John Carmack's QuakeCon address has become something of an annual benchmark for the industry, summing up the news of his latest work and the state of game development's cutting edge, as intertwined as those two things are. Carmack spoke live and in person at QuakeCon this year, after having missed the last two years due to illness in 2003 and the birth of his child in 2004.
He was back in typical form, delivering his speech without notes, seemingly off the top of his head. The speech was still crystal clear and reasonably well organized, as one might expect from a renowned programmer. His topics included next-generation game consoles, the problems with physics acceleration, and what he'd like to see in future graphics hardware. I took frantic notes as The Carmack spoke, and what follows is my attempt to recount the highlights of his speech.
He was back in typical form, delivering his speech without notes, seemingly off the top of his head. The speech was still crystal clear and reasonably well organized, as one might expect from a renowned programmer. His topics included next-generation game consoles, the problems with physics acceleration, and what he'd like to see in future graphics hardware. I took frantic notes as The Carmack spoke, and what follows is my attempt to recount the highlights of his speech.
