About Generations

Generations is a game concept that has spanned games, spanned engines, spanned teams, and spanned FPS fans' collective consciousness. The initial concept was simple, yet elegant: unite the greatest first-person shooters of all time, to settle the score once and for all as to what game was best.

The idea first came to light with Quake2:Generations. Q2Gen brought B.J. Blazcowicz from Wolfenstein-3D, the space marine from Doom, the unknown hero from Quake, and Pt. Bitterman from QuakeII under one roof. Players could select any of the characters, and battle either in single-player maps from any of the games (with their original monsters), or in deathmatch in any game's fighting arenas, against other players using their own favorite character.

The possibilities abounded: playing Wolfenstein-3D in all of Q2's technical prowess. Running through single-player Quake as the Q2 marine, or the Doom guy. Taking a rail to a shambler, or a lightning gun to the infamous Cyberdemon. Chasing other players with a chainsaw, a flamethrower, dual gatling guns, a nailgun, or one of two different BFGs.

Q2Gen released two major versions, the latter of which contained all four classes. However, shortly after release, the team contacted id Software about the mod. The news was not comforting. Q2Generations was, as it stood, illegal. The team had converted models, sounds, levels, and graphics from Wolf3D, Doom, and Quake over to the Q2 engine. These conversions were not allowed, since they were technically theft of id's intellectual property.

The team faced two options: replace all the illegal material in the game, or end the project. The Q2Gen team decided to close its doors soon after, and release the source to the public.

However, Generations the idea lived on. A new team picked up the Q2Gen source and dedicated themselves to making a legal version of Q2Gen. The result was Some Old Games, which went through several successful releases. Fans looking for some of Q2Gen's original charm should peruse the SOG site.

One year after Q2:Generations closed its doors, WireHead Studios announced its successor to the Generations legacy, Generations Arena. After a year of legal research and inquiry, WireHead was certain it had developed a mod design that would fufill all of the fun of Q2:Generations, while remaining completely legal.

Part of the fun of Generations was the ability to use so many weapons, but the real joy lay in the characters. It just isn't the same, WireHead surmised, unless it's Doom holding that chainsaw; unless the Q2 Grunt is holding that BFG10K, unless the Quake space Ranger is spamming nails. Fortunately, all those characters already lived in one game... Quake III Arena.

And so, WireHead Studios is proud to present Generations Arena. GenArena hopes to bring the Q3A characters back to more familiar battles. From chainguns blazing at "Return To The Edge" to chainsaws revved at "UAC Hanger Revisited," GenArena hopes to relive you favorite FPS moments... all in one place, and better than ever before.

Five Generations have been formed. The line has been drawn. Whose Side Are You On?