then there’s the issue of release times. If you release a 5-10 hour episode, when is the optimal time to release the next episode? You’ll have gamers who play the entire episode on the day it’s released and then get bored waiting for more. And then there’s the gamers who take their time and finish the episode in a week or two. If you release too early, you upset those some people who don’t want to have to pay for content constantly, while waiting may cause those bored customers to lose interest.
The interview covered a few more areas such as DirectX, Quakecon, and Hollywood. I encourage you to check it out, it makes for good reading!