Two weeks before Christmas doesn't sound like a good time to release a lot of new consoles and games. And in Western regions, it isn't. Most of the hot-ticket items in this edition of This Week in Video-Game History launched in Japan.

December 12

1988: Tengen sues Nintendo for antitrust violations. This granted them access to the company's programming for the Nin-10 chip and made it easier for them to produce their own unlicensed cartridges. Nintendo later responded with a copyright infringement suit that spelled doom for Tengen.

1991: The Mega CD is released in Japan. North American residents know this as the Sega CD.

2004: The PSP launches in Japan. I remember being so excited about the teaser footage of Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. Of course that didn't come out for another three years.

2005: Game developer and publisher Working Designs closes their doors. You may remember them best for the Lunar series.

December 13

1972: American James McGee is born. Yep, that's his real name, folks.

1991: Tecmo Super Bowl is released.

2004: EA announces their exclusive deal with the NFL meaning that the Madden series would be the only yearly title that had current player rosters. Fans of the 2K Sports games were less than happy with this arrangement.

December 14

1990: Commander Keen is released.

1999: The first Mario Party hits the shelves and immediately breaks the analog sticks on hundreds, if not thousands, of Nintendo 64 controllers. I think it was an evil scheme to up accessory sales.

2001: Animal Crossing is released on the GameCube.

December 15

1989: The Wizard opens in theaters. Children country-wide start foaming at the mouth when they glimpse Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time.

1995: Suikoden is released in Japan.

December 16

1999: Space Channel 5 is released in Japan.

December 17

1987: The original Mega Man is released. But, people tend to overlook it and go straight to Mega Man 2 these days. With a soundtrack like this, can you blame them for making the jump?

1993: The first game in the Gabriel Knight PC adventure series is released.

December 18

1987: The original Final Fantasy is released. It's now available on 10 different platforms. This is where I shamefully admit to owning it on five of them.