This week we celebrate gaming all around the world with the release of the ZX Spectrum and Mother 3.

April 17

1973: Ralph Baer, the mastermind behind the Magnavox Odyssey, files a patent for a television gaming and training apparatus.
This is one of the many stepping stones to a full-fledged home console.

2002: Dance Dance Revolution: Max 2 releases in arcades.

April 19

2005: Electronic Arts announces The Sims 2 for home consoles.

April 20

1976: Tetsuo Fukuda founds Data East. The company originally made interchangeable arcade tapes, but swiftly moved to game development in the mid-'80s. Data East declared bankruptcy in 2003 and shut down soon after. You may know them best for Burger Time and Bad Dudes.

1999: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attack Columbine High School. Before this, they recorded videos explaining their reasons behind it and mentioned the name of their sawed-off shotgun, "Arlene," among other direct references to Doom. These videos paved the way for people like Jack Thompson filing massive lawsuits against the game industry on the grounds that violent video games made atrocities like Columbine a reality.

2006: Nintendo releases Mother 3 in Japan. EarthBound fans the world over continuously plead with Nintendo to release it in Western markets.

April 21

1989: The Game Boy hits the shelves in Japan.

2006: The ever-controversial RapeLay goes on sale in Japan.

April 23

1982: British gamers delight in the release of the ZX Spectrum. It was a tiny, but highly customizable, computer and the first gaming platform for many people in the U.K.