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Quake Live Public Beta Launches To High Demand
x1n933k writes "For anybody who was sitting on top of Quake Live's website today, clicking refresh and waiting for it to open, you can now browse over and join the fun. Unfortunately you'll have to hold in a queue: 'Here we are all dressed up and nowhere to go. Don't worry, to make sure everyone can enjoy the game we have activated our super secret Queue system, which keeps the server from being overloaded and affecting the website.' I've been waiting 40 minutes and now up to 591, after starting from 9982 but have been playing Quake 3 to kill time."
The queue bounced up over 15,000, and as of this posting, is down to about 7,000. It moves pretty quickly, and there's an explanatory tour to watch while you wait. Reader Rogerpq3 contributes an interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton, in which they discuss the game's technology and server infrastructure, as well as their thoughts on mod support.
There are ranked games and that appeals to me. I like to know how good I am in relation to the general populace. In the old quake, you could be top dog on a server, but still not know how good you are in relation to the world. I waited 3 hours through bugs, crashes and the queue to get it to work. It didn't work on IE6 or Firefox because the mouse wouldn't move, but I did get it to work on IE7. I played the training missions, but I was not able to play live because I was looking through the options to see how I can set weapon priorities. I always find it annoying when I am wielding a rocket launcher for me to switch to a shot gun just because I walk over it. While I was looking through my options and browsing the QuakeLive forums for help, I timed out. I'll wait until tomorrow if someone has an answer how I can set weapon priorities on the forums. It may just be another FPS, but it is a classy enough one that it is worth playing if for no other reason than to enhance your FPS skill.
God spoke to me.
The game is a plugin. The point is that matchmaking and all non-gameplay related stuff is handled through the browser, which reduces the code and the amount of time between thinking "I'd like to play a game" and being in a server.
If I could rearrange the keyboard, I'd put U and I together.
They couldn't give you a stand-alone .exe for free because that wouldn't help them acheive their goal of creating a 3D engine browser plug-in with a large install base.
Mac and Linux support are promised for final release. And yes, it is Q3. It is Q3 for free and in a browser with leaderboards and such.
Truth, Just Us, And Hatred For All Mankind!
As a Mac user let me say sir, you are a moron. iD has already stated there will be a Linux version. Granted us Mac users will more than likely get it first but seriously dude get off your high horse. You sound like a mega troll.
What part of "BETA" don't you understand? You expect a beta version for three platforms INSTEAD of someone using their head and putting together a beta for the most popular platform while they work out the kinks?
And yes, I'm a linux user, but I have common sense.
J
Beer, now there's a temporary solution -- Homer Jay S.
Licensee agrees that the invasive nature of PunkBuster software is necessary to meet this purpose and goal. Licensee agrees that any harm or lack of privacy resulting from the installation and use of PunkBuster software is not as valuable to Licensee as the potential ability to play interactive online games with the benefits afforded by using PunkBuster software.
When you log in to the web site with an unsupported browser (like Chrome) you get to know that:
We're sorry, but your web browser or operating system is not compatible with QUAKE LIVE. You must be using a combination of the following:
Windows XP Windows Vista
Firefox 2.0 / 3.0 Internet Explorer 7 / 8
Support for Mac & Linux, along with alternative browsers is under development.
Seems fair to me.
Connection closed by foreign host.
Wait what? How is an in-browser version any better than the standard Quake 3 if you have to download and install a plugin? "Reduces code" doesn't make sense, they've already written the lobby code and it's in Q3A. "Reduces the amount of time" is also nonsense; it takes less than 10 seconds to start Q3TA and connect to a server.. I'm not playing an fps in my browser when I can fire up the real game.