Goodbye, 3Dfx (For Real, This Time) (June 2, 2008)

[Bandit LOAF]

Remember 3Dfx? It was the hardware addon (and later stand-alone graphics cards) that made Wing Commander Prophecy beautiful (see below for an example). Apparently it still existed until recently - in the form of a lawsuit against a modern video card company. PC Pro recently ran an article detailing the end of a suit against nVidia by 3Dfx investors (here). More interestingly, they then published a story with reader reaction... and two out of the three comments remembered Wing Commander. Take that, Quake II!:

"I remember inviting a friend over to play the latest Wing Commander game on my new 3dfx card," sighs jgwilliams. "When he fired off a missile he almost fell off the chair laughing, he just couldn't believe the realism."

bobbdobbs was equally dreamy-eyed: "I can remember watching a friend play the first Wing Commander with bitmapped graphics and thinking 'bleeding ell'. Unless true photorealism suddenly appears there will be no OMFG factor to graphics anymore."

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Original update published on June 2, 2008

 

[MannPower]

I remember when my brother and I bought a Diamond Monster 3D card, which came with the 3Dfx version of MechWarrior 2. Good times, good times.

Actually, I think we bought the Monster 3D II just before Prophecy was released. After that, it was Voodoo 3, then Voodoo 5, and finally moved out of the age of 3Dfx with an nVidia Ti4600... Surprised I remembered that progression.

 

[Vinman]

I'm never getting rid of my Voodoo 3.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I remember when my brother and I bought a Diamond Monster 3D card, which came with the 3Dfx version of MechWarrior 2. Good times, good times.(...)

Exactly the same with me. I was so thrilled. Though I think, I also got (or instead?) "Hyperblade" with it. That was a damn fun game.

 

[MannPower]

Though I think, I also got (or instead?) "Hyperblade" with it. That was a damn fun game.

Hyperblade! I loved that game! I still have it, actually. I think the Monster 3D bundle came with several games. I recall having a copy of Whiplash with it, as well, and Descent II: Destination Quartzon.

 

[Frosty]

I was one of those kids who always deeply resented 3DFX because they were too expensive, so I pretended like my Rendition Verite 2200-based Diamond Stealth was the shit and everyone should use OpenGL and Direct3D instead.

To this day I still smile a little inside when I think of 3DFX's demise, even though it's illogical and childish.

 

[Vinman]

I was one of those kids who always deeply resented 3DFX because they were too expensive, so I pretended like my Rendition Verite 2200-based Diamond Stealth was the shit and everyone should use OpenGL and Direct3D instead.

To this day I still smile a little inside when I think of 3DFX's demise, even though it's illogical and childish.

Haha, I was the same way until I finally got one, like six months before the company went out of business.

 

[Death]

I think I paid like 60 bucks for a used one, from comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.hardware, or whatever the newsgroup name was, one of Diamond's original add-on cards. Of course, without it all I had was a Mystique 220 (or whatever), so I didn't get much of the shinies in Prophecy, either.

 

[cff]

Ah, the mystique 220. One of the best DOS cards that ever existed. But you are right - while it could do Prophecy in theory it looked really aweful on it.

 

[Farlander]

I had similar feelings when first seeing Prophecy on my Diamond Monster 3D. I was amazed by the missiles. I loved 3DFX, and probably only got rid of that Diamond Monster 3D a year ago. I still use a Glide wrapper when playing Prophecy.