PC & Video Game History: On This Day in Video Game History: August 29

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This Day in Video Game History

1979

Atari makes its first shipment of Atari 400 and 800 home computers to the Sears retail chain. The systems are an initial hand-built pilot series released to meet an in-stock deadline so that Sears could place the computers in its Big Fall Catalog. As soon as the units are inventoried to fulfill Atari’s contract, the units will be promptly returned. Atari’s actual production models will be shipped in November.

1982

According to Twin Galaxies, Peter Skahill, age 23, scores a record-setting 911,875 points on Atari’s Warlords after playing the game for forty-five minutes at the UCLA Games Center in Los Angeles, California.

1991

Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3, the last major Mario video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), in Europe. It returns to the original Super Mario Bros. gameplay formula after the unpopular deviations of its predecessors, Super Mario Bros. 2. It features a number of innovations to the Mario series, including map screen, minigames, new enemies, new power-ups, and several new types of levels. This is the first game in the franchise in which Bowser is a red-head, though the appearance will become a standard through the rest of the series. Bowser’s children, the Koopalings, also premiere for the first time in this game.

1997

3Dfx Interactive files a lawsuit in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court against Sega Enterprises and NEC over the cancellation of a contract for 3Dfx to provide a 3D graphics components for the next Sega game system.

2000

Crave Entertainment releases the versus fighting game Ultimate Fighting Championship for the Dreamcast. (ESRB: T)

2002

Gathering of Developers releases the hybrid driving and third-person shooter game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven for personal computers. (ESRB: M)

2003

Capcom releases the single-player third-person shooter P.N.03 (Product Number Three) for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe. The game, which was clearly influenced by the Metroid franchise, centers around a dexterous, cybernetically-enhanced character named Vanessa Z, who is pitted against wave after wave of robots. Its gameplay is designed with the the feel of a classic arcade game. (PEGI: 12+)

Gotham Games releases the single-player adventure game The Great Escape, based on the 1963 movie of the same name, for Windows, the PlayStation 2, and Xbox in Europe.

Square Enix releases an enhanced remake of the roleplaying game Shin’yaku Seiken Densetsu (“New Testament Holy Sword Legend”) for the Game Boy Advance in Japan. The game was originally released for the Game Boy.

2005

CubeWouter van Oortmerssen releases the first-person shooter Cube, based on the best-selling game Quake, for personal computers as a free download under a zlib license. Unlike Quake, Cube takes a new tack, with levels set entirely outdoors.

Nintendo releases Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo GameCube in the US. (ESRB: E)

2006

Capcom releases the single-player platform game Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in the U.S. (ESRB: E10+)

Namco Bandai releases the roleplaying game (RPG) Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra, the third and final game in the primary Xenosaga trilogy, for the PlayStation 2 in the U.S. While most fans feeling that the second installment was a disappointment, the fianl installment in the trilogy will receive generally positive reviews, returning the trilogy to its roots. It introduces a new battle system which simplifies the complicated “zone break” system used in the second installment. (ESRB: T)

Nippon Ichi Software releases the single-player tactical roleplaying game (RPG) Disgaea 2 for the PlayStation 2 in North America. It’s the sequel to the 2003 game Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. (ESRB: T)

THQ releases a demo of its driving game Saints Row for the Xbox 360 on the Xbox Live Marketplace in the U.S. (ESRB: M)

Ubisoft releases the single-player roleplaying game (RPG) Enchanted Arms for the Xbox 360 in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

2007

Bungie announces that its upcoming first-person shooter (FPS) Halo 3 has “gone gold,” meaning that it has been internally certified by developers for release to Bungies manufacturing facilities. The game will be released to stores September 25th.

Two Hungarian researchers from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics have discovered a method to predict a gamer’s button presses can be predicted two seconds before they’re made by analysing biofeedback signals and skin conductance. Read more at the New Scientist.