Tomb Raider makes it in, but Doom, Quake, Quake III, and Half-Life don't? Tomb Raider was certainly a good game, but the most groundbreaking thing about it was the idea of giving the lead character breasts.
Overall, a very odd selection of 'highlights', and made all the more so by the obvious highlights that are missing. There doesn't seem to be any consistent criteria used for what made a game worthy of inclusion. Obviously any retrospective is partly opinion, but with the large number of game titles released I would expect a 'highlight' to stand head and shoulders above the crowd in some respect. A good portion of the selections, while quality games, don't appear to offer anything particularly noteworthy over the other games of their period.
Jim Tierney
Digital Anarchy
San Francisco
Editor's Reply:The gaming retrospective, like the other retrospectives in our anniversary series, features images from stories that have appeared in Computer Graphics World during the past 25 years. As explained in the introduction to the article, computer gaming lagged behind other industry segments, such as CAD, in terms of technical innovation in computer graphics, especially during the earlier years of our magazine's existence. As a result, our coverage of gaming did not begin until nearly a decade ago. Even today, our game coverage focuses on releases incorporating technically advanced or innovative uses of CGI. While Wolfenstein 3D-as you point out-was indeed a milestone for gaming, the imagery was fairly primitive compared to other graphics applications occurring during the same time both inside and outside the entertainment industry. These include the photorealistic and fantasy-oriented effects in feature films such as Terminator 2, Beauty and the Beast, and Lawnmower Man, as well as the implementation of analysis and surface visualization tools for performing complex industrial design.
That Sexy RobotI enjoyed your "Broadcast Retrospective" on pg. 20 of the April 2002 issue. I was especially delighted to see your mention of Robert Abel's 1985 Sexy Robot commercial, which I believe debuted as a Super Bowl ad that year. I was extremely impressed with it and never forgot it. In fact, whenever the networks run those "Best of Super Bowl Commercials" shows I always hope they will include Robert's ad-but they never do.
Michael McGuire
Santa Fe, NM
CorrectionsThe article "DSI Intros HandGear 3D Navigation Touchpad" on pg. 9 of the May 2002 issue omitted the Web address for DSI Technology, which is www.dato.com. The price for the HandGear is $585.
On pg. 21 of the May 2002 issue, a caption that described turbulence inside a swirler appeared below an image of two neutron stars colliding (April 1999).The caption describing the stars appeared underneath the turbulence image (September 2001).
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