Carmack Gives 360 Next-Gen Edge, Considers DS

iD Software co-founder and technical director John Carmack has spoken out at CES, giving the Xbox 360 the technical edge in its rivalry with the PlayStation 3, and has said the company's long-standing standoffishness with Nintendo could be at an end. Speaking to Game Informer magazine at CES, Carmack once again asserted his preference for development on the Xbox 360 compared to the PlayStation 3, citing superior development tools and support. Although he indicated that id Software would release future games simultaneously on both formats, the Xbox 360 would remain the developer’s lead home console format. Commenting specifically on the internal architecture of the PlayStation 3, Carmack said: “I think the decision to use an asymmetric CPU by Sony was a wrong one. There are aspects that could make it a winning decision, but they’re not helpful to the developers.” He added, “I’ve been pulling for Microsoft, because I think they’ve done a better job for development support, and I think they have made somewhat smarter decisions on the platform. It’s not like the PlayStation 3 is a piece of junk or anything … they just took a design decision that wasn’t the best from a development standpoint.” In a separate interview on Game|Life, Carmack indicated that iD Software may soon begin development for the Nintendo DS, possibly with a version of mobile phone game Orcs & Elves. While admitting that the developer has "kept [Nintendo] at arm's length for many console generations now," largely centered around past censorship imposed on the SNES version of Wolfenstein 3D, Carmack indicated that: “We're hoping to do a DS game version of Orcs & Elves, moving over and enhancing the cell phone game on there, which would be our first real direct entry back into the Nintendo world.” In related news, John Carmack and iD Software were yesterday awarded a technical Emmy for Development of 3D Software.