Good, Clean Quake

The splatter game is back--recast as fun-for-all sport. I got an exclusive look behind the scenes

Behind the door of suite 666 in the black-glass Towne East Tower in Mesquite, Texas, Miss Donna is treating me to a real drubbing. In reality, she's sitting at the next computer, every inch the quintessential Texas mother, all big hair and rouge. Onscreen, I never see her until it's too late. "I'm a-coming to get you!" whoops the fortysomething office manager and designated mom-in-residence to id software's 13 staff members, as her footsteps grow louder. A burst of green plasma fire frags me, and I have to respawn. To frag is to kill, which Miss Donna does a lot of;...

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