Quake Live Launches as Standalone Client

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Bethesda updated its blog on Friday with news that Quake Live now has its own standalone client. This free-to-play variant of the classic Quake 3 Arena shooter originally launched as a browser-only game in August 2010. But with the browser makers keen on nuking plugins from here on out, the game needed to return to its desktop-based roots.

The company stated on Friday that the standalone client will make updating in-game features much easier, as the team will not be worried about how ever-evolving web browsers will affect gameplay and performance. Bethesda suggests that players who have experienced browser compatibility issues or installing the plugin should give the new standalone client a try.

"Quake Live remains free to play and offers extended access and features to members with Premium and Pro accounts," the blog states. "And to celebrate the New Year, Pro subscribers may now host matches for standard users on all seven Premium game modes, including Freeze Tag and Domination!"

According to Bethesda, player profiles, match stats, clan rosters, and other commonly accessed pages are now located in the standalone client and can be accessed directly in-game without the need of a web-browser. Only the official forum and external links will open in the default web-browser, the blog states.

As for the website, "certain functions" will remain even after the update is released. Players will be able to manage clans, view profiles, manage certain account settings and even launch Pro matches from the browser. Bethesda notes that messaging and chatting with friends, viewing the match browser and joining games will require Quake Live to be open.

Unfortunately, the move to a standalone client has left Mac and Linux gamers out in the cold.

"We will be unable to support Mac and Linux clients with this transition," reads the blog. "While we have reports from our testers that the game works through emulation or virtualization software, we are unable to support native Mac and Linux versions. If you're using Mac and Linux and have a paid subscription, you will only be able to access the game using emulation or virtualization software."

For more details about the new Quake Live client, read the FAQ here.

Kevin Parrish
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Elevory
    Whoa, it's about time!
    Reply
  • zanny
    I'm surprised they went with a dedicated client rather than trying to utilize webgl and webrtc to have the game run as a native web app. I get that they started the port before those technologies matured, though (some might say they still aren't ready for production use).
    Reply
  • Grandmastersexsay
    Why would anyone want to play a FPS in a browser?
    Reply
  • daekar
    Why would anyone want to play arena style death match anymore? It's been done to death and it's boring...
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    Many people still consider Quake 3 Arena to be the best shooter of all time. That's why.
    Reply
  • qlum
    12416211 said:
    Many people still consider Quake 3 Arena to be the best shooter of all time. That's why.

    They'd be better of actually getting Quake 3 Arena as it still runs well on modern pc's, still has active servers and has loads of modding support, Quake life was always a gimped browser version of Quake 3 Arena so I would see no reason to play it.

    Personally xonotic is more my arena shooter if people would actually play it but that's just me.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    Open Arena is a good free arena FPS using the Id Tech 3 engine.
    Reply
  • timil
    Why would anyone want to play arena style death match anymore? It's been done to death and it's boring...
    Why would anyone want to play military style death match anymore? It's been done to death and it's boring...
    Reply
  • ikaruga
    12415766 said:
    Why would anyone want to play arena style death match anymore? It's been done to death and it's boring...

    Did you got your ass handed to you that badly? People are playing Quake for more than a decade (perhaps since earlier than your birthday?), it would have been abandoned a long time ago if it would be boring imho.
    It"s the mother of all fps games, period. The game mechanics is polished to perfection and skill ceiling is almost limitless. You can try as hard as you can for years, you won't even reach medicore level, it's that good. Nothing comes close to Quake when you want real challenge, (well maybe chess or starcraft does). Go and try to beat a medium tier dueler (let alone top tier players), and you will see.

    It's easy and free to say bad things about something you have no idea about (,obviously none whatsoever). Well done!
    Reply