2000 in video gaming
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Events[edit | edit source]
- May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3); the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³
- June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association
- July - IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 1st annual Executive Summit
- Reuters reports that the PlayStation 2 console will export controls by Trade Ministry of Japan since the PS2 is sophisticated enough for military application
- NPD Group, Inc. reports that Electronic Arts ranks 1st in third-party video game publishing in the USA, ahead of Infogrames Entertainment SA
- Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards inducts Hironobu Sakaguchi of Square Enix to the AIAS Hall of Fame
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) hosts the 3rd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia technologies; 7 of 20 awards go to video games; awards David Bowie in part for his contributions to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul (for PC)
- Gama Network hosts the 2nd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
- Nintendo sells its 100,000,000th Game Boy handheld console
- Sega.com launches SegaNet, their online console gaming network
- 1st annual Dreamcast Championships (featuring the Sonic Adventure video game)
Hardware[edit | edit source]
- Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld in Japan
- Sega's Naomi 2 arcade console
- Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) home console
- Toymax's Activision TV Games controller/console
Business[edit | edit source]
- Electronic Arts Inc. acquires DreamWorks Interactive, LLC (games division of DreamWorks SKG)
- Infogrames, Inc. acquires Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (including the Game.com division and the rights to the Atari label); Infogrames also acquires Paradigm Entertainment, Inc.
- Microsoft Corporation acquires Bungie Software Products Corp.
- Nvidia Corporation acquires 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
- Sony Corporation acquires Verant Interactive, Inc.
- Looking Glass Studios goes out of business.
- THQ Inc. acquires Volition
- Ubi Soft Entertainment, Inc. acquires Red Storm Entertainment, Inc.
- SNK goes out of business
- PopCap Games founded
- 21-6 Productions founded
- Sega Rosso renamed (formerly Sega's AM5 team)
- Smilebit founded (formerly Sega's AM6 R&D division)
- Yeti Interactive founded
- Mattel, Inc. sells Learning Co. to Gores Technology Group
- All of Sega's internal consumer research & development divisions become individual developer companies
- Midway / Williams announces to cease the Atari Games label===Lawsuits===
- Nintendo of America, Sega America, Electronic Arts, Inc v. Yahoo!, Inc.; The lawsuit is over piracy negligence and profiting from counterfeit video game products sold on Yahoo! Auctions. The lawsuit is fully dropped in 2001 in order to cooperate against piracy.
- Nintendo commits over USD$80 million to issuing gloves to over 1,000,000 children after numerous reports of serious hand injuries from the controllers while playing certain stages of Mario Party (for N64).
Notable releases[edit | edit source]
North American release dates:
- January 31 - The Sims (PC)
- February 3 - Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Japan) (DC)
- February 10 - Vagrant Story (Japan) (PS1)
- February 29 - Resident Evil Code: Veronica (DC)
- March 21 - Thief II: The Metal Age
- March 24 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed
- March 27 - Soldier of Fortune (PC)
- April 24 - EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (PC)
- May 22 - Perfect Dark (N64)
- June 1 - Evolva (PC)
- June 11 - Legend of Dragoon (PS1)
- June 13 - Shogun: Total War (PC)
- June 25 - Deus Ex (PC)
- June 29 - Diablo II (PC)
- June 29 - Icewind Dale (PC)
- June 30 - Homeworld: Cataclysm (PC)
- July 7 - Final Fantasy IX (Japan) (PS1)
- August 2 - Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² (PC)
- August 16 - Chrono Cross (PS1)
- August 24 - Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (PC)
- August 26 - Dragon Quest VII (Japan) (PS1)
- August 27 - The Sims: Livin' Large (PC)
- September 14 - Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (PC)
- September 19 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)
- September 24 - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (PC)
- September 30 - RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes (PC)
- October 6 - American McGee's Alice (PC)
- October 15 - Pokémon Gold and Silver (Game Boy Color)
- October 21 - Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (PC)
- October 25 - Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2)
- October 25 - Midnight Club: Street Racing (PS2)
- October 26 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
- October 26 - Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2)
- November 8 - Counter-Strike (PC retail version)
- November 8 - Escape from Monkey Island (PC)
- November 9 - The Operative: No One Lives Forever (PC)
- November 13 - Kessen (PS2)
- November 13 - Skies of Arcadia (DC)
- November 14 - Final Fantasy IX (North America) (PS1)
- November 16 - Sacrifice (PC)
- November 16 - The Longest Journey (North America) (PC)
- November 20 - Banjo Tooie (N64)
- November 23 - MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (PC)
- December 4 - EverQuest: The Scars of Velious (PC)
- December 6 - Grandia II (DC)
- December 7 - Giants: Citizen Kabuto (PC)
- December 15 - Project I.G.I.: I'm Going In (PC)
