| Microsoft Entertainment Pack | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Distributor(s) | Microsoft |
| Designer(s) | Robert Andrews |
| Series | Entertainment Pack |
| Platform(s) | Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Higher (32- Bit only) |
| Release date(s) | 1989 |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The original Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack (WEP) is a collection of simply-designed 16-bit computer games for Windows. These games were somewhat unusual for the time, in that they would not run under MS-DOS. Many of the games (still compatible with Windows XP) were later released in the Best of Windows Entertainment Pack. There were four Entertainment Packs in the original series. All games being 16-bit run on modern 32-bit versions of Windows but not on 64-bit Windows, except through a virtual machine.
A few (not all) of the games in this pack were later bundled with Windows in later versions. FreeCell is still one of the many games shipped with Windows until today.
Contents |
Here is a complete list of the original Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack titles:
For much of the early 1990s, the Gamesampler, a subset of the Entertainment Pack called small enough to fit on a single high-density disk, was shipped as a free eleventh disk added to a ten-pack of Verbatim blank 3.5" microfloppy diskettes. Games on the sampler included Jezzball, Rodent's Revenge, Tetris, and Skifree. A "Best of" disk of several of the games was also available at times as a mail-in premium from Kellogg's cereals.
In the copies of Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 source code which leaked back in 2004, there are 32-bit versions of Cruel, Golf, Pegged, Reversi, Snake (Rattler Race), Taipei and TicTactics. [1] However, Freecell and Minesweeper have had official 32-bit versions bundled even with early versions of Windows NT. The original game developers of some of the games such as SkiFree [2], TriPeaks [3], WordZap [4] now offer 32-bit versions. Third party developers have also created 32-bit freeware clones of Klotski [5], TetraVex [6] Rodent's Revenge [7], JezzBall [8], and Tetris. [9]
A multicart containing seven games was released for the Game Boy Color as simply Microsoft Entertainment Pack. Four of the games on the multi-cart were ported from Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack, while the remaining three were ported from other Microsoft Entertainment Pack compilations.
Games found on the GBC Microsoft Entertainment Pack mult-cart:
*Not included in the original Best of Windows Entertainment Pack.