This is genius, Jake2 is a Java port of the id software classic Quake 2. It can be launched direct from the website by clicking the “play now” button and will automatically download the Quake 2 demo data files to run in the demo mode. Even better if you have the Quake 2 CD kicking around you can use the files run the full game.

The Quake series of games are responsible for my current career path, if I hadn’t started created prefabs and models for FPS games like Quake 2, Half-Life etc. I may never have started creating web sites and thus I wouldn’t be a web developer.

So apart from being great fun and pushing the boundaries of technology (I wrote my degree dissertation on the subject, which had the catchy title of “3D real-time rendering environments, their limitations, uses and implementation.”) I owe quite a bit to the series and playing Jake2 was enough to remind me of that.