Quake 2
Quake 2 is id Software's sequel to Quake. The development of Quake 2 was somewhat analogous to the development of Doom 2. John Carmack creates an engine the revolutionizes first-person shooting games, and the rest of id works diligently to create levels and monsters to showcase the engine. Then, over the course of a year or so, id works to perfect the existing engine and creates new levels and monsters that push the engine to its most exciting and enjoyable extremes. Just as Doom paled in comparison to Doom 2, many expected Quake 2 to "rule the cosmos," even in the face of growing competition from other software companies. Unlike Doom 2, however, Quake 2 has added an amazing amount of new technology: integrated client prediction (as in QuakeWorld); colored lighting; vastly increased support for multiplayer gaming, and totally new weapons, monsters, and levels. There can be little argument that Quake 2 will set the standard in this genre.
In the early morning of October 19, 1997, at an unannounced IRC party attended by hundreds of Quake fans, the first demo of Quake 2 was released to the public. This first demo did not support multiplayer games, but it did contain a complete hub of levels that revealed the dramatic changes encompassed in Quake 2. Activision, the distributor of Quake Mission Packs #1 and #2, as well as Hexen 2, will be distributing Quake 2.
Quake 2 was released in North America on December 9, 1997. The members of id Software have been working continuously to improve Quake 2. The retail version is 3.05, but this patch will add the necessary files for version 3.14. Since the current version is not compatible with 3.05, it is very important to get the patch.
On March 14, 1998, the kind folks at id Software released the full demo of Quake 2. This is a huge demo that has muli-player deathmatch and co-op support, as well as many levels of single-player bliss. You can download this 40 mb file here.
Spotlight
In an ever increasing sea of Quake 2 news sites, Quake2.Com has lived up to its original motto: "The Source on Quake 2." This news page covers everything related to Q2, and some things that are not directly related but still relevant to the development of the game. Stop by Quake2.Com first for your daily dose of Q2 news. The site is by Darryl Ashton and Ismail Saeed.
Several other good sites have arisen to keep the Quake Community apprised of Quake 2 news. Impulse 2 is a large Q2 site by DnV that has a detailed FAQ and a wealth of information. Many other Quake 2 sites can be found at the Quake 2 page of Slipgate Central.
Last update: March 14, 1998
This page is maintained by Darren L. Tabor,
aka DaKoTa