Happy (Belated) Birthday Wolfenstein
By Andrew Liszewski
While Doom usually gets most of the credit for being the first great first person shooter, 16 years ago yesterday Id Software released Wolfenstein 3D which deserves just as much credit. It technically wasn’t the first FPS either, but thanks to a shareware version the game spread across PCs like wildfire. I also think it helped to foster the concept of the ‘adult’ or ‘mature’ game since it had you running around shooting Nazis and even attack dogs with all manner of machine gunnery. (It was even banned in Germany because of the Nazi themes.) Of course Wolfenstein 3D paved the way for Id to make Doom and Quake which also helped the PC to become the place for first person shooters. (Until Goldeneye on the N64 showed up.)
So Happy Birthday Wolfenstein 3D. And if you’re in the mood for a little nostalgia while at work, I recommend checking out the WolfenFlash 3D flash game which is a pretty close facsimile of Wolfenstein 3D that can be played right in your browser.
[ May 5, 1992: Wolfenstein 3-D Shoots the First-Person Shooter Into Stardom ] VIA [ Kotaku ]
Related Tags: 
Permalink
