The first game engine to allow spline-based curved surfaces in a game was the id Tech 3, the engine behind Quake III Arena. This technology renders and slots together a series of small geometric shapes in order to create the impression of a smooth surface, so gone are the flat, 2D sprites of its predecessors. Other features of the engine include improved animation (thanks to the use of vertex movements), a high-level shader language, and a method for rendering volumetric fog.
The Battle of Kadesh was fought in Syria in approximately 1275 BC and pitted the Egyptians, under the great pharaoh Ramses II, against the Hittites. The sources that depict the battle are Egyptian: an epic inscription called the “Poem”, written by an anonymous scribe, and numerous reliefs in the temple known as the “Ramessium”. Led by Muwatallish, the Hittite army boasted as many as 19,000 men, with around 10,500 of them fighting in three-man chariots. Although the forces of Ramses II outnumbered the Hittites, with
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The Rescuers Down Under (USA,1990), the first ever animated sequel made by Disney (USA), was also the first movie to be made using the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) – Disney’s digital ink-and-paint system developed with Pixar (USA). CAPS allowed for, among other things, the digital colourization of scanned elememts, multiplane backgrounds, and complex camera movements never before available to animators.
Now a firm staple of 2D shooters, the first game to feature an alert for an upcoming boss fight was the horizontally-scrolling shmup Darius, with its legendary signal: “WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP…IS APPROACHING FAST”. Such alerts have since been adopted by the likes of Ikaruga (Treasure, 2001) and now appear on T-shirts and other gaming merchandise. Featured in Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2011
Launched in arcades in 1985, the first game to allow simultaneous fourplayer action was fantasy-themed Gauntlet. The game featured four sets of inputs, allowing cooperation through a number of unique play mechanics. It went on to have a huge influence on the arcades, with many of the big titles that followed also shipping in four-player cabinets. Featured in Guinness World Records Gamer”s Edition 2010
An additional level of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast was available for download shortly after release. This level incorporates floating speech bubbles (known as commentary nodes) in the game world. Interacting with these nodes plays an audio commentary in which the developers discuss the creation of that area. The 2007 Orange Box version contains over two and a half hours of commentary activated in this way. GWR Video Gamer’s Edition 2008, title: First PC game to feature developer commentary.
The first PlayStation 2 game to use moving dynamic lighting was Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. This came in the form of a torch, wielded by the ARGUS mercenaries, picking out details in the darkness.
NFL Football, released for the NES in 1989, was intended to represent the 1988/89 NFL season, and used teams and play formations accurate to the era.
The first attempt to fix a genetic disorder in a human being was made in September 1990. 4 year old Ashanti DeSilva (USA), suffering from a deficiency of adenosine deaminase (ADA), had been chronically ill for her whole life with the weak immune system caused by her condition. Her pioneering doctors gave her healthy copies of the gene that produces ADA by placing the gene in a modified virus that was then allowed to infect her blood cells. Ashanti has lived a healthy life ever
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GTA III was the first game to be recognized by the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for selling over one million copies in the UK. Notably, it is also the first British game to make the ELSPA Award Million-Seller list. GWR Video Gamer’s Edition 2008, title: First game to win an ELSPA Diamond Million-Seller award.