Home Gaming Today is Quake’s 20th birthday

Today is Quake’s 20th birthday

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quake

There are so many truly legendary shooters, games that helped define the first person shooter. Of course there’s Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, games that used sprites to convincingly (given their technological hurdles) portray a 3D world in which you could kill everything. Of course, There’s Duke Nukem too, joining Wolfenstein and Doom as games that have been given shiny modern makeovers (some more successfully than others).

But none made such an impact on the genre, for me at least, than Quake did. For starters, it was the first one that was genuinely 3D. Trading sprites for polygons, Quake featured genuine 3D character models and environments. And though Doom made multiplayer deathmatch popular years before, Quake’s the game that really kick-started LAN parties within my circle of friends in the 90’s.

And can you believe it? It’s 20 years old today. Id software’s Quake was released on 22 June 1996 in North America.

And though I’ll certainly miss Quake’s dark and gloomy single player, it’s undeniable that it was Quake 3 and its now classic arena shooting that’s really had the biggest impact. It makes this year’s E3 announcement of Quake Champions perfect. From what we know thus far, it’s the same sort of arena shooter we know and love, just with the addition of champions. It all sounds a little like a grittier Overwatch to me, but we’ll know more soon, I guess.

Says Bethesda:

“The fast, skill-based arena-style competition that turned the original Quake games into multiplayer legends is making a triumphant return with Quake Champions. Running at an impressive 120hz with unlocked framerates, id Software’s new multiplayer shooter is getting ready to take PC gaming by storm once more. Quake Champions features a roster of unique characters, each with their own distinctive abilities, allowing you to fight the way you want.”

Enough about the new game though – it’s time to reminisce. Do you have any great Quake memories? You know, aide from that great Trent Reznor soundtrack.

 

Last Updated: June 22, 2016

21 Comments

  1. Dutch Matrix

    June 22, 2016 at 12:36

    I had a pirated copy of Quake, sorry to say. One day, I left a Gospel music CD in the CD Rom. Fired up Quake and soon it was like “Lord I lift Your Name on high…” BLAM! Another Rambler (I think it was called) eating a rocket.

    Reply

  2. Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

    June 22, 2016 at 12:36

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    June 22, 2016 at 12:37

    Happy Quake b/day! Way better than onion ring day.

    Reply

  4. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    June 22, 2016 at 12:46

    Will never ever forget I first saw a Quake demo, was on my way to the movies one night and walked past a PC store. They had this on display on a demo machine. Probably gawked too long as security thought I was casing the place.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

      June 22, 2016 at 13:10

      Did you see that? (waits for response)

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        June 22, 2016 at 13:20

        no?

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

          June 22, 2016 at 13:31

          SOMEONE UPVOTED YOU!

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            June 22, 2016 at 13:37

            o/

          • R1ker

            June 22, 2016 at 16:51

            xD

  5. Jac7

    June 22, 2016 at 12:49

    And somehow it has aged better than I have.

    Reply

  6. Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

    June 22, 2016 at 12:52

    I remember playing quake at the very lowest resolution, as the PC I had at that stage did not have the oemf to run it

    Reply

  7. Geoffrey Tim

    June 22, 2016 at 13:01

    I remember getting a an Nvidia Riva TNT (which didn’t support OpenGL) and having to use a GLide wrapper to run quake.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

      June 22, 2016 at 13:02

      I used to have the TNT2 (if memory serves correctly)

      Reply

      • Deceased

        June 22, 2016 at 13:09

        Same

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

          June 22, 2016 at 13:13

          I was the gaming lord of my circle of buddies back then with that thing

          Reply

      • Greylingad[He Charges!]

        June 22, 2016 at 13:16

        You guys had it TNT2’s!? I had a Voodoo Banshee, that thing….Yoh….

        Reply

        • R1ker

          June 22, 2016 at 16:49

          Awe – so did I. Voodoo banshee pci card. But my quake memories only started with quake 2. Never owned the first one. Think i played the demo or shareware one of quake 1 at the time

          Reply

  8. Greylingad[He Charges!]

    June 22, 2016 at 13:05

    By the time Quake was released, my brother in law, who was my LAN buddy at that stage, had just bought himself a new PC, which drove my sister mad, because me and him used to play this, literally, into the morning hours…on weekdays…

    Reply

  9. Deceased

    June 22, 2016 at 13:09

    Man oh man – probably the first FPS game I played on PC ( also the reason why I realised PC was superior trololol ).
    Picking Bones with the skeletal skin because he’s harder to see ( not the glowing blue Bones model )
    Spending hours and hours learning how to properly rocket-jump after seeing some guy in the CyberCafe do it
    Figuring out that you can rail someone when propelling yourself with rocket-jump
    After so long believing that I should increase my mouse speed to perfect the rocket-rail, realising ( by accident ) that lower speeds = better precision
    Man this game shaped my FPS playstyle / skill

    (
    This nostalgia is also the reason why I’m seriously, seriously hoping that that don’t go and fuck Quake up with this “Champions” that is attached – I can’t see how it would work, I guess that’s my main reason for being apprehensive – I mean, the beauty of Quake lies with killing someone and scavenging their weapon – being free to play how you want – having champions in the game means they’ll have to force balance on you somehow, and the first thing that comes to mind is locking a weapon to a “champion”, or a class of weapon to a champion class – that would destroy Quake in my opinion 🙁
    )

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      June 22, 2016 at 13:20

      DOOM was my first fps, back when the best thing on console was still Mario Bros. 2

      Reply

  10. HvR

    June 22, 2016 at 13:34

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