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The standalone version of online free-to-play shooter Quake Live, announced back in November, is available for download today - just in time for a weekend of relaxing fragging.

Existing players will find a conversion launcher available next time they boot up Quake Live, while all new players will be prompted to download the standalone client when they visit the Quake Live website and register. All profile data and stats have transitioned over to the standalone game.

Quake Live, first revealed in 2007 as Quake Zero, is a free-to-play version of Quake 3. The game offers optional premium subscriptions yielding additional arenas, clan support and queue and in-game advertisement bypassing. An FAQ has been posted over on the Bethesda Blog to help ease the transition.

Quake Live, id Software's free-to-play version of its hyper-competitive FPS, will begin the transition from browser-based experience to complete standalone game, available by the end of the year.

id Software says that Google Chrome's movement to do away with plugins, as well as Firefox's changes to how it will handle plugins, has fueled its decision to go standalone. Active players will only need install a launcher that will update existing local game files - Mac and Linux will no longer be supported in the standalone version - and all player stats are transferable.

Quake Live was first announced in 2007 as Quake Zero, a browser-based version of Quake 3.

I entirely forgot about Quake Live, which is a strange to do. There’s often lamention around these parts that id’s Quakes and Dooms haven’t been entirely well-treated in recent years, and yet there is browser-based Quake III re-release Quake Live alive and well and I believe relatively popular. And free to play. If you’ve held off exploring the not-free elements until now, you have a chance to nose at it without cracking open that much-abused wallet. From now until May 6 2012, which by my maths is 312 years, 4 months and five days away, you can sample all the ‘premium’ bits, bobs, modes and maps for no-pennies. If you’re already paying for premium or pro and God now I’m really confused subscriptions, you’ll get a code for one or two free weeks of free sub to apologise for the great unwashed hordes getting all up in your fancy-pants paid grill.(more…)

Quake Live is receiving a hefty load of new premium content and, to celebrate, it's all free for a week. The classic shooter gains five new game modes, including one-flag CTF, Domination (territory control), Red Rover (zombies) and more. The update also packs in four maps, two from Quake Arena Arcade and two inspired by the popular Campgrounds map.

The content will be free to all Quake Live users through this Sunday, May 6. The $1.99 per month premium wall goes back up after that, so get it while the gettin's good. Head over to the Bethesda Blog for details on all the new maps and modes.

You might just recollect my rantings about my favourite Quake III map, Q3WCP9, back in the mists of time. I had sort of resigned myself to the idea that it would never appear on Quake Live. Until now! The Quake Live Christmas premium update has it! Depressingly this means that the maps were only available to free players for a week, a week which ends today. I am sad. It is, however, just enough to push me into taking out a premium account for the hols. Man, I hope I can get some decent CP9 games. I’ll report back.

Id bossman Todd Hollenshead has explained to VG247 what the “failure” of the in-game advertising model means for Quake Live. He stated that the closure of ad firm Massive – which MS shut down earlier this year – has caused Id to rethink: “I mean, smarter people than me were making these estimations. Look at Microsoft. They spent, like, $200 million on the Massive acquisition, and they basically shuttered that division in February. So that had ramifications for us, because we used Massive. And if that was more successful, that’d have had a significant impact on what Quake Live is.”

It’s not over for the reborn Quake III, however, as Id are now experimenting with subscriptions and video-ads: “The game is an entertainment success, so now we have to figure out how to make the business model work.” And with no hats, how’s a company to make a profit? Eh?

Browser-based frag-em-up Quake Live keeps chugging along, as id's gone and announced the addition of some new premium content. Through "Premium Pak 4," players can access two new maps (Evolution and Three Story), along with 20 new premium awards and some advanced server mechanics, allowing players to customize matches by setting certain modifiers on or off -- runes, gravity, weapon switch speed and more. Finally, the introductory match against Crash has been removed for new players, who will instead be "placed in an assessment period before skill matching begins to take place." We're sure Crash is most happy about that new feature.

If you're lost on all of this talk of "premium," then you likely missed out on the new subscriptions. Read up on that here and be sure to hit the link below if you're looking for the full patch notes. Or just hit up Quake Live if you're looking to shoot some stuff. Don't be embarrassed: we all feel that way every now and again.

If you've been mulling over the decision to snag a premium subscription to Quake Live, now's your chance to see what you're missing. Bethesda has announced that all Quake Live users can try out a premium subscription for free from now until September 26. Additionally, those who purchase an annual Premium or Pro subscription to the service during the promotion will receive an additional month free. The offer ends at 11:59pm ET on September 26, so grab a rail gun and get cracking.

#quakecon2010 Bummed that you can't make it to Dallas this weekend to hang with Kotaku at QuakeCon 2010? Quake Live TV will be bringing you live coverage of all the major tournaments, so all you'll need is a cardboard Totilo cutout. More »

# The three new multiplayer maps for Halo: Reach, which leaked previously, were confirmed by Bungie yesterday along with new vehicles and new Elite armor configurations. Everything's inside in one huge gallery. More »

id's free-to-play shooter now has subscription packages.