//History of Video Games
//
//These are some important events in the history of video games, but this file is
//not even as complete as it could be, although I didn't know it would turn out to be so long.
//
//prepared for University of Washington Autumn 2002 CSE 143 class
//
//prepared by olanmills on October 27th, 2002
//
//I typed up this information myself, paraphrasing from these sources:
//
//	-Gamespot.com's History of Video Games, published 2001, http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/index.html
//
//	-designboom.com's "from ‘pong’ to ‘pac-man’", September 2000, http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html
//
//	-A poster called "A Visual History of the Videogame Age", which is from a book called "Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age",
//		by Van Burnham, published by MIT Press, 2002
//
//	-http://intel.com, 2002
//
//	-http://www.videogames.org, 2002
//
//	-http://www.idsa.com, 2002
//
//	-my memory
//
//
//
//
1949
First known idea of a video game. An engineer named Ralph Baer, who worked at Loral (now a big satellite company) was instructed to build "the best TV set in the world." Baer suggests that they include some kind of TV game to distinguish it from other TVs. Management ignores the idea. Baer doesn't get a chance to develop this idea for another 18 years.
1958
The first ever video game is invented. Physicist Willy Higinbotham, working at the Brookhaven National Laboratories, wanted to create an exhibit that entertained guests as they learned. He created a side-view tennis game that used an analog computer and an oscilloscope to display the motion of a ball over a court, which was displayed using a long horizontal line, and a short vertical line for the net. It is two player only (no AI). Each player uses a dial and a button to control the angle and timing when they hit the ball. It's a popular display at the open house, and people wait in line for hours to play it.
1959
"Tennis for Two" reappears at the Brookhaven National Laboratories annual open house, with improved display and new gravity options. Higinbotham never files a patent for his device because, at the time, he didn't believe that he had invented anything. This is a point of controversy later.
1961
MIT students Wayne Witanen and J. Martin Graetz, and Steve Russell develop Spacewar. It features two player controlled spaceships that can rotate, thrust forward, and fire. It controls like the game Asteroids. They didn't file a patent on this on either, and since it remained in the public domain, its basic idea was copied many times. Many consider this to be the first video game, because it is actually a program run on a computer, not a manipulation of an oscilloscope hardware.
1967
Ralph Baer and co-workers create a chase game, tennis game, and the first ever light gun game. They patent it in 1968.
1971
Nolan Bushnell and Nutting Associates manufacture and deliver the first ever coin-operated arcade video games. It is called Computer Space which is basically the same as Spacewar. They've been working on it since 1970. The game was a bit too hard for most people.
1971
Because Computer Space was the first video game created and sold as a product, most people consider this to be when the video game industry started.
1971
Intel introduces the 4004. It's the world's first central processing unit, or microprocessor. Its speed is 108 kHz and it has 2,300 transistors (a P4 with a speed of 1.5 GHz has 42 million transistors!).  This obviously had a large impact on the future of games. The first few gaming systems were completely analog. After about 1972, every gaming system used digital CPUs. Microprocessors allow AI to become a reality in common, affordable products. It made traffic lights (yes even back then), phones, and of course video games behave smarter, and those were just a few applications.
1971
Teacher Ron Rawitsch writes The Oregon Trail, a text based educational computer game. Are text games video games? Who knows, but The Oregon Trail has been around in one form or another and is still played in schools today, although it's a lot fancier now. 
1972
Ralph Baer, working for Magnavox, finishes the first home video game console called the Odyssey. Magnavox releases it and it sells over 200,00 units (that's good).
1972
With Computer Space not selling well, Nolan Bushnell and Nutting Associates disagree about what to do next. Bushnell leaves the company and founds Atari with Ted Dabney.
1972
Bushnell hires Al Alcorn to program games. He creates Pong (which is not the first game of its kind by the way). It is released as an arcade machine. The machine literally breaks down because people have shoved too many quarters into it. It's an overnight success.
1972
While Pong itself is a success, Atari is not because copycat versions of Pong outnumber Atari's original 2 to 1. Atari only sells 10,000 units.
1973
Following the success of Pong, arcade games start to become popular and more are developed in the coming years. Pinball companies like Midway and Williams expand to produce vide game arcade machines as well.
1975
Atari designs a home version of Pong which is fairly successful.
1976
After programming the hit game Breakout, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak leave Atari to start Apple Computer.
1976
In the next 6-7 years, all kinds of consoles are released. There are various Atari systems, Colecos, Odysseys and more. Many gaming existing companies, such as Sega and Nintendo expand into gaming and many new gaming companies are formed during this time, such as EA and Activision.
1976
Fairchild Camera & Instrument releases its Video Entertainment System (later renamed Channel F), the first programmable home game console. It is the first system to use cartridges, which allow the user to remove and insert different games. Before this, all game software was built into the console hardware.
1976
Exidy games releases Death Race 2000, which is based off of a movie of the same name. It involves running over stick figure people to earn points. This is the first game to receive public criticism for its violent content. It's actually taken off of the market.
1977
Nintendo, a playing card company that's been around since 1889 and had expanded into making games and toys, releases its first video game machine, Color TV Game 6, which plays six different versions of tennis like games.
1977
Shigeru Miyamoto is hired by Nintendo to design artwork for arcade games. He is now widely regarded as the most influential person in the video games industry.
1977
Atari opens Pizza Time Theater. It's a restaurant with an arcade (or vice-versa) that also features animatronic puppets as part of a show. The main mascot? His name is Chuck E. Cheese.
1977
Mattel introduces a series of the first handheld electronic games. It's difficult to call them video games because the display is created with a image printed on a plastic cover and LEDs (not an LCD screen). Different LEDs turn on and off at different times to simulate whatever the game is about, like football.
1978
Space Invaders, the famous arcade game is so popular that it causes coin shortages in Japan and school truancy in America (actually I was unable to verify if that's actually true or just exaggeration. Regardless, Space Invaders becomes very popular).
1978
Cinematronics releases Space Wars. It's the first 3D game. It uses vector graphics, which creates a wire frame 3D look. The programming concept is not the same as polygonal 3D games today.
1979
Atari designer Ed Rottberg creates Battlezone, the first 3D game with a first-person perspective. The player is in a tank and with the objective of destroying certain targets. The US government actually commissions an enhanced version of the game for military training purposes. 
1980
Namco releases Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. It sold over 300,000 units world-wide, and nearly the same amount of counterfeit machines were produced by various jerks. If you want to know where the name came from, the name was originally going to be called Puck Man (because of his shape), but executives feared that people would vandalize the 'P' on the arcade cabinet artwork so that it would say something pretty bad.
1980
Nintendo releases their hand-held series of games called Game & Watch games. The games featured an LCD screen which also had a clock and an alarm. They became very popular. If you don't understand what they are, they were like simpler versions of today's Tiger Electronics hand-held games.
1981
Nintendo releases the arcade game, Donkey Kong. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, many people at Nintendo thought it would be a failure because the idea just wasn't very cool. A fat carpenter uninspiringly named Jumpman saving his girlfriend from a big, dumb ape? It went on to become one of the most popular arcade games ever. Jumpman's story was later reworked and he was turned into an Italian plumber named Mario. The character was based off of Mario, the Italian-American landlord for the office that Nintendo of America used to have in New York.
1981
A man dies from a heart attack while playing a game called Berserk. (10/24/02)And actually, just this past week, a Korean man died after playing First-Person Shooter games in an Internet Cafe for 86 hours straight without eating, drinking or sleeping. Also in the past week, a Taiwanese man did the same thing for 32 hours straight, and he died. I don't know if there were any other complications these men had, but this is very unusual, and they're pretty stupid.
1981
Games are more popular than ever. Arcade game revenues in the US exceed $5 billion. Americans spend over 75,000 hours playing video games. Of course, these values are nothing compared to today.
12/7/1982
There are all kinds of consoles and video games by now. Atari announces that it will not meet sales predictions. Warner Communications' (which bought Atari in 1976) stock drops 32 percent in a single day. This is significant because of what happens to the whole industry in the next few years.
1983
Sega releases its first game console, the SG-1000. It's cartridge-based, but there's no Sonic the Hedgehog yet.
1983
An X-rated game called Custer's Revenge for the Atari 2600 provokes boycotts. It features raping Native American women among other bad things. Don't get all excited, the graphics were all pixilated and blocky.
1983
Nintendo releases their first cartridge-based system in Japan, the Famicom (Family Computer). It came with the hit games, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. Because of Atari's dominance in the US, Nintendo did not intend on releasing it in the US, at least at that time.
1983
It's around 1983-84 that the video game market in the US crashed. Many companies were involved in all kinds of legal struggles with copyright issues and whatnot. More than that, there was just a lot of crap out. There were too many crappy games, there were too many different consoles, the market was just flooded and there was not enough quality. Almost overnight, people decided that they didn't want to buy game consoles, because they could by computers for just a little bit more.
1984
Video games companies continue to have bad times. Mattel sells it's electronics division (later known as Intellivision), Warner sells Atari, and things are just going bad. At this point it's looking like video games were just a fad after all.
1984
However, in light of the crumbling US gaming industry, Nintendo sees an opportunity, and may release it's Famicom in the US...
1985
Following bad times, Atari is sold off from Warner and they decide to stop making game systems and start making PCs.
1985
Among a completely crumbled home video game market, Nintendo tests their Famicom in the US by releasing it only in New York with the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). With several Nintendo developed games like Mario and Duck Hunt, it becomes quite successful.
1985
Ultimate Play the Game, a British game developer that has made games for all kinds of previous consoles, changes their name to Rareware and starts developing games for the NES. Rare becomes significant later.
1985
Russian programmer Alex Pajitnov designs Tetris, which is probably considered the most addicting game ever. It is released on all kinds of platforms, but its popularity really takes off when it comes packaged with the Game Boy in 1989.
1985
Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan. It is the first video game whose levels consisted of more than one screen at a time and used a scrolling technique. It is brilliantly designed and it's an instant hit. It is driving factor behind the sales of the NES. The game goes on to sell over 40 million copies world wide (that's a lot for video games), although much of that can be attributed to the fact that it came packaged with the NES for quite a few years. Although, people also say the NES sold so well because it came packaged with Mario. 
1986
After testing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in New York, Nintendo is pleased with the success and releases the NES nationwide in the US.
1986
Super Mario Bros. comes packaged with the NES. It is the first video game whose levels consisted of more than one screen at a time and used a scrolling technique. It is brilliantly designed and it's an instant hit. It is driving factor behind the sales of the NES. The game goes on to sell over 40 million copies world wide (that's a lot for video games), although much of that can be attributed to the fact that it came packaged with the NES for quite a few years. Although, people also say the NES sold so well because it came packaged with Mario.
1986
Sega releases the Sega Master System, but it never becomes as popular as the NES, but it still had decent sales.
1986
Atari re-enters the game console market with the Atari 7800. Although it's a nice machine, it came a little too late to save Atari's gaming system business.
1986
By the end of the year, Nintendo is outselling the competition 10 to 1. Nintendo is beginning its decade of dominance over the industry.
1986
Several companies sign on with Nintendo as third-party developers, and most of Atari's old supporters, such as Namco, are now making their best games for Nintendo's system.
1987
The Nintendo Entertainment System(NES) becomes the most sold toy in the US. An estimated 4.1 million families purchased a gaming system this year. About 3 million of these were Nintendo systems. The rest were Sega and Atari systems.
1987
With its huge success, Nintendo starts testing out new ideas in Japan such as gaming episodes downloaded by satellites, networked gaming and more. None of this stuff lasts very long or is ever seen in the US.
1987
Nintendo releases games like Metroid, Kid Icarus, and The Legend of Zelda for the NES. The impress gamers with better graphics and longer quests.
1987
Zelda is the first game of its kind. It's absolutely huge. It's the first game to use a battery-backed save. This means that a player can save their progress in the game right on the cartridge. Before this, progress was saved by writing down an often complex password which must then be manually entered the next time you started the game, or many games didn't save progress at all; you had to beat it in one sitting. Zelda is the first stand-alone game to sell over 1 million copies (Mario exceeded that, but it came packaged with the NES). It goes on to become one of the most popular series in gaming.
1987
Atari, unsuccessful with their own console, form Tengen and start developing games for the NES.
1989
Sega releases a 16-bit system, the Sega Genesis. It is now the most technically advanced system, but it doesn't become popular just quite yet.
1989
In the US NEC releases a version of their PC-Engine, a not-too-popular console they released in Japan in 1987. They now call it the Turbo Grafx-16. They release a $400 add on which plays CDs. This is the first time that games are stored on CDs. The system did not become very popular.
1989
Nintendo releases the most successful game system to date (10/24/02), the Game Boy. It retails for $109 and comes with the addicting game Tetris. There is also a new Mario game available for it. It's black & white and has a tiny screen. Several other companies try to release their own handheld systems, and even though they might be technically superior (some had better graphics, color screens, etc.), no one can come close to touching Game Boy sales. People just seemed to like its games better. It goes on to sell over a whopping 118 million units world-wide before Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance.
1989
Studies in the US showed that Mario is now more popular than Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny!
1990
Stores start using "World of Nintendo" displays in which kids can try out games on demo units and buy non-video game Nintendo products. This is the basis for the kind of demo units we see at stores today.
1990
Super Mario Bros. 3 - a game which isn't released until next year- is featured in a movie called The Wizard, starring Fred Savage. It helps create a huge amount of hype for the game and the game sales extremely well the next year.
1990
Nintendo announces that it is developing a new console, the Super Famicom (Japan), or Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
1990
The Sega Genesis enjoys moderate success with several ports from their arcade games. It's best times are still ahead of them though...
1990
SNK, a developer of Nintendo Entertainment System games, releases the 24-bit machine, NeoGeo. It has very impressive graphics and sound, but its $400 price tag prevent it from becoming very popular. Heehee, I remember how kids would talk about how unattainable it was, that it cost $800-1000 and that store clerks would keep them locked in a safe because they were so valuable and stuff.
1991
Sega releases Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. Now Sega had a mascot and a cool image. The fact that the game was also very fun and well designed helped too. From now on, Sega provided some real competition for Nintendo. Since 1987 until about 1996, several other consoles have been released, but none were able to compete with Nintendo except the Sega Genesis.
1991
Nintendo releases the Super Nintendo Entertainment System(SNES). It comes with Super Mario World, another brilliantly designed and popular Mario game. Nintendo is very successful, along with Sega.
1991
70% of homes with kids 8-15 have a Nintendo system. Nintendo has about 85% of the video games market. 16% of money spent on toys goes to Nintendo. These years are the highest point for Nintendo.
1991
Nintendo collaborates with Sony to start developing a CD player add-on for the SNES. Yes, this is the start of the PlayStation...
1991
Capcom releases Street Fighter II for the arcades. It's very different and much better than the original Street Fighter. This really makes the fighting genre popular. People line up to play the game. People stand around and watch people play the game. Capcom makes tons of money from this and they release several updated versions of Street Fighter II, like SF II Turbo, Alpha, etc. It takes them several years before they learn to count to three. There are at least a dozen different versions of Street Fighter II, including versions later released for the SNES and Sega Genesis. People begin to worry about virtual violence again.
1991
An New York State Attorney General sues Nintendo, claiming they have an illegal monopoly on the video game market which leads to that Nintendo has to give each customer a 5 dollars certificate good on any licensed NES game. The past couple years, Nintendo has been using their overwhelming popularity to force retailers to do what they want by threatening to withhold shipments of Nintendo products. Nintendo products sell so well that retailers submit to the strong-arming. 
1992
Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog has his second game coming out soon and Sonic is rivaling the popularity of Mario. 
1992
Sega releases the Sega CD, an add-on for the Genesis which allows it to play CD-ROM games. It doesn't do too well because it's an add-on meaning people would have to buy something extra to use it, which makes developers wary to make games for it. This CD thing keeps popping up, but it's not time just yet...
1992
Mortal Kombat (a fighting game) is released to the arcades. The current technology allowed for an impressive amount of graphical detail. It is excessively violent. Blood splatters every time you hit your opponent, but what caused the most controversy was that at the end of a match, the winner could perform a "fatality" on their opponent, which each character had various ways to kill their opponent, a couple examples are reaching down their throat and ripping out their skull and attached spine, tearing their heart out of their chest, or popping their head off.
1992
Since 1991, Nintendo had been collaborating with Sony to develop a CD drive add-on for the Super Nintendo. Now, it's more complicated than this, with some back-and-forth switching and negotiations, but the short story is that Nintendo went behind Sony's back and started a similar project with Philips, who was then Sony's biggest competitor. Nintendo betrayed Sony. Sony did not take any legal action partly due to certain business practices and laws in Japan. Nintendo had no idea that they were inadvertently creating their biggest competitor. Nintendo had become cocky. Sony went on to finish the project themselves which eventually turned into the PlayStation, released in 1995. Nintendo continued to develop their project with Philips, but when they realized that it was crappy, they bailed. Philips released it as the CD-i, and it was crappy, mostly because they developed their own games for it, and they weren't any good at making games.
1992
Nintendo surpasses Toyota and becomes the most profitable Japanese company in 1992, even earning $400 million more than the giant Sony. However Nintendo's market share dropped from 85% to "just" 79%.
1993
Nintendo and Sega both announce that they are developing new gaming systems, much to the excitement of gamers. These machines will come to be known as the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64.
1993
Provoked by violence in games, particularly Mortal Kombat and an interactive B-movie-style game called Night Trap, the US Senate starts a debate about violent video games. Joseph Lieberman, in particular, is especially adamant about coming into my life and choosing my entertainment. He launches a Senate investigation into video game violence and threatens to somehow ban violent games in America.
1994
Thankfully, you liberal pieces of crap didn't succeed in banning violent video games. Joe Lieberman cried, because that was his goal.
1994
Actually something else happened which was better for everyone. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board was created to rate games. Now, every single vide game sold in the US has an ESRB rating, which not only indicates the appropriate age group, but gives descriptors of what type of objectionable content is in the game. The movie industry took a clue from this a few years later and now movie ratings are accompanied by descriptions of why the movie has received its certain rating.
1994
The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) was formed an they actually created the ESRB. The IDSA is an association of American companies mostly related to the video games industry. This association does all kinds of things form holding the annual trade show, E3, to doing studies and keeping track of statistics regarding to sales, etc. They provide a unified voice towards the government to deal with policies affecting the industry, such as those related to piracy or free speech.
1994
Rareware develops Donkey Kong Country using new ACM rendered graphics. Its stuns crowds at a convention and they think it is running on a 64-bit machine when it is in fact running on the 16-bit Super Nintendo. Of course, they had yet to see what machines like the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64 could do. Regardless Donkey Kong Country goes on to be the best-selling game of the year.
1994
The Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation are released in Japan. Critics point to the PlayStation as the most technically superior console yet.
1995
The Sega Saturn is released in the US, but only achieves low sales. Not many games are developed for it, though there were some good ones.
1995
The PlayStation is released in the US. It is cheaper than expected and sells very well, with games praised by both critics and consumers. It's most popular time is still ahead of it though.
1995
Nintendo releases the Virtual Boy, which was a basically a flop before it started. It was a 3D system in which you looked into the system an a 3D image was produced because each eye saw two slightly different images. Think of a virtual reality headset that you've seen on TV or something. That part at least looked pretty cool, but there were several problems with it. It was marketed as portable, but it was in fact quite bulky. It could not be strapped to or carried on your head. You had to sit down at a table and put it on a stand to use it. Also, the graphics were rendered with a monochrome red color. I suppose it could have been any color, but Nintendo thought that red would make it cool. Not cool. It would have been cool if the graphics were in full color. Lastly, and probably the biggest reason it was a flop, was that it costed $200. It just wasn't worth that much. It was a novelty at best.
1995
The first ever Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is held in the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is an annual event and is now the biggest video game trade show in the world. Just like trade shows for all other kinds of industries, game-related companies come to show off their upcoming products to the Press to create hype. It is open only to industry professionals. Still it's like one big video game playground. It's fun. I know, I've been there. The video game industry is starting to become recognized as a legitimate business and form of media. Since about 1985, the value of the video game industry has been growing and growing.
1995
Eidos releases Tomb Raider. Most people probably bought it because the box features the now famous big-breasted Lara Croft. This about when gaming companies really started to use sex to market their games, especially by using sexy females as the main characters in their games.
1995
High off of the popularity of the SNES, Nintendo shows off its anxiously anticipated Nintendo 64. They demoed Super Mario 64 which was unlike anything anybody had ever seen. It is still widely regarded as the most innovative game ever, and Nintendo had created quite a bit of hype for their new machine.
1995
The Nintendo 64 is released in Japan. It gets off to a very successful start, breaking sales records. However sales slow down quickly because there are not enough games released often enough. New releases were very few and far between for a few months. The Nintendo 64 introduces the analog joystick, which can sense hundreds of different degrees of positioning, and the Rumble Pak, which shakes the controller in relation to what's happening in the game. Sony, Sega, and Microsoft all incorporate these same features later. 
1995
Nintendo buys part of Rareware, which becomes one of their most important assets, especially during the Nintendo 64's life.
1996
Sony drops the price of the PlayStation to $199. Now the PlayStation really started to become popular. Game developers began to take more notice especially since it was cheaper and easier to develop games for the PlayStation.
1996
Sega also drops the price of the Saturn, but it just doesn't become popular at all. Sega's arcade business continues to perform strongly however.
1996
Nintendo announces its one billionth game sold.
1996
Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 which initially meets with high demand. Though the PlayStation is gaining steam, Nintendo is still riding off of the popularity of the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. It sells 1.7 million system in the first three months. Super Mario 64 becomes a very popular game.
1996
Squaresoft, developer of the popular Final Fantasy series, announces that they have cancelled work on their Final Fantasy game for the Nintendo 64 and plan to make games exclusively for the PlayStation. They give the good reasons that it is cheaper and easier to develop games on the PlayStation, and because it uses CDs, their games can include elaborate movies to drive the story. This movies take too much memory to fit on a Nintendo 64 cartridge.
1996
Nintendo stops all development on any Virtual Boy products, declaring it a failure (like we didn't know). It blames the failure on its designer, Gumpei Yokoi, which puts quite a bit of shame on him. This is sad because this is the same man that created the Game Boy, the D-pad (+ directional controller) and many other successful things for Nintendo. Regardless, he resigns from Nintendo (those big jerks!).
1996
Naughty Dog develops Crash Bandicoot for the PlayStation which becomes very popular and becomes the un-official mascot for Sony.
1996
The ESRB pressures Capcom into editing the bloody intro to its survival-horror game, Resident Evil. 
1997
Both Sony and Nintendo are enjoying good sales. Sony, in particular, is becoming more and more popular, with major games being released for the PlayStation.
1997
Rumors fly around that Sony is making a new gaming machine. People make dead-on predictions that it will be backwards compatible and also function as a DVD player (you have to remember how expensive and fancy DVD players were at this time). While confirming nothing, Sony officials say that a PlayStation 2 probably would not be available until 1998.
1997
Price wars goes on and when it's over, the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn have all dropped to $150.
1997
Capcom finally makes a Street Fighter III arcade game. After around a dozen different versions and upgrades of Street Fighter II games, people aren't that interested. The first SF II game was made in 1991.
1997
Bandai had already released its Tamagotchi in Japan last year, and it became a national obsession. When it was released in the US, it met with the same open arms. Tamagotchis are little virtual pets that you carry around on a key chain. You interact with it via a small LCD screen and a few buttons. Other companies were quick to cash in with their own versions.
1997
Squaresoft releases Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation in Japan and it sells 2 million copies in two days. This is the first Final Fantasy game on PlayStation, the previous games were all on Nintendo systems.
1997
Rareware and Nintendo release GoldenEye 007 exclusively for the Nintendo 64. Gamers thought that first-person shooter games only worked well on the PC and would not adapt well to consoles. GoldenEye proves them wrong and becomes the best selling game this year.
1998
Sega acknowledges that it has been working on a new console, the Dreamcast. It is also having some financial troubles.
1998
Sony lets a little bit of information slip out about the PlayStation 2, saying that it will probably have DVD capability and should be available sometime in 2000.
1998
Nintendo releases one of its most anticipated games for the Nintendo 64, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Released on November 23rd, it sells 2.5 million copies by the end of the year. It grossed over $150 million in sales. highest-grossing movie during the same period is Disney's A Bug's Life, which takes in $114 million. It earns critical acclaim from everywhere even earning perfect 10's from a few places.
1998
Realizing the success of Pokemon in Japan, the all too familiar franchise is brought over to the US, and it gets the same success. It takes over this place for a couple years. It practically gave Nintendo an orchard of money trees. The first two Pokemon games became the fastest selling Nintendo games ever. Who would have thought such a weird Japanese concept would become so popular in the US?
1998
After 9 years, the Game Boy was virtually unchanged. Now, Nintendo released the Game Boy Color, which was capable of displaying 56 colors at once from a palette of 32,000. It also had better sound capabilities, but in reality, Game Boy games were still much the same. Sure they were in color, but the complexity of the graphics and the types of games were still the same.
1999
Nintendo announces that it is working with IBM to develop its next console, planned for release before the holidays of 2000. That was a bit too optimistic.
1999
It was around this time that Nintendo real started to lose mainstream popularity as the PlayStation gained it. The main problems were that too few games were being released for the Nintendo 64 from 3rd party developers. They liked developing for the PlayStation because it was cheaper and easier. Developing on the Nintendo 64 was difficult and more expensive. On top of this, the best selling Nintendo 64 games were suitable for all ages, and most of the teen-oriented games on the Nintendo 64 just weren't very good. PlayStation had the good teen-oriented games. As a result, Nintendo got a "kiddy" image which really hurt its popularity.
1999
Sega releases the Dreamcast which meets initial success and critical praise. IT is the first console to be designed for an online network and Sega successfully launches the online network. Although it maintains critical praise and praise among fans, it cannot keep up sales. Sega is also in the midst of financial problems.
1999
Microsoft announces that it's working on a game console code named "X-box" (looks like they never thought of a better name). About half of the people met this with excitement, and the other half met with skepticism and pessimism. Many people felt that MS didn't know what it was doing and was just being greedy. This changed by the time 2001 rolled around, though.
1999
Billy Mitchell achieves the highest possible score for Pac-Man when he completes every level and ends up with a score of 3,333,360. He's a winner and a loser at the same time!
1999
Sony releases specs for the PlayStation 2, coupled with the popularity of the PlayStation, the then-impressive specs start to create what is to become hype for the most anticipated, hyped game system yet.
2000
The PlayStation 2 releases in Japan to huge demand. Sony did not provide enough consoles to even everyone who pre-ordered them.
2000
The PlayStation 2 is released in the US with an even higher demand, especially since Sony only delivers half of the units it initially promised. There was a huge frenzy and lots of frustration over the shortage. Still, it was great publicity for Sony, even though they wouldn't have a comfortable flow of PS2s coming in until the next year.
2000
The PS2 is met with some initial criticism from the uh, critics, because much of the initial software is not very compelling or new. Also, many of the PS2s in both the US and Japan have various defects. It takes a little less than a year for Sony to get on its feet, but after then, the PS2 really takes off. It goes on to sell over 40 million consoles world-wide. No other console comes close, unless you count the Game Boy which is not really in the same market.
2000
Microsoft officially announces the Xbox and releases some impressive specs. They also stress that while the machine will be impressive, they will work hard at getting good games exclusively on the Xbox. People are amazed by the impressive specs, some skeptics are turning around if Microsoft keeps its word about the games.
2000
Nintendo reveals the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance to the Press. No new games are really shown with them yet, just technology demos. People are initially amazed by what both can do. The Game Boy Advance is more powerful than the Super Nintendo at a tiny fraction of the weight and size.
2000
Sega releases the epic game, Shenmue, for the Dreamcast. It receives wide critical praise. With a development budget of over $60 million, it is the most expensive video game development to date.
2000
Despite this, Sega has been suffering heavy losses. Rumors fly that they will become a 3rd part developer, making games for all consoles.
2001
Microsoft releases everything there is to know about the Xbox, because it's coming out later this year. As people see the list of games and developers signed on, many skeptics begin to believe that Microsoft is serious about entering gaming, and will actually put some effort into it.
2001
Rumors fly wildly that Sega is going to stop making consoles and start making games for all other consoles because they have been losing too much money in the hardware business. Behind the scenes, Sega is now negotiating with companies like Nintendo and Sony (and Microsoft a little later) to do just that, but everything is denied publicly.
1/31/2001
Sega finally drops the bomb that everyone knew was coming. After over 15 years of making gaming systems, they will stop making gaming consoles and make games for all other platforms in order to save their business. They will continue to make arcade machines.
2001
In March, the PlayStation 2 had sold a total of 10 million units world-wide. 
2001
Families of victims from the Columbine shootings in 1999 attempt to sue 25 video game companies for $5 billion. Companies accused in the lawsuit included Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and iD Software. They didn't win because they had a weak case. They more or less randomly picked large, famous game companies to blame. They did not present direct relations between the shooters and the products each of those companies sold.
2001
The results of an Interactive Digital Software Association survey reveal that the average family spends 10 to 11 hours per week playing console or computer games, with 34 percent of respondents calling games "the most fun entertainment activity," as compared with 16 percent for television.
6/11/2001
The Game Boy Advance launches in the US. It enjoys huge success here and all over the world. It officially features a battery life of 15-20 hours, you can often get 30 hours. It has the power to play games that previously needed the hardware of something like a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo. It is also backwards-compatible with virtually all Game Boy games. Even though it was not designed to play 3D games, developers have already succeeded in creating several 3D games for the Game Boy Advance.
11/5/2001
The Microsoft Xbox is launched in the US. Great software is initially available and it sells very well in the US. It plays DVDs, has a built-in modem and a hard drive. These features will be used by later games.
11/18/2001
The Nintendo GameCube launches with less fanfare than the Xbox. For the first time, there is no Mario game available at the launch of a Nintendo system. Still the console manages to keep neck-and-neck sales with the Xbox. It enjoys very successful sales in Japan and Europe.
2001
Neither the Xbox or the GameCube can come close to the PlayStation 2's sales. Still in the US, many people can afford to have more than one gaming console.
2002
The Xbox launches in Japan and Europe. It is poorly received and does not even have a 1% market share in Japan. IT sales are extremely poor in Europe as well. A dislike ( or maybe un-interested-ness, dislike is too strong) for Microsoft and the popularity of the PlayStation 2 are cited as the main reasons. Many people don't understand why they would want an Xbox when they could just get a PS2. This is especially true in Japan in which most Xbox games do not appeal to their taste. In Europe and Japan, the Xbox is seen in direct competition with the PS2.
2002
The GameCube launches in Europe. It is very successful in both Europe and Japan. Of course, it cannot come near the sales of the PS2, and probably never will.
2002
Xbox Live!, the Xbox's online gaming service launches. We'll just have to wait and see how well it sells. Sony has just gotten off of the ground with its online service, but it’s not as organized as Microsoft, and Nintendo will have a single online game this year with more planned for the next year. Many are watching Xbox Live! closely to see how many people subscribe. People aren't yet sure if enough people are willing to pay for online gaming in addition to their ISP fees.
2002
The video game industry is bigger than it has ever been. It has constantly been growing. Last year, it surpassed the movie industry in revenue with $6.35 billion in software sales. Video games are now part of American culture, and it's not just for geeks any more. 60% of Americans play video games in some capacity. About 43% of these are women. 60% of gamers are over 18, with the average age being 28. So it's not just for kids and it's not just for guys. Thankfully, the most hardcore gaming is still reserved for the geeks!