

John Carmack talks about Rage SD and HD, iOS, and what's next for iOS gaming - rimantas
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/11/19/john-carmack-talks-about-rage-sd-and-hd-ios-and-whats-next-fo/

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zyb09
I played this today on my coworker's iPhone4, since I'm running around with an
Anroid of course. Gotta say, the gaming-side of the iPhone makes me quite
jealous, especially with all the classics like Monkey Island and Secret of
Mana being remade too! So I'm hoping my inner child doesn't win and tell me to
join the iOS plague next summer, but it's tempting!

~~~
timknauf
Unfortunately the iPhone port of Monkey Island has an awkward interface, where
the screen functions as sort of a trackpad for a cursor. (Full disclosure:
I've been working on a made-for-iPhone adventure, so I'm probably predisposed
to be critical of interface shoehorning. Monkey Island on a phone is still a
very good thing.)

~~~
stevenwei
Does that apply to both the Special Edition mode and the Classic Mode?

Haven't tried the iPhone version, but on the iPad, the classic mode has the
'drag to move cursor', but the Special Edition mode has updated controls that
work really well on the touchscreen.

~~~
quiesce
Aye, so does the iPhone version of Monkey Island 2. The original, however,
offers only the 'drag to move cursor' model.

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cletus
_...of the available small platforms, I think that the iOS platform is clearly
the best. We're keeping our eyes on the Android market; we'll be freeing up
our first application internally on that pretty soon, but there's a lot of
things with how the distribution platform works and the diversity of the
platforms that you have to target, where things are still much, much nicer on
the iOS world."_

Carmack isn't a fanboy you can easily dismiss and in gaming he is a
heavyweight.

This just goes to prove a point vie made several times: iOS's future is
assured by virtue of gaming. This is something Android will have a much harder
time with and Sony/Nintendo better watch out.

~~~
matwood
It probably has something to do with what the Angry Bird developers blogged
about the other day - fragmentation. They are having to make a 'lighter'
version of the game for many of the Android phones. The iPhone is susceptible
to a similar problem with the 3G/GS/4 out there currently, but seemed a lot
easier to support than what the rovio guys have said about Android.

~~~
ergo98
The low end of Android -- particularly in the GPU realm -- is _much_ lower on
low-end Android devices. An iPhone 3 decimates a Dream/Magic, for instance.
There are new Android devices coming out that still don't hold a match to the
original iPhone.

That isn't fragmentation. It's disturbing hearing it described as that. It's
consumer choice.

Really Android needs a "gaming index", similar to the reality that some PCs --
__just like some Macs __\-- are really shitty for gameplay, whereas others are
high-end superstars, the devices in the Android market should have clear
rankings. The Nexus One, for instance, has a terrible GPU. The Galaxy S is a
good 3X faster or more.

~~~
ugh
Why are consumer choice and fragmentation contradictory? Can’t consumer choice
cause fragmentation?

~~~
cletus
I agree with you and would go further: _consumer choice and fragmentation go
hand-in-hand_.

As much as some chafe against the "Jobsian" world of Apple products, Steve
makes many choices for you and most of those choices are right for most people
most of the time. That's about the best you can do.

I'm reminded of a classic Joel post "Controlling your environment makes you
happy" [1] (which, in my opinion, is one of the most important things ever
written on UI/UX), particularly the section on "Choices" [2]:

 _"But wait!" you say. "It's important to have options for advanced users who
want to tweak their environments!" In reality, it's not as important as you
think ... Every time you provide an option, you're asking the user to make a
decision._

Lots of comparisons are made between iOS and Android. It's important to
understand that they're fundamentally different. iOS is a _brand_. Android is
a _commodity_ , arguably even a _philosophy_. Give someone who has used an
iDevice any other iDevice and they know what to do. Give someone who has a
Samsung Galaxy S an HTC Evo and they'll likely be somewhat lost.

I would go so far as to say as people buying an iPhone are buying an iPhone;
people buying an Android phone are buying a _phone_ (or, in some cases,
they're _not_ buying an iPhone).

Anyway, the fragmentation problem with Android isn't really about the UI. It's
about the hardware. I've heard from multiple sources that OpenGL is just a
nightmare on Android because of allt he different GPUs. Some have different
strengths and weaknesses to others and different idiosyncrasies.

My personal belief is that Android handset manufacturers are participating in
seppuku. Their interests are different to those of Google. Android handset
makers (and carriers!) want to differentiate themselves somehow. That's a big
part of your fragmentation problem right there. They don't want to be
interchangeable (and, in the carrier's case, just dumb pipes).

Google wants to commoditize the mobile platform. And they're succeeding. But
with ever-cheapning hardware costs, all the handset makers are doing is racing
each other to the bottom.

[1]:
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057....](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000057.html)

[2]:
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059....](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000059.html)

~~~
ergo98
_As much as some chafe against the "Jobsian" world of Apple products, Steve
makes many choices for you and most of those choices are right for most people
most of the time. That's about the best you can do._

Couldn't disagree more. I like keyboards on my smartphones, and GPUs fall low
on the scale of needs: I use it mostly for productive or professional use. For
a lot of smartphone buyers, Rage graphics just don't matter.

 _I would go so far as to say as people buying an iPhone are buying an iPhone;
people buying an Android phone are buying a phone (or, in some cases, they're
not buying an iPhone)._

People buying an Android are buying a Smartphone. No they _aren't_ buying a
brand or some sort of ridiculous personal identity. As a smartphone the
Android devices are a bang up option.

 _My personal belief is that Android handset manufacturers are participating
in seppuku._

You mean the makers who have seen the platform's sales increase 1200%+ since
January? I would say the metrics would say that you are completely off the
mark.

~~~
pmjordan
In case it wasn't intentional:

 _Couldn't disagree more. I like keyboards on my smartphones, and GPUs fall
low on the scale of needs_

doesn't contradict

 _most of those choices are right for most people most of the time_

at all.

~~~
ergo98
The personal example was anecdotal. The same thought process applies to many
people.

The GP opines that the Jobsian "he'll choose what's right for you" model is,
as you quoted, right for most people most of the time. I would say that is
absolutely not correct, and the iPhone has succeeded despite that model, not
because of it: Great integration, software, and branding has overcome an
incredible lack of diversity and choice.

It isn't a good long-term strategy though.

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acqq
_750MB download on the HD version, people are still buying it. "We're number 1
with the HD version, and the SD version is down like in the 30s or something,"
said Carmack. "This is going to influence our thinking going forward -- if
it's that big of a difference, we probably won't offer the low-end, standard
def version."_

Everybody is taking the HD version even when the difference is hardly
noticeable except that the memory warnings appear (iPhone 3GS)(!) I guess
these customers didn't know about that aspect. I believe it was a wrong
marketing decision if 3GS people didn't get the information that HD performs
worse (I'd name the versions "Rage for 3GS" and "Rage HD" whereas the current
names are "RAGE for iPhone, iPod..." and "RAGE HD for iPhone 3GS, iPhone
4..."). Of course if people can select "nothing" or "HD" version they'll take
HD (give me more!) the question is if they are going to be satisfied with the
trade-offs.

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yread
Why does he sell it so cheap? Couldn't he easily charge 5$ or more?

~~~
petercooper
I think it's a generational thing.

A key generation using the iOS platform as a gaming device now is young - the
under 25s. I suspect id has almost no penetration or brand recognition into
that demographic. For id, the void between 1999 and 2009 merely contains Doom
3 (and Quake 4, sort of), a game that was not targeted at or appreciated by
young gamers at all, who were all busy on their consoles.

id seriously needs to bring the younger generation on board and get known
among that group, since the older gamers will naturally drop off over time
(I'm 29 and was a huge id fan in the day but already have stopped buying and
playing games on most platforms). Stocking it high and selling it cheap is a
great way to do this, especially as many under 25s are living on gift iTunes
store credit bought by parents.

~~~
zachinglis
I think you are part right. It was mentioned in a review that this is the
first of many episodes in the series. I suspect that if this is true; the next
ones will be higher priced.

