Video Games
Japan Goes Crazy for Playstation 2!
March 4, 2000
Sony released the Playstation 2, the follow-up to their wildly successful original Playstation, in Japan to a waiting crowd of 10,000 people, many of whom had started waiting four days earlier. Sony promptly sold out of all 1 million Playstation 2 launch units in a single weekend. Interestingly, because there were only 11 launch title games available, the fact that the PS2 could play DVDs at a significantly lower price than most standalone DVD players of the time drove much of the early demand.
Magnavox Licenses Home Video Games
March 3, 1971
Magnavox gets the exclusive licensing of television video game technology from Sanders Associates. The first home video game console, the Odyssey, was developed at Sanders by a team headed by Ralph Baer.
Introduction of the Bandai Pippin
February 9, 1996
The Bandai Pippin is introduced. A little-known “multimedia device” using technology licensed from Apple Computer, it was an ill-fated attempt at a home video game console. It was 22nd on PC World’s list of the “25 Worst Tech Products of All Time”.
The Sims Released
February 4, 2000
EA releases The Sims, the best-selling PC game in history. I guess people like pretending to be other people!
Tetris Sneaks Into the US
January 29, 1988
The computer game Tetris makes its first appearance in the United States as a PC game. The company that released the game was Spectrum Holobyte, which had dubious licensing rights to the game. When companies became interested in licensing Tetris for other platforms besides the PC, a series of events kicked off a long legal battle, in which the big winner was eventually Nintendo, who used the game Tetris to drive sales of its new Game Boy platform.
The Birth of Video Games
January 15, 1968
Ralph Baer, generally considered the father of the video game industry, applies for a patent on a TV game system he designed. This patent eventually leads to the Magnavox Odssey, the first home video game machine. Ralph Baer is also well-known for many other products such as the electronic game SIMON.
iD Software Releases DOOM
December 10, 1993
Video Game developer iD software releases the game DOOM. DOOM is considered one of the most influential titles in video game history, popularizing the first-person shooter genre with its “deathmatch” multi-player mode. Its use of graphic violence and satanic imagery also made the game controversial, which of course only served to increase DOOM’s popularity.
Atari Introduces Pong
November 29, 1972
Atari introduces their first product, Pong, which would become the world’s first commercially successful video game. The story goes that Atari’s founder Nolan Bushnell installed the game at Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale California on this day. Soon they were called by the bar owner complaining that the game stopped working. Upon investigating the problem, they found that the game was jammed with quarters. At least that is the legend but regardless there were 10,000 machines installed within 4 months.
The popularity of Pong sparked the beginning of the video game industry with Atari being the leader in both arcade and home video gaming through the early 1980’s.
World of Warcraft Released
November 23, 2004
Blizzard Entertainment releases the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is currently the most popular online game in history.