2000 in video gaming

Notable events of 2000 in video gaming. See also history of computer and video games.

Current CVG Events

[edit] Events

• May 11-13 — 6th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo); 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 Sony 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
• BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) 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 Sega Dreamcast Championships (featuring the Sonic Adventure video game)

[edit] Notable releases

• January 31 - The Sims (PC)
• February 29 - Dead or Alive 2 (DC)
• February 29 - Resident Evil Code: Veronica (DC)
• February 29 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (GBC, N64)
• March 31 - EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (PC)
• April 30 - Ultima Online: Renaissance (PC)
• May 15 - Vagrant Story (PS)
• May 22 - Perfect Dark (N64)
• June 1 - Evolva (PC)
• June 13 - Shogun: Total War (PC)
• June 26 - Deus Ex (PC)
• June 29 - Diablo II (PC)
• June 29 - Icewind Dale (PC)
• June 29 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (DC)
• June 30 - Homeworld: Cataclysm (PC)
• July 7 - Final Fantasy IX (Japan) (PS)
• August 16 - Chrono Cross (PS)
• August 24 - Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (PC)
• August 27 - The Sims: Livin' Large (PC)
• September 19 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS)
• September 24 - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (PC)
• September 30 - RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes (PC)
• October 15 - Pokémon Gold and Silver (Game Boy Color)
• October 21 - Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (PC)
• October 22 - Quake III Arena (DC)
• October 25 - Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2)
• October 26 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
• October 26 - Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2)
• October 31 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PC)
• November 7 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (DC)
• 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) (PS)
• November 16 - Sacrifice (PC)
• November 16 - The Longest Journey (PC)
• November 20 - Banjo Tooie (N64)
• November 23 - MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (PC)
• December 4 - EverQuest: The Scars of Velious (PC)
• December 18 - Quake III: Team Arena (PC)

[edit] Hardware

• 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

[edit] Business

• 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
• Summer — 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 the internal consumer research & development divisions become individual developer companies
• Midway / Williams announces to cease the Atari Games label

[edit] 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)