There were advancements in computer
technology that made them a real threat to console gaming. One of the fist advancements
was the add-on that was the sound card. While it wasn’t the first one it was
the first to be reasonable priced and high quality. Created by Sim Wong Hoo at
the company Creative Labs the Sound Blaster went on to become the standard
threw out the industry. So now that computer gaming had sound to match that of
the television in your living room it came one step closer to console gaming. Before
this the sound for computer games came out flat and raspy so it was not
utilized like it was in the games developed for home consoles.
However I believe an even bigger
contributor to the rise of home computer gaming was the CD-ROM. This was a new
media to create games one and while there was a lot of “interactive movies”
that flooded the market early there was also hit like Myst that found a home on
PC using the CD-ROM. Along with Myst was two other killer applications that
came along, the 7th Guest and Doom. Doom more then any other one of
the three games mention had a lasting impression on the game industry as a
whole. Doom was a huge draw to gamers to move from the console to the home
computer as it could only be played there. With its shareware distribution
model id software had a smart and ahead of its time way to get it’s game in the
hands of gamers. Offering the early game for free like a demo Doom was able to
fly under the radar of the media while it spread across the internet and became
a must have game. This would go on to validate shareware as a way to get gamers
interested in your product.
With the improvement in computer
game sound as well as the CD-ROM then found on home computers it set on par
with console gaming. However these two
combined with use of shareware and games that could not be found anyway else put
computer gaming in the front of the minds of gamers the world over.
-Matthew Boone
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