3D Realms/Apogee
Always innovative and often controversial, 3D Realms Entertainment, a division of Apogee Software, Ltd., has released some of the most popular games of the past several years. Apogee was founded in 1987, the year in which it pioneered use of selected levels released as shareware to promote sales. This company from Garland, Texas, has been intimately associated with most of the best games of this decade, either as creator or publisher. In late 1991 and early 1992, Apogee worked with id Software to assure the release of Wolfenstien 3-D, the game that pioneered the first person shooter.
Apogee's first venture into creating its own first person shooters was Rise of the Triad. This game was originally conceived as the sequel to Wolfenstien 3-D, but it soon had its own identity. Apogee has always had a great creative staff, and ROTT had some of the most talented people in the industry on its team. The game introduced an interesting innovation; a parental lock-out for the more graphic (and ROTT was graphic) scenes.
3D Realms was founded in 1994 as the 3D division of Apogee. With the release of Duke Nukem 3D in early 1996, 3D Realms dominated the market before the release of Quake, and has remained extremely popular. This popularity will undoubtedly increase when the next incarnation of Duke, Duke Nukem Forever, hits store shelves.
This page is maintained by Darren L. Tabor,
aka DaKoTa