In 1993, Id Software created Doom, one of the most significant computer games of all time. Doom allowed players to see the game through the eyes of the character1 they controlled. The game popularized online multiplayer gaming (playing with or against other people through LANs or the Internet).
In the early 1990s, a drop in the price of CD-ROM technology led to a wave of multimedia games (games that combine audio, video, animation, photographs, or other media). Compact discs (CDs) can store from 650 to 700 megabytes of data, more than 400 times than standard floppy disks can. With this storage capacity, designers could add voice files, digitized video of live actors, and other assets2to their games. Companies such as Digital Pictures, Access Software, and Viacom published interactive movies, or games that combined digitized footage3 of real actors and virtual characters.
In 1993, Broderbund published a game called Myst for Macintosh computers, and Virgin Interactive Entertainment published a game called The 7th Guest for the IBM PC. In both games, the player explores a rich virtual world, trying to solve puzzles. Millions of copies of these games were sold, popularizing multimedia technology and attracting large new audiences to computer gaming.
In 1995, Microsoft launched Windows 95. This operating system (with built-in driver software for sound cards, graphics cards, joysticks, and other controllers) greatly simplified the use of PCs as a gaming platform.
Notes: 1character – çä: ãåðîé, äåéñòâóþùåå ëèöî;
2asset – ðåñóðñ, öèôðîâîé îáúåêò (èçîáðàæåíèå, òåêñò, àóäèî- èëè âèäåîêëèï);
3footage – îòñíÿòûé [ôîòî/âèäåî] ìàòåðèàë.