In an effort to get gamers off their butts and outside to enjoy the summer air, Activision and id Software have announced plans to tour the West Coast in a big 45-foot black bus containing the latest and greatest look at Quake III Arena.

　　Beginning on August 8, the bus will begin its three-month journey on id's home turf at QuakeCon '99 (running August 6-8), in Mesquite, Texas, where more than 1,000 players will be in attendance.

　　The Quake III Arena Tour Bus will house eight machines powered by the latest AMD Athlon systems, with Voodoo3 3000 graphics accelerators, Aureal 3D sound cards, and speakers.

　　The tour is being sponsored by id Software, Activision, 3dfx Interactive, Aureal 3D, CompUSA, and Electronics Boutique, and the bus crew will be showing off other Activision titles while raffling off 3dfx graphics cards, Aureal sound cards, and speaker systems. And gamers can also walk away with T-shirts, decals, and other swag to show off their Quake obsession.

　　During the weekdays, the bus will be parked at college campuses, making sure it disrupts the first few weeks of classes, and is expected to make several unannounced stops along the way. During the weekends, the bus will make its stops at CompUSA locations. To find out if the bus is coming to a big city near you, keep watching the official Quake III Arena site. In the meantime, here's a listing of the cities where the bus will be headed (hopefully to GameSpot's offices).

　　Dallas, Houston, El Paso, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas; Albuquerque, N.M.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.; Portland and Eugene, Ore.; and Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Fresno, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine, Calif.

　　Activision and id Software still have not released a specific date for when gamers can expect to play a complete version of Quake III Arena, but with a tour in the works, gamers can assume that an announcement is coming soon.