The Gatling gun was invented in 1861 by Dr. Richard J. Gatling as a means to ultimately demonstrate the futility of war. Now it and its descendants are some of gaming's sweetest treats. How'd that happen? Ahoy has prepared a video.
In games centered around putting bullets into people, there is no greater means of doing so that a nice minigun. Not only are they an excellent crowd deterrent, they also give developers in charge of gun creation something cool to animate.
Of course they have their down sides. They are extremely heavy and realistically need to be fired from a mounted position. When a game does let you lug one (or two) around, lug is the operative term—no one is sprinting holding a giant rotary cannon, and if they are...bigger cannon? Then there's the whir of barrels spinning up. To me it's a beautiful sound, but to some it's a source of frustration, letting enemies know they should probably be going for cover right about now.
Bah, the negatives far outweigh the positives. The only thing better than a minigun?
More miniguns.