Carmack questions games for Vista initiative

id Software development legend John Carmack believes Microsoft is "grasping at straws" in an attempt to get gamers to upgrade to next-gen PC operating system Windows Vista.

"Nothing is going to help a new game by going to a new operating system. There were some clear wins going from Windows 95 to Windows XP for games, but there really aren't any for Vista," Carmack told Game Informer.

"They're artificially doing that by tying DX10 [DirectX 10] so close it, which is really nothing about the OS. It's a hardware-interface spec. It's an artificial thing that they're doing there.

"They're really grasping at straws for reasons to upgrade the operating system. I suspect I could run XP for a great many more years without having a problem with it."

According to Carmack, id Software would probably only move development of its own titles to Vista when the market had widely adopted the platform. Titles it's currently partnering on, like Splash Damage's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, will remain XP-based.

Elsewhere in the same interview, Carmack reiterated that he feels design errors in the creation of PlayStation 3 could tip the balance in Xbox 360's favour.

Any concern he has about Microsoft's PC activities certainly doesn't extend to the Washington firm's next-gen games console, which he continues to compliment.