This Month in Video Game History: May 17 - May 23

2002

Nintendo released the GameCube video game console in Australia.

2004

According to the Twin Galaxies video game records archive, J.C. Padilla scored 2,181,619,994,299,256,480 points playing the scrolling arcade shooter Giga Wing 2 on the Dreamcast. The score establishes a record for the highest recorded score on any game in history.

2005

Nintendo held a press conference to announce that it had sold over two billion software titles since the company first entered the video game market. At the same press conference, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Micro, the world's smallest cartridge-based game system yet. The device measured just two inches across by four inches with a thickness of seven-tenths of an inch.

1994

Sony Interactive Entertainment established Sony Computer Entertainment of America, a North American division that would market the company's games.

2002

In Greece, IBM's Junior 7 supercomputer won a chess match against Chess Grandmaster Mikhail Gurevich to in Greece with three wins and one draw out of six games.

2004

Sony announced that it had shipped over one hundred million PlayStation consoles globally.

2007

Disney's Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks are equipped with WiFi hot spots. Through the connections, park visitors playing the Disney game Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End on a Nintendo DS could download bonus content not available elsewhere.

1996

Sony Computer Entertainment reduced the price of the PlayStation console from $299 to $199 in North America.

2005

Nintendo released the educational puzzle game Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! for the Nintendo DS in Japan. The game would become an unexpected success, marking the beginning of a long-running educational game fad in Japan. Japan alone would account for over two million units in sales. (CERO: A)

1992

Sega announced a partnership with Sony Electronic Publishing to develop games titles on CD-ROM in preparation for Sega to release a CD-ROM component for its Sega Genesis in November.

2002

Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto III (GTA3) for Windows in North America. (ESRB: M)