id Software: Wii U Tech On Level With PS3/360

id tech head John Carmack has confirmed that Wii U technology brings the latest console from Nintendo to the same level as PS3 and Xbox 360, machines released five and six years ago.

That’s what the dev admitted in a recent interview with Gamespot, after making known that there was a Wii U presentation for his studio at E3.

“The technology level on there brings it up to parity with the other consoles, which is nice for us,” he said.

He also made clear that while it was not possible to bring id Tech 5 on the Wii platform, it would be possible to bring RAGE on Wii U using the iOS tech used in RAGE: Mutant Bash TV.

“Previously, the Wii was not a target. Id Tech 5 was just not suitable for the Wii at all. We seriously talked about possibly using the iOS Rage technology that I built for that for a Wii game. It would fit perfectly from a technology standpoint, and I think would have been really pretty cool as a Wii game, but we decided that it wasn’t the right time to jump into the Wii market.

But now that we’re looking at another platform that is eminently suitable for the technology, I’m sure we’re going to try and bring it up on there. But it will become a market question of do we think that there will be people there that won’t be served by one of the other SKUs?

If you’re going to have a serious hardcore game on there, the Wii is usually the hardcore gamer’s second or third console. Even if we could have shipped Rage in full glory on the Wii, it probably wouldn’t have made a whole lot of sense because people that want Rage probably also have a PC, 360, or PS3 that could do the game better justice.”

id Software’s latest game, RAGE, just got delayed in October, and will release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.