Video Games & Gaming Trivia

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) for Atari 2600 is widely blamed for the video game crash of 1983 due to its poor quality and millions of unsold cartridges, contributing to Atari's massive losses.

Direct3D 10 introduced the Unified Shader Model as Shader Model 4.0, which unified vertex, pixel, and geometry shaders under a common architecture using a common shader core.

The Final Fantasy franchise was created by Square (now Square Enix) and first released in 1987. It became one of the most successful RPG series in gaming history.

The Wii uses a graphics processor codenamed 'Hollywood,' developed by ATI. Xenos is used in Xbox 360, Flipper in GameCube, and RSX in PlayStation 3.

Grand Theft Auto, Duke Nukem, and Prince of Persia all made the jump to 3D with their third games (GTA III, Duke Nukem 3D, Prince of Persia 3D). Mega Man remained 2D throughout its classic run on NES and SNES.

Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) held the record for the most expensive game development at the time, with an estimated budget exceeding $100 million. This included extensive marketing, development team costs, and creating an expansive open-world recreation of New York City. Quake 4, Devil May Cry 4, and Civilization IV, while successful, had significantly lower development budgets.

In 2008, Activision and Blizzard Entertainment merged to form Activision Blizzard in a deal worth approximately $18.8 billion. This was one of the largest mergers in gaming history. Neither 3D Realms, Bethesda, nor Raven Software were involved in acquiring Blizzard - they remained independent entities or were acquired by other companies.

This iconic line is from the original Super Mario Bros. (1985), spoken by Toad after Mario completes a castle level. It became one of gaming's most famous phrases and a recurring joke in the series. Tekken is a fighting game, Zelda involves rescuing Zelda herself, and Myst is a puzzle adventure game without castle-rescue mechanics.