how did Heroes of Might and Magic III½ come about?

well, pirated versions – no, I said I wasn't aware of it. I just saw some information about the very first WOG, and yes, the WOG team developed it, but without 3DO, they couldn't really do anything, because they didn't have the rights. By the way, as an archive/updater up to version 3.53 or 2, I'm not sure which, I saw WOG, but I never saw the original 3.5 on any updaters. And never mind that they were pirated versions; at least in the "Life vs. Death" campaign, there were excellent additions that were different from WOG, something in the style of "The Shadow of Death."