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Quake III code due for release

Some time this week, apparently.

id Software's John Carmack has announced that the source code for Quake III is due for a release under the GPL some time this week, according to US website IGN.

Speaking at the QuakeCon event in Texas on Friday, Carmack said he's looking to encourage "creativity in the development environment", but stressed, "It's not about the magic source code that's there... It's about the execution."

He went on to discuss the evolution of mobile phone gaming, stating that the latest handsets have the power to run games which are almost up to the standard of handheld consoles. However, Carmack said, there may only be a "one to two-year window" before handhelds take another leap forward and leave mobiles in the dust. He also suggested that the PSP could be capable of running games based on the Q3 engine, rather excitingly.

As we reported previously, Carmack is currently hard at work on a Doom RPG for mobile phones - described as a turn-based tile combat game that's "sort of Bard's Tale meets Doom." More news when we get it.