QuakeCon wouldn't be, well… QuakeCon, without a little John Carmack. And this year's event was no surprise.
John Carmack took the stage for a QuakeCon keynote today and immediately apologized for Rage not living up to expectations. He explained that it was marketed poorly and many consumers were left expecting an RPG, particularly like Fallout 3, instead of the linear first-person shooter that it really was.
He personally addressed the PC community and stated that he realizes that performance wasn't up to snuff. While that might seem predictable, he cited Doom 4 as a partial reason for the shortcoming. Apparently, the team immediately refocused to work on Doom 4 after the release of Rage last year.
So we have two things here: the id Software team understands that they can do so much better, and Doom 4 is currently in the works. There's no denying that they're a talented bunch, and when you have that much potential backed behind a group of developers wanting to make a comeback, you usually have results on either of two opposite sides of the spectrum. With my nostalgia for Doom, I'm hoping it's positive.