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First Person Shooters (Games) Quake Entertainment Games

Quake Live Open Beta Begins Feb. 24th 60

Posted by Soulskill from the bring-it-on dept.
The Quake Live team has announced that the beta will open to the public on Tuesday, February 24th. On Monday, they will take the servers down, wipe all stats and prune inactive accounts, then re-open on the public site. Personal settings and current account info will be maintained for active accounts. They also said, "We're going to post some additional information in the Developer Notes about the opening of the game, what it means to leave the 'beta' tag on the site during this time, and discuss some features and functionality that we're planning for the next couple of months that we know you'll be interested in." GameSetWatch ran a story recently by a columnist who tried out the closed beta, and we discussed John Carmack's thoughts on the game a few months back.
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Quake Live Open Beta Begins Feb. 24th More

Quake Live Open Beta Begins Feb. 24th

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  • I played the closed beta. Fun, and only about 250 MB of data to download the first time. I only played with the bots for a little bit, though, so I might jump into the open beta if I have my Windows partition handy.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by richrumble ( 988398 )
      It is fun! It is the best FPS I've played online ever. Note, its beta, there are still plenty of bugs. My biggest and fastest computer only gets 10-24fps, but my older mid-level is 125fps solid. The difference seems to be 64-bit XP vs 32-bit. Regardless of browser, video driver, single head, multi-head, picmip, screen resolution, fresh install or otherwise, the 64-bit machine get's terrible fps (usable, but not as nice) and the 32-bit screams... I've done everything I can, swapped video cards between to two

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 )
      I tried the closed beta, too. Signup was a PITA (had to create 3 different logins, and then login to each of those to play). And then I couldn't play against other players. It would force me to go through the "training" mode (this is how you move, this is how you jump, etc) which took about 5 minutes, then after that I could play a 1-on-1 match against a bot. After the match was done, it would force me to go through the training mode again. After going through that rigamarole a few times I gave up on it. No

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by JohnnyBGod ( 1088549 )

        I have also tried it, and it went really smoothly. But I don't like the game very much.

        You pretty much HAVE to have the patience to learn where every powerup is in all the maps you play, and try to beat people to them to be even marginally good at this game. I feel the default weapon is way too weak, and the armor is way too strong.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by imbaczek ( 690596 )
          what you complain about defines quake, so i don't give much hope that it'll change.

          • Exactly folks. This is just Quake 3 with a matchup system. The "browser-based" aspect of it is really a gimmick, because you can currently only play it on Windows. Really, they could have just re-released Quake 3 and a community site, and not tied the game to a browser.

            I played the closed beta for a week, and then I remembered why I stopped playing Quake 3: I'm just not that fast anymore, and I don't have that kind of energy to waste on a twitch shooter. I used to be good, but not anymore. The younger

        • don't know if you can run about empty maps on quake live like in regular Q3, but it takes about 5 minutes to run round a map and memorise where stuff is. That includes the different game mode (TDM/1on1/ffa) etc

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by aliquis ( 678370 )

          That is the very basics, to get marginally good in quake you need master bunny jumping and such as well.

      • That's a bug that they fixed a long time ago. They also changed the training mode since then so you don't have to go through basic control training if you're already an experienced player. Now, you just have a quick little obstacle course that determines whether you understand some basic techniques like rocket jumping, and then it puts you into a quick 10-minute bot match (the difficulty of which is based on how many obstacles you were able to pass in the obstacle course), to determine your skill placement,

      • You probably were loading the list of available games and were too impatient and unobservant to notice the percentage readout on the top of the screen, and simply clicked on the training window seeing no other options. I often had to wait upwards of 20-30 seconds as the latest game updates patched in and browsed the gameslist, but I never not once was unable to join a random (and later on, a semi-wierdly ranked) match after the entire game was prepared. Personally I think this is a great sign of where tec

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Ihmhi ( 1206036 )

        Some corrections from someone who joined the beta on Jan. 20th:

        I tried the closed beta, too. Signup was a PITA (had to create 3 different logins, and then login to each of those to play).

        It's two logins: one for the id beta center, and one for the actual site. You can "stay logged in" at the actual site, thereby making it only one login when you pop in to play (the id beta center one). However, the "remember me" checkbox for the Quake Live site has broken recently (at least for me) and you have to log in twice once more. A bit annoying, yes, but it takes only a few seconds more.

        And then I couldn't play against other players.

        Doesn't happen anymore... you must have been playin

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by skeeto ( 1138903 )

        I tried it about a month ago and I was having the same problems. I couldn't play against other human begins, just the training scenario over and over. I thought maybe there was some temporary problem so I kept trying it for a few days in a row. Nothin'. I gave up assuming multi-player, or any non-training, mode didn't even exist yet.

        That makes two of us, so I imagine a lot of people ran into this and never looked back.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aliquis ( 678370 )

      Yeah, it's a weird game, marketed as something you play in your browser and not just "as any game but with web stats" but you can only play it in Windows ...

    • I've been playing it daily for quite a while now and having a ball. The game is true to the original with a few very nice new maps, very fast, very frantic. But, what I am enjoying most is finding people who used to play the original Quake versions online. There's just something special about the early quake community that I've missed in the newer online gmaes. It was a community of friendly, eager to help, and even polite players who would then proceed to nail you over and over with perfect rails. Its a ve

  • Didn't get in to the closed beta, but the idea of having Quake 3 in your browser is awesome, literally play anywhere! I wonder if it's cross platform?

    When it's eventually 'released' it's supposed to be free isn't it? Paid for by ads?

    The biggest question though is, is it going to cut in to my Desktop Tower Defence time?!!!

    --
    Click here [free-toys.co.uk] for free games consoles and games including Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii!!

    • Re:Definitely signing up for this one (Score:4, Informative)

      by Paradigm_Complex ( 968558 ) on Saturday February 21, 2009 @03:37PM (#26943313)
      I'm in the closed beta.

      I wonder if it's cross platform?

      Right now it's Windows-only. A Mac version is planned/on-the-way.

      No love for Linux - hopefully it's just not yet. No luck with WINE yet, either.

      When it's eventually 'released' it's supposed to be free isn't it? Paid for by ads?

      Yes, it will be free; ad-based. The ads themselves aren't up yet but the locations were they will be are visible. They are well placed throughout and for the most part they don't really get in the way. In the rare cases that they are in the way, they are transparent - I've shot people through them.

      The biggest question though is, is it going to cut in to my Desktop Tower Defence time?!!!

      It's cut into my go (the board game) and Smash Bros time, and it's still in beta with a relatively low number of people playing. Expect a decrease in productivity when it is officially out :D

  • Still win32-only? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aerton ( 748473 ) on Saturday February 21, 2009 @03:24PM (#26943203)
    There are still no news about clients for other OSes.
    That's too bad considering that id is the stoutest friend of linux games.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by nonades ( 1053946 )
      Actually, if you try to log in to the closed beta with an unsupported browser it gives a message that plugins for other browsers and OSs are being worked on.
  • I've played the closed beta on and off for about a week. Didn't enjoy it much because I don't have the dexterity of a 12 year old on speed, so basically I got my ass handed back to me, live.

    It has a skill matching system, but I basically ignored it and went for the gametypes I liked. So I guess that explains the scorch marks across my gamer ego ;-)

    Nah it was fun and well executed.

    The only major problem I have with quake live is the "tutorial". It's really annoying and extremely patronizing. I sometim
    • As more appropriately paced games have come out since the hay-day of Quake 3, I feel like its just too twitchy for me, that and I guess I've gotten older. Still, games like Call of Duty and Battlefield have given online FPS play a real jolt compared to the old run and gun games.

      • Re:Played a couple of times (Score:4, Insightful)

        by walshy007 ( 906710 ) on Saturday February 21, 2009 @05:37PM (#26944303)

        As more appropriately paced games have come out since the hay-day of Quake 3

        but that's precisely why people to this day still love quake 3, there has not been a faster game since it, a lot of people enjoy the fast and arcade like factor.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by kafros ( 896657 )
          there has not been a faster game since it
          Have you ever played Unreal Tournament 2004?

          CTF with translocator and ONSLAUGHT are the fastest things you can play on the FPS genre.
    • They've updated the toturial a few days ago to be far less patronizing and far better at picking out how 'good' you're supposed to be.
  • I was thinking about this the other day, but QTEST was on fpt servers on Feb 24 1996 - the worlds first glimpse of the awesome 3D game, Quake.

    Of course the actual game didn't come out until June 22 of that year.

    I played QTEST only after the event, as I only got my computer in the summer of '96, and I can still remember hacking about with the arcane text files and hacked utils to get BSP files which allowed me to create a box room and run about in it with a monster or something. This was before graphical

  • I've been in the beta already (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cvd6262 ( 180823 ) on Saturday February 21, 2009 @10:38PM (#26946011)

    All playing the Quake Live beta did was remind me how far we've come in terms of multiplayer FPS. QIII was great in its day and the achievement of putting Quake online like they have cannot be overstated, but I just don't find the game fun anymore. The training match tells you all you need to know about the game: Spawn, Load-up, frag... Spawn, load-up, frag.

    • It's far easier in theory than it is in practice. In practice, it takes way more skill and is a far deeper game than any popular game that has come after it.
      • yeah skill... I still remember the first time that I played Q3 and a guy did a rocket jump over me, while fragging me with a plasma gun. And I was like "WTF?!"
      • He didn't say it was easy, just that it's not fun, possibly because of the repetitiveness. You can disagree, but it doesn't make you objectively correct.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by skeeto ( 1138903 )

      Ditto for me. I had a blast with Q3 Arena and the original Unreal Tournament back in their time, but firing them up now isn't much fun compared to modern FPSs. It's like digging out and watching a movie you loved and haven't seen since childhood, only to find out how much it actually sucks when seen as an adult (in my case, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies). Quake Live is simply Q3 running inside a web page.

      I tried Quake Live and just got frustrated with its simplicity, because I was trying to apply

  • they say that mac and linux support is coming, hopefully soon i am tired on playing the old machine i have hooked up to the tv down stairs.

  • === First let me get to the comment of "Wait till you fire up the tutorial and you'll know what I mean." Reply: ===
    --First of all you do not need to play the tutorial. So that makes your point moot.
    --Second of all the tutorial was annoying I agree... but for approximately 1 minute... after which you actually got to play the game with a bot.
    --My third point is actually a question. If the tutorial was SOOO annoying/boring/condescending, you obviously beat the bot perfectly without dieing or even losing health

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by syn1kk ( 1082305 )

      "because all FPS games are more or less the same game":
      I should have said "all FPS games to some degree *REDUCE* to the most basic element of point-and-shoot-fragging.

      • "all FPS games to some degree *REDUCE* to the most basic element of point-and-shoot-fragging.

        I disagree. I watched a guy who was phenomenal in Q3 and blew goats at UT. He owned me in Q3, but I smoked him in UT (Shock rifle :p) If you are good and point-and-shoot then you definitely can do well in any FPS, however with different weapons and strategies (recognizing strengths/weaknesses) they add their own elements.

    • Yeah, purity. Now that's what makes a game fun. That's why I only play pong. Everything else is just impure crap.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by syn1kk ( 1082305 )

        I guess you should replace the word "pure" with "simple".

        Playing a simpler game is fun just like coding in a simpler language like C is fun.

        • C? Bah. Assembly or nothing.

          Seriously man, both simplicity and complexity can be fun. Anyone who tries to tell you one is better than the other is a poor performer at the other, and is embarrassed about it.

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