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'Quake II' remaster might debut at QuakeCon next week
A remaster of 'Quake II' might launch at QuakeCon next week.
You can soon snag 'Dishonored 2' for free with an Amazon Prime subscription
'Dishonored 2' headlines the next batch of Prime Gaming titles. Members have another few weeks to snap up 'Quake' and 'Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons' at no extra cost.
Snag 'Quake' for free this weekend in the Bethesda Launcher (updated)
During this year's online-only QuakeCon event, you can get a free copy of the game that started the whole thing.
NASA shares the odd sounds from its Mars seismometer
NASA's InSight lander is providing a veritable soundtrack for Mars. The agency has posted a handful of recordings from the SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) that give a feel for Mars' activity. Two of them are "representative" marsquakes, and might be good for testing the bass response of your headphones or speakers -- they're low, steady rumbles. They suggest that Mars' crust is a blend between Earth's and the Moon's, with seismic events lasting longer than on the Earth (about a minute) but much shorter than its lunar neighbor.
'Quake Champions' cribs from 'Fortnite' with a paid Battle Pass
Even the developers of a back-to-basics shooter like Quake Champions can't resist the siren's call of Fortnite's business model, it seems. Bethesda and id Software are rolling out a December update that introduces a "totally new" progression system for the competitive multiplayer game, including a familiar-sounding paid Battle Pass that will arrive on December 20th. Champions is still free to play, but paying for a Battle Pass each season unlocks more items than you'd otherwise get and is more likely to include genuinely new items. Paying users will also get an "immediate" bonus item, and will see additional weekly challenges that promise more rewards.
‘Quake Champions’ is free-to-play forever
Id Software released Quake Champions out of beta and in to Steam Early Access a year ago as a revival of its predecessors' arena shooter gameplay. Later, the studio stated that the game would be free to play, but only once the game fully launched. But at QuakeCon today, it announced the title is F2P, now and forever.
‘Quake Champions’ isn’t finished, but you can play it August 22nd
Been green with envy over your pals playing the Quake Champions closed beta? Time to stop being jealous and start working on your rocket jumping because the classic shooter's revival is moving to Steam's Early Access on August 22nd, where everyone can play. Now, there was an open beta during E3, but that was a limited-time deal. To celebrate, publisher Bethesda is knocking 25 percent off the Champions Pack, bringing the price down to $29.99.
The ‘Quake Champions’ beta opens to everyone on PC today
Bethesda just announced that its reboot of the original eSport, Quake Champions has entered public beta today. That means anyone with a PC capable enough to run the fast-paced shooter should be able to jump in and start playing right this instant. What's more, there's a tie-in to the just announced Wolfenstein sequel, The New Colossus: Protagonist B.J. Blazkowicz will be a playable character. Oh, and he'll be able to dual-wield weapons. There will be a tournament at this year's QuakeCon with a $1 million prize pool.
Trent Reznor blows dust off the 'Quake' score for vinyl reissue
Quake was a groundbreaking game in a number of ways, and that included its soundtrack -- id Software scored a coup when it got Nine Inch Nails (technically, Trent Reznor) to score the grim first-person shooter. Until now, though, listening to that soundtrack has usually meant digging up your circa-1996 game CD or (let's be honest) finding a YouTube rip. Thankfully, you'll soon have an alternative if you own a turntable. As part of a larger wave of back catalog releases, Reznor is making the Quake soundtrack available on vinyl -- you too can listen to that memorable theme in your living room.
The 'Quake' answer to 'Overwatch' enters beta next week
If you're waiting with baited breath for the Quake Champions beta, then you'll soon be able to begin exhaling. The news is out that the game's closed beta will begin on Thursday, April 6th, with additional players being added to it over time. If you haven't yet signed up, you can do so right now at the Quake website, along with pretty much every other gamer in the world.
Bloody sci-fi shooter 'Strafe' lands on PS4 and PC in May
Strafe is a lovely little homage to classic games like Doom or Quake -- it's built to feel like a first-person shooter from 1996 but features modern mechanics, updated graphics and buckets of blood. We got our hands on the game during E3 2016 and had a blast shooting space monsters in the face. Everyone will have a chance to do the same on May 9th, when Strafe lands on PlayStation 4, PC and Mac.
You won't have to pay to play 'Quake Champions'
The upcoming Quake Champions will be free-to-play. Or not. It depends on how you want to approach it. "At its core, it's a free-to-play game with the option to buy the Champion Pack and just get in and play with all the Champions," developer Bethesda Softworks' creative director Tim Willits recently told Polygon. The Champion Pack is basically the full-priced version of the game, giving access to everything you'd expect from a retail title right out of the gate. But, if games like League of Legends and Dota 2 have taught us anything, it's that dropping $60 up-front is a huge barrier to entry for people around the world.
Satellites could predict the next human-caused earthquake
Back in March, the US Geological Survey (USGS) changed its method of tracking earthquakes to include human-induced seismic activity. Suddenly, Oklahoma looked as tremor-prone as California, mainly due to the spread of wastewater disposal wells in the state. A team of geophysicists set out to build a model to predict this seismic activity. In their report released today in the journal Science, they analyzed three years of satellite radar data linking land deformation above wastewater disposal to earthquakes in the surrounding area.
'Quake' marks its 20th anniversary
Attention gamers of a certain age: you're about to feel very, very old. June 22nd, 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the original Quake, id Software's classic first-person shooter. It may not be quite as genre-defining as the Doom games that preceded it, but it was still considered revolutionary. For a start, it was presented entirely in 3D (with semi-realistic lighting, no less) at a time when most shooters had to make do with '2.5D' engines -- even the zero-gravity title Descent had some 2D. Quake was also one of the first games of its kind to be built with internet multiplayer in mind, not just local networks. And who can forget the eerie soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor?
Everything we saw at Bethesda's E3 event
Bethesda's big E3 show is over, and it was pretty great. We got a new Quake, lots of Fallout goodness (including Fallout 4 in VR!), a first look at the upcoming Prey reboot and a ton of detail on Dishonored 2. Oh... and a Skyrim remaster. While our very own Tim Seppala and Jessica Condit run like excited children towards that Fallout VR demo, you can check out all of the trailers from the press conference below.
'Quake' is coming back to the PC with a modern twist or two
Bethesda kicked off its big E3 2016 showcase with a old favorite: Quake. Big guns, team battles, gore. Quake Champions is coming -- at the moment to PCs and will be arena-style shooter "designed for people at all skill levels". The most impressive technical part? The team is promising 120Hz with unlocked framerates. That's seriously smooth -- and sounds so very ready for VR. Of course, it's also perfectly timed in a current = boom in competitive shooters, especially with the mention of "characters with unique abilities" -- like this thing. Gaze at the trailer below, but be warned it's a bit graphic in that Quake kinda way.
'Doom' creators pull 'Blackroom' Kickstarter after four days
That lasted long. John Romero and Adrian Carmack, founders of the Doom and Quake developer iD Software, have already pulled the plug on their new Kickstarter project. The Blackroom campaign had been running for four days when the pair decided to press "pause," citing the need to make a gameplay demo. That's most likely so that their new, rebooted campaign can adhere to Kickstarter's own rules, which require "explicit demos of working prototypes" for any proposed physical product. The pair say finishing an early slice of Blackroom will take longer than the current campaign, which is why they've decided to end it so prematurely.
Drilling makes Oklahoma as earthquake-prone as California
Drilling for oil and gas has made parts of Oklahoma and Kansas as likely to be hit by major earthquakes as California. A new United States Geological Survey (USGS) hazard map shows that the risk of a "damaging" quake within the next year is now as high in north Oklahoma -- 10-12 percent -- as anywhere else in the US. The revelation comes from the USGS changing the way it forecasts earthquakes in the country. In the past, its hazard maps only highlighted natural risks, meaning only California and small parts of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Washington and Wyoming were mapped. Now, it factors in "induced earthquakes" triggered by human activity, with the primary cause being wastewater disposal from oil and gas production. This tainted liquid is injected into deep underground wells, which can lead to an increase in pressure that negatively affects the seismic stability of an area.
A 'Quake Live' Steam update raises the game's price from $0 to $10
Quake Live, a highly competitive first-person shooter from Doom studio id Software, has been free since it launched in 2010. Rather, it had been free. On Wednesday, long-time players booted up the game to find it now costs $10 on Steam and no longer offers subscription options for serious fans. The move is part of Quake Live's transition to Steamworks, which allows players to use their Steam display names in-game, receive Steam stats and achievements, and download new content through the Steam Workshop. "By retiring our services and subscription service, all players now have the same benefits and features in-game," the Quake Live team says. The move also erases all previous game data, which, for some players, is five years' worth of clan-building and killing. Many players were surprised (and some were enraged) by today's news.
