id Unveils Next-gen Engine

The graphics guru is back: id Software has just unveiled its next-gen engine at WWDC during Steve Jobs’ keynote. Dubbed “id Tech 5″, it is the fifth generation graphics engine and will be fully multiplatform.

Carmack introduced the technology, saying, “So the last couple of years at id we’ve been working in secrecy on next-gen tech and a game for it … this is the first time we’re showing anything we’ve done on it publicly.” He describes the demo happening on screen: “What we’ve got here is the entire world with unique textures, 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game.”

The game itself wasn’t announced, though it is mentioned that there’ll be an announcement at E3. The engine itself is being developed for the PC, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Blurry hand-taken pictures of the engine can be found in Engadget’s story.