2003 in video games: Difference between revisions
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===Video game sales=== |
===Video game sales=== |
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The top 10 selling console video games in 2003 in the [[United States]] ranked by units sold, according to [http://www.npdfunworld.com/funServlet?nextpage=trend_body.html&content_id=780 NPD], were: |
The top 10 selling console video games in 2003 in the [[United States]] ranked by units sold, according to [https://web.archive.org/web/20040411152119/http://www.npdfunworld.com/funServlet?nextpage=trend_body.html&content_id=780 NPD], were: |
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2003 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games and several new titles such as Beyond Good & Evil, Call of Duty, PlanetSide, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and True Crime: Streets of LA.
Events
- February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame.
- March 6–9 — Game Developers Conference hosts 3rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards and Gama Network's 5th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF).
- April 1 — Enix Corporation and Square Co., Ltd. officially merge, forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- May 14–16 — 9th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo) held at Los Angeles[1] Convention Center; 6th annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E3.
- July — IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 4th annual Executive Summit.
- July 16 — Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) renamed as Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
- September 12 — Valve releases the first stable version of Steam, which would replace the WON system that has been used for Counter-Strike and other Valve games a year later.
- October 1 — DreamWorks SKG and Tecmo announce a movie adaptation of the video game Fatal Frame has been fast-tracked with John Rogers and Steven Spielberg involvement.
- October 20 — Families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young adults shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III), file a US$246 million lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and console-maker Sony Computer Entertainment America.
- October 31 — British Academy of Film and Television Arts announces that nominations for the 6th annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards will instead be split between the 1st annual BAFTA Games Awards for video game publications and (on November 24) the BAFTA Interactive Awards for multimedia technologies; ceremonies to be held in February 2004.
- November — Kazushige Nojima resigns from Square Enix.
Hardware
- February 14 — Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance SP, an enhanced version of its popular Game Boy Advance handheld game console.
- September — Nintendo's Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) are officially axed from production worldwide.
- Nokia releases the hybrid N-Gage handheld console / mobile phone.
- First PlayStation Portable prototype shown by Sony.
- Nintendo states that its next generation console will be fully compatible with the GameCube.
Business
- Early 2003 — Compile goes defunct.
- Early 2003 — Titus Software buys out Interplay Entertainment's European operations, owning the rights to publish their games in Europe, and also owning 100% of Virgin Interactive, which is later renamed to Avalon Interactive.
- February 19 — Microsoft announces a deal to buy Connectix Corporation.
- Take-Two Interactive buys TDK Mediactive, Inc.
- May 7 - Infogrames Entertainment, SA rebrands all its subsidiaries under the Atari brand.
- Enix Corporation officially absorbs Square Co., Ltd., forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- CNN/Money reports that video games are a US$10 billion industry
- April — Pan European Game Information (PEGI), a European video game content rating system, comes into use.
- May — The 3DO Company announces bankruptcy and closes down its New World Computing subsidiary.
- June 12 — Obsidian Entertainment founded.
- August — Microsoft announced ATI as the developer of the GPU for their next generation console, Project Xenon. Their previous contract with Nvidia was finished but the GPU of the Xbox continued in production.
- September — Silicon Dreams Studio goes defunct.
- December — Interplay closes its Black Isle Studios division.
- Late 2003 — Nintendo buys shares from Japanese toy and animation conglomerate Bandai making Nintendo one of Bandai's top 10 shareholders.
- Late 2003 — GameSpot reports a rebuttal regarding two statements from Nintendo and Bandai execs denying a potential Nintendo takeover of Bandai; according to the story, Nintendo is working with a Japanese banking firm that has Bandai and Nintendo as their corporate clients to try to take over Bandai.
- Late 2003 — Data East goes defunct.
Notable releases
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Trends
Computer games continue to lose ground to console video games with a US sales drop of 14% in 2003. (NPD) Total 2003 entertainment software sales in the United States grew slightly to $7 billion USD; console sales increased to $5.8 billion and computer games accounted for the remaining $1.2 billion. ESA (pdf)
Video game consoles
The dominant video game consoles in 2003 were:
Handheld game systems
The dominant handheld systems in 2003 were:
Additionally, two new handheld consoles were introduced in 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP (an enhanced GBA) and Nokia's N-Gage.
Video game sales
The top 10 selling console video games in 2003 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were:
| Rank | Title | Platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madden NFL 2004 | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 2 | Pokémon Ruby | GBA | Nintendo |
| 3 | Pokémon Sapphire | GBA | Nintendo |
| 4 | Need for Speed: Underground | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | GameCube | Nintendo |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | PS2 | Rockstar Games |
| 7 | Mario Kart: Double Dash!! | GameCube | Nintendo |
| 8 | Tony Hawk's Underground | PS2 | Activision |
| 9 | Enter the Matrix | PS2 | Atari |
| 10 | Medal of Honor: Rising Sun | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
Highest critically reviewed games (Metacritic)
| Number | Video Game | Publisher | Platform | Release Date | Average score | Number of reviews | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | Nintendo | GameCube | March 24 | 96 | 80 reviews | [2] |
| 2 | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | LucasArts | Xbox | July 17 | 94 | 72 reviews | [3] |
| 3 | Madden NFL 2004 | EA Sports | PlayStation 2 | August 12 | 94 | 29 reviews | [4] |
| 4 | Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 | Nintendo | Game Boy Advance | October 21 | 94 | 26 reviews | [5] |
| 5 | NCAA Football 2004 | EA Sports | PlayStation 2 | July 16 | 94 | 15 reviews | [6] |
| 6 | Viewtiful Joe | Capcom | GameCube | October 7 | 93 | 52 reviews | [7] |
| 7 | SoulCalibur II | Namco | GameCube | August 27 | 93 | 45 reviews | [8] |
| 8 | SSX 3 | EA Sports | PlayStation 2 | October 20 | 93 | 41 reviews | [9] |
| 9 | Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution | Sega | PlayStation 2 | August 13 | 93 | 30 reviews | [10] |
| 10 | World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 International | Konami | PlayStation 2 | March 11 | 93 | 24 reviews | [11] |
References
- ^ "Attendance and Stats". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for Madden NFL 2004". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for BSuper Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews NCAA Football". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for Viewtiful Joe". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for SoulCalibur II". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for SSX 3". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "Reviews for World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 International". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
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