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the article said:
1992: Id Software releases Wolfenstein 3-D, and it launches a huge computer-game category.

Wolfenstein 3-D may not have been the very first "first-person shooter," as the genre came to be known, but it was by far the most successful. Technically the genre goes back to the '70s, but no one really paid any attention to it. Even id released an earlier FPS called Catacombs 3D, but again, it wasn't nearly as good as Wolfenstein.

But through massive online dissemination of the game's shareware version, Wolfenstein 3D (the hyphen was later dropped from the name) introduced millions to an immersive world in which the action seemed to be happening from the player's perspective.

"It was an incredible sensation, really unlike anything gamers had seen before," said Jamie Madigan, who helps operate the GameSpy Network's 3D Action website. "You could move smoothly in 360 degrees. You felt like you were there."

"Everything that's followed in [its] footsteps has just been a modification of that basic style," id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead said in 2001.

Players in the game assume the role of an American commando battling Nazis and their supernatural servants. It was banned in Germany because of its use of Nazi symbols, like the swastika, and music, like the "Horst Wessel Lied."

Wolfenstein 3D did more than define a genre. It also launched a company, id Software of Mesquite, Texas, which leveraged Wolfenstein 3D's success into a franchise of wildly successful first-person shooters, including the seminal Doom and Quake series.

These games, in turn, begat a slew of sequels, imitators and adaptations, from Half-Life to Max Payne.

Wired.com Game|Life blogger Earnest Cavalli added, "The key to the whole Wolfenstein thing is that its success -- which was massive -- paved the way for ... thousands of games that mimicked them, transforming the PC into a gaming system best known for FPS titles. Plus, who doesn't like killing Nazis?"

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leileilol said:
How did Max Payne get mentioned? That's a THIRD person shooter!

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Nightmare Doom said:
Thats actually evidence for everything the media reports is based on half truths and lies.

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myk said:
Wolf3D is seminal as far as the genre is concerned, but is also very flat and lacks multiplayer, which is kind of mandatory for an FPS.

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david_a said:
I think multiplayer is kinda not mandatory for an FPS.

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Nightmare Doom said:


Thats actually evidence for everything the media reports is based on half truths and lies.

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myk said:
Wolf3D is seminal as far as the genre is concerned, but is also very flat and lacks multiplayer, which is kind of mandatory for an FPS.

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myk said:
Wolf3D is seminal as far as the genre is concerned, but is also very flat and lacks multiplayer, which is kind of mandatory for an FPS.

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The first fully 3D game was Battlezone which came out in the arcades back in 1980. Heh, I still remember playing this back in the mid 80's in my local arcade. Loved it. :)

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Ralphis said:
Though multiplayer in FPS is the STANDARD now, I would not confuse this with being mandatory.

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By this logic, is a game like Portal not a first person shooter?

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Nuxius said:
Actually the first FPS was Maze War, released in 1973 (and was multiplayer ;)). However, it wasn't fully 3D in a sense, because the view did not smoothly change from one frame to the next; the player could only look north, south, east or west, nothing in between. You moved in a grid, similar to Doom RPG.

This particular video is of the 1977 (1979?) Xerox version, since I couldn't find any of the original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7chDIySXK2Q


The first fully 3D game was Battlezone which came out in the arcades back in 1980. Heh, I still remember playing this back in the mid 80's in my local arcade. Loved it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghIPGXs3LAo


The first game to use a ray-casting engine was MIDI Maze, which came out in 1987. It was also a first person shooter that had multiplayer.

Unfortunately, the only videos I can find of this one are for the SNES port, entitled Faceball 2000, which came out in 1992.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL2JAam8jz0


And there's your real origin of the FPS. :p

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Snarboo said:
However, what defines an FPS outside of being first person and shooting things is a bit loose.

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Coopersville said:
I think Catacombs 3D is more awesome than Wolfenstein. Still awaiting that remake.

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Nuxius said:
Actually the first FPS was Maze War, released in 1973 (and was multiplayer ;)). However, it wasn't fully 3D in a sense, because the view did not smoothly change from one frame to the next; the player could only look north, south, east or west, nothing in between. You moved in a grid, similar to Doom RPG.

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Snarboo said:
Agreed.

There are actually first person perspective games before Wolf 3D, such as the Catacomb 3D series and Hovertank, both made by id. I think Ultima Underworld came out before Doom, as well. It was 2.5d if I remember right.

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