This Day in Video Game History: September 10

This Day in Video Game History

1983

Infocom published Release 18 of the interactive murder mystery game The Witness for IBM-compatible personal computers.

1995

Mindscape Inc. released the single-player roleplaying game Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall for Windows 3.1.

1996

Capcom released the versus fighting game X-Men vs. Street Fighter to arcades in Europe. The game pioneers a new fighting style that combines the classic Street Fighter style of gameplay with tag team features. The game’s most notable feature was ironically a flaw overlooked in beta testing that leaves every character with one “infinite combo.” Many player felt the oversight was a significant improve over the past games in the franchises.

Electronic Arts released the single-player game Crusader: No Regret for MS-DOS in the U.S. (ESRB: T)

1998

Imagine Media launched Games Business, a new bi-weekly publication for game industry decision-makers and leaders.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America released the single-player platform game Spyro the Dragon for the PlayStation in North America. (ESRB: E)

1999

Sega reported having earned US$97,904,618.09 on the first twenty-four hours of Dreamcast video game console sales in the United States. Due to what the company terms “phenomenal results" from its fifteen thousand retailers, the company revised its original sales and forecast sales of 1.5 million units by Friday, March 31, 2000.

Virgin Interactive released the single-player third-person strategy roleplaying game Kagero: Deception II for the PlayStation in Europe.

2001

Namco released the roleplaying game T_ales of Eternia as Tales of Destiny II_ for the PlayStation in North America. The game was retitled to avoid infringing on the copyright protecting Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toy line. (ESRB: T)

2002

EA Games released the popular first-person shooter Battlefield 1942 for personal computers in North America. The game is notable for marking the shift in the design of first-person shooters from highly individualized gaming experiences to coordinated team games. It successful application of the this new philosophy was a key factor in the game’s extraordinary popularity. Two expansion packs for the game will be released, and it will become a popular platform for the mod development community. (ESRB: T)Infogrames released the racing game Grand Prix 4 for Windows in North America. The game come equipped for co-op play over LANs, but the feature that allows users to play over the internet is disabled due to licensing restrictions. This shortcoming was one of several addressed by the mod community, which took a very active interest in the game. (ESRB: E)

2003

Capcom released the single-player roleplaying game (RPG) Breath of Fire IV for Windows in Europe. (ELSPA: 11+)

2004

EA Games released the racing game Burnout 3: Takedown for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in Europe. (PEGI: 3+)

Eidos Interactive released the single-player third person shooter Shellshock: Nam ‘67 for personal computers, the PlayStation 2, and Xbox in North America. The game will be particularly notorious for failing to meet the consumer expectations generated by an extensive marketing campaign composed of slick images and videos. It will be widely criticized for its clunky, unresponsive gameplay and campy cutscenes. (ESRB: M)

Screen Gems released the horror film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, based on the Resident Evil video game series, to U.S. theaters. It will be praised by fans for capturing the spirit of the game, but it also receive unusually scathing reviews from professional critics. Produced on a budget of forty-three million dollars, it’ll gross $23,036,273 in its opening weekend alone. MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 34 mins

Ubisoft released the Myst IV: Revelation for personal computers in the UK. It’s the first game for PC released exclusively in a DVD-ROM format. Previously, games have received limited release on DVD-ROM but usually after a CD-ROM version. The original Myst game was the first to be released exclusively on CD-ROM when most games were released on floppy disks. (PEGI: 7+)

2006

According to Twin Galaxies record-keeping site, Gary Whelan scored a record-setting 1,114,550 points on the arcade shooter Galaxian at Apollo Amusements in Pompano Beach, Florida.

2007

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) released a study of the correlation between game ratings and sales that demonstrated that games bearing an ESRB rating of M for Mature sell better than games bearing other ratings. The same study also found that there is a high correlation between critic’s choices and market success, with highly rated games selling up to five times better than others.