2002 in video gaming

The year 2002 in video gaming saw the release of many games to sixth-generation video game consoles, predominately, the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.

Events

• Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Will Wright of Maxis to the AIAS Hall of Fame
• BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) holds 5th annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia technologies; 10 of 21 awards go to video games; awards Ian Livingstone the BAFTA Interactive Special Award
• Big Fish Games is founded with Paul Thelen as the only employee.
• 8th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 5th annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³
• Eidos Interactive selects Dutch model Jill De Jong as the new digitized Lara Croft character
• G4 Media, LLC (subsidiary of Comcast Corporation) launches the G4 cable television video game network channel
• Gama Network hosts the 4th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
• Game Developers Conference hosts the 2nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards
• SEGA establishes the Sega Mobile division to develop, produce, and distribute video games for mobile phones and PDAs; establishes the Sega.com Business Solutions division to service video game developers and publishers
• Rockstar Games embroiled in controversy for its Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video games
• March 22 – The Sims overtakes Myst as all-time best-selling computer game, having sold 6.3 million units [1]
• July – IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 3rd annual Executive Summit.
• December 5 – Ryan C. Gordon of the former Loki Software releases his first free-lance game port beta, Serious Sam: The First Encounter for Linux. He would later become well known to Linux and Mac gamers for his ports, such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and even the Google Earth application.

Notable releases

• January - Toy Racer (Dreamcast) (PAL)
• January 9 - Freedom Force (PC)
• February 1 - Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC)
• February 22 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
• February 25 - Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (GBA)
• March 4 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GBA, Xbox, N64)
• March 18 - Fighter's Destiny (North America) (N64)
• March 26 - Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)*March 31 - Dungeon Siege (PC)
• April 12 - Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles (Dreamcast) PAL & Europe
• April 23 - Killer Instinct Gold (North America) ( N64)
• April 30 - Resident Evil Remake (GC, PSX, PC)
• May 2 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
• May 3 - Sonic Adventure 2 (GC)
• May 16 - Final Fantasy XI (Japan) (PS2)
• May 20 - Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (PC)
• May 20 - Grand Theft Auto III (PC)
• May 30 - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (GBA)
• June 1 - The House of the Dead III (Arcade)
• June 6 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox)
• June 16 - Neverwinter Nights (PC)
• July 3 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC)
• August 19 - Medieval: Total War (PC)
• August 25 - Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC)
• August 26 - Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
• August 27 - SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs (PS2)
• August 28 - Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (PC)
• September 10 - Battlefield 1942 (PC)
• September 15 - Animal Crossing (GC)
• September 17 - Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
• September 23 - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS2)
• September 23 - Tekken 4 (PS2)
• September 30 - No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way (PC)
• October 2 - Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (GC) (Xbox) (PS2) (PC)
• October 9 - TimeSplitters 2 (PS2)
• October 21 - Mario Party 4 (GC)
• October 22 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox)
• October 27 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2)
• October 28 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PS2, Xbox, GC)
• October 31 - WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth (PS2)
• November 1 - Age of Mythology (PC)
• November 4 - Ratchet & Clank (PS2)
• November 6 - The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal (PC)
• November 7 - Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2, GC)
• November 10 - Resident Evil 0 (GC)
• November 11 - MechAssault (Xbox)
• November 15 - Metroid Prime (GC)
• November 18 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (GC)
• November 18 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (Xbox)
• November 20 - Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA)
• November 27 - Reign of Fire (GC, GBA, PS2, Xbox
• November 28 - Dark Chronicle (PS2)
• December 13 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Japan) (GC)

Trends

The market research company NPD estimated that video game hardware, software, and accessories sold about US$10.3 billion in 2002. This was a 10% increase over the 2001 figure.

Video game consoles

The dominant video game consoles in 2002 were:

• Nintendo's GameCube
• Microsoft's Xbox
• Sony's PlayStation 2

Handheld game systems

The dominant handheld system in 2002 was Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Video game sales

The top 10 selling console video games in 2002 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were: