Why John Carmack Thinks The PS3 Is The “Second Best Console Ever Made”

When I was down at Quake Con last week, I got to hear id Software‘s legendary technical director John Carmack speak about all sorts of things.  His keynote lasted more than 90 minutes and throughout, you could clearly tell that John had become a fan of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console, and far less a fan of Sony’s Playstation 3.  As a PC gamer myself, which console John prefers developing for means little to me (although it is interesting to hear him discuss it) but I know a lot of our readers are console gamers and they definitely want to know what a development icon like John really thinks about their favorite gaming machines.

Luckily enough, John walked into the press room as I was eating lunch one fine day and I had the opportunity to ask him all about what it’s like being a multi-platform developer in today’s gaming world.

"Swizzle Your Gigatexels Dave, Trust me"

John and I spoke for roughly 20 minutes about various topics, including the aforementioned multi-platform development.  While I can’t recall all of what we spoke about, there was one comment I remember extremely well.  That came when I asked him, “So, what do you really think about the PS3?”

His response?

“Well, it’s the second best console ever made”

He smiled and I laughed.

“What’s the first?” I replied

“The 360″

Shame, I was hoping he’d say the Sega Dreamcast.  ^__^

John says it’s not so much the power of the PS3 as it is the dev tools, which he says simply aren’t as good.

However, he did also say that there are places in RAGE where the PS3 works and performs better because the cells have more total processing power.

One thing is for sure.  Even if John thinks that the PS3 is a bigger pain in the ass to develop on, both versions of RAGE look damn near equal. (I’ve played them both) This is simply a testament to the team at id, and the genius of John Carmack.

Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage of RAGE and all things id.