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Quake Live Open Beta Begins Feb. 24th
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.
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... everything. But playing on the 32-bit is a lot of fun! The skill matching is pretty good, the levels are fresh, some are reworked, some of the good ones from RA3 are missing, but its still a blast. -rich
There are still no news about clients for other OSes.
That's too bad considering that id is the stoutest friend of linux games.
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. Not sure if this was a bug or if that's all it was supposed to let me do. If they actually let me play against other people this time around, I might give it a try.
This guy's the limit!
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
"A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire
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.
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.
what you complain about defines quake, so i don't give much hope that it'll change.
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.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
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 playing at a time that I presume they only had bots running. You should really come back and check it out, things have improved a lot.
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.
Training mode takes 10 minutes now. There's three basic parts.
1) Crash shows you basic stuff. "This is a jump pad." "This is ammo." "This is a health pickup." This can be skipped.
2) Crash asks you to complete a simple four stage, linear course. The course determines your skill level at a really basic level via three obstacles.
a) Jump onto this little ledge and then jump onto the next.
b) Rocket jump to a high ledge.
c) Use Rocket jumps and/or strafe jumping to travel across a hallway with a timed door. This part was kinda hard for me: I'm a decent rocket jumper, but I'm better with maneuvering than I am with sheer speed.
2) (cont.) This part is also essentially skippable: you can walk through a portal at any time and go right into the 10 minute match against Crash. The difficulty is determined by how far along you got in the obstacle course. id is assuming that if you can rocket jump high and rocket jump fast, then you're probably a good DM'r.
3) Practice match against Crash. This is to determine skill balancing. From what it seems, the skill balancing is adjusted in realtime - for instance, I was creaming her at the beginning (10-1 in a 15 frag match), but Crash eventually beat me 15-13. It seems that the bot got progressively more difficult as it measured my skill. I don't think you can skip this part, but it's honestly necessary for skill-matching to work.
So basically, after download and the 10 minute skill-matching determination match, you're good to go.
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. Not sure if this was a bug or if that's all it was supposed to let me do. If they actually let me play against other people this time around, I might give it a try.
My friend, I definitely think that you played Quake Live at its early stages. It is *much* better now and much more fun.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
and I think people who only play open source games are lame because they ignore the rich landscape of games in favour of their ideology.
You people are also really boring to talk to because as soon as you mention a proprietary game you have to negativity rant about how non-free it is, like how you're doing now.