Quake Zero not actually in web-browser
Just launches from there.
Quake Zero has been billed as a free, browser-based game of Quake 3 Arena supported by advertising revenue, but those of you worried that it'll be written in Java or something can rest easy - id's Steve Nix tells us it just uses the browser to get going.
As we bumbled inarticulately through a question about Quake Zero during our QuakeCon interview (yes we're still transcribing it), Nix cut across us: "Well, it'll be launched from a web browser. It's not going to be written in Java or really running in the web browser."
We pointed out that the first reaction on our comment thread was: 'Please. Not. Flash.' "Right," he said, laughing. "That's not going to happen."
Nix promised that Quake Zero would be very quick to load. "It's modified to have a front-end in a web-browser where you launch the game. And they've already done a lot of the architectural work - the way the game loads - where it's primarily just shifting the file structures and everything, but the game loads very very quickly, so basically you've never played it on a given machine, you can go to the web-browser, click 'play' and almost instantly get into a game.
"Though it is loading to your machine in the background, there's not going to be a lot of wait time or an install process and everything."
Speaking on Friday following its announcement, John Carmack said Quake Zero would be a starter project for id's brand new second development team, which has been seeded with company veterans and will eventually embark on a full Quake Arena product based on id Tech 5.
"It may work, it may not," he said of Quake Zero. "[But] I think there's at least the possibility that we could see millions of people play this."
For more of our QuakeCon coverage, check out the QuakeCon 2007 coverage page. Right, back to Nix. He's a talker!