id Software
Maybe it is because of this current economy, or the changing of the times, or maybe both, but there’s been some big shakeups this year in the video game industry. Sadly, 3D Realms (who essentially was the Apogee Software company I grew up with) shut its doors recently. They never got to complete Duke Nukem Forever, which despite all the jokes about how it was never coming out, I always expected to see on a store shelf someday. I was pretty sad to see them go.
I grew up playing Apogee games. Most kids my age grew up with Nintendo or Sega. I had a Nintendo, but my heart was always with PC games. Apogee, in my opinion, put out the very best (though Epic Megagames had a solid lineup too). One of the best development houses that worked with Apogee was id Software. Anyone who has known me since the early 90s can tell you that I was always a fiercely loyal fan of id Software. Whatever they released I would play. And play. And play some more.
If memory serves me correct, my first id Software experience was with the original Commander Keen. I had a blast with that game and since I was just a little kid when it was released, I would pretend to be Commander Keen when I was outside playing. I think I might have even made a makeshift rocket ship with furniture on the back deck. After Keen came Wolfenstein 3D. In its day, Wolf3D was the coolest thing I had ever seen on a computer. I remember when the shareware version appeared on my Dad’s BBS. We had no idea what it was but since it was published by Apogee, we knew it would be interesting. I was not prepared for how awesome it was. Actually, neither was my computer. My Dad had to upgrade some piece of the system (I don’t remember what). I played that game constantly. I got the full version of the game for Christmas. My parents can tell you about how the game didn’t arrive at our door until Christmas Eve!
Fast forward to Doom. I spent a lot of time with Doom as well. Once my friend Carl got a PC, we quickly learned how fun playing the game together over a modem was. I do believe I played Doom more than any other game in my whole life with one possible exception. Quake.
Quake took over my life. It was fast. It was gritty. It was a game that actually played in a three dimensional space! The real drug though, was the ability to play other people over the Internet. At the time, the Internet was just getting traction so the concept of playing someone across the globe seemed really futuristic. I am definitely not as good at video games now as I was back then, but I really do think I was pretty good at that game.
Shortly after Christmas one year, id Software released the “id Anthology”, a box set containing all of their games and a bundle of goodies which I am proud to say I own. One such goodie in the box was an id Anthology T-Shirt, which to this day I have never worn. I still have the box set. It sits in my room and although I don’t play the games contained within these days, I still cherish it. The gaming landscape really began to change around this time so in some ways, the id Anthology is like a physical representation of an end of an era.
id continued to pump out cool games and while their contemporaries were being absorbed into large publishing companies, they stayed independent. I always thought that was really impressive. This small shop continued to put out award winning games without the backing of a parent company. I guess that’s why I am surprised, and a little shocked, to hear that id Software was acquired by ZeniMax today. ZeniMax owns Bethesda Softworks, another legendary game developer, so they are in good hands. id doesn’t quite make as much noise as they used to and with the ever-growing production values in modern games, a company of id’s size must surely have difficulty getting the job done. Under ZeniMax, they can grow their staff and put out more games.
It’s odd to see id Software no longer running independently, but again, the video game landscape has changed greatly since the 90s and the economy isn’t quite what it used to be. I look forward to seeing what id comes up with now with stronger backing. I am not the gamer I used to be but I am still the id Software fan I was when I was a kid. When RAGE, their next game, hits store shelves, you better believe I’ll be there to buy it. Good luck id. I’m very excited for you.
