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[FrankT]

id's Tech 5 is not meant to push graphics cards to the limit
Saturday 14th July 2007, 02:02:06 PM, written by Farid

In an interview with IGN, Tim Willits, co-owner of id Software, developer of some of the most famous and advanced for their time 3D engines, says that his company’s latest engine was not created with the goal to make latest PC graphics cards beg for mercy. This time, the engine is definitely tailored for consoles and the PC, whereas id used to create PC engines and let its licensees handle consoles port down the lane.

At this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit, id only demonstrated its long since announced Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, a game currently in beta test. Nonetheless, the Texan ISV did not mind talking a bit about it long awaited and recently presented technology, Tech 5.

With these E3 interviews, we got learn that id’s engine and new IP were not promised to be high end PC showcases, but we also learned about the current state of the engine across the three platforms it currently supports.

Steve Nix, director of business development at id, on his end answered Gamespot’s questions. Some of these answers shed some light on Tech 5’s flexibility. According to Nix, the engine currently runs the same content in 60Hz across all the platforms --PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Nix insists that the exact same assets run on the three platforms and that no extra steps were required.

This easy-to-use interoperability of assets across platforms in id’s solution contrasts with what developers experience with other engines, such as Epic’s Unreal Engine 3. The maturity of the engine on every platform, if verified in the facts, should be noted and appreciated by publishers and developers alike.

id is expected to reveal more information about its new game, engine and the new Wolfenstein game, Raven Software is currently developing, at the Quakecon taking place in early August.

http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/341

Talking to IGN, Tim Willits re-iterated that "We're so PC centric that it's actually been a little bit of a struggle wrapping our minds around a 360 to the point where I installed 360 controllers on everyone's PC. If I see them testing the new game with a keyboard and mouse I have to smack them on the back of the head... for us it's been a bit of a struggle to think about being a console developer because we've been PC focused for so long."

Id Tech 5, which is the John Carmack engine powering the firm's next internal game as well as being a prime candidate for licensing, is being developed for Xbox 360, PS3, Mac and PC simultaneously and is being thought of as more than just a first person engine, given the potential for licensing.

And whilst Nvidia has traditionally paid a fair whack to have its brand associated with Id games, there may not be quite so much candy this time around. "So historically we pushed the PC video card technology to the limit", says Willits, "But because we're not doing that it's really more gameplay focused and the technology is about getting it to work on all of them."

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41016

Pretty much can't wait to see more of this from Qaukecon and hopefully the new game +Wolfenstein. This engine could be big or could be a flop, but it looks as if, at least according to Ngai it's already getting some attention from some big names.

 

[Borys]

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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170871&highlight=software