I didn’t know I could be so excited for New Pokémon Snap to come out until Becca posted about replaying the original Pokémon Snap from 22 years ago. Her post immediately transported me to my childhood TV room, trying to capture all 63 featured Pokémon on film. Would the New Pokémon Snap scratch the nostalgia itch and be worth the full price? Would I still get excited about taking pictures of Pokémon I didn’t know? I found out soon after I started playing—the answer is YES!
Here are three little ways New Pokémon Snap captured my heart, and one way it did not:
September 3rd 2004 – Wizards of the Coast premieres the tabletop gameStar Wars Miniatures by releasing the “Rebel Storm” set. This set focused on the struggle between the Rebels and the Imperials throughout the classic Star Wars trilogy. Only characters from the three original movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) were included.
September 2nd 1993 – The United States and Russia formally ended decades of competition in space by agreeing to a joint project: the Mir space station. This station became the world’s first constantly inhabited long-term research station in space.
August 29th 1991 –Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 3 in Europe; it was the last installment of the Mario series made for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This game introduced a number of advances to the Mario series, including the addition of a map screen, mini-games, new power-ups, and enemies. Some other additions included updating Bowser’s character design to add his now token flaming red-hair and the introduction of the Koopalings, Bowser’s litter of hostile kiddies.
August 30th 1797 – Mary Shelley was born on this day in 1797. Her Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is often considered one other earliest science fiction stories. Embracing both Gothic and Romantic elements in this novel, Shelley crafted an enduring tale about the power of science and artificial life that is ever-present across pop-culture genres today.
September 1st 1486 – The first copyright in history was granted in Venice, Italy. It was given to a book that contained the history of the city itself, the Rerum venetarum ab arbe condita opus (The Work of the Founding of the City of Venice) by Marcus Antonius Coccius Sabellicus.
In honor of PAX Prime 2011, happening this weekend, we at GeekGirlCon are taking a gaming-specific twist on this week’s History of Geek. So, with that in mind, we’d like to present: This Week in the History of Video Games.
August 28th 2004 – Penny Arcade hosted the first Penny-Arcade Expo (PAX) at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. Exhibitors, including Microsoft, Rooster Teeth, and Ubisoft, showcased videos and playable demos of their upcoming projects/releases— like Bungie’s Halo 2 and Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Other events included live-musical performances, panels featuring Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (the creators of Penny-Arcade), and the Omegathon. The first expo boasted 1,337 pre-registered guests: a rather appropriate statistic to begin a very successful convention.
August 26th 2002 – Nintendo released the single-player 3-D platform game Super Mario Sunshine for GameCube in North America. It was the first traditional Mario platform game released since Super Mario 64, and like its predecessor, Sunshine was a commercial success. It sold over 5.5 million units, and was later re-released as one of Nintendo’s Player’s Choice titles in 2003.
August 23rd 2001 – Players joined Dante for the first time as Devil May Cry was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. Capcom originally intended Devil May Cry to be the last installment of the Resident Evil series opted out to use backgrounds from previous Resident Evil games as had been precedent. A more dynamic camera system was adopted. A team of developers traveled through Europe using gothic structures as a reference. Capcom still wanted to pursue the game, however it strayed too far from the survival horror genre. Instead of becoming an addition to Resident Evil, it became an independent game. Director Hideki Kamiya rewrote the world as one full of demons and redesigned and renamed the protagonist to create the Dante we know today. Hard to believe this occurred ten years ago, yeah? #FeelinOld
August 6th 1986 – Metroid was released in Japan, which made Samus Aran one of the first female protagonists in a video game. Metroid followed the missions of the bounty hunter as she protected the galaxy from space pirates and combined the gaming platforms of Super Mario Brothers with the exploration aspect of Legend of Zelda.
August 7th 1970 – The first all-computer chess tournament is held. Because chess club wasn’t geeky enough already?
The winner was CHESS 3.0, created by Larry Atkin, Keith Gorlen, and David Slate from Northwestern University. The North American Computer Chess Championship had a variety of winners from 1970 to 1994.
August 3rd 1970 – Masahiro Sakurai , the creator of Kirby, is born. Sakurai would create this character a mere 22 years into his life. Kirby’s first appearance in the 1992 video game, Kirby’s Dream Land, created a well-loved Nintendo franchise. Evolving from a black and white appearance on the Game Boy, his latest adventures in Kirby’s Epic Yarn are in color on the Wii.
August 4th 1922 – All telephones in North America — about 13 million — go silent for the space of one minute at sunset during the funeral services of Alexander Graham Bell as a commemoration of his work. Bell passed away two days prior on August 2, 1922.
August 5th 1920 – Senator Warren G. Harding wired Republican leaders in the Tennessee legislature urging support for the suffragist movement. Senator Harding sent telegrams to two leading women in the suffrage movement — Mrs.Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs.George Milton — telling them it looked hopeful for women getting the vote in Tennessee.
August 2nd 1870 – Tower Subway became the first tube railway in the world. The six foot diameter tunnel was created by James Henry and opened near the tower of London. The first shuttles to use this tunnel were twelve seat carriages moved with wires drawn by steam engines. Unfortunately, due to frequent breakdowns, Tower Subway would be shut down within three months of its launch.
August 1st 1774 – The element oxygen was independently discovered for the third time by Joseph Priestly. Priestley discovered that mercury heated in air became coated with a red rust, which, when heated separately, would convert back to mercury and give off “air.” He also observed that flames burned brighter with this gas and that a mouse could breathe longer in an encased box with it rather than without it. It may seem a little obvious to us now, but the concept of oxygen was foreign in 1774. Joseph Priestley published his conclusions in 1775, giving the element a name and Priestly most of the credit for this discovery.
