The Doom 3 myth exposed

Source: The Inquirer

THE UP AND COMING release of Doom 3 is easily one of the most anticipated events in the entire history of the personal computer, potentially equaled in recent years only by AMD's upcoming Athlon 64 launch and, when compared to the sum total of human history, by the Second Coming. For almost two years every video card that's been launched has been evaluated by its future standard, first all-but invisibly, and then, as the appointed day drew nearer, with increasing fervor. John Carmack may have done more damage to NVIDIA's low-end budget video lineup then the entire tech recession of the past three years combined when he uttered the (paraphrased) sentence: "Do not buy a GeForce4 MX to play Doom 3." He might as well have said: "Do not buy, consider, or look sidewise at a GeForce4 MX, period, for any reason."

For better or worse, Carmack is one of the rare individuals in the industry who's words are both heeded and respected. When Gates, Ellison, McNealy, or Jobs open their mouths people take heed, but the insults and detractions tend to fly just as quickly as the compliments and support. The closest person I can think of to compare to Carmack would seem to be Linus Torvalds, who, like Carmack, stays out of the political battles fought throughout the IT world and seems dedicated to building a better kernel to the exclusion of much else. Perhaps the reason people seem to listen to Carmack is precisely because he doesn’t seem politically vested in every sentence that comes out of his mouth.