Recap: QuakeCon Annual Welcome, Fallout Anthology to Release with Mini-Nuke in Fall

QuakeCon has finally begun! Well, officially, as Tim Willits, creative director of id Software trotted to the center of the Ventrilo Main Stage. Though the greeting was a little late (exactly eight minutes), it still oozed excitement and cheers. To kick off the presentation, Willits expressed his love to the crowd. Unfortunately and initially, the Twitch stream came with quite the annoying echo.

Here's a rundown of the presentation:

Willits first begins by stating that this is QuakeCon's 20th year, an amazing anniversary. Zenimax Online, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, and Bethesda is attending, with most of them hopping on the BYOC train with their own rigs. One of the employees even has a rig made out of legos, so be sure to check that out.
Next, he announces a new championship, The Tri-Master Championship, which is made up of groups of 4-person teams and three game modes: team deathmatch, which awards the winning group with $8,000, Capture the Flag, which the winning group moves onto for a second possible $8000, and then the Duel Division with a prize of $8000. Based on the score at the end of the tournament, the team who accumulates the most points will win $8000. One more championship, the Duel Grand Master Championship on Saturday, will provide players with another opportunity to earn $8000. Talk about a lot of moolah to win all at once.
QuakeCon Trials will also be back, running on Friday and Saturday with a prize pool of $5000, with the first winner walking away with $2,500 in cash. There will be also be surprise during then.
Modders Inc. Case Mods (with the slogan: Void Your Warranty) is back, but with an addition: the LE Mods competition, which pits three pro case mod developers against each other in a competition to make the coolest case within 24 hours.
Of course, there are the pick-up games and tournaments at the BYOC. TableTop Village has also expanded with more sponsors. It is open today through Sunday.
If you give blood in the Topaz Room Friday through Saturday, you can receive a blood bag from Doom, which is actually a cool water bottle.
This year's QuakeCon introduces the AFK Room, which takes place at the Coral Room. This is a quiet place, and if you need a place without harassment or noise, you can always take a break there.
Additionally, there are three local charities to donate to: DFW Nerd Night, Extra Life, and Dallas Pets Alive. This year, however, if you donate to Dallas Pets Alive, you will receive a Fallout 4 Frisbee.
Willits also reveals the Master Pancake theatre, which will be showing the original Jurassic Park Friday night. He notes that if you are too frightened by dinosaurs, you can head over to the pool and watch Paddington.
Ventrilo, which is a key sponsor for QuakeCon for over a decade, has donated $30,000 cash for one hundred raffle tickets. Three will be drawn, with prizes of $10,000 each.
VP of Bethesda Pete Hines then appears, and announces that the Fallout 4 Presentation will begin on Friday at 1:00 PM. Definitely check out Gamerz Unite for a summary of this. The Elder Scrolls Online, including future updates, will also be discussed. On Saturday, the panel of From Retro to Real Time will open at 1:00, followed by the DOOM Panel at 3:00 PM.

Hines has also announced a new product special for Quakecon, called Fallout Anthology, which includes all Fallout games (including Tactics) for the PC. Even better, the Anthology comes with a mini-nuke with a cool sound effect. September 29 is the North American release date, whereas Australia will see the release October 1 and Europe will see the anthology available on October 2. Note that these copies will be extremely limited. The question is, will this collection be on pre-order?
Today, Bethesda.net has begun to roll-out, which compacts Bethesda-related information, news sources, and forums together into one platform. Bethesda is also selling merchandise at Quakecon and Online and has discounted its video games. Today is Elder Scrolls Day, with all Elder Scrolls titles deeply discounted, including Elder Scrolls Online. Tomorrow is id Software day, and Sunday is Fallout day. These discounts will not be limited to Steam. As the cherry on top, Bethesda is also selling the Bethesda Game Bundle, only on Steam, for $99.99, which is worth $354.90 and includes 75 titles. There will also be sales on Sony and Microsoft Bethesda titles as well, so be sure to check them out.
Willits returns and shows off the E3 trailer of DOOM, with over-the-top, slow-motion violence and gore. The trailer is definitely a reminder that it is the shooter equivalent to Mortal Kombat.
Marty Stratton, Executive Producer of DOOM, then appears on stage to talk a bit more about DOOM, including DOOM Snapmap, which is a map builder. If you want to know more, you can check out Bethesda.net.
Stratton finally announces that those that have pre-purchased Wolfenstein: The New Order will be able to participate in the DOOM Beta early next year, but those that are selected from the beta pool drawing will be able to play at QuakeCon to test out the Alpha. Several QuakeCon attendees will be able to play DOOM Multiplayer first starting today, at the back of the exhibit hall, which will lead into a DOOM championship.

And there you have it--A great beginning to QuakeCon 2015, so let's see what the rest of the Con has in store for us!