Quake III Arena I miss you...

We all miss so much fun that we had during our undergrad days. Quake III Arena is just one among that endless list. I took up gaming soon after joining college. I would do anything to lay my hands on a piece of software that possesses a potential to flaunt skill and mastery. Be it Adobe Photoshop or MATLAB or Quake they have thrilled me a lot and continue to thrill me as I get better and better at dealing with them. This piece of article is a tribute to Quake III Arena that brought me fame and name while in college.

To the uninititated, Quake III is a game developed by id Software and released in 1999. The company was founded by John Carmack and three others. They scaled the gaming industry with their famous titles Wolfenstein 3D (1991), Doom (1994), Quake (1996). But even though many games have been released including Quake 4, Q3A continues to provide the best gaming action across multiplayer competitions and Quake fans worldwide.


So what makes Quake 3 the King of all First person shooters?? Is it the Unique openGL platorm, the technology that introduced vertex animation and spline curves in 3D modelling? Or is it the novel gameplay where people meet in an Arena and frag ( an euphemism for "killing" in the virtual world ) anything and everything that moves?

To me the endless opportunities offered by multiplayer gaming appeals a lot. I would say the LAN connection in our hostels attained its purpose of existence only after I introduced this game to my friends. There would be deathmatches at midnights for which people would gather to merely spectate the battle that lasts not more than 5 mins at times. Doesn't it feel great if someone just gawks at you and says " How do you do that !!"

The game has five difficulty levels. The nigthmare level forms a technical barrier to the extent a computer can think and react. We were a couple of hardcore gamers who were bored of continuously taming the bots at their toughest levels and often resorted to multiplayer mode for some nerve racking, relentless action.

I went on to organize gaming competitions as part of Vision, a technical symposium of our department. Thats when I came to know there were too many crazy people who played it full time. My friends from engineering colleges in and around Chennai had already formed professional clans. This is not just a patronizing blog. Although I would seriously recommend you to play this game if you call yourself a die hard gamer.

Now it has been two years since I played this game the way it ought to be played. I can't wait till I could con some of my fellow b-schoolers into this. I am sure I will find atleast a handful of buffs like me. Hoping to take it forward to the next level.