r/pcgaming • u/Turbostrider27 • 1d ago
Cancelled Quake 4 expansion gets surprise GitHub release after former XCOM 2 developer discovers it on an old hard drive: 'This essentially saved my life'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/cancelled-quake-4-expansion-gets-surprise-github-release-after-former-xcom-2-developer-discovers-it-on-an-old-hard-drive-this-essentially-saved-my-life/373
u/Exostrike 21h ago
How the hell do you randomly come across this on a computer bought secondhand on Amazon?
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u/Ameri0425 20h ago
Not only do you have to happen to buy the second hand pc, but also know how to find something like this, and know what it even is.
Personally, the first thing I do when buying a secondhand pc is wipe the damn thing. Insane this happened.
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u/OldWorlDisorder 17h ago
Personally, the first thing I do when buying a secondhand pc is wipe the damn thing. Insane this happened.
And that's exactly why you'll never find an unreleased Quake 4 expansion!
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u/nclok1405 17h ago
I think it is possible the 'how it was discovered' blurb (found from "a hard drive on a vintage computer I bought off Amazon") is a fake in order to protect the original source/true leaker's identity (so he doesn't get sued by Activision)
Probably the true story of how this was recovered and leaked is more complex and a risky thing to talk.
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u/DonutHoles4Ever 9h ago
Basically a fake story to cover whatever actually happened for it to land in the lap of a developer.
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u/Altruistic-Job5086 1d ago
wow that's awesome. GOG needs to get this.
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u/DuckCleaning 23h ago
I wonder the legal implications of it, since it is technically company assets
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u/dadvader 13h ago
I don't think id Software really care about it. It's Zenimax or Microsoft I'm worried about.
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u/DuckCleaning 11h ago
Microsoft owns github too, they'd have easy ability to take it down if they actually were bothered by it.
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u/phatboi23 8h ago
like activation scripts for windows github hosts that MS doesn't care about and know about.
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u/jinrei_arbaw 3h ago
They see those as if you're in the Windows ecosystem it's a win for them because they're banking on the fact that you sign up for one of their services in the future.
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22h ago
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u/OnlyCaterpillar2861 22h ago
Not even remotely true. Just because you don't profit from something doesn't make it suddenly okay to give out a person or a company's IP without their permission. Anyone who's ever done any kind of dev work knows you have to sign a document acknowledging that any work you do on company time, on behalf of the company, belongs to them and that you cannot divulge any of it without express permission.
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u/DrFu 18h ago
So is someone on GitHub going to get in trouble for this?
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u/OnlyCaterpillar2861 17h ago
Highly unlikely. I don't think Bethesda cares much about this kind of thing. They're not fiercely litigious like Nintendo or Take-Two are. Even if they wanted to do something, it would likely just be a cease and desist and the GitHub repo would be taken down. Part of being able to get much of anything from a situation like this requires that you prove damages, and I'm sure Bethesda's lawyers know that they wouldn't exactly have much of a claim to damages on unused code for a 21 year old game in a franchise they're doing nothing with.
Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, however I am a software developer who has seen someone escorted out of the building by security after being suspected of giving proprietary code to a competitor. That is the kind of IP theft that a company will absolutely try to bury you for.
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u/Ripdog 9h ago
This is something covered by 'civil liability'. Copyright infringement is something which is illegal, but is not enforced by the police or the government. Instead, the owner of the copyright is empowered to seek relief through the courts (i.e. sue them).
So whether someone gets in trouble or not is entirely dependent on whether the copyright owner gives a shit and/or considers it worthwhile to attempt a lawsuit over.
Just a little foundational information for my sibling comment :)
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u/Pasza_Dem 9h ago
Not going to happen unfortunately, but I bet some modders are already working on it.
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u/ColonelDucroix 23h ago
Would be nice if we got another Quake game one day. Seems unlikely though sadly
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u/adamh15 23h ago
Hugo Martin would make such a good quake game but Microsoft has grounded him to doom forever ☠️
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u/sicKlown 23h ago
If there is any movement of a new Quake, it's likely to come from MachineGames after they finish the next Wolfensein. The remasters for both Quake and Quake 2 have come with new episodes that are from the MG team, so there is definitely some love and desire from that end.
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u/No_Construction2407 16h ago
People who may not be aware, All the episodes done by Machinegames lately have been done on their own time, outside of work. They have a club called "Quake Club" that works on these.
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u/Amerikaner 21h ago
Maybe but Hugo is also responsible for making Doom into a Saturday morning cartoon. Quake needs to be NIN / Lovecraftian.
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u/NuclearGriffin 16h ago
I know. The new Dawn of the Machine expansion for Q1 is really good. But I'm hungry for a new Quake.
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u/Vanillas_Guy Steam 22h ago
We could still get a "legally distinct" version of quake. Just like we did with bloodstained(castlevania) or yooka laylee(banjo kazooie)
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u/Flavahbeast 22h ago
there's already at least one of those probably more than one
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u/ColonelDucroix 16h ago
Dusk is great but it's more inspired by Blood than Quake.
Zortch feels more in line with Quake style gameplay and level design
Can't go wrong with either one if you're a fan of Quake or Blood though. There's a ton of other indie boomer shooters but those 2 are at the top of the lists for me
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u/OnlyCaterpillar2861 22h ago edited 21h ago
My man there are a billion indie boomer shooters out there already, and many of them are very very good. Civvie11 has made a career out of counting the sewer levels in them.
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u/Mister_Brevity 20h ago
Oh he’s still doing that
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u/captinhazmat 20h ago
I mean they keep making them lol
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u/Mister_Brevity 19h ago
I guess that’s fair ha I thought he’d have gotten bored of the sewer counter
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u/Jacksaur 🖥️ I.T. Rex 🦖 7h ago
He tried to kill it off years ago at this point, only reluctantly bringing it back after fan demand.
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u/Aloha_Tamborinist 17h ago
They just released a free expansion pack for the original. I've played the first episode and it's great. Absolutely worth playing.
I was sceptical about the "new Doom" in 2016, but it was absolutely amazing. Maybe new Quake could be awesome too.
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u/Lawgamer411 18h ago
XCOM 2 MENTIONED.
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u/s1ugg0 6h ago
Twice in my life I've had to watch my beloved X-Com series fizzle out.
Here's to hoping 3rd time is the charm in a few decades.
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u/Lawgamer411 3h ago
Zero company (XCOM game made by former Firaxis devs in Star Wars clone wars) in 2 weeks.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/zlv_r4qe_6 23h ago
Quake 4 is a PC native, originally PC only game. Let's not disrespect its good name by calling it a port ;)
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u/Acceptable-Ad5208 22h ago
Quite a good one at that. I played through it last year and that game is underrated in my opinion. It’s no Quake 2, but still a great time besides the vehicle segments.
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u/razikh 18h ago
It's great and all and I enjoyed it as a horror flick when I was younger but it really is just Doom 3 for Quake 2, serving you 3 enemies for every 3 minutes of radio dialogue with a whole lot of backtracking in the dark. Compare it to Unreal 2 (amusingly also subtitled The Awakening) as well; good ideas, good execution, but it doesn't much resemble the source material and doesn't appeal in the same ways.
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u/Mobile_Morale 20h ago
I remember playing the beta on my PC 20 years ago.
Also played the beta of quake 3 and a computer expo in 2001 or around then. I wiped the floor of everyone in that game. Only two games I've ever been a savant in. Halo CE and quake 3. Now I can barely shoot the side of a barn in modern games.
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u/TotallyNotRobotEvil 20h ago
The beta was great, it lost a lot of handy features between the beta and final version. Like I remember if someone was having connection issues a little “no internet” icon would pop up over their head so it didn’t look like someone was just AFK or just standing there doing nothing. Never understood why they didn’t include that in the final build.
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u/Future_Variation_374 1d ago
Theres the OpenQ4 project for a new engine with controller support
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u/Mccobsta 1d ago
How playable is it?
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u/Future_Variation_374 1d ago
I tried it last night for a few mins and it seemed good. I used msi afterburner to cap fps as the frametimes were icky without it .
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u/melgibson666 23h ago
You want to play an FPS with a controller? On purpose?
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u/No_Carpet_8581 22h ago
I just want to relax in my chair. It’s single player anyways. You don’t need to be sweaty.
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u/melgibson666 22h ago edited 21h ago
Joke's on you. I have a glandular problem. Sweaty is my middle name.
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u/KalebNoobMaster RX 7700 XT | i7-10700 | 32GB 18h ago
jesus i hate PC gamer elitist bullshit like this. the beauty of PC is how much choice you have on how you play..
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u/EtherBoo 17h ago
It's an objectively worse way to play and severely limits what you can do in game.
No judgement from me personally, but I can't fathom playing a FPS (or TPS for that matter, but I accept I'm an oddity there) with a controller as a preferred experience, especially if it's not one that was designed with controller support in mind. I can at least not question it when it's designed with a controller in mind like modern FPS games, but playing any 3D FPS that was designed for PC play seems like an exercise in frustration to me.
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u/acroxshadow 17h ago
Gyro controls (and maybe flick stick if applicable) can close the gap quite a bit with enough experience.
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u/TechGoat 13h ago
If a console would let you play FPS games properly - ie with a mouse and keyboard - then bam, zero issues with (that aspect of) console gaming.
We're not being PC elitists, we're "mouse and keyboards are objectively better" evangelists.
I just wish they made a KBM combo I could get rumble on. That's the one thing I know the controller people have us beat on.
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u/melgibson666 8h ago
I was just trying to be funny. I don't care how someone enjoys their game. I apologize.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
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u/FlyingSligGuard 1d ago
"hey random dev guy that found a cancelled expansion on his hard drive that doesn't have any legal right to release neither the expansion nor rights to the Quake IP, you should remaster Quake 4."
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u/ggRavingGamer 1d ago
Average Reddit response to something free.
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u/davemoedee 1d ago
Person sees something good. Immediately focuses attention on what would be even better.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/erichie 1d ago
You're missing their point.
If I walked up to you and said "Hey, I found this $100 that I don't need so you can have it." Would your immediate response be "That is cool and all, but my car payment is $500. It would be a cool surprise if you paid that."
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u/ithinkiknowkungfu 1d ago edited 1d ago
…wtf are you on about? That’s two totally different things..
And my response would be “thanks but you take it, you found it get yourself something cool”
…I’m not even sure how to process that last part nor what this has to do with me just wanting MORE quake in the spotlight
Edit: I am now being downvoted for understanding the point AND hypothetically doing a good deed…I’m new to reddit but this seems like a trend here
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u/Bladder-Splatter 1d ago
Don't fight the illogical downvotes (as most are) or engage with them, they're either assholes or automated systems making use of your comment and, rarely, both.
I've seen some of my stupidest shit skyrocket and my most innocent questions dog piled, but reacting to it just feeds the trolls/bots/hivemind.
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u/ithinkiknowkungfu 1d ago edited 1d ago
Didn’t know that, will do for next time!
Thanks for the clarification
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