2002 in video gaming

''See also:''
Mosquito ringtone 2001 in video gaming,
Sabrina Martins 2002/other events of 2002,
Nextel ringtones 2003 in video gaming and the
Abbey Diaz history of video games

Events
* Free ringtones Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 5th Annual Majo Mills Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Mosquito ringtone Will Wright of Sabrina Martins Maxis to the Nextel ringtones AIAS Hall of Fame
* Abbey Diaz BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) holds 5th annual Cingular Ringtones BAFTA Interactive Awards for multimedia technologies; 10 of 21 awards go to video games; awards sundays through Ian Livingstone the BAFTA Interactive Special Award
* 8th annual free flashlights E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo); the 5th annual prisoner named Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³
* affect benefits Eidos Interactive selects celebrate individual Netherlands/Dutch model groups feel Jill De Jong as the new digitized peter duncan Lara Croft character
* forces quit G4 Media, LLC (subsidiary of filled glazed Comcast Corporation) launches the remotely scary G4 Media/G4 cable television video game network channel
* unfinished pyramids Gama Network hosts the 4th annual guild in Independent Games Festival (IGF)
* international olympic Game Developers Conference hosts the 2nd annual appropriate of Game Developers Choice Awards
* solutions manager SEGA establishes the Sega Mobile division to develop, produce, and distribute video games for causes which mobile phones and mausolus is Personal Digital Assistant/PDAs; establishes the Sega.com Business Solutions division to service video game developers and publishers
* complicit with Rockstar Games embroiled in job welcome moral panic for its ''as overlord Grand Theft Auto III'' and ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' video games
* March 22 - ''The Sims'' overtakes ''Myst'' as all-time best-selling computer game, having sold 6.3 million units [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/simslivinlarge/news_2857556.html]

=Business=
* Activision acquires Luxoflux Corporation, Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Shaba Games LLC, and Z-Axis Ltd.
* Empire Interactive PLC acquires eJay AG (renamed eJay Entertainment GmbH)
* Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Eden Studios and Shiny Entertainment
* Microsoft acquires Rare (video game company)/Rare Ltd.
* PCCW: Jaleco USA merges with its VR1 Entertainment (renamed Jaleco Entertainment) division
* Sony Corporation acquires Aiwa Corporation
* Vivendi Universal acquires Massive Entertainment
* Bankrupt/Defunct: Encore Software, Inc. (assets acquired by Navarre Corporation)
* February 19 - Sierra Entertainment, Inc. renamed from Sierra On-Line
* .400 Software Studios founded
* May 10 - Tiwak renamed from Yeti Interactive

=Notable releases=
* July 3 - ''Warcraft III'' (Windows)
* September 16 - ''Kingdom Hearts'' (PS2)
* October 27 - ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' (PS2)
* November 22 - ''Asheron's Call 2'' (Windows)

Trends
The market research company NPD estimated that video game hardware, software, and accessories sold about US$10.3 billion in 2002. This was a 10% increase over the 2001 figure.

=Video game consoles=
No new major video game consoles were introduced in 2002.

The dominant consoles in 2002 were:
*Sony's PlayStation 2
*Nintendo's GameCube
*Microsoft's Xbox
*Nintendo's Game Boy Advance

=Top-selling games=
Image:Vice-city-pc-morning.jpeg/thumb/Screenshot of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City''
The top 10 selling console video games in 2002 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_030128a.htm, were:
# ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', by Rockstar Games, for PlayStation 2
# ''Grand Theft Auto 3'', by Rockstar Games, for PlayStation 2
# ''Madden NFL 2003'', by Electronic Arts, for PlayStation 2
# ''Super Mario Advance 2'', by Nintendo, for Game Boy Advance
# ''Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec'', by Sony, for PlayStation 2
# ''Medal of Honor: Frontline'', by Electronic Arts, for PlayStation 2
# ''Spider-Man: The Movie'', by Activision, for PlayStation 2
# ''Kingdom Hearts'', by Squaresoft, for PlayStation 2
# ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', by Microsoft, for Xbox
# ''Super Mario Sunshine'', by Nintendo, for GameCube

Tag: 2002 computer and video games/*