This Day in Video Game History: November 18

This Day in Video Game History

1982

At the Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) trade show, Atari unveiled three new coin-operated arcade games: Pole Position, Millipede, and Liberator.

1993

Atari released its 64-bit Atari Jaguar video game console in the U.S. It featured five processors on three chips: one Motorola 68000 coprocessor and two (dubbed “Tom and Jerry”) of proprietary design, along with as 2 MB RAM. The system read cartridges with a 6 MB capacity. Atari marketed the console as the world’s “first 64-bit system,” under the slogan “Do the Math.” Price: $249.99

Capcom released the Mega Man 5 platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in Europe.

1994

Nintendo held the 1994 Nintendo PowerFest World Championship games over three days in San Diego, California. Michael Iarossi of New Jersey took the title, the five thousand dollar purse, and the new Ford Mustang offered as a prize.

1997

Nintendo sued publishing house Prima for copyright infringement, alleging that Prima’s guide to the first-person shooter GoldenEye 007 were stolen from Nintendo’s own strategy guide.

1998

Buena Vista Games released the A Bug’s Life platform game, based of the animated film of the same name, for the PlayStation in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

Nintendo publicly announced a dip in its semi-annual operating profits, however, it cushions the blow to investors by announcing that the upcoming Nintendo 64 title Legend of Zelda was expected to drastically brighten the company balance sheet.

2001

Electronic Arts released the Madden NFL 2002 football game for the GameCube in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

LucasArts released the single-player Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader for the GameCube in North America. (ESRB: T)

Nintendo released the single-player Wario Land 4 platform game for the Game Boy Advance in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

In North America, Nintendo released its fourth game system, the GameCube video game console, featuring a 485 MHz IBM “Gekko” PowerPC processor, a 162 MHz ATI Flipper graphics processor, 16 MB DRAM, and four controller ports. The system would sell nearly twenty-two million units before its discontinuation, but it’s sales failed to achieve the second PlayStation’s 140 million unit mark or the Xbox’s 24 million unit mark. Price: $199.95

Sega released the Crazy Taxi racing game for the GameCube in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Sega released the Super Monkey Ball puzzle game for the GameCube in North America. (ESRB: E)

THQ released the WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It wrestling game for the PlayStation 2 in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Ubisoft released the IL-2 Sturmovik combat flight simulator for Windows in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

2002

Midway released the Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance versus fighting game for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in the U.S. It was the tenth game in the Mortal Kombat series. It was the first game in the series not ot feature stage fatalities and to developed specifically for game consoles, rather than arcade units. It was also the last game in the series to feature the character Scorpion and Sub-Zero without their masks. The installment was largely credited with reviving the fading popularity of the long-lived series. (ESRB: M)

Namco released the Ninja Assault shooting game for the PlayStation 2 in North America. (ESRB: T)

Ubisoft released the stealth-based Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell game for the Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

2003

Acclaim released the Speed Kings racing game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: E)

Atari released the first-person shooter Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, based on the film of the same name, for the Game Boy Advance in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Atari released the real-time strategy (RTS) game Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds, based on the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, for Windows and the Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

LucasArts released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for Windows in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Namco released the single-player I-Ninja platform game for personal computers, the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

Rockstar Games released the highly controversial single-player psychological horror game Manhunt for the PlayStation 2 in the U.S. Due to the extremely graphic killing performed by players in-game, the title would become the center of national debates over video game violence. When seventeen year-old Warren Leblanc killed his fourteen year-old Stefan Pakeerah in the U.K. in February 2004, the incident would ignite global outrage over the increasingly graphic nature of video game violence, and Manhunt, which the media claimed Leblance has been “obsessed” with, became the center of that controversy. (Though, in the first week of August, after Leblanc’s trial, Police would reveal that the victim, not the killer, had owned the game and that the killing was robbery-related.) Pakeerah’s mother would launch a very high-profile series of lawsuits against Manhunt developer Rockstar Games and console manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment that would become infamous for their attempts to cement the link between video game violence and violence among minors. (ESRB: M)

Square Enix released the Final Fantasy X-2 roleplaying game for the PlayStation 2 in North America. The game will sell over a million copies within nine months of its release. (ESRB: T)

2004

Electronic Arts announced that its real-time strategy game Armies of Exigo had gone Gold before its November 30th release.

Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP handheld video game system in China in eleven colors: Charizard red, Cobalt blue, Flame, Graphite, Midnight blue, Onyx, Pearl blue, Pearl pink, Pikachu yellow, Platinum, and Venusaur green.

2005

Electronic Arts released the first-person shooter Half-Life 2 in Europe. (BBFC: 15, PEGI: 16+)

Namco released the Soulcalibur III fighting game for the PlayStation 2 in Europe. It was the fourth overall installment in the Soul series. (PEGI: 16+)

Nintendo released Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness for the GameCube in Europe. (PEGI: 3+)

2006

The day following the launch of the PlayStation 3 video game console, the violence surrounding consumers’ rush to get a hold of a unit before shortages set in continued. In Elk Grove, California, two men who robbed a GameStop store at gunpoint made off with four new PlayStations. In Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, a seventeen year-old boy was robbed at gunpoint for his PlayStation 3 as he was leaving a store. In Lexington, Kentucky, four people waiting in the parking lot of a Best Buy were shot with BB pellets by a passing motorist. The incidents assured the PlayStation 3’s place in history as the wildest console launch in history.

2007

Thrustmaster released the first joystick for the PlayStation 3, the T. Flight Stick X. The device was compatible with such games as Blazing Angels 2 but not with titles that used the console’s motion sensor. Price: $50