Classic proto first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D is now free to play, courtesy of developer Bethesda.

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It was the magic idea that led to Wolfenstein 3d, and it remains the most reliable moneymaker in games today.

FORBES: Play Wolfenstein 3D in a Browser, For Free

But as time went on and first-person shooters like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom rose in popularity, an important trend emerged: LAN parties.

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Role-playing games, or RPGs (the primary type of games played on consoles) are not much different now than when I first played Castle Wolfenstein in the early 1980s.

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The 8-Bit computer, which launched in 1982 (the same year TRON hit theaters), may have been great for BASIC programming, but I used it mostly for playing games like Summer Olympics, Ghostbusters, Castle Wolfenstein, and Pitstop II.

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Huang and cofounders Christopher Malachowsky (currently Nvidia's vice president of information technology) and Curtis Priem (who retired in 2003) looked at the cartoonish PC games of the time, such as Castle Wolfenstein 3d, and saw their future in improving the visual experience.

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