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Software Quake Live Open Beta Now Available
Michael Barkoviak - February 24, 2009 3:55 PM
Print 42 comment(s) - last by Alpha4.. on Feb 26 at 5:22 PM

Quake Live screenshot  (Source: Quakelive)
Interested gamers can now try the open beta of the web-based Quake Live game

Id Software today has launched its browser-based Quake Live video game as an open beta for anyone who wants to test the rehashed version of Quake III Arena.

Quake Live is available for free and will be supported by in-game advertising, id Software said prior to the game's open beta launch today.  The game is built upon the id Tech 3 engine and will have an ultimate focus more on gameplay speed instead of graphics.

Quake III has been an extremely popular video game over the years, but surprisingly has not lost its popularity as newer, more advanced game engines became available.  The game still has a solid following of old-school gamers, and id hopes that both these players and casual gamers will flock to a free game that doesn't require a video game purchase.  

"We've given it t the accessibility you would expect from a Web game," id Software executive producer Marty Stratton said.  "That enables us to do a lot of things you would expect from a sports site, in the way we present the statistics and information, and a social networking site, in the way we connect people and let them know what their friends are doing."

In theory, Quake Live will be able to use a custom engine to help balance out teams so games won't be so stacked, though early Quake Live testers are still wary about the new system.

Several video games have tried to move into the browser space over the years, but Quake arguably is the highest-profile video game to give it a serious attempt.  Quake Live has been in beta over the past few months, with gamers testing out bugs of the game.

It's likely other game makers will be watching to see the level of success of Quake Live among gamers, as they too consider launching browser games in the future.

The game is available and can be played at quakelive.com.

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Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Lord 666 on 2/24/09, Rating: 0
RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Kaldskryke on 2/24/2009 5:06:22 PM , Rating: 5
I think Carmack's earned the right to spend his millions on cars and spaceships in his free time.

And lets face it: Carmack's supposed genius has always been on the programming side of things. If getting Q3 to run in a browser is a technical challenge, then that's the kind of thing Carmack's into. You can say that QL and Doom 4 aren't 'new' games if you'd like, but I'm not sure why that's a point against Carmack, unless you have unreasonable expectations of him or something...


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Alpha4 on 2/24/2009 5:08:55 PM , Rating: 2
I'm personally a little disappointed he didn't keep the momentum. But as you say, he's entitled to his other hobbies.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Whaaambulance on 2/25/2009 11:42:42 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
I'm personally a little disappointed he didn't keep the momentum


What do you mean? Can you count the hundreds of games still using the quake 3 engine? I would definitely call that momentum. Just like Unreal, Quake was made to be used in other games. He is licensing his technology and the Quake 3 engine has been the most used engine in gaming history.


By Alpha4 on 2/25/2009 12:12:25 PM , Rating: 2
I know the Q3 engine is the most widely adopted, at least until Unreal Engine 3 overtakes it from the way things look.

What I meant was since all of the Quake games provided an awesome platform for other First Person Shooters, I'm sad that the Doom III engine could be John Carmack's last.

If what Smilin' says is true though, then Rage™ could put ID games back on the map. I personally thought John Carmack didn't have much to do with Rage™ though. I shall Wiki it later.


By Smilin on 2/24/2009 5:48:29 PM , Rating: 3
He is creating something new. This ain't it. The QuakeLive team is a very small team in id Software and it doesn't include Carmack. Carmack has been working on "Rage" (a completely new game unrelated to quake/doom).

Nobody's asking you to get the point of this game either. Those that play get it.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By walk2k on 2/24/2009 6:24:44 PM , Rating: 3
I tried this for a few days and promptly uninstalled it.

I thought it was boring. UT was way better. I remember when Q3 came out, we played it on the LAN at work for about a week, then UT came out and we never played Q3 again.

Not only that but the most popular game type on Q3 Live is this idiotic thing called "clan match" where all players start with full health and ammo and every weapon, so it's basically a rocket-spam fest. Then when you die you're out for the rest of the round, ala Counterstrike. That is NOT Quake as I remember it.

There's also a lot of aimbotting and speed hacking (as usual).

It's free though so no harm in trying it.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By B3an on 2/24/2009 8:24:07 PM , Rating: 2
You cant compare UT to Q3.
Q3 is superior, theres a reason that game has lasted so long when UT died out long ago. Q3's gameplay is still some of the best i've come across.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By walk2k on 2/24/2009 9:59:28 PM , Rating: 3
Actually you can compare.
http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/

6. Unreal Tournament 2004
1267 servers, 3267 players

7. Quake 3: Arena
2317 servers, 2823 players

Died out huh?

UT spawned several great sequels with imaginative new forms of gameplay, Bombing Run, Assault, vehicles etc... etc..

Q3 spawned.... Q4 lol.


By Operandi on 2/25/2009 12:21:21 AM , Rating: 2
I just started playing UT2k4 again about a month ago. Still lots of players and tons of new maps since I last played. Pretty fun actually.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By PhoetuS on 2/25/2009 8:34:10 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Q3 is superior


Clearly this is just your opinion, so what you are actually saying here is that you prefer Q3 over UT. If you think that this is not your opinion, but rather a Fact, I invite you to present some objective proof.

quote:
theres a reason that game has lasted so long when UT died out long ago.


I refer you to walk2k's post for stats regarding this. You should follow the gamespy link too, it'll give you a better idea of how dead UT isn't...


By PaxtonFettel on 2/25/2009 9:13:39 AM , Rating: 2
I can't quite believe that this has turned into a bout of Q3 vs UT without even a hint of irony or sarcasm... You lot should proabably get out more (and maybe play some other games too?)


By Smilin on 2/26/2009 12:21:48 AM , Rating: 2
There actually isn't any aimbotting and speed hacking that I'm aware of.

People are just that good dude.

You can move upwards of 3x as fast as normal run speed in quake if you know what to do. It's not a hack or exploit either. It's the way the physics engine has run for a long time.

If you think someone is cheating just go spectate them for a bit. There are shots a human can make that an aimbot can't (ie a predicted shot BEFORE the target changes direction towards the impact).

Nobody is cheating. You just probably suck from playing so much UT :P


By Smilin on 2/26/2009 12:35:40 AM , Rating: 2
BTW, Clan match is essentially the old "Rocket Arena" from 10 years ago. It is a game mode designed for pure competition. All luck (such as several inconvenient respawns) has been eliminated.

Noobs don't like Clan match / rocket arena very much. The players are just too good (probably why you though there were aimbots).


By codeThug on 2/24/2009 6:48:20 PM , Rating: 3
As much as I love the Id/Carmack franchise, you are dead right on this one Lord.

I doubt he had much to do with it. Actually I think it is a good thing he is building rockets.

Prepare to be down rated...


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Reclaimer77 on 2/25/2009 6:03:37 PM , Rating: 1
Well I certainly see the Carmack touch. There must be 23 shades of brown in that screenshot.

Great game engines, yes. Great graphics and color detail...not so much.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Smilin on 2/26/2009 12:25:39 AM , Rating: 2
Uh, it's a brown room dork.

It's not representative of the map, let alone the whole game. Q3 is incredibly colorful..almost cartoon like at times.

I guess you won't be playing then.


RE: Where in the world is John Carmack?
By Reclaimer77 on 2/26/2009 4:07:53 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Uh, it's a brown room dork.


I guess you didn't get the joke. EVERY ROOM in his games are brown.


By Alpha4 on 2/26/2009 5:22:45 PM , Rating: 1
Quake III maps appeared predominantly RED to me. In fact I could swear the damn phosphors on my CRT needed a couple minutes to recover each time I played ;).

I love the game, but red, brown & grey gets old quick. Fortunately there're a shit ton of colourful community maps, and at least sega had the good sense to add a nebulous backdrop to the spacemaps on dreamcast.


as of 1:25 pm PST no
By sotti on 2/24/2009 4:25:51 PM , Rating: 3
Doesn't look like it's up yet.

Counting down to 6pm I believe.




RE: as of 1:25 pm PST no
By omnicronx on 2/24/2009 4:34:51 PM , Rating: 2
I concur, there is nothing on the website right now except for a wallpaper download.


RE: as of 1:25 pm PST no
By HaZaRd2K6 on 2/24/2009 5:15:44 PM , Rating: 2
Judging from the countdown on the page, it's 6PM PST, so I'll only be getting it at 9PM.

*sigh*


RE: as of 1:25 pm PST no
By johnsonx on 2/24/2009 9:53:52 PM , Rating: 5
Benefit
By Alpha4 on 2/24/2009 4:58:43 PM , Rating: 2
As an avid Q3A gamer, and having participated in the closed beta up to now, the only significant improvement I see this new platform offering is ease of use for computer un-savvy gamers.

An increased player base is the only appeal this offers me, since it is an otherwise identical game graphics and gameplay wise. I dare say it also loses in the convenience department as I can launch a server tracker such as The All Seeing Eye in 3 seconds and be in a server, in-game with map fully loaded, within 7 seconds after that.




RE: Benefit
By Smilin on 2/24/2009 5:57:36 PM , Rating: 3
An increased player base will be nice as the Quake III community is slowly dying.

I disagree with you on the convenience thing though. Right now to play you need:

1. One of: Quake III arena disc (then download patches) or Steam
2. Install the above if you try to play it on any other PC.
3. Install All Seeing Eye and configure it (for you an easy step..others have never even heard of it)
4. Find a server and play.

Quake Live consists of Step 4 only.


RE: Benefit
By Alpha4 on 2/25/2009 11:55:17 AM , Rating: 2
I agree that Quake Live is definitely preferrable for new players overall. But regarding some of your points, there are altneratives that should be considered.

Playing the game does require an install and patching, however to play it on another system you can just drag & drop the Q3 folder onto that computer, either via network or thumb drive. A full install, with a handful of custom maps & mods, would occupy no more than a Gigabyte and a 4gb keychain thumb drive can be had for nearly $10 now.

As for server trackers, there are plenty to choose from which require little to no configuring: Gamespy, Jeditracker, Gamegoononline, Gametracker.com or even just Steam.


RE: Benefit
By Alpha4 on 2/25/2009 1:25:28 PM , Rating: 2
OMG I need coffee...

altneratives = alternatives


RE: Benefit
By Smilin on 2/26/2009 12:27:53 AM , Rating: 2
haha I won't grammar nazi you if you'll agree that QL is pretty damned accessible.


Open Arena?
By wwwebsurfer on 2/24/2009 4:17:27 PM , Rating: 2
Are we hanging the cross-platform, well supported, Q3 clone OpenArena out the window now? It looks great, has a TON of 3rd party maps, FREE, no ads, and is an absolute blast to play.




RE: Open Arena?
By Alpha4 on 2/24/2009 4:33:39 PM , Rating: 2
I'm curious of the future of existing Q3A community mods, mainly Rocket Arena 3, Orange Smoothie, ProMode & Urban Terror to name a few.


RE: Open Arena?
By InternetGeek on 2/24/2009 11:54:03 PM , Rating: 2
A per the entry in Wikipedia, OpenArena cannot be even hung in the window because it's not even quite functional...


By Targon on 2/25/2009 6:41:32 AM , Rating: 2
If you think about it, aside from the eye candy, there has not been a huge amount of change in the first person shooter market as far as gameplay. New maps, new weapons(which don't really change the overall game, it is just a cosmetic change), and perhaps a storyline for single player mode. But, it is STILL mostly the same when it comes to gameplay.

So, if the gameplay has not changed all that much, then the graphics of a new engine really are not needed for people to have fun. It is also why I lost my interest in first person shooters years ago, because I just get bored if new games are just a rehash of old games.

It used to be that a sequel brought some true functional changes to the table, and that is still true in other genres. But, if the storyline is not great, then what is the point of playing a new game when the old game with new maps will provide almost as much change as getting a new game with an all new engine?




By kelmon on 2/25/2009 8:11:15 AM , Rating: 2
I entirely agree with this - this is the #1 reason why I stopped playing games. For many years, and to the partial cost of my original university degree, I was an avid PC gamer. However, over the years I found myself increasingly bored with new titles because they were almost always the same game as something else I'd played but with a different look.

However, I have to confess that I was an Unreal Tournament person and never really got on with Quake 3, although I did have fond memories of Quake 2 DM.


By Alpha4 on 2/25/2009 1:04:48 PM , Rating: 2
I agree that the amount of innovation between FPS releases has slowed down, but I don't think that's a good reason to stop playing games, I think it's a good reason to stop buying games. That being said I also don't think it's a bad thing to recycle a game but with new artwork and content. Cinema is no different, and that's worked well so far.

I actually cannot fault the developers for lack of innovation, because I've always believed that once a genre is boiled down to its core fundamentals through a handful of hallmark titles, it becomes synonymous with a sport and no longer requires innovation.
My favourite examples of this are Counter-Strike & Starcraft. ;)

In any case I still see room for innovation with things like Physics, interface & greater network functionality as technology permits, but like Targon said Stories should be a driving factor for selling games.


Advice
By Smilin on 2/24/2009 4:37:23 PM , Rating: 5
You're gonna dig it. There have been some very polished improvements to the flow of traditional maps and some of the new ones (Asylum!) will become classics.

Warning though:

For all you old-school Quake III Arena players I have some advice: Take it easy on the Bot during the "training" 1v1 match. You are being skill matched and the outcome of this match will determine who you play when you get to the 'net.

During beta, QuakeLive is generally populated by Quake III players *who never stopped playing*. You will be surprised not just by the amount of rust you've accumulated, but how good people can get when they play for 9 YEARS straight.

If you're not careful they'll mop the floor with you.

Skillmatch generally works in QuakeLive but it takes several matches before it becomes accurate.

You've been warned!

Also:
The QuakeLive sign on page is behind a separate beta sign on page. They have to do it this way to have sign-up be part of the test. It's confusing as all sh1t though. Just remember: you have one beta live account that you get at first, then you can create multiple quakelive accounts.




By Chudilo on 2/25/2009 11:05:47 AM , Rating: 2
The only way this would make sense is if it is multi-platform.
If this eventually runs on Linux / SmartPhone/ iPhone / Android /LiMo/ Openmoko and so on this would be the greatest thing Eva'
Otherwise it's a waste of time on their part.




By Smilin on 2/26/2009 12:31:13 AM , Rating: 2
Oh yes, sign me up to play quake on an iPhone!! That sounds like a fun gaming experience!! It will give me a break from the fun of repeatedly slamming a door shut on my penis.


physics
By 4wardtristan on 2/24/2009 5:18:18 PM , Rating: 2
i took part in the closed beta

one thing i strongly miss is cpm physics...

a defrag mod for quake live would be sensational!!




I miss the original quake days
By gemsurf on 2/24/2009 7:04:46 PM , Rating: 2
I enjoyed playing quake and several other games back when single player was the norm. I really don't like online gaming because I suck, but I still enjoy the mindless entertainment games like quake, blakestone, Wolfenstien etc... provided over the years. I still play some like HL2 but wish there were more like it.




if you want to download..
By omnicronx on 2/25/2009 8:29:17 AM , Rating: 2
Go directly to http://www.quakelive.com/

The DT link doesnt go to the download page.




Registration link
By Jynx980 on 2/26/2009 4:09:44 AM , Rating: 2
Here is the registration link. It may save you precious seconds from the other links: http://www.quakelive.com/#register

I really hope no one puts in their real first and last names. It also looks like it uses punkbuster. I wonder how it's implemented for browser play. The system requirements are pretty low: http://www.quakelive.com/#faq/faq_question_3
I wonder how much ram it's gonna suck up over a session..




Quake Live Open Beta Now Available
By izuka01 on 2/24/2009 9:47:03 PM , Rating: 1
It's likely other game makers will be watching to see the level of success of Quake Live among gamers, as they too consider launching browser games in the future.
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