When I downloaded the Jericho demo off of the PlayStation Store, I expected a survival-horror style First Person Shooter. (And I HATE survival horror. I scare easily.) But, it has a decent amount of hype behind it, and I wanted to at least give it a shot.
The demo didn't have as much survival horror elements as I expected. There was a timed-button-press sequence near the end which requires quick reflexes. I expected the action would slow down a bit, like in God of War, but it kept going at regular speed. Luckily, the buttons show up in a section of the screen that corresponds with that button's placement on the controller. So that makes it a bit easier to know which button to hit.
The rest of the demo was good. It's apparently set about halfway in the game, where the Jericho team is split. You only have control over three teammates. Which is good for demo purposes, I suppose. The supernatural powers that the team has at their disposal are well done and integrated into gameplay. You'll likely spend most of the demo as Black, and her psychic sniper move is damn cool. She uses her psychic abilities to control her sniper shot, and it can hit up to three enemies. You could get a triple head-shot, if you're good enough.
The last part of the demo is a solo part with Church. She has a decent gun, an awesome sword, and she deals with blood magic. She's also the one with the button sequence mentioned above.
The final part of the team is Delgado. He has a chaingun, and has the ability to call upon fire spirits, and otherwise bend fire to his will. I didn't use him much.
I'm not big on first person shooters. But this game seems okay. It's not a typical shooter, but not many are these days. Old-fashioned run-and-gun doesn't cut it anymore. You need a gimmick. This game's gimmick works pretty well, I think. It's probably not going to go down as the best FPS, but it seems like a good one to check out. You can certainly do a lot worse than this. And who knows, maybe you'll end up really enjoying yourself.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Imanerdkthxbye
Sorry for the lack of posting last week. Got ill because of a mishap with some gasoline (don't ask). Anyway, wanted to drop my weekly "It's Friday, let me recap what I am up to" post. You can probably come to expect this from me, a weekly post on Friday that sorta recaps what I've been doing and been following over the past week, only in Awesome Bullet Point Form! Here we go:
* Big news this week is, of course, Halo 3, and being a big Xbox 360 fan.... I haven't played it yet. Honestly, I just can't muster the energy to play it. I like Halo just fine, it's a fun game, it's single player story is interesting, and it's multiplayer is fun when you can avoid the idiot kiddies, but there is about a hundred games I'd rather play before it. I managed to fight off the temptation to buy it Tuesday and am glad I did so, cause really, I don't need Halo in my life right now. However, I am sure to get it at some point in the future, just like I did with Halo's 1 & 2 before it. I mean, have you seen the reviews? The game is clearly well put together and fun, you'd have to be nuts to pass over at least trying it.
* Blizzard dropped WoW 2.2 on us Tuesday as well. The only really big news out of it was voice chat being added finally. I suppose this is a good thing, but having weened myself on online play from Xbox Live, I was already kinda used to it anyway. My server doesn't have it at the moment, but I doubt I will be using it much since my guild is on the verge of disintegration (though maybe that means I'll end up using it a lot in my new guild?)
* Speaking of WoW, I did what I think is perhaps the most awesome singular accomplishment I've yet done this past weekend: solo farming the first three bosses of (well, two bosses and one rare elite) in the Stratholme instance for Large Brilliant Shards. As a mage, I think this is highly amazing that I pulled it off (cause I suck).
* So they announced three new Kingdom Hearts games at TGS last week. Bleh. Those clearly aren't for me anyway. as my wife is the one who plays those, but I am moderately interested in the series, at least from a cultural standpoint. However, per usual, Huggy Bear (a.k.a Squeenix, a.k.a. Square-Enix) has pimped out and diluted the franchise with a bevy of spinoff's that only the die hards will play. Sure, these may be just handheld spinoffs, and the core series may yet appear next year on the new gen consoles (I wouldn't hold my breath), but I can't help but wonder why they are wasting their time with these. The series is more popular in America than Japan, and I don't think the American market will eat up these spinoffs the way the Japanese market will. Here's to hoping this blows up in their face.
* Speaking of handhelds. I continue to enjoy my PSP much better than my DS. The long and the short of it, I just feel like it is a much better machine. It can do more, is more functional, and feels a lot better in my hands than the tiny DS (which I can't hold and play for more than 30 minutes without my hands starting to hurt). Now if only they could get more great software for it, I'd be all set.
That's all from me this week, still working on some WoW stuff, about to play through some more PSP stuff, and I hope to have played and have something to say about Halo 3 next week.
* Big news this week is, of course, Halo 3, and being a big Xbox 360 fan.... I haven't played it yet. Honestly, I just can't muster the energy to play it. I like Halo just fine, it's a fun game, it's single player story is interesting, and it's multiplayer is fun when you can avoid the idiot kiddies, but there is about a hundred games I'd rather play before it. I managed to fight off the temptation to buy it Tuesday and am glad I did so, cause really, I don't need Halo in my life right now. However, I am sure to get it at some point in the future, just like I did with Halo's 1 & 2 before it. I mean, have you seen the reviews? The game is clearly well put together and fun, you'd have to be nuts to pass over at least trying it.
* Blizzard dropped WoW 2.2 on us Tuesday as well. The only really big news out of it was voice chat being added finally. I suppose this is a good thing, but having weened myself on online play from Xbox Live, I was already kinda used to it anyway. My server doesn't have it at the moment, but I doubt I will be using it much since my guild is on the verge of disintegration (though maybe that means I'll end up using it a lot in my new guild?)
* Speaking of WoW, I did what I think is perhaps the most awesome singular accomplishment I've yet done this past weekend: solo farming the first three bosses of (well, two bosses and one rare elite) in the Stratholme instance for Large Brilliant Shards. As a mage, I think this is highly amazing that I pulled it off (cause I suck).
* So they announced three new Kingdom Hearts games at TGS last week. Bleh. Those clearly aren't for me anyway. as my wife is the one who plays those, but I am moderately interested in the series, at least from a cultural standpoint. However, per usual, Huggy Bear (a.k.a Squeenix, a.k.a. Square-Enix) has pimped out and diluted the franchise with a bevy of spinoff's that only the die hards will play. Sure, these may be just handheld spinoffs, and the core series may yet appear next year on the new gen consoles (I wouldn't hold my breath), but I can't help but wonder why they are wasting their time with these. The series is more popular in America than Japan, and I don't think the American market will eat up these spinoffs the way the Japanese market will. Here's to hoping this blows up in their face.
* Speaking of handhelds. I continue to enjoy my PSP much better than my DS. The long and the short of it, I just feel like it is a much better machine. It can do more, is more functional, and feels a lot better in my hands than the tiny DS (which I can't hold and play for more than 30 minutes without my hands starting to hurt). Now if only they could get more great software for it, I'd be all set.
That's all from me this week, still working on some WoW stuff, about to play through some more PSP stuff, and I hope to have played and have something to say about Halo 3 next week.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Yearly games
With all my negative rantings, you may wonder if I have anything nice to say. Well, I do. Just not today.
Today's rant of mine focuses on the concept of yearly games. That being, game series that have a new edition every year. This is most commonly used in sports games, where they can slap on an updated roster, add leftover ideas from the previous game, and sell it at full price.
I'm not saying the developers are lazy. Obviously, one year to make a game isn't that long of a time. But, they do often start work on next year's game before the this year's game comes out. It takes a shorter amount of time, because they basically use the same game engine and assets from the previous version, with some enhancements, no matter how minor.
Many times, these types of games are criticized for not changing enough year by year. Some EA Sports franchises have been the focus of these criticisms. But they aren't the only ones.
The Tony Hawk series, for example, has reached it's ninth game. Fans of the series say they got the mechanics right in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. So what did they do after that? They added a story mode and other gimmicks to try and "enhance" the experience. They had the gameplay perfected, and the competition had called it quits. Being the only skateboard game in town for years, and with the story modes considered lackluster, the series sort of rode its success as much as it could. This year, we have Skate, which is the first alternative to Tony Hawk we've had in years, and several reviews say it's better than Tony Hawk. So we'll have to see what will happen for the tenth Tony Hawk game, likely due out next year.
Another series is the WWE Smackdown series. This series has had a lot of fan criticism. Some move animations remain unchanged since the first game, over seven years ago. The game engine has more or less remained the same throughout the series, with various enhancements made when changing between platforms. Some major gameplay tweaks have been made over the years, but there still remain parts that are identical to the earlier versions. I, for one, absolutely hate the animation of falling through the trap door in the Hell In A Cell match. Absolutely ridiculous, and I hate that it's still there in this year's version. Much like Tony Hawk, the Smackdown series has been without competition for years. The only competition it's had are the craptastic Legends of Wrestling games, the wacky Ultimate Muscle games, the not-really-wrestling Def Jam series (mainly the first game), and other WWE games (which shouldn't even be considered competition). In the next year, however, we'll see Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, marking the first time a console version of the Fire Pro series has made it to the United States. As well as the TNA Impact game, the first game for the upstart wrestling promotion. Finally giving wrestling fans an alternative wrestling experience.
I think it would be best if all yearly games would occasionally take a year off, so the developers can spend that time truly enhancing the gaming experience, instead of only giving a handful of new features, while leaving the gameplay almost exactly the same.
Today's rant of mine focuses on the concept of yearly games. That being, game series that have a new edition every year. This is most commonly used in sports games, where they can slap on an updated roster, add leftover ideas from the previous game, and sell it at full price.
I'm not saying the developers are lazy. Obviously, one year to make a game isn't that long of a time. But, they do often start work on next year's game before the this year's game comes out. It takes a shorter amount of time, because they basically use the same game engine and assets from the previous version, with some enhancements, no matter how minor.
Many times, these types of games are criticized for not changing enough year by year. Some EA Sports franchises have been the focus of these criticisms. But they aren't the only ones.
The Tony Hawk series, for example, has reached it's ninth game. Fans of the series say they got the mechanics right in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. So what did they do after that? They added a story mode and other gimmicks to try and "enhance" the experience. They had the gameplay perfected, and the competition had called it quits. Being the only skateboard game in town for years, and with the story modes considered lackluster, the series sort of rode its success as much as it could. This year, we have Skate, which is the first alternative to Tony Hawk we've had in years, and several reviews say it's better than Tony Hawk. So we'll have to see what will happen for the tenth Tony Hawk game, likely due out next year.
Another series is the WWE Smackdown series. This series has had a lot of fan criticism. Some move animations remain unchanged since the first game, over seven years ago. The game engine has more or less remained the same throughout the series, with various enhancements made when changing between platforms. Some major gameplay tweaks have been made over the years, but there still remain parts that are identical to the earlier versions. I, for one, absolutely hate the animation of falling through the trap door in the Hell In A Cell match. Absolutely ridiculous, and I hate that it's still there in this year's version. Much like Tony Hawk, the Smackdown series has been without competition for years. The only competition it's had are the craptastic Legends of Wrestling games, the wacky Ultimate Muscle games, the not-really-wrestling Def Jam series (mainly the first game), and other WWE games (which shouldn't even be considered competition). In the next year, however, we'll see Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, marking the first time a console version of the Fire Pro series has made it to the United States. As well as the TNA Impact game, the first game for the upstart wrestling promotion. Finally giving wrestling fans an alternative wrestling experience.
I think it would be best if all yearly games would occasionally take a year off, so the developers can spend that time truly enhancing the gaming experience, instead of only giving a handful of new features, while leaving the gameplay almost exactly the same.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Achievements and Side-quests
I was playing The Darkness on my PS3 earlier, and I was looking at my achievements. Now, The Darkness has an in-game achievements system on the PS3. It's the same as the XBox 360 version, but without any of the fancy "XBL Achievements" features. And it got me thinking about the Achievements system on the XBox 360. So, I just want to know, what is the point?
I want to know what the big deal is. Some XBox 360 owners swear by Achievements, and some PS3 owners wish Sony would copy it (and not just with the trophy room in Home). But I don't get it. To me, it seems like a way to artificially lengthen the gaming experience. And when I see the gaming experienced lengthened in such a way, it tells me that the game itself is lacking. That's not always the case, but it bugs me that developers would rather plug in extra stuff you can do instead of make the main story experience longer.
Why do I make such a comparison? Think about it. To get all the achievements for a game, you often have to play the game multiple times. Now, I'm all for replaying a game, but I want something to make the experience different. Not just so I can get some extra junk.
It would be nice if Achievements got you anything in the game, but unless the game has its own unlockables tied with achievements, you don't get anything. Oh, you get points added to your gamerscore, and a little badge or icon on your XBox Live profile. But that's it. All it does is show how much of a "hardcore gamer" you are for doing all that stuff. Other than bragging rights, they're worthless.
Sure, I don't own a 360. So I'm basing this off of second-hand information. But something tells me I'm not too far off. I remember there was a magazine or website editor that did a retrospective on Donkey Kong Country (for the SNES), and mentioned that the game isn't as good as everyone thought it was, because you had to go around collecting items to get 100%, and that the item collecting artificially lengthened the game experience by making you play multiple times. I think about that, and I wonder if that same editor is praising XBox Live Achievements, despite the fact that they make you do the same thing.
Which brings me to my next rant, which was partially sprinkled in that last part. Side-quests. Games like Grand Theft Auto and others (including some RPGs) have a lot of side-quests. Now, I'm fine with side-quests if they give me a really powerful item or weapon or something. If they don't, then I don't bother with them.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the earlier games in the series (like Morrowind), use side-quests in a neat way. The side-quests help mold your character, along with giving you gold and/or useful items, weapons, spells, and so forth.
But games like GTA use them in ways that annoy me. In order to get 100%, you must complete all side-quests, all collectibles, everything. Plus, you don't really get anything for getting 100%, and you usually don't get anything of worth for your trouble.
A lot of times, I'm left wishing that more time was spent on extending the story, instead of other junk. I'm a big fan of stories in games. I like a deep, intriguing story. And I like for it to be a good length. So, if the game has a story of decent length, I can forgive side-quests. But if the side-quests are almost half the game, then I start to get annoyed. I get even more annoyed when I must get 100% to get the "real" ending. Why make them "optional" side-quests if you're required to complete them for the ending? Why not put them in the story? Give me a reason to do it, other than Person X wants me to do it for them?
So those are just a couple gaming annoyances. Thank you for reading.
I want to know what the big deal is. Some XBox 360 owners swear by Achievements, and some PS3 owners wish Sony would copy it (and not just with the trophy room in Home). But I don't get it. To me, it seems like a way to artificially lengthen the gaming experience. And when I see the gaming experienced lengthened in such a way, it tells me that the game itself is lacking. That's not always the case, but it bugs me that developers would rather plug in extra stuff you can do instead of make the main story experience longer.
Why do I make such a comparison? Think about it. To get all the achievements for a game, you often have to play the game multiple times. Now, I'm all for replaying a game, but I want something to make the experience different. Not just so I can get some extra junk.
It would be nice if Achievements got you anything in the game, but unless the game has its own unlockables tied with achievements, you don't get anything. Oh, you get points added to your gamerscore, and a little badge or icon on your XBox Live profile. But that's it. All it does is show how much of a "hardcore gamer" you are for doing all that stuff. Other than bragging rights, they're worthless.
Sure, I don't own a 360. So I'm basing this off of second-hand information. But something tells me I'm not too far off. I remember there was a magazine or website editor that did a retrospective on Donkey Kong Country (for the SNES), and mentioned that the game isn't as good as everyone thought it was, because you had to go around collecting items to get 100%, and that the item collecting artificially lengthened the game experience by making you play multiple times. I think about that, and I wonder if that same editor is praising XBox Live Achievements, despite the fact that they make you do the same thing.
Which brings me to my next rant, which was partially sprinkled in that last part. Side-quests. Games like Grand Theft Auto and others (including some RPGs) have a lot of side-quests. Now, I'm fine with side-quests if they give me a really powerful item or weapon or something. If they don't, then I don't bother with them.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the earlier games in the series (like Morrowind), use side-quests in a neat way. The side-quests help mold your character, along with giving you gold and/or useful items, weapons, spells, and so forth.
But games like GTA use them in ways that annoy me. In order to get 100%, you must complete all side-quests, all collectibles, everything. Plus, you don't really get anything for getting 100%, and you usually don't get anything of worth for your trouble.
A lot of times, I'm left wishing that more time was spent on extending the story, instead of other junk. I'm a big fan of stories in games. I like a deep, intriguing story. And I like for it to be a good length. So, if the game has a story of decent length, I can forgive side-quests. But if the side-quests are almost half the game, then I start to get annoyed. I get even more annoyed when I must get 100% to get the "real" ending. Why make them "optional" side-quests if you're required to complete them for the ending? Why not put them in the story? Give me a reason to do it, other than Person X wants me to do it for them?
So those are just a couple gaming annoyances. Thank you for reading.
Of WoW and blogging
As usual, I have been very quiet on this space as of late. That is kinda ironic, I know, but bear with me, because the funniest part is, I couldn't possibly tell you why.
It's not like there hasn't been things to talk about. Both Lair and Heavenly Sword came out recently, to rather ho hum reviews. I could have used those as another means to bash Sony for releasing the PS3 before developers, even their own, were ready with software for it's release. Warhawk came out as well, but without a demo, there is no way I am picking up an online only game. Blue Dragon, the JRPG I have been pining for for almost 9 months, finally saw release....and I totally ignored it, instead choosing to wait for Lost Odyssey to come out. (The Blue Dragon demo was atrocious). The Eternal Sonata demo came out, and it was fantastic. So much so that I was forced to pre-order for my wife for her birthday. Not to mention the other day Microsoft a rather surprising deal with Tri-Ace/Squeenix to bring a JRPG to the Xbox 360 strangely called Infinite Undiscovery. So, with all this happening, what have I been doing?
Playing WoW, of course. And going to class.
This whole thing puzzled me greatly. Not a story goes by in the video game industry that I don't have some sort of opinion on that I bet I could offer an intersting opinion on for you, the reader. Yet none of these big announcements/releases/stories tickled me enough to get my fingers dancing and away from a game whose greatness I am not even sure I could properly explain. I've spent nearly a solid month of actual playtime in this game, and I am sure I've got another full month in me. But that doesn't make for good blog grist, does it?
Or does it?
See, if you were to ask me which blog is my favorite, out of all the blogs I read on a regular basis, my answer would be simple, WoW Insider. It is the blog I read that is the most consistently entertaining, informative, and well put together out of any blog I read. I think the reason is because it's topic is so focused. I've found that in blogs that speak about something in a general sense (see blogs about "sports" in general) there tends to be this kind of drifting between topics that makes the blog almost unreadable, or confusing. Something like WoW Insider has a defined topic that is large enough to contain the necessities of constant postings without being so generalized that you feel like your are only touching things on a skinned surface.
What does this have to do with me and my not writing anything? A lot, actually. I am thinking that I was kinda overwhelmed at the concept of writing a "video game blog" instead of focusing on what it should have been about, mainly, what I am doing right now in the video game world. I shouldn't worry about missing topics that I think I should be talking about and instead write about what I am doing. Even if that means twenty straight WoW posts.
That, or just write more in general.
It's not like there hasn't been things to talk about. Both Lair and Heavenly Sword came out recently, to rather ho hum reviews. I could have used those as another means to bash Sony for releasing the PS3 before developers, even their own, were ready with software for it's release. Warhawk came out as well, but without a demo, there is no way I am picking up an online only game. Blue Dragon, the JRPG I have been pining for for almost 9 months, finally saw release....and I totally ignored it, instead choosing to wait for Lost Odyssey to come out. (The Blue Dragon demo was atrocious). The Eternal Sonata demo came out, and it was fantastic. So much so that I was forced to pre-order for my wife for her birthday. Not to mention the other day Microsoft a rather surprising deal with Tri-Ace/Squeenix to bring a JRPG to the Xbox 360 strangely called Infinite Undiscovery. So, with all this happening, what have I been doing?
Playing WoW, of course. And going to class.
This whole thing puzzled me greatly. Not a story goes by in the video game industry that I don't have some sort of opinion on that I bet I could offer an intersting opinion on for you, the reader. Yet none of these big announcements/releases/stories tickled me enough to get my fingers dancing and away from a game whose greatness I am not even sure I could properly explain. I've spent nearly a solid month of actual playtime in this game, and I am sure I've got another full month in me. But that doesn't make for good blog grist, does it?
Or does it?
See, if you were to ask me which blog is my favorite, out of all the blogs I read on a regular basis, my answer would be simple, WoW Insider. It is the blog I read that is the most consistently entertaining, informative, and well put together out of any blog I read. I think the reason is because it's topic is so focused. I've found that in blogs that speak about something in a general sense (see blogs about "sports" in general) there tends to be this kind of drifting between topics that makes the blog almost unreadable, or confusing. Something like WoW Insider has a defined topic that is large enough to contain the necessities of constant postings without being so generalized that you feel like your are only touching things on a skinned surface.
What does this have to do with me and my not writing anything? A lot, actually. I am thinking that I was kinda overwhelmed at the concept of writing a "video game blog" instead of focusing on what it should have been about, mainly, what I am doing right now in the video game world. I shouldn't worry about missing topics that I think I should be talking about and instead write about what I am doing. Even if that means twenty straight WoW posts.
That, or just write more in general.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
September in Gaming History
Sorry for the delay this month. I'd love to blame Warhawk, but the first of the month really snuck up on me, I swear. So, I hereby present the month of September in Gaming History.
SEPTEMBER
1st --
1992 – Super Mario Kart is released on the SNES.
4th --
1989 – The first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show airs. The show includes live-action sequences, along with cartoon shorts. In the live-action segments, Mario is played by “Captain” Lou Albano, while Luigi is played by Danny Wells.
7th --
1983 – AT&T announces a joint venture with Coleco to develop a service that would deliver games over phone lines. A similar product was made available for the Atari 2600, by another company, in 1983. That product was called Gameline, which may very well be the first attempt at what we know now as digital distribution.
1997 – Final Fantasy VII is released on the PlayStation in North America. The game still remains the most popular of the series.
1999 – Final Fantasy VIII is released on the PlayStation in North America.
9th --
1989 – Captain N: The Game Master airs its first episode. The cartoon features a teenager named Kevin, who is sucked into a vortex and taken to Videoland. He travels alongside Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Pit, as they go through various NES games, fighting monsters and villains, in an attempt to stop Mother Brain and rescue Princess Lana.
1995 – The Sony PlayStation is released in North America. Launch titles include Battle Arena Toshindin, Ridge Racer, Twisted Metal, and Warhawk.
1999 – The Sega Dreamcast is released in North America. Launch titles include Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, and NFL 2K.
2004 – Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are released on the Game Boy Advance in North America.
10th --
2000 – Sega launches SegaNet, the online gaming service for the Dreamcast.
13th --
1993 – On the day that Acclaim dubbed “Mortal Monday,” the company released Mortal Kombat on the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Amiga, Sega CD, IBM PC, and Sega Master System.
14th --
2004 – Fable is released on the Xbox.
19th --
2005 – The Game Boy Micro is released in North America.
2006 – Okami is released on the PlayStation 2.
20th --
2002 – Microsoft buys Rare, a British development company. Nintendo had previously owned 49% of Rare, but once Microsoft bought the remaining 51% from the Stamper brothers, Nintendo sold their stake, as well.
27th --
1983 – Atari sends 14 truckloads of computer equipment and game cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Six million E.T. cartridges are included in the load.
29th --
1996 – The Nintendo 64 is released in North America. Launch games included Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64.
30th --
1998 – Pokemon Red and Blue are released for the Game Boy in North America.
2001 – Ico is released on the PlayStation 2. The game sells poorly, but is a critical success. Garnering praise from most gaming media sources, as well as three GDC awards, and five Interactive Achievement Awards.
SEPTEMBER
1st --
1992 – Super Mario Kart is released on the SNES.
4th --
1989 – The first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show airs. The show includes live-action sequences, along with cartoon shorts. In the live-action segments, Mario is played by “Captain” Lou Albano, while Luigi is played by Danny Wells.
7th --
1983 – AT&T announces a joint venture with Coleco to develop a service that would deliver games over phone lines. A similar product was made available for the Atari 2600, by another company, in 1983. That product was called Gameline, which may very well be the first attempt at what we know now as digital distribution.
1997 – Final Fantasy VII is released on the PlayStation in North America. The game still remains the most popular of the series.
1999 – Final Fantasy VIII is released on the PlayStation in North America.
9th --
1989 – Captain N: The Game Master airs its first episode. The cartoon features a teenager named Kevin, who is sucked into a vortex and taken to Videoland. He travels alongside Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Pit, as they go through various NES games, fighting monsters and villains, in an attempt to stop Mother Brain and rescue Princess Lana.
1995 – The Sony PlayStation is released in North America. Launch titles include Battle Arena Toshindin, Ridge Racer, Twisted Metal, and Warhawk.
1999 – The Sega Dreamcast is released in North America. Launch titles include Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, and NFL 2K.
2004 – Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are released on the Game Boy Advance in North America.
10th --
2000 – Sega launches SegaNet, the online gaming service for the Dreamcast.
13th --
1993 – On the day that Acclaim dubbed “Mortal Monday,” the company released Mortal Kombat on the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Amiga, Sega CD, IBM PC, and Sega Master System.
14th --
2004 – Fable is released on the Xbox.
19th --
2005 – The Game Boy Micro is released in North America.
2006 – Okami is released on the PlayStation 2.
20th --
2002 – Microsoft buys Rare, a British development company. Nintendo had previously owned 49% of Rare, but once Microsoft bought the remaining 51% from the Stamper brothers, Nintendo sold their stake, as well.
27th --
1983 – Atari sends 14 truckloads of computer equipment and game cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Six million E.T. cartridges are included in the load.
29th --
1996 – The Nintendo 64 is released in North America. Launch games included Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64.
30th --
1998 – Pokemon Red and Blue are released for the Game Boy in North America.
2001 – Ico is released on the PlayStation 2. The game sells poorly, but is a critical success. Garnering praise from most gaming media sources, as well as three GDC awards, and five Interactive Achievement Awards.
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