Ryan MacMillan

I’m so excited right now I felt I had to let the blogosphere know why: I have recently received my long awaited invite to the closed beta testing of QuakeLive - a game that has the potential to utterly revolutionise the way we play games online.

QuakeLive is a remake of id Software’s Quake III Arena, a hugely successful multi-player game that was released over 8 years ago. The game has been updated with improved graphics and game-play that is a accumulation of all the many mods and add-ons that were created for the original Q3A. This however is not the revolution.

The revolution is that the game is entirely free, and that every aspect of the game takes place within the window of your web browser. Through your web browser you can connect with friends, post in forums, edit your character, change your game controls, enter competions, and most importantly play the game - without running or installing any other software. All you need to do is sign-up for an account, download the QuakeLive plugin for your browser, and away you go.

The game is being funded through in-game advertising; something that is becoming more prevalent in modern computer games, but something that has been criticised by many gaming fans. Id Software have teamed up with advertising network IGA Worldwide to place banners in the game, which will appear on the many arena maps, in much the same way you see advertisements at football matches or on the side of a road. You know that in-game advertising is here to stay however, when Barack Obama got involved during his election campaign. Furthermore, if in-game advertisement means an end to paying £40 a time for the latest games then I for one am all for it.

QuakeLive has been in closed beta testing for over 9 months now, and although many people were anticipating a 2008 release, it is now looking more likely that the game will open up to the public sometime in the new year. If you want to get involved with the closed beta testing, head over to the QuakeLive website and put your name down or ask me nicely in a months time when they let the current testers invite more people.