The video game industry doesn’t have many of its own holidays. Most of them are part of geek culture, some are self-proclaimed, and National Video Game Day is complete nonsense. But let’s take it briefly and in order.
A bit of important dates.
March 8 not only a well-known holiday, but also the birthday of Ralph Henry Baer. Back in 1966, he began exploring the possibilities of interactive entertainment on the TV screen. And subsequently, together with a small team, he developed and presented to the world on May 24, 1972 Magnavox Odyssey – the first home video game console in history. It went on sale in August of the same year.
Creation and its creator
AND May 24 subsequently also considered iconic and celebrated by some as World Video Game Day.
October 18 1958 saw the release of one of the earliest video games in history, Tennis for Two. Designed to entertain visitors to Brookhaven National Laboratory. She took the title of “first” for two titles:
1. First multiplayer game.
2. The first game developed solely as an entertainment product rather than a scientific study of new technologies.
This concerns us
April 30 – international board games day. Mechanics that are ubiquitous in video games.
May 4 – Star Wars day. The scale of this universe is incredible. So don’t be surprised by the presence of this date here. The day was chosen as a play on the phrase May the Force be with you (May the Force be with you) in May the fourth be with you. Force (strength) is consonant with fourth (fourth). And may (may, have the opportunity) is a homonym in itself.
Some crazy fans continue making puns and having fun on May 5th and 6th. Revenge of the Sith (revenge of the Sith) – Revenge of the Fifth (revenge of the fifth) and similarly Revenge of the Sixth (revenge of the sixth)
And on the last weekend of August, International Cosplay Day is celebrated.
The games themselves
February 27 – Pokemon Day. The first game based on the universe of pocket monsters was released in Japan in 1996.
Winter-Een-Mas is a game analogue of Christmas, which was invented by Tim Buckley, author of the comic Ctrl+Alt+Del. Many fans of the comic, and not only them, quickly picked up and supported this idea. Here’s an informative quote from Wikipedia:
Each day of this Coral-Casino-Online.co.uk week is dedicated to a specific genre of video games:
January 25th – adventure day,
January 26 is shooter day,
January 27 is fighting game day,
January 28 is strategy day,
January 29th – race day,
January 30th is Role Playing Day,
January 31 is sports simulation day.
The essence of the holiday is to stay at home and play your favorite video games.
I wish he wouldn’t fall in love. This is practically an official excuse from all matters. After all, you are not just playing, you are celebrating a great week of holidays.
November 7 – day of the Mass Effect series. The so-called N7 Day. Date selected from the Alliance military code assigned to Commander Shepard. If in the game the letter N denoted special troops.appointment, and the number 7 is the highest level of qualification of the fighter. Then from N7 we chose the date: N – November, 7 – the seventh day.
And we got to the most important thing – September 12 – National Video Game Day in the USA. Many resources support this date, some stores offer discounts. The hashtag is also present: #VideoGamesDay or #NationalVideoGamesDay. Great! Finally a generally accepted holiday. But why? Why suddenly this date? We need to find out.
Several publications have already tried to figure it out, but to no avail. Everything is so poorly supported by any sources of information that only more questions arise. It is known for sure that this holiday was celebrated no earlier than 1991, and the original date was July 8. And since 1997 it’s already September 12. But it’s all the same day.
From the newspaper clipping it follows that the day was sponsored by David Earl, president of something called Kid Video Warriors, for the annual American publication Chase’s Calendar of Events. As you might guess, we managed to find out a little less than zero about Earl and Kid Video Warriors.
But the bottom line is the simplest conclusion: September 12th is National Video Game Day because someone named David Earl wanted it.
nationaltoday.com suggests celebrating this holiday twice a year. Only on July 8, apparently, strictly alone and strictly with one game.
In addition, a small list with release dates for games whose influence on the industry is difficult to deny (and some I just love ;). We remember both the beginning of the series and the important parts in them. Since there is no specific day for games, everyone can choose the appropriate date for their favorite game and celebrate to their heart’s content.
January
11 – Resident Evil 4 (2005)
31 – Final Fantasy VII (1997)
31 – Silent Hill (1999)
February
2 – SimCity (1989)
4 – The Sims (2000)
6 – Street Fighter II (1991)
20 – Contra (1987)
21 – The Legend of Zelda (1986)
March
13 – Journey (2012)
22 – Resident Evil (1996)
24 – Bloodborne (2015)
25 – The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)
31 – StarCraft (1998)
UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense/X-COM:Enemy Unknown (1994) was released in March, but the date is not preserved.
April
Seriously. Nothing in April. There is speculation that this month is being avoided so that we can spend it without games. Some kind of conspiracy theory.
At a minimum, you can appreciate the “jokes” of the gaming industry and more on the first day of the month.
May
5 – Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
10 – King’s Quest (1984)
18 – Red Dead Redemption (2010)
19 – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
22 – Pac-Man (1980)
June
1 – Battletoads (1991)
6 – Tetris (1984)
14 – The Last of Us (2013)
17 – Deus Ex (2000)
22 – Quake (1996)
23 – Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
23 – Super Mario 64 (1996)
Space Invaders (1978) also doesn’t have an exact date, but it’s super important to remember.
July
3 – Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002)
9 – Donkey Kong (1981)
23 – Max Payne (2001)
27 – StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010)
August
6 – Metroid (1986)
6 – Braid (2008)
11 – System Shock 2 (1999)
21 – BioShock (2007)
25 – GoldenEye 007 (1997)
30 – Street Fighter (1987)
September
3 – Metal Gear Solid (1998)
10 – Battlefield 1942 (2002)
13 – Super Mario Bros (1985)
16 – Fahrenheit (2005)
22 – Dark Souls (2011)
23 – System Shock (1994)
24 – Silent Hill 2 (2001)
26 – Command & Conquer (1995)
One day in September 1991, Sid Meier’s Civilization was released, but no one says for sure, even off.website. Perhaps, again, everyone has already forgotten. So choose any day and celebrate the development of your state.
October
8 – Mortal Kombat (1992)
10 – Fallout (1997)
13 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)
18 – Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
22 – Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
25 – Tomb Raider (1996)
25 – Call of Duty 2 (2005)
26 – The Witcher (2007)
29 – Call of Duty (2003)
Grand Theft Auto I has no date. There is no need to mention the importance. You already know very well what came out of this game. Choose the release date of your favorite part of the series and celebrate.
November
5 – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
7 – Gears of War (2006)
9 – Counter-Strike (2000)
9 – Halo 2 (2004)
15 – Halo (2001)
16 – Half-Life 2 (2004)
18 – Minecraft (2011)
19 – Half-Life (1998)
20 – Mass Effect (2007)
21 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
23 – World of Warcraft (2004)
23 – Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994)
29 – Pong (1972)
December
2 – Quake III Arena (1999)
10 – Doom (1993)
18 – Final Fantasy (1987)
23 – Gran Turismo (1997)
31 – Diablo (1996)
If there is an error somewhere or you think that an important date or the most important game in the world has been missed, let me know. Thank you!
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