During his QuakeCon 2010 keynote address, id programming genius John Carmack gave his thoughts on current gaming technology and trends.
On the advent of 3D displays, Carmack admitted he’s not a big fan of 3D technology. He sees the benefits of the higher refresh rates needed on 3D displays, but is "dubious about the real value to the consumer on 3D."
Motion control was the next topic covered and Carmack feels that it has its value, but not necessarily for every title. "If you've got a game that's finely tuned for one input device, it's not going to be better with a different one - I'm not a big booster of the current crop of motion stuff. It's not to say they're without value, but they're not of value to id,” he said.
Modern Warfare 2 took a great deal of flak prior to release for not having dedicated servers. Carmack was “puzzled” about dedicated servers being such a pressing issue to gamers. He told gamers that "there's no evil plan against dedicated servers” and id Software had not yet decided where they would fall on Rage. He promises that dedicated servers are high on the list of possible features for Rage, and he "expects it will be possible [to run a dedicated server]."
Carmack has always been driven by new technology, so his views on the advent of cloud gaming services like OnLive and Gaikai are of particular interest.
"Cloud gaming is interesting. I haven't tested the products out there now, but it's not exactly clear when the market will sustain it. There's no question that eventually that will be the model a lot of people will play games with,” he said about the tech. He’s optimistic about the effect cloud gaming could have on DRM and cross-platform development. As an example, he notes that Linux gaming could boom, as Linux ports would be a thing of the past under a cloud gaming infrastructure.
