GotFrag.com - For those of you who have been living under a rock, or for those who are busy playing other games online, say hello to the game that's causing a stir worldwide, say hello to Quake Live. For those of you who are under the age of twenty, you might be asking yourself "what in the world is Quake Live?", or "What is Quake to begin with?".

Allow me to educate. The CPL World Championships in December, 2001 marked the end of the CPL's use of Quake 3 1v1 as their premier game. In its place, an up and coming game called "Counter-Strike" was fast becoming all the rage. Quake lived on through other tournaments like the WCG, ESWC, WSVG, Quakecon, and so on, but not being featured at the CPL any longer sent the very game that shaped modern professional gaming nearly to its grave... at least until now.

From the makers of "Doom" and the ever popular "Quake" series comes "Quake Live". Quake Live is a free (yes...totally free) first person shooter by ID Software. It combines the fast paced action we have all came to know and love in Quake 3, with new changes designed to make it the most addictive shooter you have ever played. Quake Live is identical visually to Quake3, but features a vast number of new changes that have made it ideal for internet play.

Whats new?

Some of the new features in the open beta include a skill based match making system. This makes it so that you can play people around your own skill level. A new "unlagged" netcode which makes latency specific weapons like the Railgun a breeze to use when 100ms ping has been added. But best of all... it plays out of your Internet Explorer or Firefox. Yes, it's played out of your browser!

Worried about being able to play full screen? Don't be..it does that too. When you go to www.quakelive.com and download the game, you're actually downloading a plugin for your browser. So instead of filling your taskbar or desktop with icons like we've grown use to, merely save Quake Live's page as a "Favorite" in your browser. When you want to play, click, log in, start blowing stuff up.

Let us review...

Cost: Free!
Set-up: About five minutes
Compatibility: Pretty much any computer that can access the internet
Download Time: None, the game downloads while you play

Game Modes: 1v1

Counter-Strike for the longest time now has cornered the market when it comes to FPS team based play, but for those that wanted a more unique experience, one where blame couldn't be placed on teammates, Quake was your game. Quake 1 versus 1 is hailed by many to be one of the most intense FPS experiences you can have, a banner that has now been picked up by Quake Live.

In this gameplay mode, two players square off in a 10 minute battle, where timing armor's and positioning yourself to hit key shots is the norm. Once dead, the player's respawn randomly at one of the "spawn points" on the map and begin to hustle back to gather items and armor before they can be killed again. There is no frag limit, its just you and your opponent in a chess match for 10 minutes, highest score wins.

Game Modes: 4v4

Maybe 1v1 doesn't seem like something you would enjoy, rather you may want to get into the team play side of quake, and if it's team play you want, you've just hit the proverbial jackpot. Quake Live features three different team play modes, Capture the flag, Team Deathmatch, and Clan Arena. The most intense of these is Capture The Flag. "CTF", as it's called, pits a team of four players versus another team of four in various sized, elaborate maps in which the goal is to get the enemy's flag, and bring it back to your flag capture spot for a score. This is where some of the most intense matches in Quakes over twelve year history have taken place.

Where can I play Quake Live competitively?

GameBattles.com is currently running free 1v1 and 4v4 CTF ladders in its newly debuted Quake Live Arena. Quake Live is currently on the list of the GGL, CAL plans on featuring it once the re-structuring of the CPL is complete, and the newly founded AGP Tour looks to make it their feature game for both online, and LAN events. Not to mention one of the largest events in the world (5000+ people) which is held annually every summer in Texas, Quakecon, is also featuring Quake Live in their tournaments this summer! Plus, how many LANs do you know that fill up 600+ people in the first "1" minute of online registration?

The Quake community has for a long time had an active professional scene, but after the death of the WSVG, Quake's pro scene was dealt a serious blow. Now with Quake Live Beta showing much promise and the developers working hard day in and day out to address bug issues and problems that arise during game play, Quake Live is sure to bring the Quake community back into the limelight.

Everyone is doing it!

EG, Gravitas Gaming, eMg, iDemise, Frag Dominant. All big name North American e-sports organizations, all have Quake Players on the roster. With Quake competition heating up yet again, more and more teams who want to establish themselves in e-sports will be looking at the prospect of adding Quake Live divisions.

Quake Live is bridging the gap between players from all different games. It's serving as common ground for those who are simply tired of their current games, and want to try something new, but it's also bringing back old friends that may have forgotten about quake and moved on.

Nevertheless, 2009 marks a crucial time in e-sports in many ways, and who else better qualified to lead the charge than Quake Live. What else would you expect from a game that let it's first superstar "Thresh" win a Ferrari while most of today's modern CS superstars were still begging their mother's for suckers.


GameBattles Quake Live Ladders Now Open!
Quake Live Video Previews

Guide to Quake Live - Weapons and Armor: Gearing Up
Guide to Quake Live - Around the Arena: Pick-Ups and Power-Ups
Guide to Quake Live - Getting Started: A Step-by-Step Guide