QuakeCon 2005 is getting closer and closer, and just in case you weren't sure what to expect, here are some of the highlights of this year's event.

- Attend a keynote address by id Software co-founder and lead programmer John Carmack
- Get a first look at QUAKE 4 multiplayer gameplay
- Get the latest details on Enemy Territory: QUAKE WARS
- Go to two over-the-top, wild parties
- Check out the $150,000 Nvidia Championships at QuakeCon
- Meet Jon Farhat, visual effects supervisor, DOOM feature film
- Attend the popular overclocking workshop sponsored by HardOCP

Of course you'll also be able to meet your fellow Shackers. QuakeCon 2005 will take place August 11-14 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas.

If you're planning on attending this year's QuakeCon, and want to bring your own computer? You best head over to the official site and sign up for the event now. Look for many other Shackers to go. QuakeCon 2005 will be held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, from Aug. 11-14.

The QuakeCon organization has announced the tournaments for this year's event, though specific details like map rotation, rules and prizes will follow. QuakeCon 2005 will feature a DOOM 3 1v1 tournament, an Enemy Territory 6v6 one, a blast from the past with some Quake 2 1v1 action and for the ladies there will be a Quake 3 1v1 tournament.

In a GameSpot article about the launch of DOOM 3 Xbox and DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead talks about a few id related topics before mentioning this about QuakeCon: "We'll have Quake IV multiplayer to play". That should convince some people to attend. Meanwhile here's a bit about id's plans for console support

Addressing whether future id titles will be written for PCs or consoles, Hollenshead took a pragmatic approach: "Well, that's really more of a financial question than anything else," he said. "Over the past few years, PC game sales have either declined a little bit or stayed relatively flat, while console game sales have seen mostly double-digit growth. I don't know if we'll be releasing multiple SKUs at the same time, but as for PS3 and Xbox 2 and so on, yes, we will continue our development effort on the consoles." "John [Carmack] has been playing with the tech on the new consoles for a bit now," he added. "I obviously can't talk about that as it's all under [wraps], but I think developing for multiple consoles will happen at id."

The official QuakeCon website has been updated, announcing the dates for this year's event: August 11-14. The event will again be at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. Registration for QuakeCon 2005 will start April 15 at 8PM CST.

QuakeCon 2005 will be a four-day, 96-hour bash with non-stop gaming, around-the-clock contests, exhibits, entertainment, giveaways, parties and white-knuckle tournament action. With a dedicated area for more than 3,200 BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) LAN gamers, and over 150,000 square feet of total convention space for tournaments, exhibits, conferences and entertainment, QuakeCon 2005 attendance is expected to top last year's record of nearly 6,000 attendees.

As always, expect many Shackers to be there.

If you have a penchant for technical mumbo jumbo and didnt make it to QuakeCon you're in luck. Here is the video of John Carmack's keynote discussing DOOM3 technology and just a bit of what he's thinking will be next. They will be focusing on singleplayer again for the next project.

MatthewPhillips has already done a good job of picking out some of his favorite parts of the talk in case you just want some highlights.

GameSpy has a recap of John Carmack's pre-recorded talk this year that was given at QuakeCon discussing DOOM3 technology and what he sees coming next.

Both AMD Zone and HomeLAN Fed have QuakeCon keynote highlights posted. John Carmack did not attend as he became a dad yesterday (congrats to him and Anna Kang), but he talked about various technical items by ways of a video instead. The Q&A part of the keynote address again covered the DOOM 3 SDK and movie, Quake 4 and other id Software topics.

HomeLAN Fed continues QuakeCon coverage with this Todd Hollenshead piece and a mod roundtable report. Bjorn3D has a day two write-up. GameSpy goes hands-on with Call of Duty: United Offensive.

A couple of bits from QuakeCon and the id Software guys after a brief discussion I had with Tim Willits as well as this CNN article that you should also check out:

- DOOM3 demo is at least a couple of weeks away.
- DOOM3 patch is of course in the works addressing a couple of minor multiplayer bugs
- DOOM3 expansion pack in the works by a separate developer
- DOOM3 sales for the first week are possibly the highest ever for a PC game, Activision is investigating to be sure

Also, I talked to Tim a little more about the choice of a 4 player multiplayer cap which was interesting. The choice really boiled down to Carmack but given that within hours of the game hitting shelves we are seeing servers with 8-12 players on them I guess the whole thing is moot. Aye?

HomeLAN Fed reports from QuakeCon, offering coverage of the Launch Event, taking a look at several games NVidia is demoing and offering more multiplayer impressions from the Call of Duty expansion pack United Offensive. Gamers Depot has a day 1 wrap-up, and GameSpy also reports from the event.

HomeLAN Fed reports from QuakeCon, offering highlights of today's DOOM 3 mod seminar. Looks like the SDK isn't that far off (among other things it will include a sample map featuring a six wheeled buggy), and a patch for the game is on the way as well. There's also a quickie look at multiplayer in Call of Duty: United Offensive.

id Software sends along word for those of you attending QuakeCon that there will be a couple workshops: 1:30P-3:30 Q&A/Roundtable with id Software Making Mods -­ Robert Duffy. Also 4:00P-6:00 Q&A/Roundtable with id Software Making Levels - Matt Hooper and the id Software Designers

To quote HardOCP for digging this up and sitting through an hour conference call.. "Last week we reported (several times) on NVIDIA’s 2Q earnings as well as the string of articles “analyzing” NVIDIA’s shortcomings. It seems that in the midst of all the news of NVIDIA posting a loss, everyone missed the part of the conference call that said NVIDIA was releasing a new card at QuakeCon. The conference call is over an hour long and registration is required."

A QuakeCon 2004 Q&A is up at HomeLAN Fed. id Software's Marty Stratton is asked about this year's new location, the tournaments, sponsors and exhibitors, the HardOCP event and a few other things.

The QuakeCon organization today announced that there will be a DOOM 3 tournament at this year's event. The press release mentions that there has never been a more level playing field, with DOOM 3 launching this summer and nobody playing "who has had time to practice or master the game". Registration for the 128-player tournament will start on the first day of QuakeCon 2004, August 12. The other tournaments this year are the Quake 3 Arena 1 vs 1 championship, and the Quake 3 Capture the Flag tournament.

Though you might have problems reaching the site, you can now sign up for QuakeCon 2004. Current registration is for attendance and BYOC spots, tournament registration will follow later.

The official QuakeCon website has been updated, announcing the 2004 event. The 9th annual QuakeCon will be held August 12-15, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. Play games, meet Shackers! It'll be fun.

"QuakeCon is the Woodstock of gaming, with thousands of fans from around the world coming together for 4-days of non-stop competition, parties, and just hanging out with friends," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "QuakeCon attendees expect the biggest and best -- they won't be disappointed. There simply is no equal."

The last QuakeCon articles are trickling in. There's a Call of Duty interview on Telefragged, while Gaming Horizon has a general wrap-up / impressions article as has Elited. HomeLAN Fed offers impressions of Far Cry, a first person shooter which was on display there even though it's not by Activision. Games Domain has an interview with Todd Hollenshead and a preview of DOOM 3 as well.

GD: Do you see the expectation of the fans being that they're primarily interested in the best MULTIPLAYER experience from id?
TH: As long as we focus on completing what we set out to do, and people find it fun and entertaining, we'll worry about multiplayer vs. single player or do this or do that later on. We didn't intend for Doom III multiplayer to be revolutionary and we said from the start that we would put the focus on single-player. I think we set people's expectations. On the multiplayer side for Doom III, it's not bigger in terms of number of players, doesn't have more game types, but our goal is to have fun and have it be uniquely Doom.

The guys at GameSpy have posted interviews with Tim Willits & Todd Hollenshead about DOOM 3, and also with Rick Johnson about Quake 4. They also have their own keynote highlights.

GameSpy: On the single-player end, what stage are you at with DOOM 3?
Tim Willits: The technology's mainly done, although there are still optimizations that we can do. The story's all done and the script is all done, and the guys are busy getting the fun factor into the game, creating the great scenarios and sequences and the fun events for the player to experience. And we just have to keep doing that until the game's great.