This Week in Video-Game History: January 9

This week we take a look at Atari's slow financial descent as well as what happens to a human if they drink too much water.

January 9

1989: The Sega Genesis debuts in the U.S. and encourages everyone to just go ahead and forget about the Master System.

2006: Take-Two announces their takeover of Irrational Games and that they would be publishing BioShock.

2007: Apple announces the iPhone and predicts they are going to change everything. They ushered in a new and astoundingly successful mobile-game platform.

January 10

1977: Atari settles out of court with Magnavox for the use of Odyssey patents. This set Atari back $700,000 and apparently didn't teach them how to patent things as they went to court with Coleco a few years later over the 2600 port on the front of the Colecovision.

2005: Gran Turismo 4 is released on the PlayStation 2, likely marking the last time two games in this series will appear on the same console.

January 11

2005: Resident Evil 4 is released.

2005: Tork: Prehistoric Punk launches on the Xbox. It was never released outside the U.S., and I'm trying to remember if I ever saw it on a shelf inside it.

January 12

1968: Junichi Masuda is born. Since 1989 he's worked for Game Freak as a composer and director. His most notable work is on the Pokemon franchise. He's also played a role in naming several Pokmeon.

2007: Jennifer Strange dies from water intoxication after competing in a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. Participants had to see how long they could hold it while continually drinking water. Strange won, but her victory was short-lived. Lesson of the story: Too much of a good thing can kill you. The process is called cytolysis. If you drink too much water you can cause your cells to burst because they go all crazy with absorbing it.

January 13

1984: Things continue to get rough for Atari as Warner sells them off after their profits from 1983-84 plummet a further $100 million. This action played a significant role in the mid-'80s video-game crash.

2004: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is released on the Xbox and PlayStation 2. This is one of the few dual platform releases of that generation where the Xbox version was much better.

January 14

1987: Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link is released in Japan.

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Randy Snow

January 10, 2011

Ah yes, I remember the Jennifer Strange thing. Only because it happened on my birthday.

Ed Grabowski

I look forward to this article every week. Good research. I do just want to point out that Gran Turismo has infact also appeared twice on the PS3 with Gran Turismo Prologue and Gran Turismo 5.

Jasmine Maleficent Rea

@Ed: I don't really count Prologue since it is just a paid demo. Unfortunately launched at $39, but ultimately it was a very limited demonstration of the full game.

January 11, 2011

@ Jasmine.

It wasn't just a paid demo, that's for sure. It was a full game if you ask me, otherwise I wouldn't have paid for it. It had as much content as you would expect from a game launched at that price point. Just look at what THQ is doing with their upcoming MX vs. ATV. They are launching it at a cheaper price point, most likely $40. It does not mean it is not a real entry into the series, it just means it won't have as much content as a fully priced entry.

Even IGN's review states right at the beginning that Gran Turismo Prologue is "Much more than a demo". According to IGN's review, the game contains over 70 cars, half a dozen tracks which include "alternate routes that drastically change their layout" and reverse routes. "Content-wise, this means you're getting more cars than some competing racers out there". Though they do go on to say it is obviously less tracks.

The game lets you play through four class events as well, including class C, B, A, and S. Each class has 10 races. 40 races is not shabby at all. I've never seen a demo with this much content. Not to mention a pretty rounded multiplayer experience. I don't think it is fair to call it a paid demo when companies like Capcom are charging us $5 for Dead Rising: Case 0 which is an hours worht of content, and very obviously a demo with a price tag forced on it.

WHAT THE HECK IS A BITMOB?