The First Unreal Engine Game and the Invention of Ethernet (PCGH Retro, May 22)

…1973: The invention of the standard for wired computer networking now known as Ethernet can hardly be traced back to a single day. The development in the legendary Xerox research center PARC dragged on for years – and yet the birthday of this technology is May 22, 1973, on which the researcher Robert Metcalfe writes a message to his superiors in which he outlines the structure of an Ethernet network and called it that for the first time. The purpose of the development is to connect the first laser printer, also developed at the PARC, to several computers at the same time. Later, however, Ethernet went far beyond that and became the most important LAN standard, displacing many other systems such as Token Ring. Metcalfe himself recognized the potential of his invention early on; In 1979 he left Xerox to start his own company, which you may have heard of: 3Com.

…1998: Good graphics engines come from id Software – and from nobody else, the programs of the Quake inventor are regarded as a technical reference throughout the industry. But on May 22nd, the small developer Epic Megagames will launch a shooter that will amaze the gaming world and even elicit praise from id legend John Carmack: Unreal. The game achieves a hitherto unknown graphic quality with revolutionary lighting effects and extensive outdoor areas and combines this with an interesting level design and a reasonably interesting story. Unreal becomes a great success and entails several direct and indirect sequels, but above all it establishes Epic as the second major engine supplier on the scene at the time – more and more titles rely on Unreal technology, even 3D Realms swings in the development of Duke Nukem Forever to the new system (which should only take a few weeks). Even ten years later, the Unreal Engine 3 still brings many games close to reality – completely contrary to its name.

We have already published further articles on the Unreal Engine on the occasion of the birthday in recent years.