This Week in Video Game History marks the beginning of a couple significant eras, but on completely different ends of the spectrum. We will see the date that Nintendo made its first baby steps into the handheld market. We'll also see plenty of irony when a hotly anticipated game is announced, only to have its title become literal. We also observe a solemn occasion for news editors everywhere and an important date for obsessive compulsives.

April 25

1997 -- The Dual Analog Controller for the PlayStation debuts. The Dualshock would eventually replace it, but rumble is featured in the Japanese version of the controller using a single motor. Two analog sticks are virtually an industry standard (even Nintendo is using them), but ironically, the controller first appeared along side two fighting games. Not that fighting game enthusiasts ever wanted to use analog sticks. They have always been content with joysticks and d-pads.

April 26

1989 -- Game Freak . The studio would go on to create one of the world's most popular gaming franchises: Pokemon. Personally, I've only like Pokemon Snap. Catching them all is so inhumane.

2007 -- Ken Kutaragi, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, "retires." That's in quotes because you never know with Japanese companies. It was unfortunate to all of us who follow video game news. Who didn't love seeing a crazy-ass quote from Kutaragi appear in their RSS feed? My favorite: "The PS3 will instill discipline in our children and adults alike. Everyone will know discipline." What does that even mean?

April 27

1997 -- 3D Realms announces that Duke Nukem Forever is in development. Twelve years later it will be cancelled. That deserves a lifetime achievement award for vaporware. Wait, it got one in 2003? Good lord.

2004 -- City of Heroes launches. While today it's obvious that launching an massively multiplayer game is a fool's errand, back then those were heady times. World of Warcraft was still unreleased, and in the wake of Everquest, anything was possible. How quaint. Oh well, City of Heroes did make a name for itself and the game is still active today.

2006 -- Nintendo reveals that the official name for their next console is "Wii." We may take it for granted, but this announcement made people's heads explode. As usual, Penny Arcade expressed exactly what everyone felt quite nicely.

April 28

1965 -- Happy birthday Steve Blum. Unfamiliar? For shame. This prolific voice actor has appeared in over 150 games. Some may call him the poor man's Nolan North. (And if you don't know Nolan North, he played Uncharted's Nathan Drake and every character that has a vague resemblance to Nathan Drake). I call Nolan North the rich man's Steve Blum. So there.

1980 -- Nintendo releases its first Game & Watch. It was called Ball. While you could criticize them for being uncreative, I will remind you that Mario was originally called "Jumpman," and he did just fine for himself.

1995 -- The age of 3D gaming is upon us! Jumping Flash is released. OK, so it wasn't the first of anything. It's just an early PlayStation title, but everyone remembers it. I guess that show how slim the pickings were when the console launched.

April 29

1994 -- Commodore declares bankruptcy. You can't overstate the influence of Commodore and its computer products on video game history, but you never see people get all weird about the company. When discussing Commodore, video game historians usually express reserved respect instead of gibbering fanaticism. Perhaps consumer electronic fetishes are for home console products only.

April 30

1995 -- Full Throttle, a Tim Schafer joint, rolls out. With Psychonauts' fifth anniversary last week, and Full Throttle's fifteenth this week...what's with Tim Schafer releasing games in April? No wonder he's so underappreciated.

1997 -- Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter hits retail stores. Nothing beats a Star Wars game when it comes to deep-space dogfighting. Wait a minute.... Full Throttle and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter are both Lucasarts games. Weird. If the adventure genre is having a renaissance, how about the space combat genre?

May 1

1996 -- Happy birthday Gamespot! One of the Internet's most popular video game websites turns 14 today. Can you believe we live in a day and age where a website could be 14 years old? Boggles this old man's mind.

Question of the Week: What was your favorite Ken Kutaragi moment? Post your thoughts in the comments!