This Day in Video Game History: November 16

This Day in Video Game History: November 16
Page content

This Day in Video Game History

1952

Shigeru Miyamoto, the renowned creator of such classics as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and Donkey Kong, was born.

1998

Capcom Entertainment launched a month-long marketing campaign for its survival horror game Resident Evil 2 featuring a series of television commercials.

1999

Acclaim released the first-person shooter Turok: Rage Wars for Nintendo 64 in the U.S. (ESRB: M)

Crave Entertainment released the Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy platform game for the Game Boy Color. (ESRB: E)

Electronic Arts released the third-person shooter Tomorrow Never Dies, based on the film of the same name, for the PlayStation. (ESRB: T)

Infogrames announced that it would acquire seventy percent of video game publisher GT Interactive for $135 million, assuming the company’s seventy-five million dollar bank debt by June 2000.

2000

Interplay released the 3D strategy game Sacrifice for personal computers in North America.

Namco released Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness for the Dreamcast in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

2001

Nintendo released Mario Party 3 for the Nintendo 64 in Europe.

Sega released the third-person shooter Headhunter for the Dreamcast in Europe. (ELSPA: 15+)

2002

SwanCrystal

Acclaim released the BMX XXX racing game for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: M)

Bandai released its third SwanCrystal handheld video game system, featuring a 3 GHz 16-bit NEC CPU, 64 KB VRAM, and a 2.8-inch LCD screen. It was released in four colors: Blue Violet, Skeleton Black, Skeleton Blue, and Red Wine.

2004

Activision released the first-person shooter Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball for the Xbox in North America. (ESRB: T)

Atari and Firaxis announced that its upcoming game Sid Meier’s Pirates! had already gone Gold.

Atari Anthology

Atari released the game compilation Atari Anthology for the Xbox in the U.S. The compilation included eighty-five classic Atari games originally released for arcades and the Atari 2600 game systems, including: Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Gravitar, Millipede, Missile Command, and Yars’ Revenge. (ESRB: E)

Capcom released the Capcom Fighting Evolution versus fighting game for the PlayStation 2 in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Eidos released Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: M)

Electronic Arts released the first-person shooter Half-Life 2 over Steam internationally.

VU Games released the Fight Club fighting game, based on the film of the same name, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: M)

2005

Microsoft released a list of games that the Xbox 360 was confirmed to be backward compatible with. Some games not appearing on the list, such as the Splinter Cell series sent shockwaves through the gaming community, though most of the Xbox’s most popular titles were on the list, as Microsoft had promised. Microsoft also unveiled a list of offerings that would be available on Xbox Live Arcade, including: Call of Duty 2, Madden NFL 06, and Perfect Dark Zero .

2006

Konami released Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS in Japan. It was the first Castlevania game to feature a cooperative multiplayer gameplay mode and the first handheld Castlevania that featured English voice-overs. (CERO: 12+)

Midway Games released the fighting game The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy for the Wii in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

Nintendo released the Donkey Kong: Banana Kingdom platform game to arcades.

PlayStation Store logo

Sony launched its PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 online, its answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Live. Through the service, gamers will be able to view game and film trailers as well as purchasing downloadable games. Some of the first games released over the service are Blast Factor and Cash Guns Chaos, each priced at $7.99.

THQ released the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 wrestling game for the PlayStation 2 in Australia and the U.K. (PEGI: 16+)

Utah’s state legislature passed a bill preventing the sale or rental of violent games that are “harmful to minors” in a fashion similar to pornography. Utah’s Attorney General had publicly stated that the law would likely fail if challenged in court, but neither the statement nor the failure of similar laws in other states discouraged the state’s senate from green lighting the bill.

2007

Silent Hill Origins

Konami released the survival horror game Silent Hill: Origins for the PlayStation Portable in Europe. It’s the fifth installment in the Silent Hill series. (BBFC: 15, PEGI: 18+)