As announcements for new games and hardware come and go, it’s easy to lose sight of the momentous events that shaped the gaming world into what it is today. This Week in PlayStation highlights Sony’s rich videogame heritage, which dates back to the 1980’s. Step back in time with us as we put the spotlight on events big and small that have significantly altered the gaming culture.
This Week in PlayStation May 1st – May 7th
May 1st 
- 2006 – Coinciding with the release of FIFA World Cup 2006, EA announces a renewed parternship with FIFA, that will allow them to make the 2010 and 2014 version of the game.
- 2006 – Seeing the success of other comic-book based movies and films have gotten in recent years, Take-Two reveals development on a Ghost Rider video game. 2k Games will be handling the development, and is planning on a simultaneous release with the movie.
May 2nd
- 2006 – Trying to break away from the growing trend of eliminating the cooperative component of a game, EA announces development of Army of Two, which will focus entirely on working with the co-op portion of a game that many gamers miss.
- 2007 – EA reveals they will be awarding a $1 million dollar grant to the lucky students at the Great Northern Way Campus, in Vancouver, Canada. Their goal is to promote and aid in the development of the next wave of game designers.
- 2008 – Releasing for every console and handheld on the market, Iron Man, the video game, hits retailers across North America.
May 3rd
- 2001 – Spec Ops: Ranger Elite, for the PlayStation, releases to North American retailers.
- 2007 – Take-Two is confident that their newest baseball title, The BIGS, has what it takes to remove the reigning baseball champing, Sony’s MLB The Show series. Albert Pujols will be gracing the cover of the game.
May 4th 
- 2004 – Hitting North American retail stores, Red Dead Revolver releases for the PlayStation 2. Almost instantly, gamers are fulfilling their lifelong dreams of living in the West.
- 2009 – In an other odd move, Electronic Arts announces their decision to rename their Redwood Shores studio to Visceral Games. The new name must be working. They worked on Dante’s Inferno and are working on the sequel to the highly-acclaimed title, Dead Space.
- 2009 – In a rather bizarre release, Sneeze, the video game, releases online. The game, which was inspired by the 2009 swine flu outbreak, wants you to infect as many people as you can; effectively everyone.
May 5th
- 2008 – Riding the enormous popularity surrounding music games, Harmonix reveals development on the newest entry into the Rock Band series, Rock Band Track Pack Volume 1. This Track Pack will be headed to the PlayStation 2 and the Wii.
May 6th
- 2004 – Feeding off the success of the series previous iterations, Rockstar Games announces development on Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.
- 2004 – Heading to North American PS2 owners is Samurai Warriors, the intense action game from Omega Force, published by Koei.
- 2008 – Hoping to cater more towards the mature and casual gamers, “EA Sports Freestyle” is created. Up until this point, the new brand is best known for their work on Facebreaker.
May 7th 
- 2008 – Just one week after its release, Take-Two releases sales figures for their highly anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto IV. In just one week, the game has sold roughly six million units and brought in about $500 million dollars. These “records” will soon be broken by a little title called Modern Warfare 2.
- 2008 – The newest entry into the Fight Night series, Fight Night Round 4, is announced to a wave of excitement.
- 2009 – Jeff Huber is the newest member of the Electronic Arts Board of Directors. Before moving to EA, Huber worked with eBay and Excite@Home.
