An oldie but a goodie: John Carmack once told us Quake Arena 'was my favourite id Software game… always the one that I looked at as a pure game'

Here at PCG towers, we've recently been sorting through some of our old treasure hoard of magazine issues, including interviews with many of the industry's leading figures. One that recently jumped out to me was a 2008 interview with John Carmack, at which time he was still at id Software, around the launch of Quake Live: a browser-based remake of Quake III: Arena. And as Carmack makes clear, despite id's lineage of genre-defining games, including the likes of Doom and Wolfenstein, Quake Arena was his baby.

"It was never really a secret that Quake Arena was my favourite id Software game," says Carmack. "Of all the games that we’ve made, Quake Arena was always the one that I looked at as a pure game.

"While it had its noteworthy graphical advancements for the day, it really was about the gameplay. It was at a turning point in maturing for the gaming industry, where you had to start throwing in everything including the kitchen sink, and Quake Arena wasn’t our most successful title. But I do look back at it and think Quake Arena as a game stands the test of time."

Carmack says the idea for Quake Live came from "looking at how the PC market has changed," and again I'll emphasise th...