el - based ▁graphics ▁also ▁gained ▁popular ity ▁for ▁fast ▁and ▁relatively ▁detailed ▁terrain ▁rendering , ▁as ▁in ▁D elta ▁Force , ▁but ▁popular ▁fixed - function ▁hardware ▁eventually ▁made ▁its ▁use ▁impossible . ▁Qu ake ▁features ▁an ▁efficient ▁software ▁render er ▁by ▁Michael ▁Abr ash ▁and ▁John ▁Car m ack . ▁With ▁its ▁popular ity , ▁Qu ake ▁and ▁other ▁pol yg onal ▁ 3 D ▁games ▁of ▁that ▁time ▁helped ▁the ▁sales ▁of ▁graphics ▁cards , ▁and ▁more ▁games ▁started ▁using ▁hardware ▁APIs ▁like ▁Direct X ▁and ▁OpenGL . ▁Though ▁software ▁rendering ▁fell ▁off ▁as ▁a ▁primary ▁rendering ▁technology , ▁many ▁games ▁well ▁into ▁the ▁ 2 0 0 0 s ▁still ▁had ▁a ▁software ▁render er ▁as ▁a ▁fall back , ▁Un real ▁and ▁Un real ▁Tournament ▁for ▁instance , ▁feature ▁software ▁render ers ▁able ▁to ▁produce ▁enjoy able ▁quality ▁and ▁performance ▁on ▁CPU s ▁of ▁that ▁period . ▁One ▁of ▁the ▁last ▁A AA ▁games ▁without ▁a ▁hardware ▁render er ▁was ▁Out cast , ▁which ▁featured ▁advanced ▁vo x el ▁technology ▁but ▁also ▁texture ▁filtering ▁and ▁b ump ▁mapping ▁as ▁found ▁on ▁graphics ▁hardware . ▁ ▁In ▁the ▁video ▁game ▁console ▁and ▁ar cade ▁game ▁mark ets , ▁the ▁evolution ▁of ▁ 3 D ▁was ▁more ▁ab rupt , ▁as ▁they ▁had ▁always ▁re lied ▁heavily ▁on ▁single - pur pose ▁ch ips ets . ▁ 1 6 ▁bit ▁cons oles ▁gained ▁R IS C ▁acceler ator ▁cart rid ges ▁in ▁games ▁such ▁as ▁Star F ox ▁and ▁V