This week is jam-packed with significant console and game launches. The fall/winter onslaught is on, and now you can trace its effect back through the '90s. 

November 7

1927: Hiroshi Yamauchi is born. From 1949 to 2002 he worked for Nintendo, and during that time transitioned it from a small card-manufacturing company to the video-game giant it is today. He is also the 149th richest man in the world. Satoru Iwata took over as Nintendo's president when Yamauchi stepped down.

2007: A female Tecmo employee files sexual harassment charges against Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive designer Tomonobu Itagaki. He was eventually found innocent, but it's surprising that his volley ball games haven't landed him in similarly hot water. 

November 8

2005: The world gets plastic instrument fever when Guitar Hero hits the shelves. 

November 9

2004: Halo 2 is released. I will forever remember this date as the day two of my friends decided it was a good idea to paint themselves green. Apparently stuffy high-school principals don't take kindly to video-game celebrations....

2006: Gears of War is released. You won't believe how many of the special editions were traded back in a month later.

November 10

1988: A Bitmob staffer was born during an eerily persistent thunderstorm on this date. Guess who that was?

1994: Somberly, I will always remember that William Higinbotham, inventor of Tennis for Two, died on my birthday.

November 11

1995: Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is released. Despite the silly name, it's actually pretty awesome. Of course it hardly stands up against more modern real-time strategy games. 

1999: The first Medal of Honor is released. 

2006: Sony launches the PlayStation 3. They also only send about three of them to every store across the country and are surprised to hear that people are getting mugged/stabbed/shot over them in parking lots. 

November 12

1986: The Power Pad for the Nintendo Entertainment System is released in Japan.

November 13

1997: Deer Hunter is released and unleashes a terrible hunting-game plague on the world.

2001: Metal Gear Solid 2 is released. Later on, X-Play co-host Morgan Webb gives us all the phrase "Welcome to my naked, cartwheeling world" in reference to the segment of MGS2 where Raiden is left to escape in the nude.