10 Video Games That Revolutionized Genres

While Wolfenstein 3D and Doom will forever be remembered as "first", Quake was really the technological and game design achievement we owe all the Half-Lifes and Halos to. iD Software with John Carmack at the helm decided to repeat the success of Doom with their new game, Quake, and make something revolutionary one more time. Companies rarely succeed with such ambitions, but iD managed to deliver just that. The first true full 3D shooter with no perspective tricks or sprites in the place of 3D models, Quake mixed the technology with a great dark atmosphere and a matching soundtrack by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails.

But this game had an even bigger impact on the gaming community than just introducing the first fast-paced action gameplay in 3D. Quake became the game that gave birth to the phenomenon we now know as cybersport. iD held the first-ever video game championships with big money prizes or, in case of the first one, John Carmack's own Ferrari. If now the spectator mode is a usual thing in competitive games, back then the ability to watch championship deathmatches through the competitor's eyes was unique and incredible.

The technology used to capture the matches later was used to create the first machinimas, which instantly became incredibly popular in the Quake community. The fact that the game is still being played and those old tournament demos are still available for people to watch is a testament to Quake's longevity.