This Day in Video Game History: October 4
This Day in Video Game History
1987
At midnight, Atari closed its offer to purchase outstanding shares of the Federated Group of Electronics Stores and the chain officially became a subsidiary of Atari.
1995
Nintendo released the single-player Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island platform game for the Super NES in North America. It was the first game in the Mario franchise to feature Yoshi as a playable character. (ESRB: KA)
1996
Capcom released the X-Men vs. Street Fighter versus fighting game to U.S. arcades. It’s popularity lead to a long series of Marvel vs. Capcom games.
1997
Gunpei Yokoi died at the age of 56. He engineered Nintendo’s Game & Watch handheld line of games, the Game Boy handheld system, and the Game Boy Pocket system. He also developed the Metroid series, which introduced a number of popular gameplay conventions to the platform genre.
2002
Infogramed released the Driver 2: The Wheelman driving game as Back (Driver 2: Back on the Streets in the UK) for the Game Boy Advance in Europe. (PEGI: 12+)
Namco released the Ninja Assault shooting game for the PlayStation 2 in Europe. (ELSPA: 15+)
Nintendo released the single-player Super Mario Sunshine 3D platform game for the GameCube in Europe. It was the first 3D game in the Mario franchise in six years, since Super Mario 64. (ELSPA: 3+, PEGI: 3+)
Ubisoft Entertainment released the The Sum of All Fears tactical shooting game for the Game Boy Advance in Europe. The game was based on the film of the same name, which was in turn based on the Tom Clancy book of the same title. (ESRB: T)
2004
Activision released Doom 3 for Linux.
Activision released the Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 (THUG 2) skating game for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. (ESRB: T, PEGI: 16+)
Majesco announced its second Nintendo DS title, Moonlight Fables.
Midway released the Mortal Kombat: Deception versus fighting game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the U.S. The version for each different console features different playable characters, Sub-Zero for the PlayStation and Scorpion for the Xbox. (ESRB: M)
Nintendo released the single-player Mario Pinball Land pinball game for the Game Boy Advance in the U.S. (ESRB: E)
2005
Atlus released the single-player Trauma Center: Under the Knife medical simulation game for the Nintendo DS in North America. (ESRB: T)
Konami released Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS in North America. The game sold over 164,000 copies within three months. (ESRB: T)
Microsoft held the Xbox Show (“X05″) event October 4th and 5th in Amsterdam at which the company unveiled the game line-up for the launch of its upcoming Xbox 360 game console. Among the launch titles announced were Kameo: Elements of Power, Perfect Dark Zero, and Project Gotham Racing 3. Other games announced for release during the holiday season at the event included: Condemned: Criminal Origins, Crackdown, FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, Full Auto, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Saint’s Row, and Too Human.
Namco released the Street Racing Syndicate racing game for the Game Boy Advance. (ESRB: T)
Sony Computer Entertainment released NBA ‘06: Featuring the Life Vol. 1 for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). (ESRB: E)
Ubisoft released the Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood tactical first-person shooting game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the U.S. (ESRB: M)
2006
Bethesda Softworks released the Star Trek: Encounters shooting game for the PlayStation 2. (ESRB: E)
The South Park episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” premieres in the U.S. The episode lampoons the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. In it, an obsessive, over-weight gamer begins killing all of the other character in the game, and the kids have to train to bring his reign of terror to an end. The episode is choked full of video game allusions, including a t-shirt that reads, “Dwarf Needs FOOD!”, a reference to Gauntlet. The episode became an instant fan favorite and was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
2007
The fourth and final teaser video for the upcoming game Halo 3 airs on the Discovery Channel during the reality show, Last One Standing. The video is the end of Microsoft’s enormous promotional campaign for the game.
