Chapter 19: Wolfenstein 3D Launch
"Eric can you please take out the trash after your done eating." "Yes mom.." Replied a dark brown haird youth with tanned, tall and slim appearance.
His name was Eric Johnson and had a tanned, tall and slim body he was currently 16 years old and still lived with his parents and younger siblings.
After finishing his breakfast Eric stood up to leave his but, not before his little sister who was around 6 years old remained him.
"Hey don't forget to take out the trash like mom told you and before you lock yourself up in your room again playing your dumb video games." Looking at his younger sister Eric wanted to say something insulting but, hesitate in the present of his parents.
As specially in front of his father who like most fathers who genuinely loved their daughter was overly protective over her. His father would even argue with his mother over her behavior in her defense so he made the wise choice to keep quiet.
He could only stare at her for a few seconds before leaving to take out the trash like his mother told him to do first before leaving for his room upstairs.
His room was the typical 16 year old boys room living in the late 80s with posters of very attractive woman standing beside a sport car. Along with posters of action movie stars which in his case was Sylvester Stallone in Rambo.
He had one double size bed with blue sheetz covering it he also had an old television which his family use to use before buying a new one for the leaving room. Now he used it to which rented movies and playing video games on his Nintendo console by himself or with his friends when they came over.
Once he entered his room he what to his personal computer that was at the right corner of his bed. Which he mainly used for school work however today he planned to use it to play a new video game that he had just finished downloading.
Eric came to know about the Castle Wolfenstein 3D from one of his friends who had played the demo he himself hadn't played the demo of the game. As when he asked which publisher had released the game he friend told him it was made by a studio named Blue Star Interactive.
Which Eric had never heard of but, wasn't sure if he maybe played one of the games so he continued to ask about their other games they had made. Which he friend couldn't answer as he had only played the demo Castle Wolfenstein 3D and hadn't seen any other games on their website.
Eric wasn't sure about trying out the game but, after more and more of his friends began to praise the game demo. After hesitate for a while he decided to play the the game demo by his friend place and instantly became hooked on the game.
And had immediately downloaded the full game when it was released which cost him about $ 49.99 US dollars.
To buy the game one first needed to have a personal account on the Blue Star Interactive website. Second was adding ones Visa card banking details.
Visa was founded in 1958 by Bank of America (BofA) as the BankAmericard credit card program. In response to competitor Master Charge (now Mastercard), BofA began to license the BankAmericard program to other financial institutions in 1966.
By 1970, BofA gave up direct control of the BankAmericard program, forming a consortium with the other various BankAmericard issuer banks to take over its management. It was then renamed Visa in 1976.
Eric this was the first time he bought a game online and download the full game on his computer he was at first a little hesitant to give his personal and banking details. This actually the first time he heard about being able to share flies containing moving pictures and sound.
The ability to download compression technologies for audio and video (like MP3, AAC and MPEG) came into use towards the end of the 1990s. Copper wire was common with fibre optic cable only becoming available late in the decade.
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash memory cards.
This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.
Starting the game Eric was greeted the a blue title screen of the games with the main protagonist leaning against a blue wall while a nazi soldier wall over. With the name Blue Star Interactive written in the bottom right corner before heading to the opening screen with the name of the games developer which were only four.
Blue Star Interactive
Present
Castle Wolfenstein 3D
Programming: Alexander Williams
Michael Henry and Mark Hunter
Creative Director: Alexander Williams
Artist: Alexander Williams
Computer Artist: Mark Hunter
Additional programming Gray Hunter
Composer: Alexander Williams
After the opening credits ended Eric finally arrived at the games load out were he could choose his game setting. Already having played the game demo he quickly customized his game settings and went to start a new game.
Which gave four options of game difficulty Daddy Can I play, Profesional killer, Bring Them On and finally I am Death Incarnat. Right next to the game difficulty titles the face of the main character who and a pleasant smile on his face.
Next to the Daddy can I play title. Alex had decided earlier on to make his own personal changes to the gameplay using his superior programming skills.
Eric beginning a veteran gamer chose the hardest game play I Am Death Incarnat. After setting the difficulty of the game a picture of the game protagonist appeared on screen with long paragraph explaining the game background.
Set in World War II, Captain William "B.J." Blazkowicz, an Allied spy imprisoned by the Nazi regime while attempting to uncover the plans of the mysterious "Operation Eisenfaust". After overpowering a guard and stealing his Luger P08, B.J. must traverse the depths of the fortified stronghold (known as Castle Wolfenstein) and find a way to escape.
Episode 1: "Escape from Wolfenstein"
The mission opens in first-person perspective with a the main protagonist holding a Pistol. One of the player's two starting weapons, the Pistol is semi-automatic (requiring players to press the Fire button for each shot). Due to its slow rate-of-fire, it is easily surpassed by the Machine Gun once it is acquired.
The second starting weapons of the player's is the knife , the Knife is the only melee weapon in the game (and the last case scenario after running out of ammo).
Because of its reliance on close-quarters, slow stabbing speed, and low damage output (anywhere from 0 HP to 16 HP a stab), attacking most enemies with the knife is very risky (as gun-wielding enemies can deal greater damage in any range).
It can be very useful against Dogs, however, as they die to a single stab. The players could freely which between this weapon using the keyboard key 'F' players can carry a maximum of three weapons.
Blow the display screen was a blue section blocked columns that displays the floor, score lives, health, ammo, weapons and two over lapping columns the bottom one containing a key used to unlock the door.
Eric used the mouse to look around the looking around the room were a nazi guard laid dead on the ground. The demo of the game Eric played had about 3 levels were he had to kill many nazi soldier.
He didn't remember starting in this area before and there wasn't any story elements except for telling the players to kill and escape from the castle that was field with nazi soldier.
After looking around the room Eric moved forward existing the room using the key he got from the dead nazi body. Which lead to the key disappearing from his inventory on screen and began his full campaign in game.
Eric wasn't the only one who began to play the game on his PC. As hundred of thousands of people game playing the game as well. While others around the country also purchased the hard copy of the Atari game version in various stores.
In Wolfenstein 3D, each episode consists of ten floors (one of which is a secret floor, accessible only by finding a secret elevator exit in a specific level of the episode). In the ninth and final floor, players must face a formidable foe (the episode's "boss") in order to proceed.
The original PC release of Wolfenstein 3D features four weapons: a knife, a pistol, and two automatic weapons. All three of the game's ranged weapons are hitscan, and all three of them use the same ammunition (vaguely referred to as "bullets") with the only difference between them being rate of fire.
This makes it very important to monitor ammunition levels and refrain from being too trigger-happy (especially with the ammo-eating Chaingun), since running out of bullets renders the player unable to use any firearms (forcing them into the unenviable position of having to attack ranged opponents with only their knife).
All normal hitscan weapons deal a random amount of damage per shot from 0 HP to 16 HP. Close-ranged attacks deal 4x the amount of damage, while long-ranged attacks have a chance to miss (proportional to the distance away from the player).
Attacking an enemy when they do not notice the player further doubles the damage for the initial shot. Eric wasn't the only person who had been as many other teenagers and young adults had been waiting for this day.
With Atari also releasing their hard copy of the game for their own console. Into various stores across the country, a key difference to not was that were two versions of the hard copy. The mature hard and the double down kid friendly copy of the game.
Which Atari at the last minute decided on wanting to have. Which Alex had been reluctant to agree to but, ultimately decided to go with this time. As the console and arcade market were still the best ways to get their Game Studio name out there.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone