:2003 in video games
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Year nav topic5|2003|video games}}
2003 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Tony Hawk's Underground, Madden NFL 2004, NBA Live 2004, ESPN NBA Basketball, Saya no Uta: The Song of Saya, Final Fantasy X-2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Sonic Heroes, Postal 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. New intellectual properties included Beyond Good & Evil, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand, Call of Duty, Disgaea, Drakengard, Manhunt, PlanetSide, TrackMania, True Crime: Streets of LA, and Viewtiful Joe. The year's best-selling video game worldwide was Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, the fifth time a Pokémon games was the annual worldwide top-seller (since 1998).
Events
- February 27 – Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame.
- March 6–9 – Game Developers Conference hosts 3rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards and Gama Network's 5th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF).
- April 1 – Enix Corporation and Square Co., Ltd. officially merge, forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- May 14–16 – 9th annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) held at Los Angeles{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/wikis/e3/Attendance_and_Stats|title=Attendance and Stats|date=June 8, 2012 |publisher=IGN|language=en|access-date=May 21, 2015}} Convention Center; 6th annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E3.
- July – IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 4th annual Executive Summit.
- July 16 – Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) renamed as Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
- September 12 – Valve releases their game distribution software Steam out of beta.
- October 1 – DreamWorks SKG and Tecmo announce a movie adaptation of the video game Fatal Frame has been fast-tracked with John Rogers and Steven Spielberg's involvement.
- October 12–18 – The 2003 World Cyber Games are held.{{Cite news |last=McIntosh |first=Neil |date=2003-10-23 |title=Game, set and match |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/oct/23/newmedia.technology |access-date=2025-01-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Ward |first=Mark |date=2003-09-08 |title=Is this Britain's best chance of gold this year? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3089496.stm |access-date=2025-01-25 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
- October 20 – Families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young adults shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III), file a US$246 million lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and console-maker Sony Computer Entertainment America.
- October 31 – British Academy of Film and Television Arts announces that nominations for the 6th annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards will instead be split between the 1st annual BAFTA Games Awards for video game publications and (on November 24) the BAFTA Interactive Awards for multimedia technologies; ceremonies to be held in February 2004.
- November – Kazushige Nojima resigns from Square Enix.
- December 2 – The inaugural Spike Video Game Awards are held.{{Cite web |title=Video Game Awards |url=https://www.ign.com/tv/video-game-awards |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=IGN |language=en}}
- First PlayStation Portable prototype shown by Sony.
- Nintendo states that its next generation console would be fully compatible with the GameCube.
=Business=
- Early 2003 – Compile goes defunct.
- February 19 – Microsoft announces a deal to buy Connectix Corporation.
- Take-Two Interactive buys TDK Mediactive, Inc.
- May 7 – Infogrames Entertainment, SA rebrands all its subsidiaries under the Atari brand.
- Enix Corporation officially absorbs Square Co., Ltd., forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- CNN Money reports that video games are a US$10 billion industry
- April – Pan European Game Information (PEGI), a European video game content rating system, comes into use.
- May – The 3DO Company announces bankruptcy and closes down its New World Computing subsidiary.
- June 12 – Obsidian Entertainment founded.
- August 1 – Virgin Interactive is renamed to Avalon Interactive by its owner Titus Software.
- August – Microsoft announced ATI as the developer of the GPU for their next generation console, Project Xenon. Their previous contract with Nvidia was finished but the GPU of the Xbox continued in production.
- September – Silicon Dreams Studio goes defunct.
- December – Interplay closes its Black Isle Studios division.
- Late 2003 – Nintendo buys shares from Japanese toy and animation conglomerate Bandai making Nintendo one of Bandai's top 10 shareholders.
- Late 2003 – Data East goes defunct.
Hardware
| class="wikitable" |
| Month
! Day ! System |
|---|
| February
| 14 | Game Boy Advance SP{{abbr|JP|Japan}} |
| October
| 7 | N-Gage |
=Discontinued=
- March 23 – Nintendo stops production of the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color worldwide.
- September 23 – Nintendo stops production of the Family Computer and Super Famicom in Japan.{{cite web |url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/nintendo-to-end-famicom-and-super-famicom-production-6029220 |title=Nintendo to end Famicom and Super Famicom production |first=Hirohiko |last=Niizumi |website=GameSpot |date=May 30, 2003 |access-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-date=June 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619095027/http://www.gamespot.com/news/nintendo-to-end-famicom-and-super-famicom-production-6029220 |url-status=live }}
Trends
Computer games continue to lose ground to console video games with a US sales drop of 14% in 2003.{{cite press release |date=February 5, 2004 |title=The NPD Group Reports Overall Decrease in PC Software Sales for 2003 |url=http://www.npdtechworld.com/techServlet?nextpage=pr_body_it.html&content_id=720 |location=NEW YORK |publisher=The NPD Group |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040214033900/http://www.npdtechworld.com/techServlet?nextpage=pr_body_it.html&content_id=720 |archive-date=February 14, 2004 |access-date=June 23, 2020}} Total 2003 entertainment software sales in the United States grew slightly to US$7 billion; console sales increased to $5.8 billion and computer games accounted for the remaining $1.2 billion.{{Cite web|date=2005|title=Essential Facts|url=http://www.theesa.com/files/2005EssentialFacts.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051001114535/http://www.theesa.com/files/2005EssentialFacts.pdf|archive-date=2005-10-01|access-date=2021-11-08|website=Entertainment Software Association (ESA)}}
=Video game consoles=
The dominant video game consoles in 2003 were:
=Handheld game systems=
The dominant handheld systems in 2003 were:
Additionally, two new handheld consoles were introduced in 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP (an enhanced GBA) and Nokia's N-Gage.
=Best-selling video games=
==Japan==
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Best-selling video games in Japan{{Cite web|title=2003 Top 100 Best Selling Japanese Console Games|url=http://www.the-magicbox.com/Chart-BestSell2003b.shtml|access-date=2021-11-05|website=The Magic Box}} ! Rank ! Game ! Platform ! Publisher ! Genre ! Sales ! class="unsortable" | {{Abbr|Ref|Reference}} | |||
| 1 | Final Fantasy X-2 | PS2 | Square Enix
|2,000,000+ |
| 2 | Pocket Monsters: Ruby / Sapphire (Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire) | GBA | The Pokémon Company
|Role-playing |1,704,458 |
| 3 | Shin Sangokumusou 3 (Dynasty Warriors 4) | PS2 | Koei
|1,178,455 |
| 4 | World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 (Pro Evolution Soccer 3) | PS2 | Konami
|1,160,000 |
| 5 | Minna no Golf 4 (Everybody's Golf 4) | PS2 | Sony
|Sports |875,252 |
| 6 | Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart | GBA | Square Enix
|Role-playing |593,458 |
| 7 | Mobile Suit Gundam: Meguriai Sora
| PS2 | Bandai
|577,972 | |
| 8 | Mario Kart: Double Dash | GameCube | Nintendo
|567,849 |
| 9 | Made in Wario | GBA | Nintendo
|556,806 |
| 10 | Dragon Ball Z (Dragon Ball Z: Budokai) | PS2 | Bandai
|543,312 |
==United States==
==PAL regions==
Games with notable critical reception
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
=Critically acclaimed games=
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ 2003 games and expansions scoring at least 88/100 (MC) or 87.5% (GR){{cite web |title=Best Video Games for 2003 |url=https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/all/filtered?sort=desc&year_selected=2003 |website=Metacritic |access-date=August 12, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Highest-Ranking Games of 2003 (with at least 10 reviews) |url=https://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=&cat=0&year=2003&numrev=1&sort=0&letter=&search= |website=GameRankings |access-date=August 12, 2019}} |
| scope="col"| Game
! scope="col"| Publisher ! scope="col"| Release Date ! scope="col"| Platform(s) ! scope="col"| MC score ! scope="col"| GR score |
|---|
| Grand Theft Auto Double Pack
| November 4, 2003 | Xbox | 96/100 | 94.6% |
| The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition
| Nintendo | November 17, 2003 | GameCube | 95/100 | 92.17% |
| Championship Manager 4
| March 28, 2003 | N/A | 95% |
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
| May 12, 2003 | 94/100 | 94.39% |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
| July 15, 2003 | Xbox | 94/100 | 94.21% |
| NCAA Football 2004
| July 16, 2003 | 94/100 | 93.27% |
| Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
| Nintendo | October 21, 2003 | 94/100 | 92.25% |
| Madden NFL 2004
| August 12, 2003 | 94/100 | 91.77% |
| Madden NFL 2004
| August 12, 2003 | GameCube | 94/100 | 91.54% |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 3
| Konami | October 17, 2003 |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
| November 19, 2003 | 93/100 | 93.19% |
| Project Gotham Racing 2
| November 18, 2003 | Xbox | 90/100 | 93.16% |
| Pro Evolution Soccer 3
| Konami | August 7, 2003 |
| SSX 3
| October 20, 2003 | 93/100 | 92.28% |
| Soulcalibur II
| Namco | March 27, 2003 | GameCube | 93/100 | 92.23% |
| Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
| Sega | March 13, 2003 | 93/100 | 91.59% |
| Viewtiful Joe
| Capcom | June 26, 2003 | GameCube | 93/100 | 91.19% |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
| Ubisoft | November 18, 2003 | Xbox | 92/100 | 92.67% |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
| Ubisoft | November 18, 2003 | GameCube | 92/100 | 92.12% |
| SSX 3
| October 20, 2003 | GameCube | 92/100 | 92% |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
| Ubisoft | November 10, 2003 | 92/100 | 91.94% |
| Soulcalibur II
| Namco | March 27, 2003 | Xbox | 92/100 | 91.62% |
| Soulcalibur II
| Namco | March 27, 2003 | 92/100 | 91.47% |
| SSX 3
| October 20, 2003 | Xbox | 92/100 | 89.93% |
| Madden NFL 2004
| August 12, 2003 | Xbox | 92/100 | 89.24% |
| Call of Duty
| October 29, 2003 | 91/100 | 91.52% |
| NCAA Football 2004
| July 16, 2003 | Xbox | 88/100 | 91.33% |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
| Ubisoft | February 19, 2003 | 91/100 | 90.16% |
| ESPN NFL Football
| Sega | September 3, 2003 | Xbox | 91/100 | 89.27% |
| Madden NFL 2004
| August 12, 2003 | 91/100 | 88.4% |
| ESPN NFL Football
| Sega | September 3, 2003 | 91/100 | 88.12% |
| Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
| Konami | May 6, 2003 | 91/100 | 87.9% |
| F1 Challenge '99–'02
| June 24, 2003 | 91/100 | 85.29% |
| Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
| July 1, 2003 | 88/100 | 90.98% |
| Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
| November 11, 2003 | 90/100 | 90.64% |
| Tony Hawk's Underground
| October 27, 2003 | 90/100 | 90.58% |
| NCAA Football 2004
| July 16, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 90.42% |
| Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
| Nintendo | November 17, 2003 | 90/100 | 90.41% |
| NBA Street Vol. 2
| April 29, 2003 | 90/100 | 90.16% |
| Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
| Nintendo | June 24, 2003 | 89/100 | 90.16% |
| ESPN NHL Hockey
| Sega | September 9, 2003 | 90/100 | 86.42% |
| The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – Game of the Year Edition
| October 31, 2003 | Xbox | 88/100 | 89.9% |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
| September 22, 2003 | 89/100 | 89.78% |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
| September 22, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 89.54% |
| Burnout 2: Point of Impact
| April 9, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 89.43% |
| NBA Street Vol. 2
| April 29, 2003 | GameCube | 88/100 | 89.36% |
| Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
| October 21, 2003 | Xbox | 88/100 | 89.26% |
| NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
| February 13, 2003 | 89/100 | 89.25% |
| Rise of Nations
| May 20, 2003 | 89/100 | 89.17% |
| World Series Baseball 2K3
| Sega | March 10, 2003 | Xbox | 89/100 | 89.12% |
| F-Zero GX
| Nintendo | July 25, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 89.03% |
| NBA Street Vol. 2
| April 29, 2003 | Xbox | 89/100 | 88.91% |
| WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!
| Nintendo | March 21, 2003 | 89/100 | 88.83% |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
| Ubisoft | November 10, 2003 | 89/100 | 88.59% |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
| Ubisoft | March 28, 2003 | 89/100 | 88.07% |
| Top Spin
| October 28, 2003 | Xbox | 89/100 | 88.05% |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
| September 22, 2003 | Xbox | 89/100 | 87.23% |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
| Ubisoft | April 10, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 86.82% |
| Tony Hawk's Underground
| October 27, 2003 | GameCube | 89/100 | 86.18% |
| ESPN NBA Basketball
| Sega | October 21, 2003 | 89/100 | 86.13% |
| Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
| Nintendo | April 25, 2003 | 88/100 | 88.83% |
| Beyond Good & Evil
| Ubisoft | December 2, 2003 | Xbox | 87/100 | 88.61% |
| Burnout 2: Point of Impact
| May 1, 2003 | Xbox | 88/100 | 88.55% |
| Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
| October 14, 2003 | 86/100 | 88.52% |
| Beyond Good & Evil
| Ubisoft | December 11, 2003 | GameCube | 87/100 | 88.14% |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3
| Ubisoft | October 28, 2003 | Xbox | 86/100 | 88.06% |
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
| August 27, 2003 | 88/100 | 87.64% |
| ESPN NHL Hockey
| Sega | September 9, 2003 | Xbox | 88/100 | 87.27% |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight
| July 29, 2003 | 88/100 | 87.07% |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
| September 22, 2003 | 88/100 | 86.77% |
| NASCAR Thunder 2004
| September 16, 2003 | 88/100 | 86.72% |
| Jak II
| October 14, 2003 | 87/100 | 87.93% |
| Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
| Square | February 14, 2003 | 87/100 | 87.64% |
==''Famitsu''==
The following video game releases in 2002 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" and received Famitsu scores of at least 36 out of 40.{{cite web|title=週刊ファミ通クロスレビュープラチナ殿堂入りソフト一覧|trans-title=Weekly Famitsu Cross Review Platinum Hall of Fame Software List|url=http://geimin.net/da/db/cross_review/index.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081027205828/geimin.net/da/db/cross_review/index.php|archive-date=October 27, 2008|access-date=24 February 2021|website=Geimin|language=ja}}
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
! Title ! Platform !Developer ! Publisher ! Genre ! Score (out of 40) |
| Operator's Side (Lifeline)
|37 |
| Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
|PlayStation 2 |Sega |37 |
| Mario & Luigi RPG (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
|GBA |RPG |37 |
| Ikaruga
|36 |
| Shin Sangoku Musou 3 (Dynasty Warriors 3)
|PlayStation 2 |Koei |36 |
| Castlevania: Akatsuki no Menuetto (Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow)
|36 |
| Minna no GOLF Online
|PlayStation 2 |Sony Computer Entertainment |36 |
| Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 10
|GameCube |Konami |Sports |36 |
| Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 10
|PlayStation 2 |Pawapuro Production |Konami |Sports |36 |
| Bokura no Taiyou (Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand)
|Game Boy Advance |Konami Tokyo |Konami |Action RPG |36 |
| World Soccer: Winning Eleven 7 (Pro Evolution Soccer 3)
|PlayStation 2 |Konami Computer Entertainment Japan |Konami |Sports |36 |
| Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
|GameCube |Nintendo |36 |
| Minna no GOLF 4 (Hot Shots Golf Fore!)
|PlayStation 2 |Clap Hanz |Sony Computer Entertainment |Sports |36 |
| Biohazard Outbreak (Resident Evil Outbreak)
|PlayStation 2 |Survival horror |36 |
=Critically panned games=
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ 2003 games and expansions scoring lower than 37/100 (MC) or 37.5% (GR){{cite web |title=Worst Video Games for 2003 |url=https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/all/all?sort=desc&year_selected=2003&page=9 |website=Metacritic |access-date=August 12, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Lowest-Ranking Games of 2003 (with at least 5 reviews) |url=https://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=&cat=0&year=2003&numrev=4&sort=1&letter=&search= |website=GameRankings |access-date=August 12, 2019}} |
| scope="col"| Game
! scope="col"| Publisher ! scope="col"| Release Date ! scope="col"| Platform(s) ! scope="col"| MC score ! scope="col"| GR score |
|---|
| Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing
| GameMill Publishing | November 20, 2003 | 8/100 | 3.83% |
| Navy SEALs: Weapons of Mass Destruction
| ValuSoft | July 18, 2003 | 18/100 | 18.83% |
| Gods and Generals
| March 1, 2003 | 19/100 |
| Drake of the 99 Dragons
| November 3, 2003 | Xbox | 22/100 | 20.48% |
| Charlie's Angels
| Ubisoft | July 8, 2003 | GameCube | 23/100 | 23.74% |
| Pulse Racer
| Jaleco | January 2, 2003 | Xbox | 24/100 | 27.75% |
| Batman: Dark Tomorrow
| Kemco | March 18, 2003 | Xbox | 25/100 | 24.06% |
| Terminator 3: War of the Machines
| Atari | November, 2003 | 25/100 | 27.67% |
| Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis
| July 23, 2003 | GameCube | 27/100 | 25.1% |
| Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis
| July 30, 2003 | Xbox | 26/100 | 30.87% |
| Mucha Lucha! Mascaritas of the Lost Code
| Ubisoft | November 18, 2003 | 26/100 | 26.08% |
| Charlie's Angels: Angel X
| June 20, 2003 | 38/100 | 43.07& |
| Stake: Fortune Fighters
| May 5, 2003 | Xbox | 26/100 | 31% |
| Ultimate Demolition Derby
| September 16, 2003 | 27/100 |
| Celebrity Deathmatch
| October 14, 2003 | 30/100 | 27.42% |
| Batman: Dark Tomorrow
| Kemco | March 21, 2003 | GameCube | 29/100 | 27.83% |
| Mistmare
| June 30, 2003 | 33/100 | 28.14% |
| Puzzle Bobble VS
| Taito | October 6, 2003 | N-Gage | N/A | 28.73% |
| Interstellar Trader 2
| Shrapnel Games | March 21, 2003 | 31/100 |
| RoboCop
| July 24, 2003 | Xbox | 30/100 |
| Airport Tycoon 2
| February 26, 2003 | 32/100 | 31% |
| Ring II: Twilight of Gods
| September 16, 2003 | 31/100 | 35% |
| Celebrity Deathmatch
| October 14, 2003 | 32/100 | 36.76% |
| Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective
| Atari | December 9, 2003 | 33/100 | 39.67% |
| American Idol
| November 7, 2003 | 39/100 | 33.17% |
| Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
| Atari | November 11, 2003 | Xbox | 35/100 | 41.06% |
| Fugitive Hunter: War on Terror
| November 18, 2003 | 35/100 | 42.71% |
| Celebrity Deathmatch
| October 14, 2003 | Xbox | 36/100 | 35.83% |
| MotoGP
| THQ | November 14, 2003 | N-Gage | N/A | 35.85% |
| Ozzy & Drix
| December 16, 2003 | 36/100 | 45.6% |
| Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
| Atari | November 24, 2003 | 40/100 | 37.4% |
Notable releases
{{GamePlatformKey|tot=6|GBA|GCN|PS1|PS2|Win|Xbox}}