Quake Live tremors into open beta

Id Software's Web-browser-based, free-to-play edition of Quake III Arena enters large-scale testing phase.

John Carmack spoke with GameSpot at length during last year's E3 Media & Business Summit about his Web-browser-based pet project, Quake Live. In exchange for a free-to-play edition of Quake III Arena, id Software will support its efforts through various in-game advertisement and brand-sponsorship deals.

A before-and-after look at Longest Yard.

Today, the venerable Mesquite, Texas-based game maker announced that Quake Live has officially entered an open beta phase, inviting all players to help test the free-to-play, gladiatorial first-person shooter. Interested players can find the browser-based multiplayer game up and running through the official Quake Live Web site.

Essentially a port of the 1999 PC game Quake III Arena, the game has been touched up by id with a number of elements that add what Carmack called "a level of polish that modern games have." The online-only game features more than 30 arenas, five game modes, and 50-plus characters. Quake Live also features a full loadout of leaderboards; player profiles that include scores, stats, and achievement awards; and a matchmaking system based on skill level.

For an idea of what to expect, check out GameSpot's review of the original Quake III Arena.

26 Comments

  • bigd575

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 7:28 am PT

    I've tried to play but it just stays at the main screen saying loading.

  • Foggel

    Posted Mar 3, 2009 3:34 am PT

    fourthgeartappe: It's beta... report it so it may get fixed.

  • fourthgeartappe

    Posted Mar 2, 2009 5:11 pm PT

    I keep getting kicked off for some punkbuster error. So I guess I'm just limited to bots. But hey, you get what you pay for, and in this case, free's the word.

  • Death_Masta187

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 6:19 pm PT

    are they going to make a patch that lets us get all the extra stuff for those of us that still have the real quake 3 installed? minus the ingame ads that is...

  • UnrealPro

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 3:52 pm PT

    I've been in closed beta for a couple months. Stopped using QL for a while due to lag and server issues, no gore, off-hit detection, among other issues. When I first got up and running, it took forever to get in a server due to error code 12...or something like that. The devs also seemed to ignore many testers' complaints (including mine) in the QL forums as well. I'll wait until I hear more positive feedback before I try this again.

  • smithy1185

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 11:04 am PT

    I've been enjoying the closed beta since August and I'm glad my other friends can play now too.

  • BloodMist

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 10:03 am PT

    This is such an amazingly great idea to bring back a classic game.Other developers should do this.

  • zacho123456

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 5:31 am PT

    I got in last night with very little waiting, although it took a couple of tries because the game crashed the first time I tried to download it.
    Shooters are not my favorite type of game, but the site is pretty well set up. You can play against bots or on-line against humans.
    Kudos to id for doing this instead of whining about piracy.

    One question though: Do you have to have punkbuster to play??
    One game kicked me because it said I did not have punkbuster, even though nothing was said about using it during sign-up.
    I will not play if you have to use punkbuster. It totally trashed the first comp that I used it on, and I refuse to play any game that requires it.

  • cooldude03

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 1:53 am PT

    great idea using in game advertising to bring the game price all the way down to free. yet most game publishers still charges full price for games with in-game ads. Quake III is a great game, this is definitely worth supporting.

  • Hellfire93

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 10:11 pm PT

    Quake is one of the best multiplayer arcade style shooters, definitely supporting this

  • Francision69

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 9:41 pm PT

    A web-browser based Quake game!? Sounds neat.

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 8:22 pm PT

    i is in! didn't take nearly as long as u guys

  • jaredcrazy3232

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 8:17 pm PT

    knifes, very knifes

  • DontEatCream

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 6:17 pm PT

    Yeap, the queue is insanely long right now. It'll take you the better portion of a day just to set up Quake Live, so you better start get in line now.

  • jrabbit99

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 5:48 pm PT

    Can't wait to try it!

  • HOMIE_G64

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 5:41 pm PT

    I hear ya man. This is ridiculous. But I know for a fact that they won't do that for the game. If they did, no one would play. Anyways, the huge amount of people playing is good for one thing: we will have a huge community by the time the game is released.

  • darkfireking905

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 5:29 pm PT

    They really need to add some more servers becuase being 10000 in line is rediculus

  • Ninja_Kinshu

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 4:46 pm PT

    Awesome, I love that game!

  • halosniper52

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 4:19 pm PT

    hellz yah!!!!

    9052...damn

  • msudude211

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 4:03 pm PT

    What do you need to run it?

  • iMuffins

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 3:53 pm PT

    "Position in queue: 5029" Aw man... Looks pretty fun though.

  • AstroChimp83

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 3:52 pm PT

    Oh man, what have you done to me Gamespot? I through I had kicked my Quake habit for good in High School and then you go and tell me about this....

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 3:15 pm PT

    Been playing this since beta opened up. This game has the potential to ruin high school for many a teacher Hhahahah

  • dgsag

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 3:14 pm PT

    they've been adding servers for hours... the demand is unprecedented...

  • RealDarkilla

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 2:53 pm PT

    Finally, I've been waiting for ages to try it out.

  • CzloviekVoodka

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 2:48 pm PT

    They should add some servers because 50k+ position in queue doesn't make QL good opinion :-P

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