1993 in video gaming

Events

• March – In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY (SP) starts. The original name is Super Power.
• Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993.
• Nintendo and Silicon Graphics collaborate and begin work on "Project Reality". The project is officially announced to the public in October of this year.^[1]
• The first use of motion control photography in video games, used by Stormfront Studios in Eagle Eye Mysteries, produced by Scott Orr and published by Electronic Arts.

Notable releases

• Namco releases Ridge Racer.
• Bullfrog releases Syndicate.
• Mortal Kombat II is released to arcades.
• February – LucasArts releases X-Wing for the PC.
• 21 February – Nintendo releases the game Star Fox for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the first game to use the Super FX Chip.
• 26 March – Nintendo releases Kirby's Adventure, the second Kirby game and the only one for the NES.
• June – Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle is released by Lucasarts as a sequel to Maniac Mansion and is notable for being one of the acclaimed early titles by designer Tim Schafer.
• 6 June – Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy), which becomes the best-selling handheld game in the series.
• 14 July – Nintendo releases the game Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES. It features the first 3 Super Mario Bros. games together on one. Also, it's the first time the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is playable in North America.
• 6 August – Square releases Secret of Mana for the SNES, the second in a series of tabletop role-playing games (the first technically being Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy in 1991).
• 20 August – Activision releases Return to Zork.
• 23 September – Sega releases Sonic CD.
• 24 September – Broderbund releases the Myst computer game, which goes on to become one of the bestselling computer games of all time.
• 10 December – id Software releases Doom, a seminal first-person shooter that advanced 3D graphics for computer games.
• 17 December – Sierra On-Line releases Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. It is the first game in the Gabriel Knight series and features the voices of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, and Leah Remini.
• Sega releases the Virtua Fighter arcade game.
• Maxis releases SimCity 2000, sequel to the tremendously popular SimCity.
• Virgin Games publishes The 7th Guest, which becomes a best seller.

Hardware

• Atari Corp. releases the Jaguar home console, calling it the first 64-bit video game system
• Commodore Business Machines releases the Amiga CD32 multimedia home console
• GoldStar, Panasonic, and Sanyo release their versions of the 3DO, the first 32-bit home console
• Nintendo releases a smaller redesigned NES, which allows cartridges to now be inserted at the top of the console, instead of the front.
• Pioneer releases the LaserActive multimedia home console
• Sega's Mega-CD released in Europe and Australia.
• Tandy releases the Video Information System (VIS) multimedia home console

Business

• Magnavox is acquired by the Carlyle Group
• Microprose Inc. is acquired by Spectrum Holobyte
• New companies: nVidia Corporation, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Croteam Ltd.

References