•
Nintendo proclaims "1994: The Year of the Cartridge". •
Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of
Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by
Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends
Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia. • "Project Reality" is renamed the Nintendo
Ultra 64. The console's design is revealed to the public for the first time in spring 1994. • The second of two
congressional hearings on video games takes place on March 5. Topics for discussion include the depiction of violence and sexual content in video games, their influence on children, and the prospect of governmental regulation of video game content. • April – The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) is founded in response to the hearings (name changed to the
Entertainment Software Association in 2003); the IDSA founds the
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in order to self-regulate content in video games in the mold of the
Motion Picture Association of America film rating system. • April 28 –
Sega and
MGM make a venture to create video games, movies, and television programs. • June 24 – The
Computer Game Developers Association is formed by Ernest W. Adams. • November –
Game Zero magazine drops their print format and becomes the first video game news magazine on the web. • November 10 –
William Higinbotham, creator of
Tennis for Two (1958), dies at 84.
Business • New companies:
Neversoft • Defunct:
Commodore,
Tradewest • September 14 – Video gaming magazine
Nintendomagasinet is cancelled after four years. Number 9 of 1994 would have been released on this day, but instead the magazine joins
Super Power. •
Apogee establishes the 3D Realms Entertainment division. •
Blizzard Entertainment is renamed from Silicon & Synapse. •
SSI sold to
Mindscape • Alpex Computer Corp. v. Nintendo lawsuit: Alpex sues Nintendo over patent infringements related to the NES. Nintendo loses the case. (In 1996 this ruling was reversed by an appeals court, which determined that no patents had been infringed upon.) • Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Dragon Pacific Intern ==Notable releases in 1994==