Only the people convinced games cost $3000,-
And on the Quake stuff... can't really comment on the first 2; but yes Quake 3's only advantage was the better graphics (untill UT2K3) and the faster paced action than UT...
And ID isn't really making classics anymore.
Doom3 and Quake4 passed very quickly, RtcW was also nothing... ET was done extremely well and was very popular; but released free etc.
(Wait, was this topic about Black Isle?)