Quake Wars News

For those of you wanting to frag in style, the gaming system gurus at GameRigs have launched a brand-new line of gaming desktops and laptops based on Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. Clad in custom game artwork, the systems boast top-of-the-line components supplied by NVIDIA, Intel, and Crucial.

But rather than just slapping a game logo on a case, the guys also include ETQW mousepads and the official strategy guide with each of the systems, and even pre-install a copy of the game, so you can hop straight into the action when you get your new PC. Best of all, you can get $300 off for a limited time by using the coupon code QUAKECON08.

Finally, if you prefer to live a tad later in the QUAKE timeline, all the GameRigs hardware also comes QUAKE 4-flavored. And if you're a console gamer yearning for some QUAKE goodness, GameRigs also has you covered with these rather pretty Xbox 360 and PS3 skins.

Snap to Grid, Splash Damage's regular look at up-and-coming user-created content for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, is back with another installment! This week, ETQW Mapping's lead singer Terry 'Salteh' Seidler focuses on Spirit Speedway, a map for the hotly anticipated Wheels of War mod for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, and its objective-driven twin Free Spirit City. To top it all off, Salteh also manages to update us on the progress of three of the most popular user-made maps currently in development for the game. Click here to get reading!

The latest Splash Damage round-up is here, bringing you the latest musings from the jolly chaps behind Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars in condensed list form:

• Games 5s Football Tournament - The Splash Damage Story
  The MCV & Xbox 360 Games 5s Football Tournament was an unprecedented emotional rollercoaster for the Splash Damage squad, christened "Fire Team Alpha" by community member mortis. This blog update re-tells the gut-wrenching story of the tournament in word and pictures.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Arne Olav 'ao' Hallingstad
  Gameplay programmer Arne Olav 'ao' Hallingstad makes a surprise appearance in this staff interview. Arne came to Splash Damage via the mod team route and shares his story along with many other details about himself in this interview.
• Currently Hurling Mice/Controllers At... Braid: Bad Company
  In a more or less vain attempt to prove that game developers are gamers, too, we share what games we've been playing lately here at Splash Damage. Braid and Battlefield: Bad Company may or may not be featured.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Jiri 'JFK' Kristek
  Production Coordinator Jiri 'JFK' Kristek and his brain feature in this installment of our on-going series of staff interviews. Jiri looks after our oh-so-delicate art team to make sure they have what they need to be super creative and such.

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The Group Thing, a multi-gaming community spanning several games including Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, has successfully launched into the depths of the intertubes. Sponsored by Direct Clan Hosting and Rackage, The Group Thing aims to provide servers and leagues for gamers wanting to play in a friendly environment in the vain of the now-defunct Barrysworld. The Group Thing's Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars league is said to be coming soon along with actual prizes - for more on this, keep an eye on their website, where you can also register a free account to join their community.

DemonWare will be conducting some emergency maintenance on their cluster of game authentication servers tomorrow, which includes the login servers for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. This sounds worse than it actually is - the issue in question involves a software update for one of the routers and is not expected to disrupt the service for more than 5 minutes. If you're connecting to the master server via Telia routes, you may be disconnected during that time, but if all goes well, the maintenance should go without a hitch and you won't notice a thing.

While out at QuakeCon 2008, Splash Damage ambassadors Jared 'jRAD' Hefty and Dave 'ducks' Johnston were dragged away by the EnemyTerritory.tv crew for a video interview featuring not just one, but in fact both of them. The dynamic duo discusses a variety of things, including the typical process a game update for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars has to go through, the value of large-scale beta tests, the ETQW console versions, and a rather hotly anticipated fruit analogy. You can grab the interview in a variety of flavors over here on the EnemyTerritory.tv website.

The third and final part of Splash Damage's adventures at QuakeCon 2008 is now up on the Splash Damage blog. Dave 'ducks' Johnston and his faithful companion Jared 'jRAD' cover the grand finale of the event, including their soon-to-be-posted interview with enemyterritory.tv, the QuakeCon finals, and the wrap-up party. Set sails!

If you haven't already, don't forget to check out the updates for day 1 and day 2!

Day 2 of Splash Damage's QuakeCon extravaganza is now up here on the Splash Damage blog, conveying the adventures of Jared 'jRAD' Hefty and Dave 'ducks' Johnston in neatly arranged blocks of texts occasionally interspersed with actual photos from the event. Day covers the BYOC and vendor areas, the myriad of often bizarre contests held at QuakeCon, as well as a few of the tournaments. Set eyes to read!

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2008 took place earlier in the week and among the winners was Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC developer Splash Damage which came away with the highly sought-after trophy for Best Independent Studio. The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by members of the UK development community and arguably the most prestigious industry awards in the United Kingdom. The full list of winners can be found here on the Develop website.

With Splash Damage's Jared 'jRAD' Hefty and Dave 'ducks' Johnston both out at QuakeCon 2008, we'll try and bring you regular coverage from the event in form of riveting and highly emotional blog updates and photo galleries. The first installment penned by Mr ducks is now up on the Splash Damage website and covers the pile of excitement that was day 1 of QuakeCon 2008. It's quite possibly the next best thing to actually being at QuakeCon 2008, so go have a read and/or look at the pretty pictures!

QuakeCon 2008 is nearly here and with there being two Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars tournaments this year, Splash Damage will be dispatching a few guys there. Both long-time Splasher Jared 'jRad' Hefty and Dave 'ducks' Johnston (whom you might remember as the valiant leader of our ETQW Shackbattle squad) will be there to hang out with the community and hand out a few goodies here and there. If you're going to be at QuakeCon, look out for them and don't hesitate to say hello. If you'd like to arrange an interview with them at the event, drop us a line and we'll make time for you. See you at QuakeCon!

Gather around, grab a cup of tea and some cookies, and check out the latest batch of content on the website of Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC developer Splash Damage:

• Splash Damage to be at Develop 2008 Next Week
  Members of Splash Damage will be attending this year's Develop Conference and Expo in Brighton, England, taking place from July 29 - 31. In addition to several talks, we'll have a booth on the floor where show attendees can drop by and chat with us. The exhibition is free and open to the public, so come stop by if you live in the area. Gently pet the link to find out more.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Laurel 'Tully' Austin
  Wielder of pencils and Wacom tablets Laurel 'Tully' Austin represents the artists of the drawing variety in this staff Q&A. Laurel did a lot of media work on Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, including a good chunk of the screenshots and the pretty wallpapers on the official site. Laurel also creates awesome sculptures in her spare time and we've included a few photos of those in her interview.
• Splash Damage Hires Lots of Talented People
  In our continued quest to make great games and multiplatform treehouses of exceptional build quality, we've hired a number of really talented folks to strengthen our development team. Folks behind titles such as Rainbow Six: Vegas, Mass Effect, and Burnout: Paradise are now part of our ever-growing armada of People with Keyboards. Click through for details.
• Things You Were Afraid to Ask: Ed 'BongoBoy' Stern
  Senior game designer Ed 'BongoBoy' Stern shares extremely intimate details in this most musical of staff interviews. Ed game designed Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and did a lot of writery work on Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Find out what it's like to be Ed for a day by clicking the link above.
• Currently Hurling Controllers / Mice At... Buzz! and Lots of Other Stuff
  Here's the latest look at what we're currently playing here at Splash Damage. Summer is undoubtedly upon us and the number of new game releases is dwindling down, but despite that, the freshly released Buzz! has made for a few great 8 player quiz sessions during lunch, with often surprising results. A few other games are making the rounds as well - click the link to find out which ones our thumbs hate the most.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Ben 'Randles' Hopkinson
  The lord of all things IT, Ben 'Randles' Hopkinson managed to escape his server room prison long enough to star in a staff interview of his own. Ben previously manned the ship over at game server provider Rackage and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Splash Damage. Read the full interview to find out lots of interesting things about Ben, including what it's like to have a fully functional umbrella made out of unused graphics cards.

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At long last, the QuakeCon hive mind has announced this year's event line-up, including not one, but two Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars tournaments. Six player squads will get to battle it out on both the PC as well as the Xbox 360 for a total of $25,000 in prize money. Information on sign-ups and official tournament rules is said to be appearing soon, so keep an eye on the QuakeCon website.

The chaps over at Game-Rigs have rolled out some really funky looking Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars console skins for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Aptly titled Battleskins, they protect your console from scratches and other wear and tear, while also covering them in great looking ETQW art, so it's pretty much a win-win for everyone. And should you ever long to clad your console in rosier attire (perhaps featuring pinatas), the skins will come off without leaving any marks. Head on over to the Game Rigs site for more information on the QUAKE Wars Battleskins, including larger images and where you can buy them from.

Update: For a limited time only, you can grab either Battleskin for just $19.96 (QUAKE's release year, incidentally) at GearTab. These guys actually ship worldwide, so you can dress up your console even if you aren't in America.

Snap to Grid, Splash Damage's regular look at the happenings in the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars editing community, is back and this time it's personal! This week, ETQW Mapping's fearless captain Terry 'Salteh' Seidler takes a look at the alpha release of Donnovan's Retake of the Andes map for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and checks out the latest alpha release of the highly anticipated Wheels of War mod. To top it all off, the saltiest of Terrys even throws out a challenge to all the aspiring zombie crushers / destruction derby participants out there in the form of Wheels of War's freshly added global lap times leaderboard. Roll on over on the Splash Damage website to read the full feature!

To mark Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory's recent five year anniversary, Splash Damage has received id Software's blessing to release the source files for all of the official multiplayer maps packaged with the game. It's even possible to import these into Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars's level editor, so you can create faithful ETQW ports of these if you want to. You can grab the source files here on the Splash Damage website.

Another week, another Splash Damage round-up. This one has news of our latest glorious, if completely unlikely, venture: football. But there's more:

• Name Splash Damage's Football Squad, Win Signed ETQW Guide
  MCV's and Microsoft's annual Games 5s football tournament is coming up and in a moment of complete madness, we decided to throw our collective hats into the ring and crush everyone else. Better yet, we're still in need of a name for our heroic squad, so feel free to leave your suggestions at the link above. The winner will receive an ETQW BradyGames Guide signed by the entire development team as well as a Razer Tarantula keyboard.
• Splash Damage lurking within Jim Rossignol's This Gaming Life
  Jim Rossignol's just-released book 'This Gaming Life' chronicles his gaming related adventures in different parts of the world. One of Jim's stops is Splash Damage (that's us) in London, an adventure extensively covered in two of the book's chapters. Recommended reading!
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Tim 'Huntle' Rose
  Production Coordinator Tim 'Huntle' Rose was dragged to the interrogation chamber for our latest staff interview. Originally stemming from the competitive Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Tim has since risen through the ranks and is now the Programming Teams caretaker and proud owner of his own mustache.
• Currently Hurling Controllers / Mice At... Metal Gear Solid
  The latest installment of our bi-weekly gaming rollcall is here and largely stuffed with Metal Gear Solid 4, though there are plenty of other games being played by Splash Damage folk. Follow the link above to find out what else was worth our time.

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The final nominees for the Golden Joysticks 2008 have been announced and thanks to your previous voting efforts, Splash Damage and Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars are up for no less than six of the 'sticks now!

Since the Golden Joysticks are decided purely by public voting, we're calling on all of you to help ETQW and Splash Damage win as many of these as possible. How can you help? Simple. Just head over to this page and cast your vote. Better yet, every 10,000th vote gets one of many cool prizes, including Xbox 360s, Sony tellies, games, and more!

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and its PC developer Splash Damage are up for the following:

• Nuts All Nighter - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
• PC Game of the Year - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
• PlayStation Game of the Year - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
• UK Developer of the Year - Splash Damage
• Ultimate Game of the Year - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars
• Xbox Game of the Year - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars

Go vote! Technicians everywhere will thank you.

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The Official Competition Mod for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars has been released and can be grabbed from the Splash Damage website. The mod allows server admins and tournament organizers to easily implement and enforce specific rule-sets via a host of new customization options. An extensive Wiki page detailing the features of the mod and how to use them can be found here in the Splash Damage Wiki. On top of all this, we're also intending to release the Competition Mod source code in the near future for all you aspiring modders to tinker with, so keep an eye out for that.

Things may be busy here at Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC developer Splash Damage, but that isn't stopping us from machinegunning the intertubes with all sorts of new content. Here's a round-up of the latest bits and pieces:

• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Turns Five
  The little game that started it all is a respectable five years old now. Amazingly enough, it's still one of the most popular online shooters out there - here's to you, Wolf: ET!
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Aubrey 'Bezzy' Hesselgren
  Technical Game Designer and parkour fetishist Aubrey 'Bezzy' Hesselgren stars in this latest staff interview. Find out how he came to Splash Damage, what he does all day long, the reasons behind his parkour addiction and much more.
• In the Crosshairs: ETQW Competition Round-up With a Side of ETQWPro
  Senior Clan Analyzer Matt 'Anti' Lowe returns with another look at the latest goings-on in the Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars competition scene. Matt also takes a closer look at the most popular competition modification out there at the moment, ETQWPro.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Gordon 'digibob' Biggans
  Gordon 'digibob' Biggans has been with Splash Damage for longer than he can remember and was one of the programmers on Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. Read his life's story in this interview of autobriographical* proportions.* interview may not actually be longer than normal
• Currently Hurling Controllers / Mice At... - LEGO GRID Band
  Summer may be here, but new game releases aren't slowing down. See what the guys and gals at Splash Damage are playing at the moment and we're looking forward to.
• Things You Were Too Afraid to Ask: Mark 'static_mover' Lack
  Pretty rooms are the domain of Mark 'static_mover' Lack, the latest addition to our crack squad of environment artists. Mark previously worked on the PS3 game Heavenly Sword and you can find out all about him in this interview.

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