Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Ultimate History of Video Games -Timeline for Videogames as Relates to this Topic

*All from "The Ultimate History of Video Games" by Steven L. Kent pages xi -xvi

1889 - Fusajiro Yamauchi establishes the Marufuku company to manufacture and distribute Hanafuda, Japanese playing cards

1951 - Yamauchi changes the name of Marufuku Co. Ltd to Nintendo

1961 - MIT student Steve Russell creates "Space War," the first interactive computer game

1964 - Rosen Enterprises merges with Service Games to form Sega Enterprises

1966 - Sega releases "Periscope," Japan's first amusement game export.

1969 - Gulf & Western purchases Sega.

1970 - Nolan Bushnell begins work on an arcade version of "Spacewar" called "Computer Space"

1971 - Nutting Associates purchases "Computer Space," which becomes the first arcade video game machine.

1972 - Bushnell meets his partner Ted Dabney at a Magnavox demonstration and they create the Atari company. Atari engineer Al Alcorn creates "Pong." Magnavox releases "Odyssey."

1975 - Atari creates prototypical "Home Pong" unit and sells idea to Sears Roebuck. Midway Games imports a Taito game called "Gunfight," the first game to use a microprocessor.

1976 - Bushnell sell Atari for $28 million. Exidy Games releases "Death Race," a game in which players drive over stick figures. Protests about the game are feature on "60 Minutes."

1977 - Nintendo releases the first home video game in Japan.

1979 - Capcom is founded in Japan. Atari releases "Asteroids," the company's all-time best selling game. Atari game designer Warren Robinett introduces concept of "Easter Eggs" to video games. Mattel Electronics introduces the intellivision game console.

1980 - Atari releases "Space Invaders" for the Video Computer System. The Practice of selling home versions of arcade hits has begun. Activision is founded and is the first third-party game publisher. "Pac-Man" is released.

1981 - "Donkey Kong" and "Tempest" are released. "Electronic Games" becomes the first magazine about video games.

1982 - "Ms. Pac-Man" is released by Midway and becomes the biggest arcade game in American history.

1983 - Sega releases their first home console.

1985 - Tetris is designed.

1987 - "Legends of Zelda" is published.

1989 - NEC brings PC Engine to the United States and releases it as "TurboGrafx." Sega Genesis and Nintendo Gameboy are released.

1990 - "Super Mario 3" is released.

1991 - "Sonic the Hedgehog" is released.

1993 - "Myst" is published for Macs while "Doom" is published for PCs. Video game violence gains political attention.

1994 - The Interactive Digital Software Association is created. Sony releases PlayStation in Japan.

1995 - PlayStation is released in the US.

1996 - Atari Corporation is sold to ITS.

1997 - "Golden Eye" is released. "Final Fantasy VII" is released for PlayStation.

1998 - "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is released.

1999 - Atari is sold to Hasbro Interactive.

2000 - Playstation 2 is released in Japan and the US. Plans for Xbox revealed.

2001 - Xbox is released. Gameboy Advanced and Gamecube released.

Further facts not from "The Ultimate History of Video Games"

1974 - "Dungeons and Dragons" is published as a pen-and-paper RPG.

1985 - Bethesda Game studios is founded.

1995 - BioWare is founded.

1997 - "Fallout" is released for computers.

1998 - "Fallout 2" is released.

2004 - "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" is released.

2005 - Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched.

2007 - "Mass Effect" is released.

2008 - "Fallout 3" is released for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.

2009 - "Dragon Age: Origins" is released.

2010 - "Mass Effect 2" is released.

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