Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: What was the first third person shooter?
These games are closely related to first-person shooters, which also tie the perspective of the player to an avatar, but the two genres are distinct. While the first-person perspective allows players to aim and shoot without their avatar blocking their view, the third-person shooter shows the protagonist from an "over the shoulder shot" or "behind the back" perspective. Thus, the third-person perspective allows the game designer to create a more strongly characterized avatar and directs the player's attention as in watching a film. In contrast, a first-person perspective provides the player with greater immersion into the game universe.
At the computer science department at Aarhus University, three students, avid players of XPilot and of Sid Meier's "Civilization", which was a stand-alone PC game for MS-DOS, decided to find out whether the two could be fused into an X-based multiplayer Civilization-like strategy game. The students—Peter Unold, Claus Leth Gregersen and Allan Ove Kjeldbjerg—started development in November 1995; the first playable version was released in January 1996, with bugfixing and small enhancements until April. The rules of the game were close to Civilization, while the client/server architecture was basically that of XPilot.
"Metal Gear" was the first mainstream stealth game, with the player starting the game unarmed, and sold over a million copies in the United States. "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake" evolved the stealth gameplay of its predecessor and is considered one of the best 8-bit games of all time. "Metal Gear" and "Metal Gear 2" are credited with pioneering stealth mechanics. "Metal Gear Solid", which debuted at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, was the first 3D stealth game, and is credited with popularizing the stealth game genre, as well as the hiding-behind-cover mechanic. The series pioneered the integration of cinematic techniques into video games, especially "Metal Gear Solid" which Eurogamer considers the "first modern video game".
Shortly after the partnership with Microsoft, Silicon Knights announced that "Too Human", a game originally conceived for the Sony PlayStation, would be coming to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console as a planned trilogy. The game, dramatically reworked from the original concept, married the ideas of Norse mythology with high technology. The company was subject to a successful countersuit from Epic Games in May 2012 over the development of games using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, and the latter was awarded US $4.45 million in damages. Silicon Knights was also ordered to destroy all copies of existing titles using the engine, as well as in-development games "The Sandman", "Siren in the Maelstrom" and "The Box/Rytualist".
1998 is seen as a turning point in gaming history because of the release of "Metal Gear Solid", as well as "" and "". The ninja-themed game "Tenchu: Stealth Assassins" was released several months before "Metal Gear Solid", making it the first 3D stealth based-game. The highly anticipated "Metal Gear Solid" transformed its modestly successful franchise into a large mainstream success. The increased power of the PlayStation console over previous platforms allowed for greater immersion in terms of both story and game environment. "Metal Gear Solid" has been credited with popularizing the stealth genre. The core elements of these games, such as avoiding confrontation, minimizing noise, and attacking antagonists from "the shadows", influenced many future stealth game series.
The first game in the series is based on the video game "Age of Empires III", and was originally titled Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery before being renamed to Glenn Drover's Empires: The Age of Discovery in 2011 following the loss of the naming rights to the "Age of Empires" series. It was originally published in 2007 by Tropical Games, and is currently distributed by Drover's own publishing company, Eagle Games. The game may be played by up to five players, though pieces for a sixth player were available in limited supply, and are included in the "Builders Expansion", released in 2011 along with the renaming of the series.
A fighting game sequel, "Persona 4 Arena", known in Japan as "Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena", was developed by Arc System Works, the company known for creating the "Guilty Gear" and "BlazBlue" series, and released in 2012 for arcades, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As with the anime, the protagonist is named Yu Narukami. , Mitsuru, Elizabeth, and Akihiko from "Persona 3" are also featured in the game. Set two months following the True Ending of the original game, the members of the Investigation Team are pulled back into the television and forced into a fighting tournament called the "P-1 Grand Prix" hosted by Teddie.
Brett Weiss cites "Superman" (1979) as an action-adventure game, with "Retro Gamer" crediting it as the "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits "Adventure" (1980) as the earliest-known action-adventure game, was an adaptation of text-based adventure game "Colossal Cave Adventure" for the Atari 2600, with the player having the ability to fight in combat like in an action game. "Castle Wolfenstein" (1981) was another early action-adventure game. Allgame also claimed the following titles released prior to 1982 were action-adventure games: "Rescue at Rigel" (1980), "Quest for the Rings" (1981), and "Venture" (1981).
Clock Tower is a survival horror point-and-click adventure video game series created by Hifumi Kono. The series includes four games in total. The first entry, "Clock Tower" (1995), was developed by Human Entertainment and released on the Super Famicom exclusively in Japan. Human Entertainment developed two more entries, "Clock Tower" (1996) and "" (1998), which were released on the PlayStation and localized outside Japan. The fourth and most recent title, "Clock Tower 3" (2002), was by Sunsoft and Capcom for the PlayStation 2. Gameplay in the series generally involves the player hiding and escaping from enemy pursuers without any weapons to defeat them. Scissorman is a reoccurring antagonist and sometimes the sole enemy in the game.
"Descent: FreeSpace" was well received as a single-player space simulation that integrated all the desired features of its genre, from competent AI wingmen, to the presence of large capital ships that not only dwarf the fighters piloted by the player, but also explode spectacularly when destroyed. However, the game's multiplayer mode was criticised, as it was plagued by lag and inaccurate tracking of statistics. An expansion for the game, which was less well received, was also released in 1998 under the title of "Silent Threat", and focuses on events after the main game's campaign with the player working for an intelligence branch of the Terrans' armed forces that later attempt to overthrow the Terran government. A sequel to "Descent: FreeSpace" entitled "FreeSpace 2", was released in 1999 to critical acclaim.
The development of "Doom", a first-person shooter video game by id Software, began in November 1992 and continued until the game was released in December 1993. Seven people worked on "Doom", which is considered one of the most significant and influential titles in video game history. The initial development team was programmers John Carmack and John Romero, artists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud, and designer Tom Hall; late in development Hall was replaced by Sandy Petersen and programmer Dave Taylor was added to the team. The music and sound effects were created by Bobby Prince.
Overall, the opinions of reviewers seem to have been summed up by Pro-G: "One day someone is going to combine the RTS with another genre and pull it off really well; "Rise & Fall" isn't that game. The basic RTS elements are sound, but the hero mode verges on awful, boat control is a nightmare, and the campaigns are dull... There are so many other games out there that offer a better all-round RTS experience, there's really no reason to bother with Midway's effort. Some praise must be given for trying something a little different, but Rise & Fall is another idea that falls a long way short of its potential."
PopCap Games in Vancouver started the title's development in early 2012. With PopCap hoping to use a new game to expand the franchise and introduce it to a broader audience, they intentionally opted not to make a 2D tower defense game and opted for a different genre. The team was inspired by other team-based shooters with colorful visuals such as "Left 4 Dead" and "Team Fortress 2", and the team faced different challenges when designing the game's eight classes. Game engine Frostbite 3 powered the game, and the team collaborated closely with EA DICE when implementing the game's technology.
In 1972, the first commercially available video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had a light gun accessory, the Shooting Gallery. This was the first involvement of Nintendo in video games. According to Martin Picard in the "International Journal of Computer Game Research": "in 1971, Nintendo had -- even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States -- an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s".
Wolfenstein: The New Order is an action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on 20 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game is the seventh main entry in the "Wolfenstein" series and the sequel to 2009's "Wolfenstein", set in an alternate history 1960s Europe where the Nazis won the Second World War. The story follows war veteran William "B.J." Blazkowicz and his efforts to stop the Nazis from ruling over the world.
An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure, "The Legend of Zelda", which served as the template for many future action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as "Dragon Slayer" and "Hydlide," which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, "The Legend of Zelda" featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since.
"Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" is the sequel to the popular first-person shooter "", developed by Valve Corporation. "Global Offensive"s development began when Hidden Path Entertainment attempted to port "Counter-Strike: Source" onto video game consoles, prior to the end of their lifespan. During the development, Valve saw the opportunity to turn the port into a full game and expand on the predecessor's gameplay. "Global Offensive" began development in March 2010, and was revealed to the public on August 12, 2011. The closed beta started on November 30, 2011, and was initially restricted to around ten thousand people who received a key at events intended to showcase "Global Offensive". After issues such as client and server stability were addressed, the beta was opened up to progressively more people, and at E3 2012, Valve announced that "Global Offensive" would be released on August 21, 2012, with the open beta starting roughly a month before that. Before the public beta, Valve invited professional "Counter-Strike" players to play-test the game and give feedback.
In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear gameplay. While games have used open-world designs since the 1980s, the implementation in "Grand Theft Auto III" (2001) set a standard that has been used since.
The history of game making begins with the development of the first video games, although which video game is the first depends on the definition of "video game". The first games created had little entertainment value, and their development focus was separate from user experience—in fact, these games required mainframe computers to play them. "OXO", written by Alexander S. Douglas in 1952, was the first computer game to use a digital display. In 1958, a game called "Tennis for Two", which displayed its output on an oscilloscope, was made by Willy Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1961, a mainframe computer game called "Spacewar!" was developed by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students led by Steve Russell.
Prior to the first "Civilization" video game, an existing 1980 board game of the same name had been developed by Francis Tresham, published in Europe by his company Hartland Trefoil and licensed for publication in the United States by Avalon Hill. The board game and video game share many common elements including the use of a technology tree, and while Meier stated he had played the board game, he stated it had far less influence in his video game's design compared to the significant influence of "SimCity" and "Empire". When MicroProse opted on the name "Civilization" for the video game, the company worked out a deal with Avalon Hill to allow them to use the "Civilization" name.
With the arrival of the seventh generation of video game consoles, the first "next-gen" "Grand Theft Auto" clones were released in 2006, beginning with "Saints Row" from 2006 and "Crackdown" from 2007 both introduced online multiplayer to the genre, a feature that had been requested by many fans. "Crackdown" attracted attention for being created by David Jones, the developer of the original "Grand Theft Auto", and featured the ability to develop the player character's superpowers in a semi-futuristic setting. Meanwhile, "" and "" entered the market in 2006, and attempted to apply the "Grand Theft Auto" formula to popular movie franchises. Still, reviewers continued to measure these games against the standard set by the "Grand Theft Auto" series. "Grand Theft Auto IV" was released in April 2008 and featured a large, detailed environment, redefining gameplay and even adopted the GPS navigation system seen in "Saints Row". The game broke numerous sales records, including the record for the fastest selling game in its first 24 hours. Since its inception, this genre has evolved to include larger settings, more missions, and a wider range of vehicles. In 2010, Rockstar Games published "Red Dead Redemption", an open world Western themed game. On the day of "Grand Theft Auto V" 's release on September 17, 2013, Volition released a free downloadable content pack for "Saints Row IV" titled "GATV", purposely playing the similarity in the abbreviated titles to promote their game due to the confusion raised on various social networks.
"Syphon Filter" (1999) by Eidetic (now SCE Bend Studio) combined the perspective of "Tomb Raider" with action elements of games such as "GoldenEye 007" (1997) and "Metal Gear Solid" (1998). Richard Rouse III wrote in GamaSutra that the game was the most popular third person shooter for the PlayStation. The Nintendo 64 version of "" by The 3DO Company was released the same year as Syphon Filter, and is an early example of a popular third person shooter which introduced the player being allowed to control aiming of their weapon themselves by means of two control sticks. In "Tomb Raider" and "Syphon Filter", on the other hand, the protagonists automatically aimed at antagonists. Forcing or allowing the player to control aiming themselves, either using control sticks or a mouse, would go on to become commonplace in later games in the genre, such as "Oni" (2001), "Max Payne" (2001) and "" (2002). "Max Payne" (2001) was acclaimed as a superlative third person shooter, inspired by Hong Kong action cinema. "Resident Evil 4" (2005) was influential in helping to redefine the third-person shooter genre, with its use of "over the shoulder" offset camera angles, where the camera is placed directly over the right shoulder and therefore doesn't obscure the action.
An important gameplay mechanic that helped revolutionize third-person shooters in the past decade was the cover system. Koei's "WinBack" (1999) has a cover system. "Kill Switch" (2003) features the cover system as its core game mechanic, along with a blind fire mechanic. "Gears of War" (2006) employed tactical elements such as taking cover, influenced by "Kill Switch", using off-center viewpoints inspired by "Resident Evil 4". The game also employed grittier themes than other titles and used a unique feature which rewarded the player for correctly reloading weapons. "Gears of War", as well as games such as "Army of Two" (2008), place a greater emphasis on two player cooperative play, as does "Resident Evil 5" (2009). As of 2009, the third-person shooter genre has a large audience outside Japan, particularly in North America.
Konami's run & gun shooter "Contra" (1987) featured several third-person shooter levels where the player trudges through indoor enemy bases. Konami's "Devastators" (1988) is a third-person shooter where, rather than moving forward automatically, the player walks forward by holding the Up direction, as the background slowly scales toward the screen. "Devastators" also featured various obstacles that could be used to take cover from enemy fire, as well as two-player cooperative gameplay. A similar shooter released that same year was "Cabal" (1988), which inspired many of its own ""Cabal" clones," such as "NAM-1975" (1990) and "Wild Guns" (1994). Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 cites Sega's "Last Survivor" (1988), released for arcades and then ported to the FM Towns and FM Towns Marty, featuring eight-player deathmatch. He notes that it has a perspective and split-screen similar to "Xybots", but with entirely different gameplay and controls. In 1993, Namco released a two-player competitive 3D third-person shooter vehicle combat game, "Cyber Sled". A year later, Elite Systems Ltd. released "Virtuoso" on the 3DO. This was an early example of a home console third-person shooter which featured a human protagonist on-foot, as opposed to controlling a vehicle, and made use of polygonal 3D graphics along with sprites in a 3D environment. "Fade to Black" (1995) was also a fully 3D third-person shooter released around this time, but as well as featuring an on-foot protagonist rather than a vehicle, utilised entirely polygonal 3D graphics.
"Dark Forces", released in 1995 by LucasArts, has been regarded as one of the first "true 3-D" first-person shooter games. Its engine, the Jedi Engine, was one of the first engines to support an environment in three dimensions: areas can exist next to each other in all three planes, including on top of each other (such as stories in a building). Though most of the objects in "Dark Forces" are sprites, the game does include support for textured 3D-rendered objects. Another game regarded as one of the first true 3D first-person shooter is Parallax Software's 1994 shooter "Descent".
The episode was written by William Gibson and his fellow science fiction novelist and long-time friend Tom Maddox. "First Person Shooter" was the second "X-Files" episode written by the two, after the season five's "Kill Switch"; the episode had first aired on February 15, 1998 and was rerun often, which encouraged Gibson to continue working in television. According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz, the writing process for "First Person Shooter" was slow. Initially, Gibson and Maddox presented the first two acts of their idea, which were tweaked by series creator Chris Carter and Spotnitz in order to make the story feel more like an X-File. After the rewriting process, the writers then returned with the final two acts. Because both Gibson and Maddox enjoyed The Lone Gunmen as characters, they wrote "First Person Shooter" to prominently feature them.