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Wolfenstein 3-D Celebrates 20 Years With Free Browser-Based Version

Posted by samzenpus on from the shoot-away dept.

Dr Herbert West writes "20 years ago today, id software released Wolfenstein 3D, inspired by the classic Apple II game, Castle Wolfenstein. To celebrate, Bethesda Softworks on Wednesday released a free, browser-based version of the iconic first-person shooter. Users can pick which level they wish to play in the browser version, even the secret levels."

7 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Logged on to play. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They wanted my fucking bitrthdate so I gave them 1/1/1900.

    WTF, is our fucking legal system so screwed that having some dipshit fucking form where anyone can lie is preferable to to just letting anyone play?!?

    Nevermind don't answer that. That was rhetorical.

    DOn't want to get the pedant NAzis all worked up here.

  2. Re:Bethesda: Working on this instead of fixing Sky by discord5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess this is why they haven't fixed all of those bugs in Skyrim. They were too busy making a browser-based Wolfenstein.

    Nah man, this is the tech demo for the Elder Scrolls MMO. I shit you not.

  3. doesn't look like much now, but... by Xtifr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's hard to tell from looking at it now, just how much of a revelation Wolfenstein3D really was. Compared to modern games, the graphics look like crap, and even back then, we had games with better graphics in the cut scenes, but we all knew that cut-scenes were pre-rendered, slowly, on much bigger machines. The idea that our simple desktop systems could create that level of 3D realism on the fly was astonishing! The first time I saw it, I kept wondering if it was going to make my CPU explode from all the calculations it must be performing.

  4. An abbreviated timeline, for those who care by swordgeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    * Castle Wolfenstein: 1981 (on the Apple ][. Atari and Commodore shortly thereafter)
    * Beyond Castle Wolfenstein: 1984
    * Hovertank 3D: 1991 First FPS
    * Wolfenstein 3D: 1992
    * Return to Castle Wolfenstein: 2001. A very, VERY different game!

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  5. Re:Slow as hell by monkeyhybrid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's wrong with that? I think it's pretty cool to see classics like this ported to 'super slow Javascript'. Kind of puts things in perspective when a game I saved up to buy all those years back (after playing the hell out of a magazine demo) and also led me to save up more money to upgrade from my AdLib soundcard to a SoundBlaster Pro (so I could hear more than what seemed like white noise sound effects), is now fully playable in my web browser, for free, with no install, and barely touching my CPU.

  6. Re:Already done in 4KB of Java by artor3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's nothing like the original Wolfenstein 3D. The graphics are crap compared to the real thing (no animations -- bad guys go from living to dead in one frame), and the level layout doesn't even match. It's cool that they got it in 4 KB and all, but I can't imagine anyone preferring that version to Bethesda's.

  7. Re:Prequel to ReturnToWolfenstein by antdude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Play that online: http://www.virtualapple.org/castlewolfensteindisk.html ;)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).