fabulouscoops said:
Carmack has an axe of his own to grind. This quote is telling.
“I especially like the work I’m doing on the 360, and it’s probably the best graphics API as far as a sensibly designed thing that I’ve worked with.”
He cannot trash the work he is doing now, and he is using the DOOM3 engine with DX9. To recode that for DX10 would delay the game for a year. Since he is no longer on the bleeding edge of the curve, all he can do is sit back and poo poo.
He also downplayed the value of dual core CPUs in gaming, which we all have come to realize is just wrong. He definitely has an agenda, and DX10 and dual core CPUs are not part of the solution for his personal career choices.
EDIT: Also, please look at the original interview which DailyTech needlessly abridged and cribbed from:
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200701/N07.0109.1737.15034.htm?Page=1
I've been following Carmack for some time. He's always been the king of the pragmatists. I really think he's talking frankly about the technical issues, and doing so from a purely technical standpoint. Doom3 with D3D9? No, try OpenGL. Your analysis of this isn't based in fact.
He's not downplaying the value of multicore CPUs, but simply saying that it requires a paradigm shift in how games are developed. For the record, the doom engine scales pretty nicely on a multi-core CPU, and the multi-core patch has been applied to subsequent engines. But his point is this:
it's much easier to develop for single-core systems than it is to develop for multi-core systems. No developer will disagree with this. He realizes that multi-core CPUs are a reality, and he's designing engines around this fact. But DX10 won't have widespread hardware support until at least calendar year 2008, and if the benefits aren't that great, then why cater to such a small crowd?
I really don't think he has an axe to grind here. He's a huge supporter of OpenGL (and open standards in general), and he's not entrenched in Direct3D 9, so I don't see where the bias is. I don't think you'll find a developer who isn't being paid for a platform exclusive who will tell you that Carmack is way off-base with his assertions here.
Crysis looks great - but as he indicates, it's not a shipping product. It may be soon, and it will look absolutely stunning, albeit on a very small percentage of end users' machines.