In 1997 Sten "ztn" Uusvali created the original version of Blood Run for QUAKE 1 as a homage to E1M5 Gloom Keep, and it became an instant hit. Following the release of QUAKE III Arena, ztn re-built Blood Run from scratch and released it in 2000 to an even greater reception. Over the past 9 years, Blood Run has become a staple of Duel competition, and a favorite of players around the world. Countless professional tournaments have been decided, and hundreds of thousands of dollars earned over the years within the halls of Blood Run.
Everyone on the QUAKE LIVE team would really like to thank Sten for allowing us the privilege of bringing Blood Run to QUAKE LIVE, and we know he was excited to once again bring many hours of fun to this community. Enjoy!
We're kicking off our "6 new maps in 6 weeks" campaign with Hidden Fortress. Although new to QUAKE LIVE, this arena first appeared in the Sega Dreamcast version of QUAKE III Arena. Already considered the best new arena created for QUAKE III Dreamcast, we chose to make very few changes in bringing this classic map to QUAKE LIVE.
The arena was originally created by Martin Kaai Cluney, a designer for Raster Productions. Kaai is now a designer at id Software working on the RAGE team. Hidden Fortress is a medium sized map with three main rooms - perfect for 6-10 player team deathmatch, clan arena and free for all gameplay. Although we chose to start with a classic map from the Dreamcast, we'll be debuting a mix of new and classic maps in the weeks to come.