2000 in video gaming
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| 1999 in video gaming | 2000 | 2001 in video gaming |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 in games |
Notable events of 2000 in computer and video games. See also history of computer and video games.
| Contents |
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Events
- May 11-13 - 6th annual Eł (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of Eł
- June 26 - International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association
- Reuters reports that the Sony PlayStation 2 console will export controls by Trade Ministry of Japan since the PS2 is sophisticated enough for military application
- NPD Group, Inc. reports that Electronic Arts ranks 1st in third-party video game publishing in the USA, ahead of Infogrames Entertainment SA
- Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards inducts Hironobu Sakaguchi of Square Enix to the AIAS Hall of Fame
- BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 4th annual BAFTA Interactive Awards for multimedia technologies; 7 of 20 awards go to video games; awards David Bowie in part for his contributions to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul (for PC)
- Gama Network hosts the 2nd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
- Nintendo sells its 100,000,000th Game Boy handheld console
- Sega.com launches SegaNet, their online console gaming network
- 1st annual Sega Dreamcast Championships (featuring the Sonic Adventure video game)
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Notable releases
- Maxis publishes Will Wright's The Sims, which goes on to be the best-selling PC game of its time
- Electronic Arts's Ultima Online video game has over 150,000 online users by the end of February
- Sega's ChuChu Rocket! video game released as the 1st online console game; NFL 2K1 video game, the 1st online console sports game; Phantasy Star Online video game, the 1st online console RPG
- Squaresoft's 9th installment to their flagship series, Final Fantasy IX, hit stores this year.
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Hardware
- Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld in Japan
- SEGA's Naomi 2 arcade console
- Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) home console
- Toymax's Activision TV Games controller/console
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Business
- Electronic Arts Inc. acquires DreamWorks Interactive, LLC (games division of DreamWorks SKG)
- Infogrames, Inc. acquires Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (including the Game.com division and the rights to the Atari label); Infogrames also acquires Paradigm Entertainment, Inc.
- Microsoft Corporation acquires Bungie Software Products Corp.
- nVidia Corporation acquires 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
- Sony Corporation acquires Verant Interactive, Inc.
- THQ Inc. acquires Volition
- Ubi Soft Entertainment, Inc. acquires Red Storm Entertainment, Inc.
- SNK goes out of business
- Summer - 21-6 Productions founded
- Sega Rosso renamed (formerly SEGA's AM5 team)
- Smilebit founded (formerly SEGA's AM6 R&D division)
- Yeti Interactive founded
- Mattel, Inc. sells Learning Co. to Gores Technology Group
- All of SEGA's the internal consumer research & development divisions become individual developer companies
- Midway / Williams announces to cease the Atari Games label
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Lawsuits
- Nintendo of America, Sega America, Electronic Arts, Inc v. Yahoo!, Inc.; The lawsuit is over piracy negligence and profiting from counterfeit video game products sold on Yahoo Auctions. The lawsuit is fully dropped in 2001 in order to cooperate against piracy.
- Nintendo commits over USD$80 million to issuing gloves to over 1,000,000 children after numerous reports of serious hand injuries from the controllers while playing certain stages of Mario Party (for N64)
