Quake 3 Arena for XBLA is 'very close' to being finished

Despite being first spotted on the ESRB's leak-prone website nearly two years ago, and officially confirmed at QuakeCon over 18 months ago, id's John Carmack assures us that Pi Studios – developers behind the Xbox Live Arcade release of classic multiplayer shooter Quake 3 Arena – is "actually very close to finishing that up." He didn't identify any specific reasons for the delay, but said that the developer had "different things come up at different times" like having to "shift people onto different projects."

With Quake Live finally opening its doors to the public today, we asked if the two development teams – at both Pi and id Software – shared any insights into updating the FPS staple. Quake Live producer Marty Stratton said they shared "where it's made sense" – think "gameplay changes," "some ... new content," and some "new character skins" but not the newer, "more PC-centric" arenas. If they can get the finished game in front of Microsoft "within a month or two" like Carmack estimates, we may get multiple Quake 3 fixes within the year.

Check back later today for our full interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton.