2005 in video games
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2005 saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Resident Evil 4, Black & White 2, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Mario Kart DS, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Myst V: End of Ages, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, and WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006, alongside prominent new releases including Brain Age, F.E.A.R., Forza Motorsport, Dinosaur King, God of War, Guild Wars, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, Onechanbara, Shadow of the Colossus, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6, and Sniper Elite.
The seventh generation of video game consoles also began with the launch of the Xbox 360, while the Nintendo DS launched in PAL regions.
The year's best-selling video game worldwide was Gran Turismo 4 for the PlayStation 2. The year's most critically acclaimed title was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube and PlayStation 2.
Legend
| DS | Nintendo DS, DSiWare, iQue DS | GBA | Game Boy Advance, iQue GBA | GCN | GameCube |
| LIN | Linux | MOBI | Mobile phone | OSX | macOS |
| PS2 | PlayStation 2 | PSP | PlayStation Portable | WIN | Windows, all versions Windows 95 and up |
| XB360 | Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Live Arcade | XB | Xbox, Xbox Live Arcade |
Major awards
- Certain award presentations combine these categories.
Critically acclaimed games
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
| Game | Publisher | Release Date | Platform | MC score | GR score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | October 25, 2005 | PS2 | 96/100 | 95.85% |
| Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | January 11, 2005 | GCN | 96/100 | 95.83% |
| Ninja Gaiden Black | Tecmo | September 20, 2005 | XB | 94/100 | 94.76% |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory | Ubisoft | March 28, 2005 | XB | 94/100 | 94.02% |
| God of War | Sony Computer Entertainment | March 22, 2005 | PS2 | 94/100 | 93.58% |
| Civilization IV | 2K Games | October 25, 2005 | WIN | 94/100 | 93.36% |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence | Konami | December 22, 2005 | PS2 | 94/100[3] | 92.97%[4] |
| Forza Motorsport | Microsoft Game Studios | May 3, 2005 | XB | 92/100 | 93.05% |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Rockstar Games | June 7, 2005 | XB | 93/100 | 92.29% |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Rockstar Games | June 7, 2005 | WIN | 93/100 | 91.94% |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory | Ubisoft | March 28, 2005 | WIN | 92/100 | 91.44% |
| Guitar Hero | RedOctane | November 7, 2005 | PS2 | 91/100 | 91.96% |
| Shadow of the Colossus | Sony Computer Entertainment | October 18, 2005 | PS2 | 91/100 | 91.43% |
| Mario Kart DS | Nintendo | November 14, 2005 | DS | 91/100 | 91.43% |
| Battlefield 2 | Electronic Arts | June 21, 2005 | WIN | 91/100 | 90.07% |
| Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow | Konami | August 25, 2005 | DS | 89/100 | 90.35% |
| Burnout Revenge | Electronic Arts | September 13, 2005 | PS2 | 90/100 | 90.3% |
| Advance Wars: Dual Strike | Nintendo | June 23, 2005 | DS | 90/100 | 90.28% |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 5 | Konami | August 4, 2005 | WIN | 89/100[3] | 90.25%[5] |
| Psychonauts | Majesco | April 19, 2005 | XB | 88/100 | 90.21% |
| Silent Hunter III | Ubisoft | March 15, 2005 | WIN | 90/100 | 88.65% |
| Falcon 4.0: Allied Force | Graphsim Entertainment | June 28, 2005 | WIN | 90/100 | 88.56% |
Trends
In 2005, the total U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 6% over 2004 to $10.5 billion USD ($9.9 billion, 2004) breaking 2002's $10.3 billion record for the industry.
The increase is largely due to the portable game market which counterbalanced sluggish console game sales. Delays, hardware shortages, and anticipation of next-generation video game consoles have been cited as reasoning for slow sales for both console games and console hardware. Console games and hardware dropped by 12% and 3% respectively.
The portable market of the video game industry rose to $1.4 billion, the second time sales broke the $1 billion mark in the industry's history. Mostly due to the release of the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable in North America, sales for portable hardware rose 96% over 2004. Although the release of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP aided in spurring growth in the portable market, the Game Boy Advance still represented 62% total portable software units sold and 52% of total portable software dollar sales.[6]
Computer games continued its trend and declined by 14%, dropping from $1.1 billion in 2004 to $953 million. Although sales did decrease, NPD claims that playing games on the PC is actually increasing through a variety of different mediums including online websites and MMO subscriptions.[7]
Video game systems
Additionally, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii were officially unveiled during or just prior to E3; however, only the Xbox 360 was released in 2005. The Xbox 360 was released in North America on November 22, Europe on December 2, and Japan on December 10.
Handheld game systems
This year saw the worldwide release of Sony's PlayStation Portable after initially launching in Japan the previous year. The Nintendo DS made its launch in Australasia on February 24 and then in Europe on March 11. Nintendo also released the Game Boy Micro, the final revision model of the Game Boy Advance as well as the final entry in the Game Boy family overall. The Game Boy Micro was negatively received due to it not being backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (unlike the first 2 GBA models), leading to it being one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles of all time.
Hardware releases
| Month | Day | Console |
|---|---|---|
| February | 24 | Nintendo DSAU |
| March | 11 | Nintendo DSEU |
| 24 | PlayStation PortableNA/BR/IDN | |
| April | 12 | PlayStation PortableITA/UKR/IND |
| September | 1 | PlayStation PortableEU/AU/AF/AS |
| 13 | Game Boy MicroJP | |
| 19 | Game Boy MicroNA | |
| October | 1 | Game Boy MicroCHN |
| November | 3 | Game Boy MicroAU |
| 4 | Game Boy MicroEU | |
| 22 | Xbox 360US/CA | |
| December | 2 | Xbox 360UK/NO/SE/EZ/CH |
| 10 | Xbox 360JP |
Best-selling video games
| Rank | Title | Platform(s) | Sales | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | United States | Europe | Worldwide | |||
| 1 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | 1,066,749[8] | 1,500,000+[9] | Unknown | 5,000,000+[10][11] |
| 2 | Madden NFL 06 | PS2, XB, GCN | 3,250[12] | 4,430,000[a] | Unknown | 4,433,250+ |
| 3 | Nintendogs | DS | 965,665[8] | Unknown | 1,600,000[13] | 4,190,000+[14][13] |
| 4 | Pokémon Emerald | GBA | 319,837[8] | 1,700,000+[15] | 1,200,000[16] | 3,219,837+ |
| 5 | Mario Kart DS | DS | 836,478[17] | Unknown | 800,000[13] | 3,000,000+[18] |
| 6 | Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4) | GCN, PS2 | 591,379[8] | Unknown | Unknown | 3,000,000[19] |
| 7 | Star Wars: Battlefront II | PS2, XB | N/a | 1,567,000+[20][21] | 500,000+[22] | 2,067,000+ |
| 8 | Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Winning Eleven 9) | 1,125,464+[8] | Unknown | 800,000+[22] | 1,925,464+ | |
| 9 | Animal Crossing: Wild World | DS | 1,382,228[17] | Unknown | N/a | 1,800,000+[18] |
| 10 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | 61,221[23] | 931,000+[20] | 611,000+[22] | 1,603,221+ | |
Japan
| Rank | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher | Genre | Sales | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oideyo Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: Wild World) | DS | Nintendo | Social simulation | 1,382,228 | [17] |
| 2 | Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (Brain Training) | DS | Nintendo | Edutainment | 1,157,870 | |
| 3 | World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (Pro Evolution Soccer 5) | PS2 | Konami | Sports simulation | 1,125,464 | [8] |
| 4 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | Sony | Racing simulation | 1,066,749 | [8] |
| 5 | Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon) | DS, GBA | Nintendo | Roguelike | 1,038,864 | [17] |
| 6 | Nintendogs | DS | Nintendo | Pet simulation | 965,665 | [8] |
| 7 | Yawaraka Atama Juku (Big Brain Academy) | DS | Nintendo | Edutainment | 935,535 | [17] |
| 8 | Shin Sangokumusou 4 (Dynasty Warriors 5) | PS2 | Koei | Hack & slash | 917,985 | [8] |
| 9 | Kingdom Hearts II | PS2 | Square Enix | Action RPG | 884,428 | [17] |
| 10 | Mario Kart DS | DS | Nintendo | Kart racing | 836,478 |
United States
| Rank | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher | Sales | Revenue | Inflation | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madden NFL 06 | PS2, XB, GCN | EA Sports | 4,430,000 | $204,000,000 | $336,000,000 | [a][15] |
| 2 | Pokémon Emerald | GBA | Nintendo | 1,700,000+ | $58,000,000+ | $96,000,000+ | [9][15] |
| 3 | Nintendogs | DS | Nintendo | 1,624,335+ | Unknown | Unknown | [14][8] |
| 4 | Star Wars: Battlefront II | PS2, XB | LucasArts | 1,567,000+ | $74,000,000+ | $122,000,000+ | [20][21][15] |
| 5 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | Sony | 1,500,000+ | $74,000,000+ | $122,000,000+ | [9][15] |
| 6 | NCAA Football 06 | PS2 | EA Sports | 1,130,000 | $54,000,000 | $89,000,000 | [20][15] |
| 7 | MVP Baseball 2005 | PS2 | EA Sports | 970,000 | $28,000,000 | $46,000,000 | [20][15] |
| 8 | World of Warcraft | WIN | Blizzard | 957,000 | $45,000,000 | $74,000,000 | [25] |
| 9 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | PS2, XB, GBA | LucasArts | 931,000+ | $81,000,000 | $134,000,000 | [20][26] |
| 10 | NBA Live 06 | PS2 | EA Sports | 826,000 | $36,000,000 | $59,000,000 | [20][15] |
PAL regions
| Rank | Australia[27] | United Kingdom[28][22] | France | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Platform | Title | Platform(s) | Sales | ||
| 1 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | FIFA 06 | 1,000,000+ | Pro Evolution Soccer 5[29] | |
| 2 | Pokémon Emerald | GBA | Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (PES 5) | 800,000+ | Unknown | |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | PS2 | Need for Speed: Most Wanted | 750,000+ | ||
| 4 | Need for Speed: Underground 2 | PS2 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | 611,000+ | |
| 5 | The Simpsons: Hit & Run | PS2 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | 611,000 | ||
| 6 | Ratchet & Clank 3 | PS2 | FIFA Street | 500,000+ | ||
| 7 | Buzz!: The Music Quiz | PS2 | Star Wars: Battlefront II | 500,000+ | ||
| 8 | Need for Speed: Most Wanted | PS2 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | 450,000+ | ||
| 9 | WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 | PS2 | King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie | 450,000+ | ||
| 10 | Super Mario 64 DS | DS | The Sims 2 | 402,000+ | ||
Notable deaths
- January 15 – Deem Bristow, 57, voice actor best known for voicing Doctor Eggman.
- July 21 – Long John Baldry, 64, musician who played Dr. Ivo Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, various voices in Captain N: The Game Master, and KOMPLEX in Bucky O'Hare.[30]
- October 2 – Hamilton Camp, 70, actor best known for voice the Prophet of Mercy in Halo 2.
- November 13 – Eddie Guerrero, 38 pro wrestler who appeared in the WWE games (cover star of WWE Survivor Series and WWE Aftershock).[31][32]
Top game rentals in the United States
| Rank | Title | Platform | Publisher | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | PS2 | Rockstar Games | Action-adventure |
| 2 | Need for Speed: Underground 2 | PS2 | Electronic Arts | Racing |
| 3 | Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition | PS2 | Rockstar Games | |
| 4 | Halo 2 | XB | Microsoft | First-person shooter |
| 5 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | PS2 | LucasArts | Action |
| 6 | Madden NFL 06 | PS2 | EA Sports | Sports |
| 7 | WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw | PS2 | THQ | Wrestling |
| 8 | Gran Turismo 4 | PS2 | Sony | Racing simulation |
| 9 | Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition | XB | Rockstar Games | Racing |
| 10 | NCAA Football 06 | PS2 | EA Sports | Sports |
Events
| Date(s) | Event |
|---|---|
| February 14 | Video sharing platform YouTube is launched. It would quickly become a favorite for gaming walkthroughs, Let's Plays, speedruns, and more. |
| March 6 | The television show 60 Minutes tackles issues within video game controversy. This segment of 60 Minutes has been criticized by video game players for encouraging video game censorship.[34] |
| March 7–11 | Game Developers Conference
|
| May | In defense of video games being beneficial for cognitive development, Steven Berlin Johnson published his book Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. |
| May 11 | The global version of MapleStory is launched. |
| May 12 | The Xbox 360 was officially announced on MTV in a special hosted by Elijah Wood. |
| May 16 | The PlayStation 3 was unveiled by Sony during a pre-E3 press conference, at 21:25 GMT. At the same time, the press release[35] was released through the Japanese PlayStation website. |
| May 18–20 | The 11th annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) takes place in Los Angeles, California. Four hundred exhibiting companies and 70,000 industry professionals representing 79 countries attended. Next-generation systems from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft were unveiled.[36] |
| May 22 | The Pac-Man franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. |
| June 1 | IBM held the first virtual video game on-demand conference in which game developers and manufacturers were able to come together to discuss issues with online games, including management and distribution. |
| July 18–22 | IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 6th annual Executive Summit. |
| September 13 | The Super Mario series celebrated its 20th anniversary in Japan. |
| September 16–18 | Tokyo Game Show takes place at Makuhari Messe. One hundred-thirty companies are expected to show with 1,429 booths.
|
| November 14 | Nintendo's first mainstream online service (Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection) is launched with Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk's American Sk8land. |
| November 16–20 | The 2005 World Cyber Games are held.[37] |
| November 22 | Microsoft releases the Xbox 360 as a successor to the original Xbox. |
| December 10 | The 2005 Spike Video Game Awards are held.[38] |
| December 16 | The Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA) is introduced by Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh. The bill calls for a federal mandate enforcement of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings system for video games in order to protect children from inappropriate content. |
Business
| Date(s) | Event |
|---|---|
| January 6 | French publisher Titus Software, is declared bankrupt after being in receivership since October 2004. All assets are sold to Interplay Entertainment |
| January 12 | Video game companies and players worldwide donate money to the UNICEF South Asian Tsunami Relief Fund for rescue and reconstruction efforts upon the South Asian tsunami disaster. Electronic Arts pledges to donate $250,000 to the UNICEF South Asian Tsunami Relief Fund. CCP, the publisher of EVE Online, establishes a fund that video game players can contribute to. |
| January 17 | Electronic Arts and ESPN announced a 15-year partnership that would give EA access to ESPN's broadcast, print and online content. |
| January 20 | Activision announced that it acquired developer Vicarious Visions known best as a developer of Game Boy games as well as for their middleware program, Alchemy. |
| January 24 | Major League Baseball and Take-Two Interactive sign exclusive seven-year deal that gives Take-Two Interactive the rights among third-party publishers to develop games based on the MLB license. |
| January 25 | Take-Two Interactive announced that it acquired developer Visual Concepts and their wholly owned subsidiary Kush Games from Sega for $24 million. Additionally, Take-Two Interactive also announced the start of another publishing label named 2K Games. |
| February | Troika Games defunct after being unable to get contracts for development work. |
| March 2 | The Entertainment Software Rating Board or ESRB added the rating of "E10+" to its ratings system. E10+ was created in order to divide E ratings for younger and older children. |
| March 7 | Sammy Studios breaks away from Sega Sammy Holdings and renames itself High Moon Studios. |
| March 9 | Sega acquires Creative Assembly. |
| March 23 | Vivendi Universal Games buys developer Radical Entertainment. Radical is best known for developing The Simpsons: Hit & Run. |
| April 2 | Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man series, was promoted from corporate officer to senior corporate officer. |
| May | Buena Vista Games announces that it had bought the rights to the Turok video game franchise and will be publishing new games. The rights were originally held by bankrupt Acclaim Entertainment. |
| July 20 | After coming under heavy fire from many politicians, most notably Hillary Clinton, the Entertainment Software Rating Board re-rated Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Adults Only 18+ (AO) due to the sexually explicit minigame mod "Hot Coffee". Additionally, Rockstar Games ceased production of the game and has announced plans to offer a new version of the game that can't be affected by the mod, and plans to patch the PC version. |
| July 27 | Sony Computer Entertainment released the first major update in Japan for their video game handheld, the PlayStation Portable. Version 2.00 includes a web browser, A-B repeat mode, Wi-Fi picture sending, as well as additional audio & video support among other features. |
| August 8 | Abandon Mobile announces its formation through a partnership between Abandon Entertainment, Inc. and GF Capital Management and Advisors, LLC. |
| August 22 | Square Enix acquires Taito leading to Square Enix entering the arcade sector of the electronic game industry. |
| September 29 | Namco merges with Bandai to form Bandai Namco Holdings, the third-largest video game entity in Japan. |
| November | Pandemic Studios and BioWare partner to create BioWare/Pandemic Studios. |
| November 7 | Take-Two Interactive acquires Firaxis Games. |
| November 30 | Sony Computer Entertainment announce that PlayStation 2 breaks a record: the fastest console to reach cumulative shipment of 100 million units, beating the previous record holder, the PlayStation, by three years and nine months. The PS platform has until the present year the biggest sales of all times of video games history, with 120 million consoles shipped. |
| December 12 | Working Designs closes down. |
Games released in 2005
Video game-based film and television releases
| Title | Date | Director | Distributor(s) | Franchise | Original game publishe | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xenosaga: The Animation | January 5, 2005 | Shigeyasu Yamauchi | Toei Animation | Xenosaga | Monolith Soft | [44] |
| Lucario and the Mystery of Mew | July 16, 2005 | Kunihiko Yuyama | Toho | Pokémon | Game Freak | [45] |
| Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children | September 14, 2005 | Tetsuya Nomura | Square Enix Image Studio Division | Final Fantasy | Square Enix | [46] |
| Last Order: Final Fantasy VII | Morio Asaka | Madhouse, Inc. | [47] | |||
| Pokémon: Battle Frontier | October 6, 2005 | Masamitsu Hidaka | TV Tokyo | Pokémon | Game Freak | [48] |
| Doom | October 17, 2005 | Andrzej Bartkowiak | Universal Pictures | Doom | Id Software | [49] |
| Street Fighter Alpha: Generations | October 25, 2005 | Ikuo Kuwana | Manga Entertainment | Street Fighter | Capcom | [50] |
| The King of Fighters: Another Day | December 2, 2005 | Masaki Tachibana | Production I.G | The King of Fighters | SNK | [51] |