From Windows 95 and DirectX in 1995 through XP and into the early 2010s, Windows led mainstream PC gaming and made 3D acceleration, online play and modding routine.
It ran the shooters Half-Life and Counter-Strike, Blizzard’s StarCraft, Warcraft III and Diablo II, the life sim The Sims, and long-lived strategy such as Age of Empires II and Civilization III and IV. EverQuest and World of Warcraft kept players online for years, while Baldur’s Gate, Morrowind and Oblivion carried big, story-driven role-playing.
Most games from the Windows 95, 98, XP and Vista years up to about 2012 still run with little effort, often straight away or with compatibility settings, community patches, source ports or wrappers.
