Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame
British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards
Game One channel (subsidiary of Canalplus); Infogrames Entertainment SA and Canal+ launch the Game One television channel.
May 28–30 — The 4th annual E3 is held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The first annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E3
May 28 - Bill Williams, designer of Alley Cat, Necromancer, and Mind Walker, dies.
July 3 - Danielle Bunten Berry, designer of M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities of Gold, dies.
October 23 - The over-hyped, under-delivering Trespasser is released for PCs, quickly becoming the most disappointing game of the year.
The site LinuxGames is established.
The ESRB changes the "K-A" (Kids to Adults) rating to "E" (Everyone) in February.
Nintendo's Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Color handheld console is released.
Sega's Dreamcast, an Internet-ready home console released in Japan and later in 1999 in US and the PAL regions.
The Sega Saturn is discontinued in the US and Europe.
Bandai's WonderSwan handheld is released in Japan.
SNK's Neo Geo Pocket handheld released.
Activision acquires CD Contact Data and Head Game Publishing
Eidos Interactive acquires Crystal Dynamics
Electronic Arts Inc. acquires Virgin Studio and Westwood Studios
JTS Corp. (Atari Corporation) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hasbro acquires Atari from JTS.
Square Co. and Electronic Arts form Square Electronic Arts LLC to publish a wealth of Square Co. titles in the U.S.
Havas, a subsidiary of Vivendi, acquires Cendant Software, which includes Sierra On-Line and Blizzard Entertainment
Lego Media established by Lego Group
New companies: BreakAway, Elixir, Metro3D, Rockstar, Sunrise, Troika, WildTangent, Loki
Defunct: DWANGO
1998 in video gaming Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
