John Carmack Says Mobile Devices Will Overpower Xbox 360, PS3 By 2013

So, two years from now apparently iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices will out-power the current generation consoles. Well, that’s what id Software’s Technical Director John Carmack says.

In an interview with IndustryGamer Carmack let loose some interesting thoughts on the current state of the technological revolution happening within the mobile arena, saying…

"People have exaggerated the relative powers - the iPad2 is not more powerful than the 360. It's still a factor of a couple weaker. But the fact that it’s gotten that close that fast - that means that almost certainly, 2 years from now, there will be mobile devices more powerful than what we're doing all these fabulous games on right now."

Take note, though, Carmack is not an industry analyst and he’s just flexing his thoughts on an idea derived from how fast the industry landscape is changing. Nevertheless, developers and publishers alike are growing weary of working with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Ubisoft and Codemasters have made that abundantly clear.

In the case of DICE they already have Frosbite 2.0 primed and ready for the next generation…the same goes for Epic Games and NaturalMotion. I suppose, countless other developers out there who build their own engines and middleware solutions are more than ready for the next wave of home console technology; they just have to wait for the technology to arrive.

Carmack also noted another interesting aspect about the way hardware can sometimes run ahead of the software, saying…

"That’s one of the things that we do discuss internally a lot and it’s amazing to think that when we started Rage, iOS didn’t exist. There was no iPhone. All of that has happened just in the space of one project development timeline. And that’s a little scary when you think about it, because major landscape change could be happening underneath our feet as we work on these large scale projects,"

I’m completely fascinated at the prospect of our technological age, especially taking into consideration that you could be out of the loop for less than a month and feel like you’ve been left a generation behind.

More than anything, it also makes you question just how the heck Microsoft and Sony will future proof their next-generation consoles? I mean, the only surefire way to do that is to go the route of the cloud. But I doubt Microsoft or Sony are ready for that.

You can check out the full interview with John Carmack over at IndustryGamers. For more info on id Software’s upcoming Rage, feel free to pay a visit to the Official Website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.