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Most of you are familiar with the name John Carmack. For those who may not be, he's the legendary game developer and engineer who was one of the four founders of iD software and the creator of classic genre establishing games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. If you play any first-person shooters on your PC you can add Mr. Carmack to the list of people to thank for that
After 20 some years with iD Software, Carmack became very interested in the advances of virtual reality after iD released its latest game Rage, especially with Oculus VR's Oculus Rift headset, and last August signed on to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) over at Oculus VR. At the time, he was splitting his time between Oculus VR and id Software. In November of 2013, Carmack left iD Software to devote all his time to working with virtual reality at Oculus VR.
One of the things that many people wondered was why would he leave iD Software? Even after iD Software was purchased by Zenimax Media (the parent company of Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Softworks) back around June of 2009, he still had free reign to take the studio in the direction(s) he felt were in its best interest. Almost.
In a recent interview with USA Today, Carmack revealed that he tried to work out some kind of deal between Oculus and Zenimax that would allow the games he worked on at iD to appear on the Oculus Rift headset, so that the games in current development, such as Wolfenstein: The New Order and Doom 4, could be part of the technical demonstrations for the Oculus Rift.
"It would have been a huge win," says Carmack, who was still full time at id when he proposed the deal. "It seemed like a sensible plan for me."
Zenimax, however, was not interested which led to Carmack leaving iD Software so he could work on something that he felt, and still feels, will be a huge technological advancement for not only gaming, but almost all aspects of computer use in the future.
"But they couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate," Carmack says. "When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR while at id software, I decided to not renew my contract."
While there are a lot of details we don't know, this sure seems like a very short-sighted move on the part of Zenimax and its investors. The latest accolades coming from both the game and simulation developers, and news media, pertaining to the recent reveal of the high-definition version of the Oculus Rift are enough to make almost any investor show a great deal of interest in the evolving technology. This is not to say that we will never see Zenimax games coming with VR support, but it would seem that being on the forefront of those who backed the technology early on would gain them a lot of love in the PR space, which would definitely be to their advantage.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
After 20 some years with iD Software, Carmack became very interested in the advances of virtual reality after iD released its latest game Rage, especially with Oculus VR's Oculus Rift headset, and last August signed on to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) over at Oculus VR. At the time, he was splitting his time between Oculus VR and id Software. In November of 2013, Carmack left iD Software to devote all his time to working with virtual reality at Oculus VR.
One of the things that many people wondered was why would he leave iD Software? Even after iD Software was purchased by Zenimax Media (the parent company of Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Softworks) back around June of 2009, he still had free reign to take the studio in the direction(s) he felt were in its best interest. Almost.
In a recent interview with USA Today, Carmack revealed that he tried to work out some kind of deal between Oculus and Zenimax that would allow the games he worked on at iD to appear on the Oculus Rift headset, so that the games in current development, such as Wolfenstein: The New Order and Doom 4, could be part of the technical demonstrations for the Oculus Rift.
"It would have been a huge win," says Carmack, who was still full time at id when he proposed the deal. "It seemed like a sensible plan for me."
Zenimax, however, was not interested which led to Carmack leaving iD Software so he could work on something that he felt, and still feels, will be a huge technological advancement for not only gaming, but almost all aspects of computer use in the future.
"But they couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate," Carmack says. "When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR while at id software, I decided to not renew my contract."
While there are a lot of details we don't know, this sure seems like a very short-sighted move on the part of Zenimax and its investors. The latest accolades coming from both the game and simulation developers, and news media, pertaining to the recent reveal of the high-definition version of the Oculus Rift are enough to make almost any investor show a great deal of interest in the evolving technology. This is not to say that we will never see Zenimax games coming with VR support, but it would seem that being on the forefront of those who backed the technology early on would gain them a lot of love in the PR space, which would definitely be to their advantage.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
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