Happy Birthday Wolfenstein 3D!

Today was Wolfenstein 3D's 12th birthday! That means that the FPS market is 12 years old as of today, since many regard W3D as the first true game of the genre. It's cool to see how the genre's evolved over the past 12 years with the advent of the tactical shooter (Rainbow Six; Ghost Recon), online tournament shooter (Quake 3; UT2K4), and massively multiplayer military shooter (Battlefield:1942). I know there's some more but they are more nichey and one-off-ish.

Geez, we made Wolfenstein so many years ago that I can't remember anything that happened back then. JUST KIDDING! I remember everything almost as if it was yesterday. I definitely remember it being great fun - it was a great time for id. And it's great to see the legacy survive in Return To Castle Wolfenstein.

Sadly, on February 26th, a few months ago, the creator of the original 1981 classic Castle Wolfenstein, Silas Warner, died. I've always been an admirer of Silas' and Tom Hall and I went to his wake in Chico, CA in March. I was lucky enough to get Silas' last collection of disks and memorabilia which included a pristine copy of the original package of Castle Wolfenstein. R.I.P. Silas.