Updated: September 20, 2009
Quake Live is a First Person Shooter game, very similar to many other Quake-based variants, an extremely popular and successful franchise of games developed by id Software. In fact, many Linux First Person Shooters are based on a variety of game engines, released as open-source by this company.
Quake Live is no different; it, too, uses the modified id Tech 3 engine to render graphics. Well, it is different. There's one big difference that makes Quake Live unique. This game will run inside your browser! Yes, you read it right. Quake Live will run inside any modern browser on any operating system! Login to Quake Live website and play. No need to manually download and install anything. The game is entirely handled by a simple browser plugin. You can play your game anywhere, at home, at work, at the airport, on Windows, Linux and Mac machines, using Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari.
Until recently, Quake Live was only available on Windows, but it has just been released for Linux and Mac. Having bought a new laptop with lots of good hardware in it and running 64-bit Linux, I could pass on the opportunity to try Quake Live in my gaming-dedicated Ubuntu boot, using Firefox. Join in me for a tour!
Register
The first thing you want to do is go to Quake Live website and create an account. It's free!
You will have to provide your name and email address, as well as choose the name tag for your character. Likewise, you will have to provide a password and a birthday. Later on, after you activate your account via email link, you will use the email address and the password as your login credentials for the Quake Live site.
Install plugin
Quake Live does not use Flash. Instead, it uses its own plugin to download the game libraries and compiles them natively on your machine. You will have to permit the installation of the plugin to make the game run.
Click Allow on the yellow bar and accept the plugin installation warning.
Game update
After the plugin is installed, Quake Live will begin downloading the game to your machine.
After a few minutes, you'll be ready to play!
Play!
After the initial download, you'll be taken to the game character menu, where you'll be able to customize your character, set the keys and screen resolution and other game settings. It's just like any FPS, except it all happens inside your browser, while you're watching Youtube movies, checking mail and downloading other nefarious thingies.
Training
Before the game throws you into the killing arena with thousands of people across the globe, you'll have to undergo a short training, which should help you familiarize with the game and determine your skill. If you've played any Quake-based game before, like OpenArena or AlienArena, you're at home here.
During the training, additional game files will be downloaded, so you won't be wasting your time.
It's fun all the way!
Once you complete the training, you're ready for the big world.
Join server
Find a server that suits you best and join the killing spree!
Rock 'n' Roll, babe!
And here we go, a handful of lovely screenshots showing me losing to kids with quick fingers ...
Conclusion
Quake Live is great fun. It's a tremendous invention, game quality and graphics notwithstanding. What more, it looks well, it plays well. You get reasonable graphics, lots of fast-paced killing action, for free, inside your browser, on any operating system. It's a dream come true!
Quake Live is definitely one of the more refreshing startups of this year. It takes Internet one step ahead and redefines the meaning of online gaming. While you may be used to simple 2D arcades played in Flash in your browser, you get a full-blown 3D game with Quake Live. It's a league unto its own.
Quake Live is a must. Go ahead and try it. You'll love it.
Cheers.