The makers of free-to-play shooter Quake Live are putting a price on the web-based shooter, offering both "Premium" and "Pro" subscription options for FPS fans. The good news is that you still don't have to play to play Quake Live.

Yes, Quake Live will still be free-to-play, should you choose that option, but id Software is offering a few perks to players willing to cough up an annual subscription. Those plans range from about $24 to $48 USD per year and include the following enhancements to the current Quake Live experience.

Premium Subscription ($1.99 per month, billed annually)

• Access to 20 QUAKE LIVE Premium only maps at launch with more to come. Premium maps are a combination of brand new maps and frequently requested community favorites from previous QUAKE games such as Aerowalk, Theater of Pain, Japanese Castles, and Realm of Steel Rats
• An all new ‘Freeze Tag' game mode
• Exclusive premium level awards
• Create your own clan and join up to five separate clans
• Custom QUAKE LIVE profile wallpaper
• Match statistics stored for six months

Pro Subscription ($3.99 per month, billed annually)

• Includes all Premium Subscription features
• The ability to start your own game server, specify a server location, determine the game mode and invite who you want to join you
• With the Pro Subscription, you can invite three friends with Standard level memberships to play with you in any Premium level map
• Exclusive pro awards
• Create your own clan and join up to ten separate clans
• Match statistics stored for 12 months

The good old free version will still offer "friend lists, access to one clan, matchmaking, and stats tracking delivered through a web browser with more than 40 arenas and five game modes."

Kotaku will be looking at Quake Live and everything else Doom, Quake and Rage-related at this year's QuakeCon 2010, which runs August 12 to 15.

Musician Trent Reznor has had a long relationship with game developer id. He scored Quake and did music for Doom 3 that did not make it into the game. No wonder there have been rumors about Reznor and Doom 4.

When asked about that rumor, Reznor replied, "I haven't been contacted by them and find it unlikely that I would have time at this point."

Reznor is currently busy with his new outfit How to Destroy Angels, which released its first EP this June. Don't rule out future Trent Reznor game involvement! Once upon a time, he even pitched a game concept that ultimately didn't get greenlit.

How To Destroy Angels [tumblr via 1Up] [Pic]

Game designer John Romero and John Romero's hair ruled the roost during the 1990s. With titles like Doom and Quake, he not only helped popularize the first-person shooter, he defined it. Then the unthinkable happened. He made Daikatana.

The game, released in 2000, was a tremendous flop. An ad for Daikatana proclaimed, "John Romero's about to make you his bitch. Suck it down." The game was delayed several times, and the final product was a bust. The rot had set in, and Romero, the FPS whiz kid, went off to develop mobile games.

"I knew it was risky, and I didn't want to do it. It didn't make sense. I mean, there's the whole culture of smack talk that goes with games and especially the FPSs, and that was something I was known for," Romero tells Gamesauce magazine.

"You know, I never wanted to make you my bitch, not you, not them, not any of the other players and, most importantly, not any of my fans. Up until that ad, I felt I had a great relationship with the gamer and the game development community and that ad changed everything... I regret it and I apologize for it."

"I didn't [stop it] and I'm sorry for that," says Romero. While the game could have been better on a number of levels, that ad and the hype that preceded and followed it was clearly a marketing failure."

Romero, who now says he is resigned to the ad, dished on the ad back in 2008, which evoked a saucy response from the marketer that spearheaded the suck-it-down campaign.

If we're apologizing about anything, this outfit, John. Really?

John Romero Wants To Make You A Star [Game Sauce via Industry Gamers [Pic]