1993 in video gaming

Events

* March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY (SP) starts. The original name is "Super Power".
* Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game "Mortal Kombat" from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993.
* The first use of motion control photography in video games, used by Stormfront Studios in Eagle Eye Mysteries, produced by Scott Orr and published by Electronic Arts.

Notable releases

* Microprose releases the Strategy Game of the Year "Master of Orion" and the runner-up "Master of Magic". [cite press release
title = Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
publisher = Microprose
date = December, 1996
url = http://www.csoon.com/info/micropro.htm
accessdate = 2007-10-05 ]
* Namco releases "Super World Stadium '93", "Emeraldia", "Nettou! Gekitou! Quiztou!!", "Numan Athletics", "Ridge Racer", "Great Sluggers '93", "Final Lap R", "Cyber Sled" and "Tinkle Pit".
* August — Nintendo releases "" (Game Boy), which becomes the best-selling handheld game in the series.
* August: Infocom and Activision release Return to Zork.
* September 24 — Broderbund releases the "Myst" computer game, which goes on to become one of the bestselling games of all time.
* December 10 — id Software releases "Doom", a seminal first-person shooter that advanced 3D graphics for computer games.
* Nintendo releases the game "Star Fox" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the first game to use the Super FX Chip.
* Sega releases the "Virtua Fighter" (by AM2) arcade game, which is later displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.
* Stellar Crisis is released, making it the first free multi-player wargame that is entirely browser based.
* Squaresoft releases "Secret of Mana" for the SNES, the second in a series of role-playing games(the first technically being Final Fantasy Adventure for the GameBoy in 1991).
* Nintendo releases "Kirby's Adventure", the second Kirby game and the only one for the NES.
* Nintendo releases the game "Super Mario All-Stars" for the Super NES. It features the first 3 Super Mario Bros. games together on one. Also, it's the first time the Japan version of "Super Mario Bros 2" is playable in North America.
* March 15 — Sunsoft releases "Blaster Master 2" for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
* Maxis releases "SimCity 2000", sequel to the tremendously popular "SimCity".
* December 17 — Sierra On-Line, Inc. releases "". It is the first game in the "Gabriel Knight" series and features the voices of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, and Leah Remini.

Hardware

* Atari Corp. releases the Jaguar home console, calling it the first 64-bit video game system
* Commodore Business Machines releases the Amiga CD32 multimedia home console
* Fujitsu releases the FM Towns Marty home console
* Goldstar, Panasonic, and Sanyo release their versions of the 3DO, the first 32-bit home console
* Nintendo releases a smaller redesigned NES, which allows cartridges to now be inserted at the top of the console, instead of the front.
* Pioneer releases the LaserActive multimedia home console
* Sega's Mega CD released in Europe and Australia.
* Tandy releases the Video Information System (VIS) multimedia home console

Business

* Magnavox is acquired by the Carlyle Group
* Microprose Inc. is acquired by Spectrum Holobyte
* New companies: nVidia Corporation, Take Two Interactive Software Inc., Croteam Ltd.

References