Playing Quake Online

We host a dedicated server running instances of Quake (Quakeworld), Quake II and Quake III Arena at play.quake.ie

If you fire up any of these games and type connect play.quake.ie at the console, you'll be fragging online in no time! The game servers run FFA games Monday to Friday, and at the weekends switch to Capture The Flag (CTF) mode. Also note that on on Wednesdays we run Generations Arena rather than the usual Quake III Arena FFA match (mixes things up a bit).

See the Download menu (above) for files you may need to play. If you need to discuss a game in advance with other players, you can use our IRC Channel #quake.ie at irc.quakenet.org

Below are details of each game we host, how to play the web based Quake Live, and a list of other Quake-related game servers hosted in Ireland.

Quakeworld

QuakeWorld is an Internet multi-player specific version of the classic shoot 'em up Quake. While the original version of Quake can be played over the internet, the majority of players have had less than satisfactory play. Symptoms like excessive lag - actions actually happening much later than you did them; packet loss - the game would freeze and resume several seconds later; and various other difficulties plagued users. After realizing how many people played Quake on the internet, and how many wanted to, but couldn't due to the play being unsatisfactory, John Carmack of id Software decided to create a version of the game that was optimized for the average Internet player. This Internet specific version does only 1 thing, play deathmatch games over a TCP/IP network such as the Internet. It has no support for solo play, and you can't do anything without connecting to a special "dedicated" server, like ours.


Now in it's second generation, QuakeWorld has been sculpted by countless hours of user feedback and tweaking to provide the best multi-player experience that can be had from the equipment the average gamer will have. All that is required to use QuakeWorld is a registered version of Quake (purchase on Steam), and a good QuakeWorld client program (such as nquake).

Quake II

Quake II released on December 9, 1997, is a first person shooter computer game developed by id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake as such; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in acquiring a trademark for alternative titles. The soundtrack for Quake 2 was mainly provided by Sonic Mayhem, with some additional tracks by Bill Brown. Quake 2 was extremely well-received, by reviewers and gamers alike. It was called "The Best Game Ever" by PC Gamer, and went on to sell over one million copies. The multiplayer component of the game was the most played game online for several years and is partly responsible for the popularity of online gaming that you see today! 

Quake III Arena

Quake III Arena is a multiplayer first-person shooter computer and video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly. Quake III Arena is the third title in the series and differs from the previous games in the Quake series in that it excludes the normal single-player element, instead focusing upon multiplayer action.

Quake Live

Quake Live is the online only version of Quake III: Gold which includes Quake III and its expansion Team Arena. Quake Live is only available through a web browser, sites like this one cannot run dedicated servers and you don't need to purchase any game discs for your PC. The supported browsers are: Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 2+, and Safari 3+ running on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4+ and Linux. The game is not using any Flash plug-ins (rather the software is a modified version of Quake III Arena executed as native compiled code to support better gameplay).

This video shows how you can join Quake Live. It will guide your through the basics of the game, explaining how to complete the training, how the Skill Check was developed and what you should now before joining the game. This video is also available on the official Quake Live website.

Quake Live requires an active account on the official website. This is the first step you need in order to play this game. In order to do this you have to:

  • Visit the official website: http://www.quakelive.com;
  • Click the Register button;
  • Insert the required fields: email, name tag, password, birth date and the security code;
  • Check the TOS (Terms and Conditions) area;
  • Click the Register button.
  • As soon as the account is created a new window will open and the game client download will start.
  • Select the path where you want to download the program and click Save.
  • After the download is finished, launch the application by clicking on it.
  • As soon as the plug-in is installed, check your account page.
  • A Game Content Update will start. Please wait several minutes (depending on your internet connection) while the update is finished.
  • After the update is finished click Play Now.

Additional Content is downloaded in the background. You don’t have to wait for the entire game to be downloaded.

Now, that Quake Live is installed on your computer you should complete the training lessons. No matter how skilled you are in this game, the Skill Test should be completed, so the servers could find some matching opponents for you. Otherwise, you will play with more skilled players. As soon as your training is complete head to the Practice Mode. In this mode you will have the chance to test your gaming skills against bots.

When complete, you can join the fights. When you choose your game, make sure you check the skill of the current battle. If you qualify for that game, you will see a green mark in the right corner of the window. You will also see the country and the city that is hosting that battle. At the top of the game selection, the arenas you qualify for are marked as Best Pick.

Quake Live will always track your statistics. On your profile page you can check your achievements; you can add or delete friends and many more. Your profile page will also display your favorite weapons, accuracy with each weapon you used, your favorite arenas, awards and even deaths. Enjoy!

Other Servers

Other Irish Servers runnning Quake or any of it's variants. Contact us to have your sever included in this list.