In 1995, Bill Gates toted a shotgun to promote Doom

By Eric Lindvall | July 1, 2014 | 2:45pm

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In 1995, Bill Gates toted a shotgun to promote Doom

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The latest video in the long-running YouTube series Did You Know Gaming? tackled Doom and dug up what may be the world’s only footage of a multi-billionaire in a trench coat. Bill Gates, it seems, was so enamored by Doom (and the money it could make Windows 95 as a platform for the game) that he decided to appear “in the game” holding a shotgun, wearing a duster, and shooting a grunt who tries to interrupt his speech about DirectX.

The rest of the video covers a lot of ground and unearths facts both surprising (the name Doom comes from a Color Of Money quote!) and totally, earth-shatteringly unsurprising (the demon designs are inspired by Dungeons & Dragons!), but none quite so humiliating as the richest man in the world standing in front of a green screen and talking about how realistic Doom looks.