Rage looks gorgeous and all, but all eyes are on the engine that makes it possible - id Software's Tech 5. Could the revelation at QuakeCon open the eyes of developers and sway them from the much popular Unreal Engine 3? id Director of Business Development Steve Nix sat down with Games Industry to talk more on what id's latest has to offer.

In a nutshell, Tech 5 is a breakthrough in the sense that artists can now create textures and models without having to worry about memory limitations due to hardware they're working on. Most games sacrifice visual flair for performance, but Tech 5 eliminates that with the "virtualised texture system," said Nix.

Gamers expect eye-bleeding graphics when a title is made under Epic's Unreal Engine 3, but developers may grow more fond of id's serving. According to Nix, aside from the convenience of being multiplatform, Tech 5 also allows devs to almost instantaneously get new assets into the game.

On the design side, "an artist can be working on a map and you're driving around in the car and, the next time you come around to that part of the track, in real-time what the artist has just done is there on the walls," he added.

Epic's own engine reached unreal heights, but id doesn't falter. "I don't spend much time looking at Epic's current offering or what their product line is - we've always just done our own thing at id, so we don't spend too much time thinking about them," Nix continued.

Another issue is pricing, which can be a major factor for companies looking to license technology with a tight budget. The last engine id released, id Tech 4, went off for US$ 250,000. One would imagine that id's Tech 5 will be a lot more expensive. However, Nix said id is not concerned with pricing of other competitors, saying, "We believe we have the best technology solution available."

For the full interview, head over the Read link below.