Quake Live public beta opens next week

Quake Live public beta opens next week

ynnoj on 21 February 2009 - 16:38 · 37 comments & 8626 views

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Having being in the closed beta stages for months, the gaming masses will finally be able to get in on the Quake Live action on February 24 when the beta goes public.

According to the official site, public beta registrations will open this Tuesday in what is likely to be a significant server stress test. Players will be able to experience frantic gameplay in over 30 maps, participating in classic game modes such as Free For All, Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag.

id Software announced Quake Live (formerly Quake Zero) back in 2007 as the free, web browser based equivalent of Quake III. Live retains the same image, feel and precision that has made Quake III a popular online title throughout the past decade.

Although the game is only currently playable in Windows, John Carmack is keen to bring the browser based shooter to both OS X and Linux systems.

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#1 blehbleh on 21 Feb 2009 - 17:12

"web browser based equivalent of Quake III."

It's an activex-plugin that requires both download and installation -.-

(1 reply) #2 yakumo on 21 Feb 2009 - 17:19

ActiveX? only ever run it in firefox here.

#2.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:00

It runs in Firefox just fine. There are two installers, IE and Firefox.

#3 moss on 21 Feb 2009 - 18:08

runs VERY nicely. can't wait until everyone starts playing it just like the good ole days back in 2000-2002ish ?

(1 reply) #4 Recon415 on 21 Feb 2009 - 19:16

I'm in the closed beta. It works fine in Firefox.

#4.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:00

Ditto.

(6 replies) #5 rakeshishere on 21 Feb 2009 - 19:21

Not everything exists in your browser? Browser Based Games are fun provided they are casual or flash kind of in my opinion. A FPS in a browser is bs

#5.1 Leeoniya on 21 Feb 2009 - 19:54

+1, not sure what Carmack was thinking. Considering all his 3D engines are exclusively OpenGL and not DirectX so they can be platform independent. That being said, how ActiveX is ANYTHING independent is beyond me. I say - focus on Tech5 and Doom4...this Quake Live thing promises to be an epic flop no matter how well it runs in IE, IMO.

#5.2 yakumo on 21 Feb 2009 - 20:00

FireFox can't run ActiveX, and QLive runs in FireFox just great.

#5.3 Leeoniya on 21 Feb 2009 - 20:06

wonder if it's Java based then.

#5.4 Recon415 on 21 Feb 2009 - 23:31

It's plugin based.

#5.5 bob_c_b on 22 Feb 2009 - 04:48

Game is a blast, been in the BETA for a few weeks now, it is amazing what they have done.

#5.6 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:01

The browser is just used to launch the game, select which server, etc. The game itself is a standard executable/dll and it works in Firefox and IE just fine.

#6 nunjabusiness on 21 Feb 2009 - 20:45

"John Carmack is keen to bring the browser based shooter to both OS X and Linux systems. "

That isn't happening unless he gets away from the activex controls, I think.

#7 rhz on 21 Feb 2009 - 21:30

This isnt an activex plugin _only_, afaik firefox was the only browser supported in the beginning.

The firefox plugin is prolly win32 only tho, but i guess its fairly easy to port?

Most of the web interface is javascript, the plugin is used for starting and controlling "Q3".

#8 spiritv2 on 21 Feb 2009 - 22:24

Still looking for that tf2 replacement (or at least supplement it) but it seems like it would be best to just get Unreal3 or similar... anyone testing this have screenies to share? Time to check out the official site..

(1 reply) #9 Shadrack on 21 Feb 2009 - 23:17

Quake Live is alright... i hope the match making system improves with more people. Right now whenever i login i get slaughtered and it isn't very much fun that way

#9.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:02

Practice harder and I won't kill you so easily.

Seriously, they've improved the skill match in the latest version.

(3 replies) #10 Jeanpr7 on 22 Feb 2009 - 00:35

whats this game about? i never heard of it

#10.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:03

It's a first person shooter for MEN. 125 fps, 16 players at a time, etc. This isn't some wimpy auto-aiming console crap.

#10.2 spacer on 23 Feb 2009 - 14:04

125 FPS is completely pointless. Anything above 60 FPS and the human eye can't tell the difference.

#10.3 Mango on 23 Feb 2009 - 23:45

That's ridiculous. You can tell if a monitor is spitting out 125 fps compared to 60 fps. Your eyes are not in perfect sync with the refresh rate of the monitor, so every single frame is crucial in delivering as many complete frames that your eye can see, so it can represent as closely as possible, the natural motion of real life which runs at 'infinite fps'.

(3 replies) #11 qdave on 22 Feb 2009 - 01:42

^have you not heard quake 3? you are either 10 years old or you have been living under a cave.
anyway majority of people here havent even tried it!

i am playing it for couple of months now and i think its great! if you are not a Quake person, then this is not for you.

#11.1 iamwhoiam on 22 Feb 2009 - 02:18

How is it (performance wise) compared to a CD install?

#11.2 KavazovAngel on 22 Feb 2009 - 02:54

You won't have any problems playing it (fps wise). The only problem that could ever come up is a nasty browser crash or huge lag (bad connection). The engine is pretty old, so it doesn't have problems running on new, even most old (several years) machines.

#11.3 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:04

The engine and network code have been updated. It'll run better than the CD version, with more balanced play based on default PRO settings.

(4 replies) #12 exotoxic on 22 Feb 2009 - 02:30

i played it, i didnt like it... battlefield heroes is much better imo

#12.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 07:04

LOL

#12.2 CalumJR on 22 Feb 2009 - 16:14

What's the point in replying to a comment with just "LOL"?

#12.3 rhz on 22 Feb 2009 - 17:54

elitist gamer vs casual gamer, let the fight begin..

#12.4 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 22:20

I just thought his comment was funny given the nature of the two games.

I wasn't trying to be overtly insulting. I guess I thought he was joking/sarcastic.

#13 robotfood on 22 Feb 2009 - 03:04

awesome. goodbye work productivity.

#14 toadeater on 22 Feb 2009 - 09:59

Free For All feels like being trapped in hell after a while. And not in a good way. CTF is a lot of fun, at least it has some point to it.

Hmm... I wonder if this will support mods eventually?

#15 Windows7even on 22 Feb 2009 - 11:35

been in the closed beta since it started...*yawn*....still enjoying battlefield heroes thoroughly though

#16 yakumo on 22 Feb 2009 - 12:09

Still the best arcade fps there is. Very good learning curve.
Lack of open mods is a bit of a downside, but they're covering a lot.
Up to date cheat monitoring & stats is a definite plus.

(1 reply) #17 Shetland on 22 Feb 2009 - 21:05

if anyone could invite me i'd be glad, want to play my bro who is in the beta but has no invites :/

#17.1 excalpius on 22 Feb 2009 - 22:21

No need for invite now. They are shutting down tomorrow and EVERYONE can play for free Tuesday. Enjoy!

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