Back when I had my first PC (a IBM-clone equipped with a 486-DX 33), one of the first games that I booted up was id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D. Back then, pixelated and rudimentary 3D graphics (courtesy of John Carmack) that enabled Nazi-blasting gameplay (thanks to John Romero) were the bomb back then. The two Johns and the rest of the team at id followed this up with Doom with an improved 3D engine which was later dubbed as id Tech 1. Not only did Doom has better texture and lighting, and it featured steps.
These early 3D first-person shooters were instrumental in bringing modern first-person shooters to the fore in PC gaming, and personally I believe first-person shooters were (and still are) the main drivers for the graphics cards race that we’ve seen over the years. The years after the release of Doom and Doom 2 saw 3dfx, Nvidia and ATI doing battle for market share. Prior to its demise and subsequent acquisition by Nvidia, 3dfx released its monstrous Voodoo 5 graphics cards, at around 24 centimeters in length. ATI on the other hand had its Radeon range of cards, and they ended up being bought up by AMD.
One of the announcements in Games Workshop’s annual Warhammer Skulls Festival touches on the nostalgia invoked by the early era of first person shooters, and it even involves a 3.5-inch floppy disk! Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun blends Warhammer 40K with classic, frenetic FPS gameplay and stylish (read: retro and pixels) of your favourite 90’s retro shooters.
Gamers play as a battle-hardened Space Marine on a perilous mission across the galaxy, as they battle against the Chaos Space Marines and daemons of Chaos. The game is being worked on by Auroch Digital and Focus Entertainment and is slated for release on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch & PC in 2023. Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming months!
