This week celebrates the birth of two key video-game designers and the initial releases of a few games. Of course August 7th might be one of the most important dates in recent history.

August 1

1976: The Fairchild Channel F goes on sale. It was the first programmable cartridge-based system that had a stunning palate of eight colors, two of which were slightly different shades of gray. Still, home consoles had to start somewhere.

2005: Blizzard North, the studio that developed Diablo 1 and 2, is shut down. Blizzard North was founded in 1993 and was shut down because of key staff members leaving for other projects. Being shorthanded definitely didn't help when Vivendi pulled the plug over the poor development efforts going into Diablo 3.

August 2

1994: Earthworm Jim comes to the Sega Genesis. This same year I start kindergarten and obsess over getting a Genesis so I can play this game. I end up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers game for the SNES....

August 3

1970: Masahiro Sakurai is born. Twenty-two years later, he creates the world's cutest yet deadliest platforming mascot, Kirby.

2000: Dynasty Warriors 2 is released and starts giving Westerners a twisted perspective of Chinese history.

August 5

1967: Kazunori Yamauchi is born. Besides likely being the most car-obsessed man in Japan, he is the creator and producer of Gran Turismo. Fun fact: Nissan asked Yamauchi to help to design the spectacular GT-R. Nissan later gave him one as a token of their appreciation.

1995: Yoshi's Island is released. Children everywhere learn to avoid the fuzzy for fear of getting dizzy.

August 6

1986:  Gamers see that female main characters can be just as cool as guys when Metroid hits the shelves. Of course it took some time for that idea to spread. 

August 7

2007: Federal judge Ronald Whyte rules against Governor Schwarzenegger's 2005 law requiring retailers to label violent video games and prohibit their sales to minors. Turns out most game stores know about this fancy ESRB thing that the government established in the first place....