The week of April 12th saw a lot of legal trouble popping up! If you missed last week’s time jump, feel free to mosey on over here to take a look at some early April throwbacks. Now, let’s take a step back through time and look at some notable releases and events that happened this week throughout gaming history.
April 12th
- 2011 Dance Dance Revolution – Xbox 360 version released. (United States)
- 2007 Mortal Kombat II – Arcade version – PlayStation 3 version released. (United States)
- 2004 Serious Sam – Game Boy Advance version released. (United States)
- 1992 The jury of a Federal District Court in Los Angeles, California, finds Sega Enterprises guilty of infringing an American inventor’s patent, ordering US$33 million paid. The jury finds that the infringement was intentional, so the judge can triple the fine. The inventor’s attorney will seek an order barring the sale of video games by Sega.
- 1983 Atari announces it will start selling video game systems and cartridges in Japan. on May 10. Systems will cost about US$104, and cartridges will range US$18-29.
April 13th
- 2017 Stardew Valley – Tencent Games Platform release – Windows version released. (Worldwide)
- 2010 Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction – Xbox 360 version released. (United States)
- 1998 Atari Interactive, Inc. – Hasbro Interactive Launches Tonka ™ Garage, a title that lets kids design, build and customize their fleet of Tonka vehicles.
- 1992 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – SNES version released. (US)
- 1983 Atari signs a long-term agreement with Williams Electronics, giving Atari first refusal rights to Williams’ coin-operated games for home video games and computer games.
April 14th
- 2014 Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn – PlayStation 4 version released. (US, Japan)
- 2009 Blizzard Entertainment Europe – company name changed to Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. and all of Blizzard’s European publishing and distribution are moved from the US to this location
- 2006 Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock – Windows version released. (France)
- 2003 Golden Sun: The Lost Age – Game Boy Advance version released. (United States)
- 1992 US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker makes a ruling in the Apple Computer versus Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard lawsuit, stating that most of the elements in Apple Computer’s suit were covered by Apple Computer’s agreement with Microsoft, or were not copyrightable.
April 15th
- 2008 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – N64 version – Wii version released. (Japan)
- 2004 Starsky & Hutch – PlayStation 2 version released. (South Korea)
- 2003 Atlantis Underwater Tycoon – Windows version released. (United States)
- 1997 Disney Interactive lays off about 20 percent of its workforce, ending in-house production of video games.
- 1977 The First Annual West Coast Computer Faire is held, in San Francisco’s Brooks Civic Auditorium, over three days. 12,750 attended the weekend event.
April 16th
- 2015 The 7th Guest: Remastered – initial Google Play release – Android version released. (Worldwide)
- 2013 RPG Maker 3 – PlayStation 2 version (download release) – PlayStation 3 version released. (United States)
- 2002 Spider-Man – Windows version released. (United States)
- 1998 X-Men vs. Street Fighter – Game only (4MB RAM Cart not included) – SEGA Saturn version released. (Japan)
- 1990 Nintendo files four copyright infringement suits in the US and Canada against retailers and distributors accused of selling counterfeit video game cartridges.
Sources: Ken Polsson, and MobyGames.
