id Software's Graeme "Zaphod" Devine updated his .plan with word on the release of the test version of Quake III Arena, which he says is "getting closer." Here's the word (ooh, more pop culture: The Matrix... I'm unstoppable!):

We're getting closer to releasing the test version of Quake 3 Arena. It's worth going over our expectations from the test vs. the world's expectations from the test. I appreciate all the voice mails, faxes, and emails with suggestions, death threats, and comments, and I do read each and every one of them. I try to respond to a lot of them, but obviously I can't respond to them all.

At this point, we still have no release date on the test. We're testing builds here and at Activision and continuing to go through cycles. As soon as feedback from both internal testing and our testers at Activision dies down, we'll be ready, but while this is providing heavy reports, as it still is today, we're still not ready to come out with the public test.

There will be two maps in the test; these maps will also be in the final product. The feedback we're looking for is specific to the technology in the test. We're pretty happy with the design, and feedback on things like weapon switch times, models, gibs, and so forth are not things we'll pay as much attention to as real issues with the technology. We're looking closely at modem, ISDN, and cable play to see how our new network code works, and how that works when a bunch of different connections are playing together on the same server. We're anxious to gauge server load and use with the maps we have to see how the server works under heavy use, and to make sure we've got a lot of the new client/server communication working reliably and securely.

That said, we do and will watch you play, read the message boards, and try to gauge feedback. But the main thing to remember is that this is a test technology build, not a demo, there will be a demo, we plan on a demo, but this is a test. A lot of you will want to wait on the demo rather than playing the test.

The test will be on all three platforms, Mac, Linux and Win32. We're still working on minimum and recommended specs. There are no bots in the test. We do plan on revving the test once it's out at regular intervals to get fixes out there.

There is no spoon.