Nintendo News: C3 Exclusive Interview | id Software on Nintendo Wii/DS Support Page 1 at Nintendo Cubed3

Todd Hollenshead, id Software
Interview by Adam Riley :: Tuesday, 12th September, 2006

id Software is renowned for its triple-A standard games, such as those in the Doom and Quake series. After hearing of several 'home-brew' projects appearing on the DS that are based on id properties, Cubed3 decided to throw a few questions at the company. Below is the result...

Cubed3: At QuakeCon this year, John Carmack stated that certain mobile phone games, such as Doom RPG, could end up on the Nintendo DS. Are these firm plans now, are there any other details you can share with us, and what other mobile titles could be remade on the system?

Todd Hollenshead: There aren't any firm plans as of now. We're still evaluating the platform. The primary DS candidate would be Orcs & Elves, but it would be a new title in that game universe and not a port from cell games to the DS.

C3: Nintendo fans were treated to Doom on the SNES, as well as the first two Quake titles on the Nintendo 64. With Nintendo DS homebrew developers already showing how the likes of Doom can work very well on the portable, has id Software considered any plans for Doom, Quake or other such titles on the DS?

TH: Not yet, at least, but it's not out of the question.

C3: What are your thoughts on the Nintendo Wii in general and how it compares to the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3?

TH: I don't know much about the Wii other than just what I've read, so it wouldn't really be fair for me to make comparisons. I think the Wii has a lot of cool potential and Nintendo always makes awesome games for their console, so I bet its going to be successful even if it lacks the raw power of the 360 or PS3.

C3: The unique control system has been stated to be perfect for the FPS genre and downloading via the WiConnect24 online service seems ideal for new maps, upgrades and so on. Could you see id Software properties working well on the system? And have you had chance to try out any tests with the development kit yet?

TH: We don't have any dev kits that we're working with so answering at this point would just be speculation, and I'd rather avoid that. If the UI really ends up being an awesome fit for FPS games then we will certainly pay attention to it.

* * *

I would like to personally pass on thanks from myself and the rest of the team to Todd for taking part in this quick question and answer session and wish to stress how eager we are to see id's products back on Nintendo!

* * *

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Adam Riley on 12.09.2006 at 21:42#1

Well, at least DS support seems positive enough! And they're willing to keep an eye on the Wii...better than nothing Smilie

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter

Marzy on 12.09.2006 at 21:45#2

Nice little interview. I hope we do get a Doom DS or Qauke DS. It would be even better on the Wii though.

dojo on 12.09.2006 at 21:55#3

Marzy said:
Nice little interview. I hope we do get a Doom DS or Qauke DS. It would be even better on the Wii though.

Emphasis on the word "little" lol. Ah well. I think (as with Capcom imo), they are waiting to see if the hype is all it lived up to before really digging deep into Wii development. I can understand that.

EDIT: lol I just looked at that "Cubed3 Q&A" thing above the "interview". I like Paint too. It is easy to use Smilie

( Edited on 12.09.2006 21:58 by dojo99 )

twitter: @bensoutham

Adam Riley on 12.09.2006 at 22:01#4

It's what happens when it's your wedding anniversary, but you need to get a quick Q&A on the site... Smilie Smilie

Anyway, yeah, seems with the Wii it's a 'wait-and-see' approach. But better than discounting it completely!

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter

Marzy on 12.09.2006 at 22:09#5

Smilie OMG you used paint!

The Croft on 12.09.2006 at 22:39#6

Short and sweet adam nice little interview Adam i think the company seem a little suprised by the DS success and are only now starting to have ideas for DS games and as for the Wii i think they are going to wait to see if the FPS genre will flourish with the wiimote and most importantly if it sells, well i think if both of them things happen Doom and Quake Wii wouldn't be so far down the line.

Mike Gee of iZINE said, "...The Verve, as he promised, had become the greatest band in the world. Most of the critics agreed with him. Most paid due homage. The Verve were no longer the question mark or the clich�. They were the statement and the definition."

Fenton on 12.09.2006 at 22:42#7

What's wrong with these developers? They'd rather create games from the off on systems where development costs are phenomenal and the games could easily bomb, but they don't want to dip their toe in the water in regards to a console with much lower development costs and a selling point that everyone has their own oppinion about, tech knowledge or not.

( Edited on 12.09.2006 22:43 by f | j | D )

JoeBTW on 12.09.2006 at 22:54#8

ID will never make a title for the Wii, I guarentee it...

Raff on 12.09.2006 at 23:15#9

I find ID games boring, very.

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

jb on 12.09.2006 at 23:44#10

Hmm - I really hope they bring at least one project to the Wii - the interface is good, development is cheap compared to the PS3/360, so why not!

f | j | D said:
Whats wrong with these developers? Theyd rather create games from the off on systems where development costs are phenomenal and the games could easily bomb, but they dont want to dip their toe in the water in regards to a console with much lower development costs and a selling point that everyone has their own oppinion about, tech knowledge or not.( Edited on 12.09.2006 22:43 by f | j | D )

Exactly!

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

Darkflame on 12.09.2006 at 23:45#11

DS support in terms of shit mobile phone games ported?

What the hell did Nintendo do too piss them off O_O

I mean, frecking hell, Nintendo has the biggest userbase of any portable on the planet, and with a fastest growing userbase of any portable system ever.

Yet they are giving us ports of mobile phone games? O_O

WTF.

They should have ported Doom and Quake to the DS ages ago...as soon as Metroid proved how good the system was.
Failing that, they should have ported them once they saw the DS was a success.
This is just silly.

Please give our little random review show a try;
http://randomreviewshow.com/index.html
We have special effects and umm...stuff...

Adam Riley on 13.09.2006 at 07:48#12

Todd stated there wouldn't be ports from cell/mobile phone games - but could well be a new Orcs & Elves title for the DS. Perhaps then we'll see Doom and Quake come.

Marzy said:
OMG you used paint!

Actually I used Fireworks, but didn't have time to do it properly. You're clearly not familiar with the intricacies of married life Smilie

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter

patjuan32 on 13.09.2006 at 08:00#13

Most American FPS developers tend to ignore handheld consoles and therefore lack the experience in developing games for them. Typically, they are contacted by a third party developer who develops/ports the game to the handheld consoles. This is the case with most PC to GBA shooters, Duke Nukem Advance, Doom, and Doom II.
This ignorance of the handheld market has left developers like Valve, ID, and Epic with a smaller fan base and more importantly, a lost revenue stream. Also FPS developers tend to focus more on graphics and believe 3D games should appear on systems that utilize optical media. This may be the reason why developers such as UBI, EA, and Gearbox Software are developing FPS games, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Medal of Honor Heroes, and Brothers in Arms D-Day for the PSP but no FPS games for the DS.

I really do not think that ID will develop any games for the Wii. In an interview by PC Gamer UK posted on Kotaku ID founder John Carmack stated:

"The Xbox 360 will probably will be id's primary development platform. As it is right now, we would get the game up on the 360. When I would do major hack-and-slash architectural changes it was back on the PC, but it s looking like the Xbox 360 will be our target. All of our tools are on the PC, and we re maintaining the game running on the PC, but probably all of our gameplay development and testing will be done on the Xbox 360. It s a really sweet development system."

Link: http://kotaku.com/gaming/john-carmack/

The most obvious reason why ID is not going to develop games for the Wii is the fact that they do not have development kits. Nor did the author state that ID was in talks with Nintendo or that representatives had any "hands on" with the Wii. I would think that if a developer were thinking about developing for a console, even remotely, hands on experience with the console would remove all doubt. This brings up questions, were any representatives of ID at E3? When Nintendo representatives were showing the Wii to North American developers, where was ID? ID is just too tied to Microsoft and the Xbox 360 to develop for any other console.

( Edited on 13.09.2006 08:02 by patjuan32 )

( Edited on 13.09.2006 08:05 by patjuan32 )

Edit this post:

I really do not think that ID will develop any games for the Wii. In an interview by PC Gamer UK posted on Kotaku ID founder John Carmack stated:

Link: http://kotaku.com/gaming/john-carmack/

The most obvious reason why ID is not going to develop games for the Wii is the fact that they do not have development kits. Nor did the author state that ID was in talks with Nintendo or that representatives had any "hands on" with the Wii. I would think that if a developer were thinking about developing for a console, even remotely, hands on experience with the console would remove all doubt. This brings up questions, were any representatives of ID at E3? When Nintendo representatives were showing the Wii to North American developers, where was ID? ID is just too tied to  Microsoft and the Xbox 360 to develop for any other console.
<p><p>

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Laurelin on 13.09.2006 at 08:40#14

wish to stress how eager we are to see id's products back on Nintendo!

Yes, we are!

I find your lack of faith disturbing!

Raff on 13.09.2006 at 10:30#15

I'm not.

And they clearly couldn't give a shit about the Wii, they don't even have a dev kit. Developers with as much clout and money as ID tend to buy ALL the dev kits, and your mum wouldn't like Doom so NIntendo don't want ID on the Wii.

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

Powdered Water on 13.09.2006 at 13:28#16

Hollenshead is just simply not interested, is he? He's resorting to default replies, basically he doesn't have anything to say.

DS has been out for god-knows-how-long now and his first comment is "We're still evaluating the platform". To be honest I got turned off on that line and knew how meaningless the rest will be.

The interview itself is not without merit, however - we now know id has been disinterested (at least for the time being).

Adam Riley on 13.09.2006 at 14:07#17

I tried my best Smilie I just thought that id might be interested since there are homebrew projects using their properties. Clearly the chances of even a DS project in the near future are VERY slim... Smilie

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter

patjuan32 on 13.09.2006 at 17:18#18

jesusraz,

There was notiing you could have done to persuade ID. That company is lost.

JoeBTW on 13.09.2006 at 17:52#19

ID is 'lost' eh? Not quite getting that...

shiptoncraig on 13.09.2006 at 18:15#20

Nintendo has lost ID developed any games for the Wii/DS, even if no support was planned in the first place.

Sort of like Factor 5 nowadays.

( Edited on 13.09.2006 18:16 by shiptoncraig )

360 Gamertag: shiptoncraig
PSN: shiptoncraig
Steam: Guess what?

sidar on 13.09.2006 at 20:02#21

i really hope Doom 1 and 2 come to the Wii with free-look function ( just how we play FPS these days)
BRING PIXELS BACK TO LIFE!
(im new btw)

Slydevil on 13.09.2006 at 20:10#22

sidar said:
i really hope Doom 1 and 2 come to the Wii with free-look function ( just how we play FPS these days)BRING PIXELS BACK TO LIFE!(im new btw)

HELLO!!!!

My friend has a 2 and a half inch nose. Smilie