Quake IV 'too early to show'

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 June, 2004

Id Software is 'happy' with Raven's work on Quake IV, but isn't prepared to show the FPS at QuakeCon.

Id Software has indicated that Quake IV, currently in development at Raven Software under Id's supervision, will not appear at this year's QuakeCon event, despite some apparent expectation to the contrary.

However Id CEO Todd Hollenshead and designer Tim Willits have both indicated that it's not a question of the game coming in below par. "We've been happy with what they've done, but it's too early to show," Willits said of the PC FPS in CNN/Money's Game Over column.

"We've been trying not to whip people into a frenzy with [Quake IV]. When we show the game, we want it to be something that's really impressive for the people who have been waiting for it," Hollenshead added.

Expectation of a QuakeCon unveiling for the Raven title apparently grew after last year's Doom 3 multiplayer test, when Id surprised a few people by showing off the highly anticipated FPS's four-player deathmatch mode at the annual Quake convention.

For now at least, Quake IV remains something of an unknown quantity - the only real glimpse of the game coming in the shape of a few pieces of concept artwork that appeared on the net last July, prompting Id to threaten to shut out any website or magazine that republished them.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • kingmob #1 8 years ago

    First I've heard of Quake 4... talk about being behind the times :)

    Glad to hear that Raven are behind it though. I've always thought that the Quake games themselves sucked big time but Raven have managed to do some great things with the Quake engines.

  • Blerk #2 8 years ago

    Quake == rubbish. :-)

  • skalmanxl #3 8 years ago

    Blerk === Worse then Hitler :p

  • Blerk #4 8 years ago

    At what? Quake? :-)

  • skalmanxl #5 8 years ago

    Opinion wise of course. You don't like Mega Man either.

  • Blerk #6 8 years ago

    You're right! It's rubbish! :-)

  • jellyhead #7 8 years ago

    Quake IV, MP only, yawn.

  • skalmanxl #8 8 years ago

    Quake IV, MP only, yawn.

    Um...no...it's SP only. The sequel to Quake 2.

  • jellyhead #9 8 years ago

    Skalmanxl - Um...no...it's SP only. The sequel to Quake 2.

    ooooh, then i'm interested again!
    i was re-reading old pc mags and this was mentioned in one, said it was MP only, i'm glad they were wrong!
    Quake IV - Yay! \0/

  • Blerk #10 8 years ago

    They should do a Quake/Megaman cross-over game. That would SUCK as well. ;-)

  • pjmaybe #11 8 years ago

    They could call it Quega Man!

    That's actually not a bad title!

    Peej

  • speedjack #12 8 years ago

    Gotta say - the artwork and boss models for this looked amazing.

    Can't wait. Anyone know if this I'll be on Xbox too ?

  • skalmanxl #13 8 years ago

    I don't think multiplayer is completley ruled out by either id Softwware or Raven, correct me if I'm wrong here.

    But on the other hand, John Carmack himself have stated that the Doom 3-engine is not suited for high paced action games with lots of frames per second. But more for singleplayer games. This due to the strain put on the CPU and the 3d cards with all the eye candy.

  • buzz #14 8 years ago

    Not releasing an MP component to Quake IV will undoubtedly ruin Raven.

    The sole reason why there's still so many people playing q1 is the multiplayer aspect.

    If it's not gonna be Quake as it was intended, change the name.

  • Ludwig #15 8 years ago

    Raven may have made a decent level pack for Quake once but they hardly have a reputation for making filmic single player gameplay - generating the feeling you got in the canyons in Serious Sam, or the treetops in Far Cry or under a cow in Call of Duty. They make decent action games. Their proudest moment in SoF was getting the guts to spill, which is right up id's death metal aesthetic alley of course. The sight of all these hardcore deathmatch types getting excited about the prospects of making a game with some atmosphere and emotional complexity makes me think of Jean Claude Van Damme trying his hand at directing.

  • MikeD #16 8 years ago

    I see you haven't playes Elite Force. :-).


    Also Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2 were very good games, imo. I think their proudest moment in those games were the fun and the tension, not just the gratuitous violence.

  • Ludwig #17 8 years ago

    Dammit I have been discovered ;-) Ok I admit I reserved my harshest criticism for the games that I had not played, only read about. I am in fact basing my entire analysis of them on their Jedi Knight games and the fact that they employ 'Levelord'. Still strong points, but maybe without the universal appeal I was trying for.

  • MikeD #18 8 years ago

    I must admit, I am also not a huge fan of the jedi knight games.


    Well, let me rephrase that: I loved Dark Forces, and Dark Forces 2 was decent enough. After that it got dull for me.

    But I'm sure for a Quake game they'll get a lot more development time, so I am hopeful.

  • Ludwig #19 8 years ago

    I loved all the Jedi Knight series up until Raven decided to Quake them up. You felt like you were in the middle of an epic, and it wasn't because of all the SW nerdery but because the game was full of huge encounters taking place in vast spaces. Then along came the Quake shoebox world and bang went the epic scale.

    I really wish someone had licensed the Serious Sam engine for a Jedi Knight game, much better fit I reckon.

  • MikeD #20 8 years ago

    Possibly, Serious Sam did indeed have grand atmosphere.

    I also think a huge beautiful star wars world could be created with the Farcry engine.

  • HarryB #21 8 years ago

    oh crap they are using the doom 3 engine, that things a piece of crap... its such an ugly engine now compared to half life 2 or far cry

    its a complete resource hog too from what ive heard, thats why quake 3 is still popular, anything can run it!

  • suj #22 8 years ago

    i could run q3 on a P120 with a monster 3d...

    when it was first released this was all i had. doom 3 however on the system i have now is another story ;/

    i hate having to upgrade for games - i find a lot of the time its very unsatisfying - unless someone else is paying :)