QuakeCon 07: New tremors rock id's keynote

[UPDATE] CEO Todd Hollenshead uses big address to announce Quake Wars: Enemy Territory release date in US and Europe, Quake Arena for XBLA, ad-supported Web game Quake Zero, and new Quake game built on id Tech 5.

There's no shortage of news emerging from this weekend's trifecta of PC game fan festivals. Blizzard used its BlizzCon to unveil the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Sony Online Entertainment is set to announce a new game at its Fan Faire, and id Software is doling out tons of information at its QuakeCon festival.

The software developer has already announced a new distribution deal with Valve's Steam downloadable game service, confirmed a Wolfenstein movie is in the works, and unveiled Rage, the first game to use the new id Tech 5 engine. During the keynote address this afternoon, id CEO Todd Hollenshead also broke some news on a trio of Quake-specific projects.

First up, Hollenshead revised the release date of Quake Wars: Enemy Territories. Instead of "when it's done," the game is now set for October 2 in North America and September 28 in Europe. However, Hollenshead did not say if the date would apply to the console editions of the game, and he only showed the regular and collector's edition PC boxes in his presentation.

Hollenshead also announced Quake Arena Arcade for the Xbox Live Arcade. Little was said about the game, other than that it would be developed by Pi Studios. The Houston, Texas-based development outfit is currently also working on the PlayStation 2 edition of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Finally, Hollenshead announced Quake Zero, a free-to-play version of Quake III that will be played in a Web browser. The title will be an experiment in advertising-supported gameplay, and will be the first project from a new development team now forming at id. After Quake Zero, this second development team will work on a new Quake game that will be built on the id Tech 5 engine. The new team is still being put together, so the idea is that it should be fleshed out and aligned to work on the same page before tackling a full game.

111 Comments

  • mdmbuzz

    Posted Mar 12, 2008 7:39 am PT

    I think they should make a quake 5 wear you go back to hell and it has the same story of the original quake instead of fighting the strog like in quake 2 and 4. if this ever happens i think they should make it for the 360 and pc and make a bonus disc with all fetures and quake 1 included on the bonus disc

  • King_Louis51

    Posted Aug 16, 2007 5:55 am PT

    i cannot believe Quake III Arena is coming to the XBLA. This could mean the beginning of big things -- how about online-enabled versions of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark from Rare? With achievements and leaderboards? OMG, i'd wet my pants! Or ports of Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Killer Instinct: Gold, and many other Rare classics which Nintendo no longer own?

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 12:12 am PT

    Bring on Quake 5 and Doom 4! If Id makes a Doom 4 I really hope they fix the lame sounding pistol like in Doom 3... what they hell where they thinking?

  • smithy1185

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 7:33 pm PT

    The id Tech 5 looks really impressive. id once again proves why they are my favorite developer.

  • sonic0491

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 8:27 pm PT

    i just want a new single player doom and quake.

  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 11:50 am PT

    Quake Wars has had long enough it should be coming out on the consoles at the same time, but something tells me they aren't done. By the time it hits consoles, I'm not sure how much I'm going to care. Team Fortress, anyone?

  • Incubus420

    Posted Aug 9, 2007 10:30 pm PT

    Another Amazing engine...Wonder how it will run on the PS3...Hopefully it will make it easier for ports to be made on both systems.

  • oDARKBLADEo

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 11:00 pm PT

    Good stuff. The tech presentation at QuakeCon for the Tech 5 engine was very impressive. Looking forward to most of these projects.

    Not sure how Quake 3 will run in a browser though, but that's their headache and not mine. :-)

  • fathed102

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 9:39 pm PT

    I gotta hand it to id Software.

  • budsaq

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 5:05 pm PT

    can't get enough quake

  • niwom510

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    remake of QUAKE 1

  • polsci1503

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 4:33 pm PT

    oh, Quake 5.... nice. Looking forward to Rage too, looks interesting.

  • breakdown84

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 2:11 pm PT

    Damn good news...MORE QUAKE!!!!!!

  • zeus_gb

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 12:20 pm PT

    Carmack at he's finest again.

  • BDANick

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 9:51 am PT

    theyre classics! nuff said. Like diablo in my book...

    Shooters with story are cool, but hell i remember Duke Nukem, that was some seriously crap story... but it was fun!

    Fears ending was amazing tho... made me wanna play all over again...

    god that was sick

  • Blue_Tomato

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 8:33 am PT

    Web game? Using what technology? Not Javascript I guess...

  • yourbeliefs

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 4:39 am PT

    Cool... Quake on the 360 XBLA!

  • uberjannie

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 3:47 am PT

    Tech 5 engine is going to be nice. finally i can run games on Linux without emulating stuff

  • nexon7

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 1:45 am PT

    Wow I really thought this darkness master id tech5 engine was going to be used for Quake 5 which may be similar to quake 3(bot action). anythey sent way. I think Quake 3 was the last technologically exceptional game from ID. Quake 4 Doom 3(what u see is only shadows whereis great artwork like Quake 3 or Unreal 3. Whatever happened to content designers or are to hell.

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 1:24 am PT

    @ChangelingJane
    I think it's unfair to describe them as "semi-competent" shooters - I'd consider them Pure Shooters, with more in common with the old top-down 'schmups of the 80s-90s (fast trigger reflexes, zen-like gameplay, focus on pretty graphics rather than story or depth).

    I admit that such a basic style of gameplay is slowly becoming old what with advances in other areas, but you can't argue that iD's games do one thing very well indeed - shooting.

    @SundarOct131088
    Seeing "Hell On Earth" re-realised on next-gen hardware has been a (weird) gaming fantasy of mine for too long. I think if it were done properly, it'd make every other "Earth Invasion" scenario seem utterly derivative. And that's why I love the Doom3 plot so much - not many sci-fi plots bring Hell into the equation (Event Horizon notwithstanding). They're too content with odd-looking Jim Henson-style aliens.

  • ChangelingJane

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 10:43 pm PT

    Id's tech5 demo looks incredible (apart from the pale, sickly characters typical with id's recent engines). But while they are definitely good at developing (and licensing) engines, I haven't liked any *game* made by them since Quake 3. They aren't exactly known for game design innovation or excellence. They basically just crank out semi-competent shooters.

  • jcloverboy

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 7:19 pm PT

    really looking forward to Quake Wars.

  • SundarOct131088

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 7:12 pm PT

    I agree with Concy-Donk. While I'll definitely play their games regardless of how they fare, I'm a bit worried about them because they've always lacked "depth". Nevertheless, It's good to see them coming up with a new franchise instead of the same old(but good) sequels.

    Now that another Quake game has been announced, I'm just waiting for a Doom 4 announcement as soon as they're done with the new Quake. Just think of the possibilities of level design for "Hell On Earth".

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 12:58 pm PT

    @ConCy-Donk

    Yeah, that's exactly what I meant by "run-and-gun" - DeusEx had a fantastically complex story but it was so far removed from Doom and Quake etc. that it you couldn't even suggest putting them in the same genre.

    Technically though, your first bugbear with Doom3 - the PDA-style delivery of story - is a direct copy of both System Shock 1 and 2. Sure, Doom3 could've upped the ante a little, but the very same method worked a treat for those games, adding to the sense of isolation. I agree that it would've been nice to interact a little more with the staff on the Mars base (like you can at the start), and your "spreading effect" theory would have been awesome to see and interact with. But I still totally enjoyed the story either way. Even if the characters were fairly one-dimensional.

    F.E.A.R. was also guilty of resorting to the cheap telephone-answering-machine-conversations - PDA messages in all but context, but at least it was broken up with a little more personal confrontations. And the ENDING... well, that's worth the asking price alone...

    I can't really comment on the WWII shooters - I tend to avoid them like the Ebola virus... Just a personal preference.

    Ultimately, I just don't understand why people berate Doom3 for its supposed lack of story. There are much worse examples out there, and for a series that was otherwise FAMOUS for its back-of-a-cigarette-packet afterthought of a plot, I thought iD did really well.

  • maxmax1234

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 10:06 am PT

    Well i hope the GP are easy.

  • opollo

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 9:45 am PT

    Jeez after playin Quake wars which i was looking forward too failed what i want now in battlefield enviroments and quake wars had be goin for the sick bucket, i found it boring and repetitive, i do hope that they killed off the Quake 3 bounce that was in it as everyone was just bouncing(bunny hoping) all over the place..

    As for tech 5 it looks good but thats it, i will wait til its released in abt 2 yrs before i will say anything..

  • ConCy-DonK

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 9:27 am PT

    @lowenergycycle

    My biggest problem with the story was the repetitive PDA messages. The content matter was trivial, and in the end I found myself simply using it to find out pass codes. I think I would have liked the game a lot more if many (or all) these messages had been removed from the PDA and implemented in a way that complements the gameplay, rather than throwing a screen of text in your face. For example, I seem to recall reading (or hearing) a message about a shipment of chainsaws accidentally being sent to mars. It seemed like nothing more than a flimsy explanation for a weapon to me. However, if this same infomation had been portrayed by two co-workers talking to each other, I'd have been far more convinced. Ultimately I'd have liked to see more characters around, with more ingame dialogue. After the accident that "unleashed Hell", it seems as though almost everyone has turned into some kind of monster. I'd have liked to see more of a "spreading" effect, with non-afffected people fighting against the affected in the beginning, but as you progress through the levels the amount of non-affected people decreses until it seems like you're the only one left. I'd have also liked it if, of the few characters that you meet after "accident", atleast a few of them didn't feel expendible. Because of the way the game presents the characters, I always felt like they were going to die, so - regardless of wether they did die or not - I couldn't have cared what happened to them. This was in stark contrast to the game half-life2, released at the same time, that handled character development far far better than doom 3 (or any other FPS for that matter). By a "run and gun" FPS I assume you're excluding any WW2 FPS games (such as MoH or CoD) or any RPG FPS games (such as System Shock 2 or Deus Ex). Admittedly there probably isn't much apart from the Half-Life series, though F.E.A.R does spring to mind (despite the fact that I think that game could have done many things better).

  • ghsacidman

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 7:43 am PT

    All that can be said for me is... Cool!!!

  • joejoeirish

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 5:39 am PT

    And BTW, Quake Wars looks good too. Hopefully, it's a great game and very polished fun, and has legs. But in the end it's just a Id version of Battlefield. But that's OK it it's done right. Many developers took ideas from Id b4.

  • joejoeirish

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 5:33 am PT

    No, Doom3 was a good story AND a good a good game. It just wan't a GREAT game nor the next level in gameplay. It was just a FPS -- It was not like like doom, quake, or Q2 in impact, and the engine was not the Q3 in impact. But none of those things were lacking. It's just the "Cross the invisible barrier to trigger the next release of baddies- finish linear- non-interactive 3d level- NEXT!!" formula is old to alot of us, even when done well.

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 1:50 am PT

    @ConCy-Donk

    Flame ME if you like, but I actually thought the Doom3 story was really well done. The voice-acting was superb and the dialogue very believable - unlike just about every other dumb sci-fi out there (including those outside of Video Games). And there's just something more... BETTER about a story where a twisted mega-corporation abuses technology to the extent that it rips a hole in the Universe leading straight to Hell. I'd rather have that than yet another alien invasion cliche.

    Half-Life series notwithstanding, I can't think of a better delivery of story for a run-and-gun FPS. Correct me if you think I'm wrong.

  • ConCy-DonK

    Posted Aug 6, 2007 12:59 am PT

    I'm excited for these new games but I'm also concerned for iD at the same time. I might get flamed for saying this but IMO they have never really been able to pull off a good story line. If you look at their earlier games (Wolf3D, DooM, quake) there is little more than a few setences (if any at all) involving the plot in the whole game. Admittedly, they do sometimes use less direct means of conveying whats going on. For example in Quake2 you could work out much of the backstory - that you had crashed onto the Strogg planet and you were a part of a larger force sent there - simply by what you saw in the first level. At the same time though, if one wasn't paying attention they could end up feeling that the game was simply a bunch of generic rooms and corridors filled with enemies. There were alot of reasons why iD's earlier games were great. They were fun, they were immersive, they had great multiplayer (both DM and coop). The story was never one of the great things about their games though. At the time, this didn't really matter either...

    Fast forward to the present however, and a strong storyline is a vital part of any good FPS game. And in this respect, iD just havn't delivered yet. Doom 3, the only recent attempt by iD at a single player game, brought disappointment to many. I fear their next effort at a single player game will end in the same results, and almost cement iD's place as a developer of powerful game engines but nothing else.

  • rulo_rezn0r

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:56 pm PT

    Quake Arena for XBLA...much better than the crappy marathon

  • freddy-yy

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 9:58 pm PT

    i cant wait im going to have soooo much fun

  • thanatose

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 8:55 pm PT

    An all new Quake game built on the Tech 5 engine. That I'd like to see.

  • HuntersPrey

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 8:24 pm PT

    Mmmm, game orgy!

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 6:20 pm PT

    Quake Area for XBLA!! I am still looking forward to Quake Wars: Enemy Territory more though.

  • LGAKAgregory

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 5:45 pm PT

    same here i cant wait for Quake wars to come out for 360 i am a Huge fan of quake I am not getting it for the pc not going to upgrade my labtop. And quake area sounds cool for XBL.

  • wheater

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 4:00 pm PT

    I cant wait for Quake wars to come out on x360. Game looks so awesome.

  • PunkerXBlaze

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 11:45 am PT

    New DooM please :/. 'd enjoy an actual remake of one of the old DooM games. Hell on Earth would be great.

  • godhatch

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 10:35 am PT

    okassar i agree with you i didn't really like the past quake games neither however i do like the battlefield games and this looks just like battlefield 2142 with a twist.

  • okassar

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 9:24 am PT

    Am I the only one that dislikes Quake,I think my disgust for the series started from my childhood memory of going through Quake 2,it was so bad,don't take this in wrong,it's just my opinion.

  • MaxBlaze

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 6:17 am PT

    These guys are really good at making games that look amazing and run on minimal hardware. I pre-ordered Doom 3 (PC) and played it during release on a rig that sounded a bit like this: P4 2.53Ghz, Geforce 440MX(terrible GPU), and 512MB RAM. It ran surprisingly well at 1024x768 with everything turned on.

  • Blade8Aus

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 12:03 am PT

    Quake Arena 2 please

  • BewilderedRonin

    Posted Aug 4, 2007 10:17 pm PT

    DustArma: ... they mentioned a new game using id tech 5, and they didn't say anything about RTCW Next-Gen T_T

    Probably because, like Quake IV, Raven Software is developing the next Wolfenstein with id only playing a supervising role. I'm assuming that the next Wolf3D game is still under heavy development and still in a very rough state. Most likely something will slip later on, but I imagine there isn't much to say since it's still so early in development.

  • DustArma

    Posted Aug 4, 2007 10:10 pm PT

    ... they mentioned a new game using id tech 5, and they didn't say anything about RTCW Next-Gen T_T

  • BewilderedRonin

    Posted Aug 4, 2007 9:44 pm PT

    To everyone who comments on id and Quake IV, id did NOT develop Quake IV! Raven Software did! id only played a supervising role. Sheesh people, get your facts straight.

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