Doom co-creator and co-founder of iD Software John Carmack has said that the iPad is more capable graphically than the Nintendo Wii. In an interview with Kotaku following the release of iD’s Rage and Rage HD titles for iOS, Carmack said that “it is great for me to see a lot of people saying this looks better than anything on my Wii and a quarter of the games on my 360, which is about how I would rank the power levels there.” He continued, “you should be able to do something that’s better on an iPad than anything that’s done on the Wii. A 360 or PS3 does have several times integral-multiple more power but there’s certainly some games where developers don’t take much advantage of it. We’re nowhere close to maxing out what could be done on an iPad.”
Carmack also made note of the control limitations of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, admitting that the devices’ touchscreens make for inferior first-person shooter (FPS) controls. “It does feel kind of like an inferior version when you play that,” he said, referring to playing any FPS game on an iPhone or iPad. “It’s cool that it’s on there. It’s good enough to enjoy and have fun. But clearly you’re a step down from analog sticks, which is a step down down from mouse-keyboard interface. And it just makes me think that may not be the best style of game on these platforms.” Carmack finished by lauding the fast turn-around of games on iOS, but said he doesn’t have the time he’d like to have to devote to iOS development. “There’s a half-dozen things I’d love to do on iOS right now,” he said, “but the most I can possibly manage is help with two of them a year.”
