DWANGO
Encyclopedia
The Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation, better known by the acronym DWANGO was an early online gaming
service based in the United States
. The service ceased operation after 1998
.
DWANGO originally stood for "Doom
Wide-Area Network Game Organization, being an early fee-based multiplayer server for Doom, Doom II
and Heretic. It was created in early 1994 by Bob Huntley and Kee Kimbrell in Houston, Texas. The first version was released with the shareware release of Heretic by Id Software
. It featured an ASCII
interface requiring users to connect via dial-up modem. Once logged in, users could chat in a lobby with other gamers and create their own launchpad for the specific game of their choice. DWANGO was run through a MSDOS application which required booting up independent of Windows 3.1 into DOS mode because of hardware constraints of that era.
Since it predated widespread consumer access to the Internet, players had to dial long distance to Houston. Even so, it was wildly popular, and the creators reaped a healthy profit from the subscription fees. By early 1995, ten thousand subscribers were paying $9.95 a month, some calling from as far as Italy and Australia.
About this time, DWANGO began setting up a franchising system. A flat fee of $35,000 was charged to set up a server, and the franchisee could keep the rest of the profits. In four months, 22 servers were set up across the country.
DWANGO, headquartered in New York and had offices in Houston and Dallas, and local servers in New York City, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Houston, Long Beach, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Shreveport, and St. Louis. Servers were represented by area code as during its original inception the only way to log onto DWANGO was via a dial up modem.
DWANGO originally supported Id Software's games, and would later expand to offer games from developers and publishers such as Blizzard Entertainment
and 3drealms.
With the advent of Quake came multiplayer across the Internet, and DWANGO, which had started to dwindle by late 1995, was all but dead after its release. It was formally shut down in 1998.
However, the American service would later expand to cover parts of Asia
. Later, the company would enter into a partnership with Microsoft
and its Internet Gaming Zone
.
created by various authors. Compiled into collections by Lance Lancaster, a.k.a Aikman, an employee of IVS (the operators of DWANGO), they are still widely used amongst the Doom faithful.
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
service based in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The service ceased operation after 1998
1998 in video gaming
-Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards...
.
Overview
DWANGO was the United States and Canada's first online service dedicated exclusively to DOS based multi-player gaming in the early 1990s.DWANGO originally stood for "Doom
Doom (series)
Doom is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by id Software. The series focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine operating under the UAC , who fights hordes of undead and demons in order to survive...
Wide-Area Network Game Organization, being an early fee-based multiplayer server for Doom, Doom II
Doom II
Doom II: Hell on Earth is an award winning first-person shooter video game and second title of id Software's Doom franchise. Unlike Doom which was initially only available through shareware and mail order, Doom II was a commercial release sold in stores...
and Heretic. It was created in early 1994 by Bob Huntley and Kee Kimbrell in Houston, Texas. The first version was released with the shareware release of Heretic by Id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
. It featured an ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
interface requiring users to connect via dial-up modem. Once logged in, users could chat in a lobby with other gamers and create their own launchpad for the specific game of their choice. DWANGO was run through a MSDOS application which required booting up independent of Windows 3.1 into DOS mode because of hardware constraints of that era.
Since it predated widespread consumer access to the Internet, players had to dial long distance to Houston. Even so, it was wildly popular, and the creators reaped a healthy profit from the subscription fees. By early 1995, ten thousand subscribers were paying $9.95 a month, some calling from as far as Italy and Australia.
About this time, DWANGO began setting up a franchising system. A flat fee of $35,000 was charged to set up a server, and the franchisee could keep the rest of the profits. In four months, 22 servers were set up across the country.
DWANGO, headquartered in New York and had offices in Houston and Dallas, and local servers in New York City, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Houston, Long Beach, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Shreveport, and St. Louis. Servers were represented by area code as during its original inception the only way to log onto DWANGO was via a dial up modem.
DWANGO originally supported Id Software's games, and would later expand to offer games from developers and publishers such as Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
and 3drealms.
With the advent of Quake came multiplayer across the Internet, and DWANGO, which had started to dwindle by late 1995, was all but dead after its release. It was formally shut down in 1998.
However, the American service would later expand to cover parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Later, the company would enter into a partnership with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and its Internet Gaming Zone
MSN Games
MSN Games is an online games site devoted primarily to casual games, both stand-alone and multi-player online games. Games are available in free on-line versions, trial versions, and full feature pay-to-play versions...
.
Games supported
Games supported included the following:- Big Red RacingBig Red RacingBig Red Racing is a racing game released for MS-DOS in 1996. It was developed by Big Red Software and published by Domark.-Game overview:Big Red Racing is a comical racing game. During the races, the commentators make humorous comments, stereotypically themed to the country they are from...
- Blood
- Descent IIDescent IIDescent II is a 3D first-person shooter video game noted for popularizing the use of true 3D rendering technology and providing the player with six full degrees of freedom to move and to look around....
- Doom
- Doom II: Hell on Earth
- Duke Nukem 3DDuke Nukem 3DDuke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...
- Final DoomFinal DoomFinal Doom is a first-person shooter video game that uses the game engine, items and characters from Doom II. It consists of two 32-level megawads , The Plutonia Experiment by the Casali brothers, and TNT: Evilution by TeamTNT. Final Doom was released in 1996 and distributed as an official id...
- Heretic
- HeXenHexenHexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...
- MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
- Shadow WarriorShadow WarriorShadow Warrior, often known by its initials SW, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and released on May 13, 1997 by GT Interactive. Shadow Warrior was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, Duke Nukem 3D...
- Terminal Velocity
- The Ultimate Doom
- Warcraft II: Tides of DarknessWarcraft II: Tides of DarknessWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996...
- Quake IIQuake IIQuake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...
- Total AnnihilationTotal AnnihilationTotal Annihilation is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and released on September 30, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain...
DWANGO WADs
One of the widest reaching aspects of DWANGO were the semi-official DWANGO wadsWADS
WADS is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Religious format. Licensed to Ansonia, Connecticut, USA, it serves the Bridgeport area. The station is currently owned by Radio Amor....
created by various authors. Compiled into collections by Lance Lancaster, a.k.a Aikman, an employee of IVS (the operators of DWANGO), they are still widely used amongst the Doom faithful.