The History of Video Games

Atari

Nov 29, 1972

Atari releases its first arcade game, Allan Alcorn's Pong.

First Car Racing Video Game

Jul 24, 1974

Atari releases Gran Trak 10, the first car racing video game, to video arcades.

Pizza Time Theater (Later known as Chuck E. Cheese's)

Jan 1, 1977

Atari opens the first Pizza Time Theater. Pizza Time Theater is a combination video arcade/pizzeria conceived by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. In June, Bushnell purchases the rights to Pizza Time Theater back from Atari for $500,000.

Space Invaders in Japan

Jun 1, 1978

Taito realeases Space Invaders in Japan. Space invaders marked the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games.

Space Invaders in North America

Oct 1, 1978

Midway gives Space Invaders a wide release in North America.

Pac-Man (Puckman in Japan)

May 22, 1980

Namco relesases Pac-Man. It becomes the highest-grossing game of all time.It has the fist gaming mascot character, which established the maze chase genre and opened gaming to the female audiences.

Fight!

Jul 1, 1984

Data East releases Technōs Japan's Karate Champ, laying the foundations for the one-one-one fighting game genre.

Nintendo realeses Zelda 2

Jan 14, 1987

Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.

Mario on Handheld

Apr 21, 1989

Nintendo of America releases Super Mario Land on the Game Boy, introducing Princess Daisy to the Mario series.

Gameboys Realesed in North America

Jul 31, 1989

Nintendo releases the Game Boy handheld console, the first popular handheld with cartridges.

Nintendo Sues

Jun 20, 1990

Nintendo v. Color Dreams lawsuit: Nintendo sues Color Dreams over unlicensed production of Nintendo video games.( On the website it only gave the year)

Turbo Express

Dec 1, 1990

NEC releases the TurboExpress handheld console.

Super Nintendo

Aug 23, 1992

North America is introduced to the Super Nintendo gaming console.

Year of the Cartridge

Jan 1, 1994

Nintendo had appointed this year "1994" as The Year of The Cartridge.

Playstation

Sep 9, 1995

The playstation was released to North America and competed the NIntendo.

Nintendo 64

Sep 29, 1996

Nintendo's Nintendo 64 was released in North America.

Game Boy Color

Nov 18, 1998

Came to North America during this time.

Project Dolphin

May 1, 1999

Nintendo has started working on what will eventually be the GameCube, under the codename "Project Dolphin"

Playstation 2

Mar 4, 2000

Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) launches in Japan with 10 launch titles.

XBOX

Nov 15, 2001

Xbox was realeased in North America.

GameCube

Nov 18, 2001

Gamecube was released in North America.

The DS

Nov 21, 2004

Nintendo launches its DS handheld in the United States.

WiiWare

Jun 27, 2007

Nintendo announces WiiWare, a service similar to Xbox Live Arcade, that will allow developers to release original downloadable games for the Wii. Previously the only downloadable games available on the Wii have been limited to its Virtual Console program.

First Pax East Coast

Mar 26, 2010

First PAX East Coast at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, MA

Nintendo 3DS

Feb 26, 2011

Nintendo's newest handheld is released.

PAX East

Mar 22, 2013

PAX East 2013 held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Disneys new division

Jun 29, 2015

Disney Infinity publisher Disney Interactive was merged with Disney Consumer Products, the developer of Playmation to form a new division called "Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media