3D comes to the Web...Finally!

A screenshot from Clevermedia's Charon. You are about to die from alien halitosis.

It all started with Wolfenstein 3D, where you ran through the Nazi-occupied castle Wolfenstein blowing away anything that moved. It was a true 3D game, it came on a floppy and you could play it on a 386 PC. Up until recently, If you wanted to play a 3-D shooter like Quake or a 3D racing game you had to buy the CD-ROM game and have fast computer and a muscular graphics card. If you wanted to play a free 3D shooter in your web browser, you were out of luck. Good news! Free 3D games are available at your nearest Web browser today! Fine print: You still need a fast computer and good graphics card.

Recently several companies have released Web plug-ins that allow you to play 3D games in your Web browser. Macromedia's newest Shockwave plug-in now supports 3D Shockwave games authored in Macromedia's Director 8.5. With a huge installed base of Shockwave game developers out there, we are already seeing some great 3D Shockwave games. If first person shooters are your thing, You can run through some Quake levels in Noisecrime's Qracked.or you can blow away some alien robots in Clevermedia's Charon. If virtual driving games are what drives you, check out Throbbing's Interstate 5 or for a new twist check out Lego's awesome Robohunter2. There are a couple companies that had the 3D thing figured out before Macromedia's new plug-in. 3D Groove's Real Pool 3Dis an awesome example of what some very smart developers can come up with. Sonic Rush Racers from Freeloader is another cool racing game.

Macromedia isn't the only game in town when it comes to 3D Web games. Wild Tangent has a bunch of really high quality games using their proprietary 3D engine. It is definitely worth downloading the plug-in to check these games out. There are also some clever Java games out there check out Brackeen.com for a Shooter and a race game all on one site.

As the new 3D game development tools find their way into developers hands, expect to see a whole bunch of new 3D Web games. GameSpotter will be there to track them down for you. For 3D game fans, the future's so bright, you're going to have to wear 3D shades.