1996 In Video Gaming

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1996

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1996 In Video Gaming

EVENTS

'' converted the Mario series to 3D graphics.]]

March — The Swedish Video Game Magazine ''Super Power'', started in 1993, changes its name to Super PLAY .

May 16 - 18 — 2nd annual E³

August 8 — John Romero leaves Id Software , forming Ion Storm in Dallas, Texas in November with Tom Hall (who had left id in 1993).

August 15 — Gunpei Yokoi resigns from Nintendo and founds his own company, Koto , on September 11 .

DigiPen Institute of Technology receives accreditation, making it the first school in the world to offer college degrees in video game development.

December 19 — VGMusic.com debuts on the web, specializing in video game MIDI.

Notable releases

March — Capcom releases '' Resident Evil '' for the PlayStation in Japan and the United States . It is believed to have invented the term " Survival Horror " and it popularized the genre.

May 31 — Id releases '' Quake '', advancing 3D Graphics technology on the PC and starting a Franchise that has sold more than 4 million games.

June 23 — Nintendo releases '' Super Mario 64 '', the first 3D Mario game, in Japan as the Flagship for their new Nintendo 64 system.

September 3 — Sony releases '' Crash Bandicoot '' video game. Crash Bandicoot is used as the mascot for their PlayStation console.

September 27 — 3DO publically launches '' Meridian 59 '', widely regarded as the first MMORPG .

October 31 — '' Tomb Raider '' is released for the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn . It spawns a series of sequels as well as a series of movies.

The first Console Emulator s appear.

Hardware

Bandai 's Tamagotchi virtual pet handheld

Nintendo :

--- Nintendo 64 64-bit home console

--- Game Boy Pocket (GBP) handheld console (30% smaller version of the previous Game Boy handheld console)

SEGA 's Net Link modem for the Sega Saturn home console

SNK 's Neo Geo CDZ (Japan only)

Namco 's '' Alpine Racer '' arcade game, including a new type of user interface

Business

February — Blizzard Entertainment acquires a development group known as Condor, renaming it Blizzard North .

February 13 — Atari Corporation announces a plan to merge with JTS Corp. .

April — Eidos acquires Centregold plc, which holds Core Design (creator of the Lara Croft character) and U.S. Gold .

June — Firaxis Games is formed By Jeff Briggs with Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds .

November 13 — Tom Clancy and Virtus Corp. found Red Storm Entertainment , headed by Doug Littlejohns .

Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Ocean Software Ltd.

Midway Games , Inc. (subsidiary of WMS Industries, formerly known as Williams Electronics) acquires Atari Games Corp. from Warner Communications Inc. (AOL Time Warner in 2000)

Technos Japan Corporation , originator of the '' Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun '' series and '' Double Dragon '' series, goes out of business (assets acquired by Atlus Corporation)

Black Isle Studios forms as a division by Interplay; doesn't use Black Isle name until 1998

Game Park Inc. founded in South Korea

The company formed by Microprose and Spectrum Holobyte in 1993 starts branding using only the Microprose name.

Overworks, Ltd. formed

Zed Two Limited formed

Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Computer & Entertainment, Inc.