This Day in Video Game History: November 28
This Day in Video Game History
1996
Nintendo released the Tetris Attack puzzle game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe.
2000
On eBay, a users using the handle [email protected], a collection of thousands of video games, titled by the seller “The Ultimate Video Game Library!”, is sold for seventy thousand dollars to a user with the handle “skahcpunk.” The sale made national headlines.
Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation 2 video game console across Europe, featuring a 294.912MHz CPU, a 128-bit Emotion Engine GPU, two memory card slots, two USB ports, one i-Link (IEEE 1394) port, and an analog DualShock2 controller. The system played CD-ROM, Dolby Digital, DTS, DVD-ROM, and DVD-Video media, as well as being backward compatible with previous PlayStation titles. Price: ₤300
2001
Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) released the PSone LCD Monitor in the U.S. The five-inch monitor plugged into the back of the system. Price: $129
THQ released the first-person shooter Red Faction for Macs in the U.S. (ESRB: M)
2002
Funcom released the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars for Windows in the U.S. (ESRB: T)
LucasArts releases Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in the US. The game was set in during the film continuum’s Clone Wars. (ESRB: T)
2003
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)
Electronic Arts Games released the first-person shooter Medal of Honor Rising Sun for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox in Europe. (PEGI: 12+)
Electronic Arts Games released the Need for Speed Underground racing game for Windows in Europe. (ESRB: E)
Microsoft Game Studios released the Project Gotham Racing 2 racing game for the Xbox in Europe. (PEGI: 3+)
Sega released the Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary fighting game for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The game was a hybrid of the combination of the popular original Virtua Fighter and the Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution arcade games. (ESRB: T)
2006
EA Games released the The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - The Rise of the Witch-king real-time strategy game, based on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for Windows and the Xbox 360 in the U.S. (ESRB: T)
The Journal of Adolescent Health published a study conducted by L. Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan that concluded that media violence, including video game violence, is a public health threat that increases the likelihood that the viewer will act aggressively in both the short and long term. According to Huesmann, “Exposure to violent electronic media has a larger effect than all but one other well-known threat to public health. The only effect slightly larger than the effect of media violence on aggression is that of cigarette smoking on lung cancer.”
Nexon America Inc. released the side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) MapleStory in North America. At the height of its popularity, the game will have roughly 3.5 million subscribers.
Ubisoft released the stealth-based game Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the Wii in the U.S. (ESRB: M)
A U.S. Court of Appeals affirms a 2005 ruling overturning the “Safe Game Illinois Act” passed by the state’s legislature requiring game retailers to label sexually explicit games with a four-inch square sticker displaying the number “18” and criminalizing the sale of such games to minors. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly, the judge who oversaw the original case, found the requirement objectionable, stating that, “Indeed, at four square inches, the ‘18’ sticker literally fails to be narrowly tailored - the sticker covers a substantial portion of the box.The State has failed to even explain why a smaller sticker would not suffice. Certainly we would not condone a health department’s requirement that half of the space on a restaurant menu be consumed by the raw shellfish warning. Nor will we condone the State’s unjustified requirement of the four square-inch ‘18’ sticker.” With the law overturned, the state of Illinois became liable for the $510,260 the video game industry spent challenging the law, but according the the Associated Press, the administration of Govenor Rod Blagojevich had failed to pay, according to the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) general consul.
2007
Atari released Asteroids & Asteroids Deluxe for the Xbox 360 in the U.S. (ESRB: E)
Nintendo of America announced that it had sold more goods during the week of Thanksgiving than any other time in the company’s history, including more than 653,000 DS handheld units, 350,000 Wii consoles, and millions of game titles. The company’s previous record was six hundred thousand Game Boy Advanced sold the week of Thanksgiving 2005.
A San Diego man who bought Halo 3 filed suit against Microsoft alleging that the game, which causes some Xbox 360 consoles to continuously crash was a breach of consumer protection laws. The man, whose name was not initially release, wanted to gain “class action” status for his suit, which asked for unspecified damages.
