When Raven Software's long-in-development Wolfenstein (remember when it was an Xbox 360 timed exclusive back in 2005?) finally hits store shelves this August, it'll mark the end of an era ...

... oh no! Not of Wolfenstein games – there are plenty more of those coming – but of outside developers working on id Software's hallowed franchises. John Carmack told Joystiq today that bringing external development back in-house at id is "exactly what's going to be happening." Carmack says that while id's had some hits (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory springs to mind) and some misses (Enemy Territory: Quake Wars springs to mind) the externally developed titles haven't "had the same record that our internally developed titles have." We'd have to agree with him there.

With the lead team cranking on Rage for EA Partners, they created a second development team to work on Doom 4, with a still-formative third team currently toiling away on Quake Live. "We'll have three teams," Carmack told us. "We'll have Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, and Rage and one of them will be taking a vacation each cycle and that will depend on what we want to be doing each time." So don't worry, you'll have plenty of all of the above to go around.

We understand that much of the appeal for id's free-to-play browser shooter Quake Live comes from the rich veins of nostalgia that lie therein -- but that doesn't mean we don't expect the game to improve upon the franchise's roots. Fortunately, id Software just clued in their forumgoers to a few welcome additions coming to Live in an update that's due out mid-May -- an update that will bring new maps, tutorial modes and better mid-match team balancing.

However, the forum post also mentioned a ton of changes they're planning on rolling out in the near future, like the addition of Mac and Linux support, private servers and matches, and the revivification of awards and leaderboards. For further details on their plans for improvement, check out id's latest forum update!

[Via Big Download]

When it comes to digital distribution on consoles, American McGee feels that the model "still has some evolving to do." The game designer -- whose credits include Alice as well as Doom and Quake -- recently told Geek.com that while his ambitious 24-episode experiment Grimm could be ported over to such platforms as Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, the process needs some work before that would happen.

"Porting this sort of stuff is straightforward," claimed McGee, who added that "the biggest issue" sits with the platforms' content approval and distribution model. XBLA's certification process has long proved a cumbersome hurdle for developers, with McGee noting,"When a single title might take months to get through review and approval (take Braid, as an example), pushing 24 episodes through would translate to years of approval process."

McGee is currently spinning his creative wheels on the recently announced sequel to Alice, a property that's also been mentioned in movie circles for some time. The rights currently sit with producer Scott Faye, who was responsible for 2008's big screen take on Max Payne, a film McGee lambasted, saying, "I wasn't able to sit through the entire thing ... I just couldn't connect to the film version." You, sir, were not alone.

[Via 1UP]

Imagine our surprise today when we tried to log into Quake Live for our usual 10 a.m. session of noob-fraggin' therapy, only to discover the image above. id has decided to do away with rocket jumping and replace it with epic mount riding, as it has revealed World of Quake Live. Much like the game of a similar name, this title promises epic mounts with up to four weapon slots (you can stack them with four BFGs!), as well as a new leveling system. Oh, and Aspir from Ludicrous Speed calls this the "best game evar." You should listen. Dude totally knows what he's talking about.

With another GDC already underway, a new contender has announced plans to jump into the console market ... well, sort of. Enter Tectoy and its 3D network-based console, the Zeebo, which relies purely on downloadable games (from the grave, the Phantom says, "Sup?"). The Zeebo will reportedly launch in Brazil this July and then in other similar markets in the following months.

At launch, the console will reportedly come preloaded with the mobile games Quake, Evil Prey and Action Hero 3D. Before any of us could cry foul, the manufacturers have said the Zeebo isn't meant to compete with the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3. The console will have a constant, free-of-charge connection to a 3G network courtesy of Tectoy's partner, Claro, one of the largest cellular providers in the Americas. According to the console's specs revealed at Engadget, the system will focus less on power and more on providing content to developing and emerging regions -- specifically through downloadable channels to combat rampant piracy.

Capcom, EA Mobile, Namco Networks, PopCap Games and THQ have already confirmed support for the emerging console. Games for Tectoy's Zeebo will range in price from 7 to 30BRL (about $7 to $13) with the console priced at 599BRL (about $264) -- a bargain compared to prices of current generation consoles in the target markets.

Gone is the nuisance of Quake Live's pesky queue, as word hits via the Quake Live twitter feed that id has removed the long lines that have plagued the still-in-beta game since it opened to the public last week. We hopped on to give it a look ourselves and id has delivered. Jumping into a game only took us a few seconds and we found the experience of playing was nothing short of stable. So, head on over and frag somebody already!

Alright, enough. Stop. You can lay off the F5 button and cease your (frankly) childish refreshing of www.quakelive.com. The public beta of Quake Live – promised to be available today – is finally live and, unless you live somewhere not in the vicinity of Dallas-based id's timezone, it's still today and not tomorrow yet. Our advice to the Windows gamers reading this, in bullet point format for easy skimmability.

1. Stop reading this post.
2. Register for a Quake Live account.
3. Return to this post and share your username in the comments.
   
4. RAILGUN THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYONE ON JOYSTIQ!
5. Make sure you did Step 4 in Quake Live and not in real life. Just a reminder, not really a step.
6. [Update: Get in line ... yeah, there's a queue folks. Good things come to those who wait, right?]

Open betas are all the rage, and next week, id Software's free, browser-based FPS, Quake Live, is getting in on the trend. First announced as Quake Zero in August 2007, the game is derived from the classic Quake III Arena. The official site has been updated with a countdown (so in), wallpapers and the February 24 date.

Quake Live is ad-supported, with levels containing prominently placed billboards. The game is currently a Windows-only affair, with id promising that Mac and Linux versions are in the works. While everyone is welcome to join the open beta, we're betting on the registration servers having a little trouble come next Tuesday. F5 keys at the ready!

[Via Big Download]

So, according to John Carmack, id has turned down offers from publishers who wanted to create massively multiplayer version of Quake. Why? Well, to put it pretty bluntly, Carmack (and, by extension, id) doesn't have any interest in making one.

So, what do you think the biggest news here is? Is it that this a Quake MMO isn't going to happen? We don't think so. We're far more concerned that some publisher somewhere thought that making a Quake MMO was a good idea. Dearest game publishers, please don't think that "MMO" actually stands for "Tons of Free Money." It's because of that kind of thinking that Richard Garriott had to pick up a second job at Toys 'R' Us.

John Carmack loves his iPhone, so much so that the id Software co-founder has been spending a lot of time lately thinking of ways to bring his studio's tech-hungry game development to Apple's pricey portable. Forbes reports that Carmack, who still kicks himself for not having a game available for the device at launch, is currently planning to bring one of the dev's existing franchises to the iPhone as a "graphical tour de force."

But as for which one, the company isn't saying just yet, though given that the recently launched id Mobile division already has Doom RPG and the forthcoming Wolfenstein RPG to its credit, we wouldn't be at all surprised if Carmack will bring Quake or some flavor of Rage to the small screen as well. What's more, he's apparently considering the idea of tackling the MMO market on the iPhone down the line, though he admits that he's being "conservative" and doesn't "want to be in a bet-the-company situation" just yet. Even so, as Carmack looks for ways to push the phone's visual fidelity, we take solace in the fact that for once we won't have to upgrade our video card just to play with his latest toy.

First it was Quake Zero, then it became Quake Live, and now we have a fresh new look at Quake Arena, id's free-to-play, browser-based iteration of Quake III Arena. As you'd expect, the visuals are decidedly simple, but still stylish nonetheless. We noticed a few instances of gameshow-like billboards peppered throughout levels; while they simply read "Quake Live" in the video, it's likely these are placeholders for in-game advertising.

The trailer beckons viewers to QuakeLive.com for more info, but the site is still serving the sole purpose of a gateway for beta signups. From what's shown in the footage, it will eventually become a very robust matching and ranking component of the game. With QuakeCon kicking off in just a couple of weeks we expect to find out more details soon.

If you've been waiting for someone to hold your hand through the Wii homebrew process, the folks at WiiHD have created the perfect guide for you, complete with step-by-step instructions, a downloadable starter kit with everything you need, and a video (embedded after the break) that shows you the process from installation, all the way to a trial version of Quake I. It doesn't get much easier than this.

[Via Engadget]

As of right now, homebrewers have the upper hand against Nintendo, and it is possible to run whatever you feel like running on the Wii you own -- even on a recently updated Wii. Now would be a good time to go try some of the stuff that people have come up with. But maybe you feel like you don't know where to start, or don't have whatever technical skills are required to make Wii Quake happen.

Much like we did on DS Fanboy for homebrew on that system, WiiHD has created a step-by-step guide to Wii homebrew, starting with the Twilight Hack. Follow these instructions, and you'll have the Homebrew Channel, ready and waiting to run your programs. If following three pages of instructions is too much for your fast-paced lifestyle, they've even put together a Starter Kit containing all the software you'll need, including the Twilight Hack and Homebrew Channel files, Quake, and an Amstrad emulator with public-domain games.

[Via Engadget]

This very detailed Simpsons Quake III mod is pretty old (video added December 2007), but we never covered it then, and the video is too pretty to miss. (Via Boing Boing; thanks, Jason C) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
The best of WoW Insider: June 17-24, 2008
A Dark Past: An Alone in the Dark Retrospective
Joystiq hands-on: Hasbro Family Game Night
Joystiq interviews Mark Lamia of Treyarch and Call of Duty the Fifth
Joyswag: C&C 3: Kane's Wrath (Xbox 360) giveaway, Day Two
Metareview (Euro Edition) -- Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360, PS3)
Podcast Rodeo for June 24: One without ear
Scared stiff: Why should we care about Dead Space?

News
Frontlines gets free map on Xbox Live
PSA: PSN going down for scheduled maintenance, not 2.4 update
Double D Dodgeball coming to XBLA on July 30
PlayStation 3's cost to Sony so far: $3.32 billion
OMGS4: Sales exceed 1 million in Europe during first week
Left 4 Dead 4 November
Spore getting $80 'Galactic Edition'
EA Sports peripherals due in next year, bundled
DICE currently working on 5 Battlefield games
Crave leaves ESA, still showing at E3
Safecracker to open on Wii this fall
Jaffe: Marvel games need more narrative focus
Delman replacing Bell as Microsoft VP of global marketing
Don King Prizefighter demo on Xbox Live
Ed Boon clarifies Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe fatalities
Ubisoft opening new studio in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Miyamoto's quality control: Ninten-do what Sega doesn't
Ubisoft wants 'anticipation' for Assassin's Creed 2
Watch some Tales of Vesperia in Japanese
Sins publisher Stardock keeps piracy 'in perspective'

Rumors & Speculation
Blizzard teaser image is mysterious, evolving
Rumor: God of War III to be shown at E3
Rumor: Kratos in PS3 version of Soul Calibur IV

Culture & Community
Dead Space Animated Comic: Issue 3
Accessorize your gamer with retro badges and a purse

It took quite a bit of finagling, but the devs over at Drunken Coders have finally ported Quake II to the Nintendo DS. The homebrewed version contains the entire single-player game, and retains a number of fancy features like dynamic lighting, particle support, and a full ARM7 sound effects system.

According to the devs, creating Quake2DS was quite the audacious task, as the original Quake II had memory requirements that far exceeded the DS's limitations. As a result, the port will only run on flash carts with RAM expansions. Those willing to give it a go will find relevant instructions and files on the port's website.