Quake 3 Arena 1.32 Test available, for OS X

Id Software programmer and Mac OS X fan Graeme Devine has posted a Mac OS X test version of Quake 3 Arena 1.32 to the Id Software FTP site. (The server is normally slow.)

Devine said that this update addresses keyboard and mouse issues, problems with OpenGL on Mac OS X, and at long last, reimplements support for GameRanger — the free online Mac gaming service.

Headway has been made getting “PunkBuster” supported on the Mac as well. Developed by Even Balance Inc., the technology is designed to circumvent cheating in online games. Devine said that PunkBuster support will require additional files from Even Balance before it’ll work, but the groundwork has been laid in this new release, apparently.

The update — measuring almost 20MB — is applied by dragging the update’s contents and dropping into your main Quake 3 Arena installation, according to Devine. It requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later. Devine released the preliminary version of Quake 3 Arena 1.32 for Mac OS X late last night, and according to his most recent .plan file update, he has already received a ton of feedback from users. Devine plans to have a “final” build soon, so if you don’t want to mess with your existing installation, you might want to hold off.