This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
Happy Mother's Day! Let's take a look back on video game history, when your mom spent too much on your Christmas and birthday gifts, when you spent countless hours in your room attached to your TV instead of joining board game night, and when you convinced your mom to get the Internet for homework but used it for porn and Everquest. I think you should probably give her a call right now and wish her a good day.
This is what we're celebrating this week:
May 9
2006 — Douglas Coupland's JPod is published. The novel follows the exploits of a group of video game programmers, all with last names ending in J. It is notable to video game history, as the characters work for Neotronic Arts, a thinly disguised Electronic Arts, and many major plot elements feature games and their development.
2006 — Peter Moore (pictured), then corporate vice-president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Division, unveils his Grand Theft Auto 4 tattoo to announce the game and its eventual release on the Xbox 360. Moore would eventually move onto Electronic Arts' sports division…awkward! He has held major positions in many video game companies. He's a "gun-for-hire," so it only makes sense that his guns are for hire, too.
May 10
1950 — The Pilot ACE, one of the first computers, runs its first program. Developers were unable to program games. They discovered that the computer was too underpowered to run a game of checkers.
1984 — Sierra releases King's Quest. The series would become one of the most popular adventure game franchises, until the genre's demise in the late '90s. This is definitely a game to revisit in the adventure game renaissance we are currently experiencing.
2005 — The Leeroy Jenkins meme goes live in a World of Warcraft forum. To put this popularity of the video into perspective, my uncle, a 45-year-old pharmacist who loves the NFL and World War 2 and barely knows how to turn on a computer, said "Leeeeeroy Jenkins" the other day.
[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU ]
May 11
1995 — The Saturnday Hoax occurs. The Saturn was originally scheduled for release on "Saturnday" September 2, 1995. On May 11, 1995, however, during the very first Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sega executives announced that the system was available immediately, in quite possibly the worst marketing decision in video game history. Within six years, Sega would no longer manufacture video game consoles.
2001 — Douglas Adams (pictured) dies. Has there ever been a cooler alpha geek? He wrote the best satirical science fiction radio play and novels of all time, he hob-nobbed with Monty Python, he owned the first Apple computer in England, and he was involved in early video game development. Douglas Adams, we miss you.
2006 — Core Design, creators of Tomb Raider, is officially defunct when the company sells its assets. Don't worry, I am sure we'll keep seeing sub-par Tomb Raider games for years to come. I mean, that's what has always been done, right?
May 12
1989 — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits the NES, and I would begin many years of frustrating trying to get past that level with the dam. Yes, I know it was an early level. This game can rot in hell.
May 13
1965 — Happy birthday, Hideki Konno! He's the Mario Kart director and…well, I don't know much else about him. Sometimes, people who make video games are just people with birthdays.
1976 — Atari Breakout, which just so happened to be developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The pair would become much more famous as the founders of Apple computer. This particular game would begin Steve Jobs' future of working for every consumer electronic company on earth and future Segway enthusist Steve Wozniak's enjoyment of movement in straight horizontal lines.
May 14
1944 — Happy birthday, Star Wars creator George Lucas! While Star Wars games have been hit or miss, Lucasarts has certainly made a lot of them. I figure it must be an even split down the middle, with space combat and first person shooters on the good side and everything else on the other. You can't say the same for the movies. Did you know bad Star Wars movies outnumber good movies in the franchise. Think about that.
May 15
1978 — Ralph Baer's Simon toy launches at Studio 54. While not a video game, this interactive glowing hockey puck became a cultural icon. We can say with some certainty that Ralph, the father of video games, did not have sex in the balcony. Simon, on the other hand, did.
2006 — Thatgamecompany, makers of Flow and Flower, is founded, a day that Roger Ebert will rue forever. Politely with reasoned arguments, but rue nonetheless.
Question of the week: What was your favorite Star Wars video game?