2002 in video gaming
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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 Awards for multimedia technologies; 10 of 21 awards go to video games; awards Ian Livingstone the BAFTA Interactive Special Award
- 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]
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Notable releases
- January — The first commercial operating system is released for a video game console. Linux for PlayStation 2 marks an attempt to take consoles to the personal computer segment.
- February 13 — Maximo, a Ghouls 'n Ghosts sequel finally released after years of being in development.
- March 31 — Microsoft and Gas Powered Games releases Dungeon Siege, a real-time RPG by Chris Taylor.
- May 3 — The Nintendo GameCube is released in Europe.
- May 17 — The Nintendo GameCube is released in Australia.
- June — Atari releases Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku , the first Dragon Ball Z game released in North America, which quickly becomes one of the best-selling Gameboy Advance games of all time.
- July 3 — Blizzard Entertainment releases Warcraft III (Windows), which adds RPG elements to its RTS gameplay.
- July 19 — Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo's first and only Mario game for Nintendo GameCube.
- September 17 — Animal Crossing is released by Nintendo and considered revolutionary.
- October 27 — Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2), which would become 2002's best-selling game of the year in the United States according to NPD Funworld.
- November — Splinter Cell and Metroid Prime are released.
- December — The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is released for Nintendo GameCube and is semi-controversial in that the game was designed using cel-shaded animation.
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Business
- February 19 — Sierra Entertainment, Inc. renamed from Sierra On-Line
- May 10 — Tiwak renamed from Yeti Interactive
- November 15 — Xbox Live, the largest online network for video game consoles just start works.
- November 26 — Squaresoft and Enix announces a fusion. The new name is Square Enix.
- Activision acquires Luxoflux Corporation, Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Shaba Games LLC, and Z-Axis Ltd.
- Empire Interactive PLC acquires eJay AG (renamed eJay Entertainment GmbH)
- Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Eden Studios and Shiny Entertainment
- Microsoft acquires Rare Ltd.
- PCCW: Jaleco USA merges with its VR1 Entertainment (renamed Jaleco Entertainment) division
- Sony Corporation acquires Aiwa Corporation
- Vivendi Universal acquires Massive Entertainment
- Bankrupt/Defunct: Encore Software, Inc. (assets acquired by Navarre Corporation)
- .400 Software Studios founded
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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.
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Video game consoles
The dominant video game consoles in 2002 were:
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Handheld game systems
The dominant handheld system in 2002 was Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.
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Video game sales
Image:Vcbox.jpg The top 10 selling console video games in 2002 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were:
| Rank | Title | Platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | PS2 | Rockstar Games |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto III | PS2 | Rockstar Games |
| 3 | Madden NFL 2003 | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 4 | Super Mario Advance 2 | GBA | Nintendo |
| 5 | Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec | PS2 | Sony |
| 6 | Medal of Honor: Frontline | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 7 | Spider-Man: The Movie | PS2 | Activision |
| 8 | Kingdom Hearts | PS2 | Squaresoft |
| 9 | Halo: Combat Evolved | Xbox | Microsoft |
| 10 | Super Mario Sunshine | GameCube | Nintendo |