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In 1996, Microsoft had already shown great accomplishment with the 1995 release of its Windows 95 operating system. In the span of just one year, game developers had begun to jump on board on the Microsoft bandwagon and had developed, or were developing, a number of games for the system. Seeing an opportunity to showcase its system, Microsoft included a CD-ROM featuring demos numerous games such as Arcade America, Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity, and The Hive plus Activision's Atari 2600 Action Packs 1, 2, Activision's Commodore 64 15 Pack (Hacker), Dogz, Doom 95, Endorfun, Full Tilt Pinball v0.006, Fury 3, Ice & Fire, Locus, MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, Pressure Drop, Return Fire, Shanghai: Great Moments, Su-27 Flanker, TriTryst, Under Pressure. It also had Non-Playable Demos - Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing, Battle Beast, Double Switch, Earthworm Jim, Havoc, HyperBlade, Muppet Treasure Island, Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire, Santa Fe Mysteries: The Elk Moon Murder, Spycraft: The Great Game, The Dig. And also, there are Video Demos - Command Aces of the Deep, The Daedalus Encounter, Magic The Gathering, Virtual Karts, Sid Meier's CivNet. There's also Internet Explorer 3 & bonus Easter eggs. What made the sampler very unique was how you could play demos. That was accomplished in the form of a 3D space station that was navigated from a real time first person perspective. Not only that, but there were a number of easter eggs and secrets to be found on the station to liven up exploration and make it less of a bland experience. It's worth noting that game developer Monolith Productions (yes, the same developer which made some of the best first person shooters ever made) was responsible for developing this part of the game. This is a very unique game sampler if only because of how unique the concept of using exploration in a game sampler is. It's a testament to how Microsoft was willing to go all out to show off the power Windows 95 was capable of. |
