Doom (1993 video game)
"Doom"s original release date was the third quarter of 1993, which the team did not meet. By December 1993, the team was working non-stop on the game, with several employees sleeping at the office; programmer Dave Taylor claimed that working on the game gave him such a rush that he would pass out from the intensity. Id began receiving calls from people interested in the game or angry that it had missed its planned release date, as hype for the game had been building online. At midnight on December 10, 1993, after working for 30 straight hours, the development team at id uploaded the first episode of the game to the internet, letting interested players distribute it for them. So many users were connected to the first network that they planned to upload the game to—the University of Wisconsin–Parkside FTP network—that even after the network administrator increased the number of connections while on the phone with Wilbur, id was unable to connect, forcing them to kick all other users off to allow id to upload the game. When the upload finished thirty minutes later, 10,000 people attempted to download the game at once, crashing the university's network.
Official versions of Doom
The PlayStation version was met with critical acclaim, with critics concurring it to be by far the best console version of the game to date. Major Mike of "GamePro" gave it a perfect score in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and FunFactor), noting that it was not just a straight conversion but a drastically reworked and comprehensive edition with "enough new twists and turns to surprise even the most battle-weary "Doom" player". He applauded the inclusion of "Doom II", the added levels, the much smoother graphics when compared to previous console ports, the clear sound effects, the "chilling" music, and the precise controls. A reviewer for "Maximum" found the port's most worthwhile aspects to be the huge number of levels, the use of the shoulder buttons for strafing, and the "vastly improved" audio. He scored it 5 out of 5 stars. A reviewer for "Next Generation" said the PlayStation version succeeded in "putting previous efforts for 32X, Jaguar, and especially Super NES, to shame" with its high frame rate, impressive lighting effects, responsive control, deathmatch capability, and inclusion of "Doom II" and levels from "Ultimate Doom". He complained that the walls are "sticky" and that he was feeling burnt out on reviewing ports of "Doom", and gave it four out of five stars. "Next Generation"s 1996 overview of PlayStation games raised the score to a perfect five stars. IGN gave it a 7 out of 10, citing the high frame rate, impressive lighting effects, use of the PlayStation Link Cable, and inclusion of "Doom II" content. However, they criticized that the game was becoming old (the review was published a full year after the PlayStation version was released). "GamePro" awarded it Best PlayStation Game of 1995.