Quake III Arena is considered one of the greatest games of all time. It was a game that was about only one thing: "Frag or be fragged!" It was fast-paced, balls to the wall, over the top, and had plenty of bloody carnage to boot. Quake III Arena was the reason to play online games as well as proving your dominance in the virtual world. Now Quake III Arena is coming to Xbox Live Arcade with a new name (Quake Arena Arcade) and some new changes to make the gameplay better than ever before.

Quake Arena Arcade is still the same game that was released 10 years ago on the PC, Sega Dreamcast, and Playstation 2. Recently PC users have been able to relive the game with Quake Live. The upcoming Quake Arena Arcade on Xbox Live Arcade will come with some changes and new elements which will make Quake Live obsolete. So what's changed and what's new? Keep reading to find out.

The new Quake Arena Arcade will have 45 maps for you to play on. 30 of those maps are straight from Quake III Arena, and the other 15 are brand new maps to the Quake experience. Each of these maps will have all the familiar things you remember from the original game like the multiple elevations to shoot from, jump pads, and of course all the weapons, armor, and power-ups lincluding the infamous Quad-Damage. All the game modes are here as well including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Duel Tournament. As for the weapons, they're all still here including the machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, plasma rifle, lightning gun, nailgun, railgun, the "humiliating" gauntlet, and everyone's favorite...the BFG!

At PAX 2009 I got the opportunity to test drive the new game along with Brian Bugh of Pi Studios giving me the rundown. He told me about some of the new features and changles with Quake Arena Arcade. He mentioned that the game has been made to make it more friendly to casual players. He also stated that the weapons (mainly the nailgun) have been re-balanced so that you'll want to use every weapon instead of just using railguns and rocket launchers all of the time. Also the weapon selector will show up on the screen making the interface a little easier.

Brian also mentioned that Quake Arena Arcade will have a brand new single-player campaign. This new campaign features 80 new levels across all of the maps which should get you familiar with the multiplayer madness that will ensue later. As for the bots you take on in the campaign, Brian said that AI bots are much smarter this time around. They'll work together and use strategies to corner you, and make sure that your nothing put a bloody pile of giblets when they're done.

Now any of us who played the game in the past remember the announcer who told you lines including "Quad-Damage" when you reached the ultimate power-up, "Denied" when you were second closest to the Quad-Damage pickup, or even "Humiliation" when you were fragged by the gauntlet. Well Brian told us that the infamous announcer is back and he's got a couple of new lines. One of those new lines is when you unlock an achievement, he'll say "Achievement Unlocked!" However, the best one of all comes with one of the game's achievements called "Ultimate Humiliation." This is when you kill the player with Quad-Damage using the ultimate humiliation tool...the gauntlet.

After playing the game at PAX, I can't wait to get my hands on the game once again. The good news is that we won't have to wait for long. Quake Arena Arcade will be unleashed this Novermber exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade. SFX360 will keep you posted on all the latest details as they come in. Until then, I think I'll play more Quake III Arena on my Sega Dreamcast.



*Screenshots courtesy of IGN