After suffering numerous delays, Quake Arena Arcade is finally coming to Xbox Live this fall. The delay occurred primarily due to the acquisition of id Software by Zenimax Media last June. The downloadable game includes 45 total maps, 15 of which are brand-new ones built specifically for the XBLA release. The remaining 30 have been taken from Quake III: Arena.
It's unfortunate that this game will be played with a gamepad as Quake III: Arena has always been known for it's intense fast twitch game play, but a quick look into the past reveals how awesome this game was when played on the Sega Dreamcast or the Sony Playstation 2. These console ports may not have had the same accuracy seen on the PC version, or as smooth a framerate, but they still managed to capture the excellent game play as well as offering four player split screen so you can enjoy fragging your friends in the same room.
Porting Quake III: Arena to the Xbox 360 will breath some life into this timeless classic while at the same time dishing out a meaty treat for the starved fans of Xbox Live Arcade. Let's just hope this isn't the last id classic to be released on Arcade. One thing we can be sure of is that the Arcade version of Quake III will offer a smooth framerate and full 1080p support. One feature I can't seem to get a solid story on tho is if it will include split screen multiplayer. Considering this game is more suited for a mouse and has a free to play online version out titled Quake Live, if it lacks the splitscreen it won't sell nearly as well as the Doom titles have on Arcade, which could leave developers with a bad taste in their mouths and the thoughts that porting PC classics to Arcade is a bad idea when in reality it was simply leaving out a very crucial feature that would hurt sales, not the title it's self.
Unfortunately if it does lack splitscreen support, even tho I feel the Quake series is one of the greatest of all time, I won't waste my MS points just to twirl my thumbs alone in my living room when I can have more fun at the computer with my razor mouse in hand and the option to play with all my friends, not just the ones willing to fork out the cash to buy the Xbox Arcade version.
Quake Arena Arcade should be released sometime early this month.