Did You Know Gaming? gets to the weird really quick in this comprehensive look at the history of Doom — bringing you a pixelated image of Bill Gates in a trenchcoat, carrying a shotgun, before the first minute is up. What?
Gates cut that spot in October 1995, as a promotional video for Microsoft touting Windows as a gaming platform. Four years later, it's safe to say this sort of thing would not fly at all. Columbine shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris called themselves "The Trenchcoat Mafia" and directly referenced Doom in their plans for the 1999 onslaught.
It's just one sidelight in a detail-packed seven minutes looking at Doom from its beginnings — originally conceived as a licensed Aliens game — through to present day. At one point it was the most-installed piece of software on PCs, rivalling even Windows.
Previous Did You Know Gaming? videos have looked at the Harvest Moon and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.
