Computer Games Events

1973 Empire is Written for the PLATO System
In reviewing how other early game designers describe their firsts, the innovations they initiated, I felt it important to keep my descriptions accurate and written with humility. First...
1975 Moria is Developed for the PLATO system
Moria is a dungeon crawl style computer role-playing game first developed for the PLATO system around 1975, with copyright dates listed as 1978 and 1984. It was a pioneering game, allowin...
1976 First Version of Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) was the first computer adventure game. It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and spelunking...
1980 Rogue is Included in the Berkeley Standard Distribution UNIX Distritbution 4.2
A student at University of Berkeley, called Ken Arnold, had designed a library of C functions which allowed programs to do cursor addressing, which means that the programs could put a cha...
1980 Nov Zork I Released
Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and publish...
1985 "Lord Of The Rings: Game One" Is Released
Lord of the Rings: Game One (released in North America as The Fellowship of the Ring Software Adventure) is a computer game released in 1985 and based on the book The Fellowship of the Ri...
1993 Sep 24 Myst Released
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan Worlds, a Spokane, Washington-based studio, and published and ...
1996 Sep 27 Meridian 59 Launches
Meridian 59 was one of the earliest massively-multiplayer online games. It first went online in December, 1995, and it was published in September, 1996 by The 3DO Company. Meridian was ...
1997 Apr 28 Duke Nukem Forever Announced, "In Development"
Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is a first-person shooter video game that has been in development since 1997 by 3D Realms. The publishing rights for the game still remain owned by Take-Two Inter...
1997 Sep 25 Ultima Online Launches
Ultima Online (UO) is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on September 25, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the...
1999 Mar 16 EverQuest Launches
EverQuest, often called EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on 16 March 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQu...
1999 Nov 2 Asheron's Call Launches
Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs, released on November 2, 1999. The land of Dereth and its surrounding islands, in which the game is based, is a lar...
2001 Jun 27 Anarchy Online Launches
Anarchy Online is an online role playing video game published by Funcom, known for its The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, and Age of Conan titles. Development of the science fiction themed g...
2001 Oct 10 Dark Age of Camelot Launches
Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG that revolves around war between three realms following King Arthur's rule. DAoC includes both Player vs Environment and Realm vs Re...
2003 Mar 25 Shadowbane Launches
Shadowbane was a free fantasy computer role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Windows and Mac platforms. Originally commerci...
2003 May 6 EVE Online Launches
EVE Online is a video game by CCP Games. It is a player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online game set in a science fiction space setting. Players pilot customizable ships ...
2004 Nov 23 World of Warcraft Launches
World of Warcraft, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warc...
2004 Dec 6 "The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth" Is Released
Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a PC real-time strategy game developed by EA Los Angeles. It is based on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in turn base...
2006 Mar 2 "The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth II" Is Released
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, abbreviated BFME2, is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is based on the fantasy novel T...
2012 Sep 15 Meridian 59 Released as Open Source
Zandramas and I are happy to announce that we've decided to release Meridian as open source. We've been running the game for almost 3 years, and while we've made a lot of infrastructure i...
2012 Sep 25 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Released
Mists of Pandaria will raise the existing level cap from level 85 to 90. It will introduce a new character class, the Monk, along with a new playable race, the Pandaren. The vanity pet sy...