Fragging on the Go - Doom for the iPhone (hopefully)?

Legendary game designer John Carmack’s next big game may be smaller than you’d expect. The guy who put id Software on the map with gory romps like Doom and Quake is leading the iPhone gaming charge, intent on tapping into the uber-phone’s burgeoning market. What made the father of first-person shooters and one of the minds behind the upcoming 360/PS3/PC title, Rage, turn his bespectacled-gaze to the portable gaming market?

Carmack credits the iPhone’s graphical muscle and storage capacity as the main draw for id Mobile, likening its power to the original Xbox and relishing the challenge of cramming a gorgeous masterpiece into 10MBs of memory. A quick glimpse at his track record should silence any skeptics; if anyone can deliver a killer portable gaming experience, it is Carmack and the talented code-jockeys at id.  Bite-sized, bloody bits of carnage would work best, as users could spend a few minutes gibbing their friends online then check what the weather will be like for the drive to their weekly Quake 3 LAN party.

The only mystery left is which franchise Carmack and id Mobile will unleash on the iPhone. With two titles tentatively in the works, one which will “test the limits of the iPhone’s graphic capabilities,” it’s an idealized given that a fan favorite may return on the mobile system. Doom is arguably their most popular series and the obvious choice, but a Wolfenstein or Quake game is not out of the question, either. No matter what the team delivers for the versatile gadget, expect it to be as genre-defining and stunning as their previous work.  Look forward to iSlaughtering some type of abomination soon.