I forgot to mention in my review that there's an amazing feature on Trilobyte over at GameSpot: Haunted Glory. I read the piece and really admired its depth and clarity. I was reminded strongly of David Kushner's book Masters of Doom.

From what I see in the history of such things, typically what happens is a virtually unknown company steps up to the plate with a really innovative game which causes a "paradigm shift" in the industry. However, that initial game (or games) typically fade fast as more experienced developers learn the techniques and produce better quality games.

Trilobyte really got the CD-ROM thing going, but it was up to other companies to really make good titles for it. So far, id seems to be doing well with Doom and Quake, but it seems safe to say that Sierra On-Line's Half-Life series does them a step better. Of course, with Doom 3, id played yet another tech wizardry card, but again Sierra stepped in with a better game.

I'm just waiting for another Trilobyte to step into the GAG arena and bust the current paradigm.