Carmack rewriting Doom 3 source code

November 18th, 2011, 11:36 Posted By: wraggster

Id Software co-founder John Carmack has admitted that the planned release of the Doom 3 source code will be delayed amid fears of a patent violation.
Earlier this month Carmack said the source code was "packaged and tested" and would be released once it had been cleared by the developer's legal team. That was taken as a sign that its release was imminent.
However, Carmack tweeted yesterday to say: "Lawyers are still skittish about the patent issue around 'Carmack's Reverse', so I am going to write some new code for the Doom 3 release."
Carmack's Reverse is a shadow stencilling technique first devised in 1997. Carmack discovered the algorithm during development ofDoom 3, but a patent had already been applied for, and was granted to Creative Labs in 2002.
Shacknews reports that Id struck a deal with Creative to use the technique in Doom 3 without requiring payment, but there are fears that the company would not be so happy about its patented technology being released as open source.
The planned release of the Doom 3 source code continues an Id tradition of giving away its old engines when it releases a game on a new one, in this case Rage, which was released in October and runs on Id Tech 5.

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/carmack...-3-source-code

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