1999 IN VIDEO GAMING

Contents

Events

Notable releases

Hardware

Business

Lawsuits

Awards

Events

★ BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) hosts the 2nd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards

★ March – Game Over republished as “Game Over: Press Start to Continue”

★ March 15-19 — Game Developers Conference (formerly Computer Game Developers Conference); moves to San Jose, California where it stays for six consecutive years; hosts the 1st annual Independent Games Festival

★ March 15 — Gama Network hosts the 1st annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) at GDC

★ May 13-15 — 5th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 2nd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³

★ May 13 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (at E3); inducts Sid Meier of Firaxis to the AIAS Hall of Fame

★ July 3 — Gamer Billy Mitchell scores a perfect 3,333,360 points on the ''Pac-Man'' arcade game

★ Team Fortress 2 is announced for release during the year, but gets delayed until 2007.

★ July 21 during the Macworld Conference & Expo, Steve Jobs announced that would be released for Mac OS and Windows simultaneously. Before this public announcement, game industry journalists under a non-disclosure agreement had previewed the game in a private showing during E3 1999.

Notable releases

★ January 31 - ''Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'' (PC)

★ February 8 - ''Mario Party'' (N64)

★ February 28 - '' (PC)

★ March 16 - ''EverQuest'' (PC)

★ March 31 - ''RollerCoaster Tycoon'' (PC)

★ April 27 - ''Super Smash Bros.'' (N64)

★ April 30 - '' (PC)

★ April 30 - '' (N64, PC)

★ May 11 - ''Homeworld'' (PC)

★ June 1 - ''Heroes of Might and Magic III'' (PC)

★ June 14 - ''Descent 3'' (PC)

★ June 18 - ''Counter-Strike'' (original PC MOD)

★ June 30 - '' (PC)

★ July 31 - ''Outcast'' (PC)

★ August 11 - ''System Shock 2'' (PC)

★ August 31 - ''Final Fantasy VIII'' - (PS)

★ August 31 - ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' (PS)

★ September 8 - ''Soul Calibur'' (DC)

★ September 9 - ''Sonic Adventure'' (DC)

★ September 30 - '' (PC)

★ October 11 - ''Jet Force Gemini'' (N64)

★ October 31 - '' (PC)

★ October 31 - '' (PC)

★ October 31 - ''Donkey Kong 64'' (N64)

★ November 9 - ''RollerCoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies'' (PC)

★ November 26 - ''Unreal Tournament'' (DC, PC, PS2)

★ November 30 - ''Descent 3: Mercenary (PC)

★ December 2 - ''Quake III Arena'' (PC)

★ December 7 - ''Star Wars: Episode I Racer'' (GBC)

★ December 12 - '' (PC)

★ December 31 - '' (PC)

Hardware

★ Nintendo's Game Boy Light (GBL) handheld console in Japan only

★ SEGA Dreamcast, an Internet-ready 128-bit home console

★ SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld

★ Tiger Electronics Game.com Pocket Pro handheld

Business

★ Activision acquires Elsinore Multimedia, Expert Software, and Neversoft Entertainment

★ Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Accolade, Gremlin Interactive (renamed Infogrames Sheffield House), GT Interactive Software (GTIS), and Ozisoft

★ Take Two Interactive acquires TalonSoft

★ Zenimax Media acquires Bethesda Softworks

★ 3d6 Games, Inc. founded (closes November 1, 2002)

★ 7 Studios founded

★ BAM! Entertainment, Inc. founded

★ Bohemia Interactive Studio founded

★ February 22 — "Black Monday" (or "Chainsaw Monday"): Sierra reorganizes to cut costs, closing several studios.

★ April — Liquid Entertainment founded

★ October — 7FX founded as subsidiary of a Czech company

Lawsuits

★ Nintendo v. Bung Enterprises Ltd.; Nintendo sues Bung over patent infringement

★ Sony Corporation v. Bleem LLC

Awards

★ Spiel des Jahres: Tikal - Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, Ravensburger