In the $1 billion universe of computer games, these are days of feverish anticipation. The twitchy teenagers and addicted adults who spend hours at a time blasting away the phosphorous phantoms on their PC screens know that Quake is coming. It's more like a second coming: Quake's forebear, the virtual reality, blast-'em-up sensation called Doom, is probably the most popular PC game ever created. Countless fans are currently searching 75 Websites looking for signs of Quake as if it were a visiting comet.
Quake will arrive some night during the next few weeks, when a fellow from id Software will quietly...