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[edit] Events

• Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Will Wright of Maxis to the AIAS Hall of Fame
• BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) holds 5th annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia technologies; 10 of 21 awards go to video games; awards Ian Livingstone the BAFTA Interactive Special Award
• Big Fish Games is founded with Paul Thelen as the only employee.
• 8th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 5th annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³
• Eidos Interactive selects Dutch model Jill De Jong as the new digitized Lara Croft character
• G4 Media, LLC (subsidiary of Comcast Corporation) launches the G4 cable television video game network channel
• Gama Network hosts the 4th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
• Game Developers Conference hosts the 2nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards
• SEGA establishes the Sega Mobile division to develop, produce, and distribute video games for mobile phones and PDAs; establishes the Sega.com Business Solutions division to service video game developers and publishers
• Rockstar Games embroiled in controversy for its Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video games
• March 22 — The Sims overtakes Myst as all-time best-selling computer game, having sold 6.3 million units [1]
• July - IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 3rd annual Executive Summit

[edit] Business

• January 2 – Cyberactive Media, publishers of GameWeek, is closed down.
• February 19 — Sierra Entertainment, Inc. renamed from Sierra On-Line
• May 10 — Tiwak renamed from Yeti Interactive
• November 15 — Xbox Live, the largest online network for video game consoles just start works.
• November 26 — Squaresoft and Enix announces a fusion. The new name is Square Enix.
• Activision acquires Luxoflux Corporation, Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Shaba Games LLC, and Z-Axis Ltd.
• Empire Interactive PLC acquires eJay AG (renamed eJay Entertainment GmbH)
• Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Eden Studios and Shiny Entertainment
• Microsoft acquires Rare Ltd.
• PCCW: Jaleco USA merges with its VR1 Entertainment (renamed Jaleco Entertainment) division
• Sony Corporation acquires Aiwa Corporation
• Vivendi Universal acquires Massive Entertainment
• Bankrupt/Defunct: Encore Software, Inc. (assets acquired by Navarre Corporation)
• .400 Software Studios founded
• Realtime Worlds Founded by David Jones

[edit] Notable releases

North American release dates:

• February 22 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
• March 4 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GBA, Xbox)
• March 26 - Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)
• March 31 - Dungeon Siege (PC)
• April 30 - Resident Evil Remake (GC)
• May 2 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
• May 16 - Final Fantasy XI (Japan) (PS2)
• June 1 - The House of the Dead III (Arcade)
• June 6 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox)
• June 16 - Neverwinter Nights (PC)
• July 3 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC)
• August 19 - Medieval: Total War (PC)
• August 25 - Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
• August 25 - Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC)
• August 27 - SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs (PS2)
• August 28 - Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (PC)
• September 10 - Battlefield 1942 (PC)
• September 15 - Animal Crossing (GC)
• September 17 - Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
• september 23 - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS2)
• September 23 - Tekken 4 (PS2)
• September 30 - No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way (PC)
• October 9 - TimeSplitters 2 (PS2)
• October 22 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox)
• October 27 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2)
• November 1 - Age of Mythology (PC)
• November 4 - Ratchet & Clank (PS2)
• November 6 - The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal (PC)
• November 10 - Resident Evil 0 (GC)
• November 11 - MechAssault (Xbox)
• November 15 - Metroid Prime (GC)
• November 18 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (GC)
• November 18 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (Xbox)
• December 13 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Japan) (GC)

[edit] Trends

The market research company NPD estimated that video game hardware, software, and accessories sold about US$10.3 billion in 2002. This was a 10% increase over the 2001 figure.

[edit] Video game consoles

The dominant video game consoles in 2002 were:

• Nintendo's GameCube
• Microsoft's Xbox
• Sony's PlayStation 2

[edit] Handheld game systems

The dominant handheld system in 2002 was Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

[edit] Video game sales

The top 10 selling console video games in 2002 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were: