Quake

Quake is a series of First Person Shooter games created by iD Software for PC platforms, then later ported to multiple home computer and console platforms both commercially and by loyal fanbase of programmers. The early games cemented the importance of the FPS genre as both a commercially lucrative enterprise and as a driving force behind video-game technology, featuring fully 3D content and expansive multi-player capable systems. Products in the Quake video-game series include:

• Quake
• Quake II
• Quake III Arena
• Quake IV
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Quake and Half-Life

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Quake's lack of narrative pioneering spirit is perhaps epitomized by the patchy universe it takes place in: Whilst Quake II, Quake IV and Quake Wars are concerned with a futuristic space-conflict between Humanity and a Bio-mechanical race known as the Strogg, The original Quake has an entirely unrelated story involving portals to a hellish, gothic realm reminiscent of Doom. Quake III Arena also appears to take place in an alternate reality, albeit one that combines elements of not only the two unrelated Quakes, but the DOOM games as well.

The financial success of the Quake brand and technology became the driving force behind iD Software's continuing success when the DOOM brand was temporarily retired. Quake's importance peaked with the multiplayer only Quake III Arena, which built upon iD Software's reputation for cutting edge technology and violent multi-participant death matching, and met with significant success despite strong competition in the form of Epic Games' Unreal Tournament and the emerging ultra-popularity of Counter-Strike. Despite this success, subsequent games in the series have been handed to associated developers using iD Tech meant for iD's own games in non-Quake IPs.

Quake, like DOOM before it, was a breeding ground for development talent, and many key Valve Software team members have been plucked from Quake's impressive user-content community. Most famously, Robin Walker and John Cook were employed by Valve after creating Team Fortress, resulting in the creation of Team Fortress Classic and eventually the commercial Team Fortress 2 at Valve.

In August 2007, the Quake series and other iD Software titles were added to Valve Software's Steam application after continuing good relations between the two companies.

Quake and halflife2.net

Preceding the original Half-Life by a matter of years, the original Quake is generally not criticized in terms that would suggest it is a direct competitor to Half-Life, and their shared technology makes the games both fondly considered by halfelife2.net members. Quake II is similarly regarded, though it is sometimes considered as a prime example of the kind of game Half-Life was developed as a reaction to. Opinions on Quake III Arena aren't especially significant, given that the game offers a significantly different experience to Valve's own Multiplayer titles