Quake Live runs an updated version of the id Tech 3 engine, focusing on gameplay rather than major graphical upgrades. In addition to usability changes, Quake Live has a new, more streamlined HUD.
Quake Live registration of a user account is available on the Quake Live website and free to anyone wishing to play. Currently supported platforms include Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 2+, and Safari 3+ web browsers running on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4+ (Intel processor only), and Linux.During the registration process the game and required browser plug-in is automatically downloaded. Updates to the game are continually released and automatically installed as the user logs in.
The browser plug-in does not make use of Flash to play the game.The software is a modified version of Quake III Gold executed natively as compiled code on the user's machine.