Since Apple released Mac OS X late last month, some first-person shooter fans have been waiting with baited anticipation for game developer Id Software to release a new point release of its Quake 3 Arena game. Although an earlier OS X-compatible version of the game has already been developed by the folks at The Omni Group (makers of OmniWeb), the new version was to support myriad enhancements and improvements. Unfortunately, it looks like folks may be waiting a bit longer.
In a recent update to his .plan file, Id Software designer/project manager Graeme Devine confirmed that plans have been pushed back a bit to release a new, Mac OS X-native version of Quake 3 Arena.
“It’s been a long long time since there has been any sort of update for Quake 3 (well, it seems that way). Originally a new point release way due out towards the end of March, which suited me fine because that coincided with the release of Mac OS X and it meant we would be right there with a point release as the operating system came out,” said Devine.
“Well, for several reasons, we’re still working on the point release, and it’s still a ways out. We’ve been working extremely hard to get it to you, and working with the mod community to get all the features into the point that you’ve asked for, and it’s all taking a little more time than we originally anticipated. We’ve also been working hard on the various other work projects id has for Robert, Mr. Elusive and I. Some of these have been on a critical time path in the past few months, and have required our utmost attention,” continued Devine.
“That’s not to say we’ve not been out there listening. Paul Jaquays over on quake3world has been feeding us daily requests that we’ve strived to include in this, hopefully the last for a long long time, super mega point release. By working with mod teams, I think you’ll see some community work made now that was very hard to impossible to make with the previous point releases,” said Devine.
“So for now, please carry on playing Quake 3, with your current version, it’s not that bust, broken or mangled, and in fact runs quite nicely. The new point release will be available as soon as it’s done, and not before,” concluded Devine.
So for now, if you want to play Quake 3 Arena on a Mac OS X-equipped system, you’ll need to use The Omni Group’s OS X version of Quake 3 Arena 1.17, which is available for download here. The latest release patch for Quake 3 Arena working on “classic” Mac OS is 1.27h, available here.