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Quake is coming back. Here's how you can be a beta tester

The revived online shooter brings back a '90s classic.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman
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Bethesda

Back in the late 1990s, when I got my start as a serious PC gamer (and game reporter/reviewer), the only online multiplayer shooters worth playing were Quake III and its main rival, Unreal Tournament. The minds behind the Quake series, launched in 1996, were iD Software's legendary game designers John Carmack and John Romero.

That pair was also responsible for the Doom franchise. And while Doom has remained a relevant series, with many game-of-the-year accolades for 2016's installment (simply called "Doom"), Quake has been largely off the radar. Now, a new version of the classic game called Quake Champions is coming from Bethesda, current owner of the series. The new game has just opened up for beta sign-ups, which will allow gamers to test-drive the still-in-development game for free for a limited time.

If you're unsure whether this is for you, Bethesda says, "Quake Champions is a return to the frenetic, fast-paced first-person shooter competition that established Quake as the granddaddy of all multiplayer shooters more than 20 years ago." There's currently a sign-up form for the beta here, and it should launch sometime in the next few weeks.