Windows 95 games launch!
Olav Tollefsen
ON OCTOBER 30, 1995, Microsoft and Windows 95 will take you inside the minds of some of
the greatest computer game companies in the world -- all on this website.
This is your chance to witness the rebirth of the PC gaming industry as it escapes from the
clutches of DOS development. You will have the opportunity to act as judge and jury for an
overwhelming number of Windows 95 games as they are introduced LIVE here on the virtual
"main stage" at this web site, and made ready to debut before the end of the year.
Activision Inc., ATI Technologies Inc., id Software, LucasArts Entertainment Co., Mindscape and
Zombie will take you on an odyssey through an inferno deep inside the Microsoft web server,
using the latest VRML technology. A virtual Haunted House BEYOND anything you've experienced
in this lifetime, or any other.
Over 30 leading hardware and software companies from the game industry will present their
wares for your perusal in an online tradeshow. Get the gory details on the hottest new games
for Windows 95 and the greatest Designed for Windows 95 gaming hardware the world has ever
seen.
AND WAIT THERE'S MORE... id Software, GT Interactive Software, DWANGO, Falcon Northwest,
and Microsoft will make you a witness to the first ever DOOM World Championship Deathmatch
Tournament, all running on Windows 95. Throughout October, the most ruthless, merciless, DOOM
players in the world will be competing for the chance to travel to Redmond and compete in the final
rounds of the Deathmatch 95 Championship. At midnight, the top two players will meet in a Face to
Face showdown and battle it out on id Software and Raven Software's HEXEN-Beyond Heretic.
Only one will survive to be crowned the world's best Deathmatch player. Track all the final round
action on the Deathmatch scoreboard, updated live throughout the day on October 30th.
Your invitation has arrived: open it if you dare. But we caution you -- this is not for the faint of heart!
--
- Olav Tollefsen
- Microsoft Norway
-
- Nothing I have written here is in any way, shape, or form official
- Microsoft policy or opinion, and should not be represented as such
- when quoted here or in any other forum.
gutierrez
> Ohhh, games, a surefire way to get business to commit to the Microsoft way of
> doing business.
>
> Instead of concentrating on needed desktop products, i.e., Exchange, the business
> community is going to be enthralled that the limited development resources within
> MS are focussed on games.
>
> Excuse me while I laugh at the implausibility of this.
> Eric Larson
> ela...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
If you didn't know it the gaming industry is worth several billions of dollar a
year. Game companies are laughing all the way to the bank. While you
may not care about games (nor do I) there are millions of people who
think otherwise. Even OS/2 is working on improved game support.
--
mario l gutierrez mgut...@rohan.sdsu.edu
Christopher L. Estep
>
>In <45r4mi$3...@oslo-nntp.eunet.no>, ol...@ksedb.no (Olav Tollefsen) writes:
>
>>ON OCTOBER 30, 1995, Microsoft and Windows 95 will take you inside the
minds of some of
>>the greatest computer game companies in the world -- all on this website.
>
>Ohhh, games, a surefire way to get business to commit to the Microsoft way
of
>doing business.
This from a platform with VERY LITTLE development EXCEPT vertical
applications. Like it or not, if a platform has more games, it makes the
platform more attractive to users. If more users adopt a platform, evn if
initially mainly for games, that is STILL "a foot in the door" for business
applications those current game players will want down the road. Every
person who buys Fury3 (and buys Windows 95 to run it on) is a "foot in the
door" to sales of Delrina CyberJack, Office '95, and the future SmartSuite
(and NotesSuite) 96. This is how DOS (and later, Windows 3.x itself) got to
become, in their time, the Kings Of The Desktop. Hook 'em with games, then
reel 'em in with business apps. Smart move, Bill.
(Lest anyone forget, the original "hot app" in Windows/286 was a game that
was INCLUDED with it: Solitaire (not to mention the Othello-like, and
extremely addicting, Reversi). This game in Windows/286, and the much
improved version in Windows 3.0, was a "hook" that got people interested in
future Windows applications (like Word for Windows). Windows 3.0, 3.1, and
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 became, one after the other, the biggest-selling
desktop utilities of all time. Word for Windows? It has become the STANDARD
in Windows word processing (which, two years ago, became a bigger market than
DOS word processing). A PROVEN formula. Heck, APPLE used the SAME formula
with the ORIGINAL Apple II, and repeated it with the Macintosh. Hook 'em
with games; reel 'em in with business apps. The formula WORKS. It has
worked for Microsoft; it has worked for Apple. The only Microsoft slippage
in this tried-and-true formula was with Windows NT; however, as more Win32
games become available, I expect that there will be more interest in NT
(especially NT Workstation) in areas OUTSIDE the traditional "workstation"
environment (lest anyone forget, the ORIGINAL Win32 game, Freecell, BEGAN
with the ORIGINAL NT back in 1993; it has now shown up as a "proof
application" as part of Win32s and as part of Windows 95 itself).
MS did NOT use the proven formula with NT....maybe they should have?
IBM did NOT use that formula with the original 32-bit OS/2 2.0, but came
around with 2.1 (which was the first true "best-seller" version of OS/2).
Could it be that gamers helped push OS/2 to where it is today? Could it be
that Big Blue's backing away from game development on OS/2 is a sign that IBM
is NOT SERIOUS about going head-to-head with Windows 95 (and a gaining NT) in
non-traditional IBM markets (like homes and the SoHo market, where PCs are
often dual-purpose machines, used for both business apps AND games)?
Could the fact that ALL of the parts of Windows 95 that have boosted game
development, like DirectSound, DirectDraw, and the forthcoming RenderMorphics
and RealityLab APIs (which will ALL be supported by future versions of NT,
like OpenGL will be supported by future versions of Windows 95) will somehow
manage to find their way to business applications for the Win32 API? I
ALREADY see a use for those APIs in one area FAR outside of mere games:
PRESENTATIONS. Specifically, MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS.
Could IBM have "missed the boat"....AGAIN?????
Christopher L. Estep
>Instead of concentrating on needed desktop products, i.e., Exchange, the
business
>community is going to be enthralled that the limited development resources
within
>MS are focussed on games.
Who says they are not concentrating on Exchange? Exchange is a SOLID
application RIGHT NOW. It has done EVERYTHING I have asked of it, and then
some! Exchange has been my DAILY fax program since May 1995, for both
inbound and OUTBOUND faxes (which could NEVER be said for even WinFaxPro,
which I actually PAID FOR! I got WFP because I HATED MAW Fax in Windows for
Workgroups; yet even WFP saw little usage from me), not to mention Internet
Mail (being actually able to SCHEDULE faxes AND Internet mail runs is a bonus
I hadn't expected). I can even use Exchange for really fancy faxes (with
multiple fonts, in multiple WEIGHTS). Case in point: ever seen a faxed
resume? Most resumes (especially those sent by fax) tend to look dull and
boring. When sending resumes by fax, you need an edge - something that
separates YOUR resume from the rest. Exchange has one edge that is apparent
to EVERYONE that I send faxes to: CREATIVITY. Unlike color fax programs
(which requires either complicated hardware or complicated SOFTWARE, or BOTH
on the other end as well as your own), something as simple as using multiple
fonts in a fax is even reproducible on ordinary FAX MACHINES, which are STILL
prevalent in corporate HR offices. How many fax programs, EVEN THOSE WHICH
ARE SOLD SEPARATELY, let you use different fonts, in different weights, in a
fax? WinFax Pro 4.0 does NOT. How many fax programs ALSO let you send
e-mail to CompuServe AND the Internet, or even from one to the other? How
many fax programs work hand in hand with communications applications from
DIFFERENT COMPANIES? Again, WinFaxPro 4.0 fails miserably at this IMPORTANT
test (my communications program of choice has long been QMPro for Windows;
WinFax Pro and QWMPro for Windows did NOT get along AT ALL; I can use
Exchange in tandem with the SAME Win16 QMPro without a glitch, upgrading to
QMPro for Windows 95 gives me the ability to call one program FROM THE OTHER.
Slick. Given the fact that Exchange and QMPro are from two different
companies (and were built using different COMPILERS), this is UNHEARD OF
ANYWHERE ELSE, even in MacOS).
Exchange ALSO left the door open for add-ins (for example, WinFax Pro 7 does
NOT compete with Exchange per se, but ENHANCES it by adding NEW CAPABILITIES,
like OCR, encryption, and FaxAFile support to Exchange). Exchange is a
building block; NOT an end-all in and of itself. True, the building block
has some KILLER power and versatility, but, even with all that Exchange HAS,
it is STILL extensible, either by Microsoft itself, or by third parties (like
Symantec/Delrina, Lotus, and others).
>
>Excuse me while I laugh at the implausibility of this.
You have been steadily trying to put Exchange in competition with Notes. Why?
Are you worried that Lotus is going to find a way to extend some of the
capabilities of Notes into Exchange (or is Lotus ALREADY working on this, and
it has you sweating, because there is NO WAY that this is possible with OS/2
and FaxWorks, which isn't even MAW Fax, let alone Exchange) ala InterNotes?
>
>Eric Larson
>ela...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
>