E3: id Software Considering DS, Cellphone Engine Licensing

Steve Nix, director of business development for id Software mentioned today in an interview with Gamasutra that the company is considering licensing the John Carmack co-created mobile and DS engine from Orcs & Elves and Doom RPG. "We just started talking about that," said Nix, when pressed on the subject. "I was just talking to John (Carmack) about that yesterday, and we thought yeah, that makes sense. We’ve just been busy with a few things, and just haven’t gotten around to it, but it’s good technology and it makes sense to license it out, so that’s probably something we’ll start talking about. Cellphone and DS." "What’s interesting is that a lot of people who do try to write their own cellphone and DS engines, they make a lot of the same mistakes that the guys are making a lot of the same mistakes they made on the PC and the early consoles," he continued. Nix added: "And when John started investigating this technology he said ‘I can’t believe these are the same problems we were working with 10 years ago, and we solved those problems, but people are still doing it again!’ so when John went in it was relatively simple for him to create a nice clean engine for the cellphone and DS." A full interview with id Software concerning their new technology and games is forthcoming.