On April 2, 1996,
at the then-named Computer Game Developers Conference,
Microsoft introduced DirectX 2.0 to great fanfare.
And by great fanfare, I mean "ridiculous fanfare."
Read
Jay Barnson's account of the event.
Do it.
I did not attend the party,
but I did receive a surplus toga kit.
I've donated it to
the Microsoft archives.
The kit includes a fake laurel wreath,
and a pouch containing DirectX coins and a few chocolate coins.
On what I presume to be the obverse of the chocolate
coins is a head in profile with the message
"sic itur ad astra",
which
the Internet tells me translates as
"
>Thus we go to the stars."
On the reverse it contains the ATI logo surrounded by the message
"MILLIONS WILL FEEL THE POWER".
The DirectX coins read
PAX ROMANA
IV-II-MCMXCVI
The party theme Pax Romana
intended to convey that
Microsoft was bringing an era of peace to the game industry
by introducing a common API that targets all PC video cards,
so game developers didn't have to write custom drivers for
every video card they wanted to support.
(According to that article,
the message was not welcomed by the game development community
at the time.)
Here's
a closer view of the pouch and the DirectX coins,
part of
this retrospective of the history of DirectX
from the point of view of one of its founding members,
Craig Eisler.
I hung onto this toga party kit for many years,
initially thinking that maybe I could use the toga for
a costume party or something,
but a bout of spring cleaning convinced me to donate it to
the Microsoft archives.
"Never worn. Chocolate coins still uneaten.
(We recommend that you consult your doctor before attempting to eat
multi-decade-old chocolate coins that were stored in a garage.)"
Bonus artifact: The PAX ROMANA poster.
TIRED OF HIGH-TECH
CYBER-BABBLE?
SICK OF THE
INTERNET?
DO YOV MISS A
SIMPLER TIME BEFORE THERE WERE COMPVTERS,
WHEN 'INTERACTIVE GAMES' MEANT THROWING CHRISTIANS TO THE
LIONS? WELL, SPONSORED BY THE THREE COMPANY'S YOV'D LEAST EXPECT, A
ROMAN GALA
OF EPIC PROPORTIONS IS TAKING PLACE ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE
COMPVTER GAMES DEVELOPER CONFERENCE™
IN SANTA CLARA, CA.
YES, EVERY CITIZEN OF THE GREAT PC EMPIRE IS INVITED TO AN EVENING OF FEASTING,
TOVRNAMENTS, MVSIC, SLAVE AVCTIONS, DEBAVCHERY, AND SILLY STRING
(OKAY, MAYBE A LITTLE TECHNOLOGY)
MICROSOFT,
>®
ATI,
>®
AND
IBM
>®
INVITE YOV TO THE LARGEST TOGA PARTY EVER, SPONSORED
BY OTHERWISE SERIOVS AND RESPECTABLE COMPANIES!
REGISTER QVICKLY BEFORE OVR MANAGEMENT
CHANGES THEIR MINDS
BECAVSE IF YOV MISS THIS EVENT,
BEING TRAMPLED BY CHARIOTS WILL SEEM LIKE
NOTHING COMPARED TO THE AGONY YOV'LL FEEL WHEN
FRIENDS DESCRIBE THE BLAST THEY HAD AT THE
PAX ROMANA
WITHOVT YOV.
IF YOV CAN STILL FVNCTION THE NEXT DAY,
WE'LL BE HOLDING AN ALL-DAY CONFERENCE CONSISTING OF
THREE CONCVRRENT TRACKS OF SEESSIONS ON EVERTY ASPECT OF WRITING
STELLAR GAMES
FOR
MICROSOFT
WINDOWS
>®
95,
AND MASTERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PC GAME
TECHNOLOGY.
THERE WILL BE AN OVERVIEW AND IN-DEPTH COVERAGE
OF THE BETA RELEASES OF THE NEXT
DIRECTX SDKs,
FEATVRING
DIRECT3D
>®,
DIRECTDRAW
>®, 2.0,
AND
DIRECTPLAY
>®, 2.0,
FOR
ON-LINE GAMING.
Tuesday April II, MCMXCVI
6:30 – 11:30pm
Roman Circvs and Toga Party
Wednesday April III, MCMXCVI
An all-day seminar at the Santa Clara
Westin®
Hotel
Annovncing the newest components of
DirectX®:
Direct3D
Integrated tightly with DirectDraw,
Direct3D sets a baseline for
killer real-time 3D that will
really slay yov.
DirectPlayX
Microsoft takes mvltiplayer gaming to the
Internet.
DirectPlayX will provide a host of services
for bvilding on-line gaming servers
and peer-to-peer connectivity.
WINE, TOGAS, GOLD, LIONS, SLAVES,
ENTERTAINMENT AND VOMITORIVM SVPPLIED.
BRING YOVR OWN SANDALS.
REGISTRATION REQVIRED