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Following its usual testing tactic, Id put the Quake 3 test version online in May and has since posted several updates. Already, there are more than 1,100 servers worldwide where players can "spawn" into the game's stunningly rendered arenas and start firing away. There is no mission but to kill other players -- often and quickly, in teams or as a free-agent fragger. "We will return to plot-based games in the future," explains Id developer Graeme Devine. "But this time we wanted to make the ultimate death-match game available, and we expect it will remain that for a long while."

On the myriad message boards where gamers trade playing tips, technical notes and unadulterated bile, Quake 3 already ranks among the hottest topics. In a typical exchange, one player on the Gamers Extreme site opined, "Q3 has nothing new or inspiring to offer and the gameplay is currently weaker than both [previous Quake games]." Minutes later, another riposted, "I played many hours of both previous games, and am really enjoying Q3. Yes, it is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but I don't think that is a bad thing."

This split in the hardcore gaming community runs as deep as expectations for Quake 3 run large. Id Software, the Mesquite, Texas, game developer, has built a powerful reputation with its "first-person shooter" games. Since its 1991 founding, the company has released Wolfenstein 3-D, Doom, Doom II, Quake and Quake II. Each game's success has fueled huge demand for the company's next product and the hype has brought thousands of new gamers into the fold. But a faction among the hardcore gaming community now looks askance at Id and Quake 3. Even the most lackluster student of American pop culture will recognize the meme at play here. There's always a certain amount of "I liked them before they were popular" prejudice, driving some who consider themselves hardcore to reflexively criticize Id for "selling out." Then again, there's no question that talented people do get swayed by market forces. Film buffs might think of director George Miller, for example, who went from "Mad Max" to "Babe: Pig in the City"; rock fans might cite Phil "Genesis to Michelob ads" Collins.

For some old-time Doom and Quake fanatics, the new game seems like a lot of overhyped eye candy; Id has dulled its edge, they charge, to create wider appeal. As King Diamond69 -- a dentist, dad and Ivy League grad who frequently posts in the forums of the Quake 3 news site, Q3Arena.net -- put it: "Lovers of realism are a little (to very) disappointed, because Quake 3 has not really broken any new ground. Younger players and fast-action fans are basically gaga over it, for the same reasons the realists are upset: the graphics are high 'wow' factor, and the gameplay feels a little faster than Quake 2 [which has taken plenty of heat for being slow], but allows for much longer firefights between two evenly-matched players."

Next page | Was Quake 3 built for newbies?