This Month in Video Game History: May 10 - May 16

Written by:  • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Updated Apr 30, 2010
• Related Guides: Nintendo | Video Game | Sony

A chronology of notable business, film, game, and media events in and related to the video game industry on this day in history.

May 10

1997

Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov reached a stalemate in the fifth of the six game chess match against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer.

May 11

1995

The first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was held in Los Angeles, California by Electronic Entertainment magazine. At the trade show, over 350 video game firms demonstrate 1,300 games. Over twenty-eight thousand people attend the event.

At the E3 show in Los Angeles, California, Nintendo pushed back the release of its upcoming game system (the Nintendo 64) to April 1996, and SNK demonstrated its upcoming NeoGeo CD video game console. However, the highlight of the trade show was Sony's unveiling of its new PlayStation video game console with a guest appearance by Michael Jackson. Sony announced a firm launch date of September 9 for the sytem, showing up Nintendo, which had repeated been forced to delay the release of its own upcoming system.

Sega Saturn
click to enlarge
Sega of America released its Saturn video game console in North America. It shipped thirty thousand units to nearly two thousand location around the nation, along with ten initial games. The company also launched a fifty million dollar marketing campaign to promote the console. Price: $349 or $399 with VirtuaFighter

Video Game Advisor magazine, which will become GameWeek magazine, was first published.

1997

Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, conceed the sixth and final game of his match against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer an hour and 19 moves into the game. With the concession, Deep Blue won the match, marking the first time that a computer had beat a grand master in a multigame chess match. It was a major milestone in the history of artificial intelligence.

2000

Sega announced that it would reduce the price of its Dreamcast console by fiftey dollars to US$149 and that it would bundle a free SegaNet subscription into future sales of the console.

2004

Nintendo introduced the Nintendo DS handheld game system. The system featured dual backlit 3-inch LCD screens, both a compact card and cartridge slot, a D-pad controller, Wi-Fi connectivity, a stylus, and jacks for headphones and a microphone. At the unveiling, Nintendo also announced that it’s working on a new console code-named “Revolution” (the Wii.)

Sony introduced the Sony PlayStation Portable handheld game system or "PSP". The system featured a 4.3-inch diagonal 16:9 wide screen, a D-pad controller and an analog joystick, a 1.8 GB Universal Media Disc drive, both a Memory Stick Pro Duo and a USB 2.0 slot, Wi-Fi connectivity, stereo speakers, and jacks for headphones and a microphone.

Sony reduced the price of its PlayStation 2 console from $179 to $149 in the U.S.

May 12

1999

Nintendo announced the development of a new video game console, which would later be revealed as the GameCube, under the code-name “Dolphin”. The system would feature a 400MHz copper chip technology called Gekko, based on the PowerPC processor. 2005 Microsoft unveiled its Xbox 360 video game console on an MTV special hosted by Elijah Wood. Sony released the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

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