2005 saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Resident Evil 4, Black & White 2, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Mario Kart DS, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Myst V: End of Ages, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, and WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006, alongside prominent new releases including Brain Age, F.E.A.R., Forza Motorsport, Dinosaur King, God of War, Guild Wars, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, Onechanbara, Shadow of the Colossus, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6, and Sniper Elite.
The seventh generation of video game consoles also began with the launch of the Xbox 360, while the Nintendo DS launched in PAL regions.
The year's best-selling video game worldwide was Gran Turismo 4 for the PlayStation 2. The year's most critically acclaimed title was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube and PlayStation 2.
Legend
Major awards Category/Organization 23rd Golden Joystick Awards VGA 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards 6th Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Resident Evil 4 God of War Shadow of the Colossus Wireless/Handheld Wireless Super Mario 64 DS Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Ancient Empires II rowspan="2" Handheld Lumines: Puzzle Fusion Nintendogs Innovation PlayStation Portable Guitar Hero Guitar Hero,Nintendogs Artistic Achievementor Graphics Animation rowspan="2" Resident Evil 4 God of War Shadow of the Colossus Art Direction Shadow of the Colossus Audio Music rowspan="2" We Love Katamari God of War Guitar Hero Sound Design God of War Soundtrack Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Guitar Hero Character Design or Performance Male rowspan="2" Jack Black as Carl DenhamPeter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie T.C. Carson as KratosGod of War Shadow of the Colossus Female Charlize Theron as Æon FluxÆon Flux Kim Mai Guest as Dawn StarJade Empire Game Design colspan="2" Guitar Hero Shadow of the Colossus Narrative colspan="2" Call of Duty 2: Big Red One PsychonautsTechnical Achievement Gameplay Engineering rowspan="2" PlayStation Portable Guitar Hero,Nintendogs Nintendogs Visual Engineering Shadow of the Colossus Multiplayer/Online World of Warcraft Guild Wars Battlefield 2 rowspan="13" Action/Adventure First-Person rowspan="2" F.E.A.R. Battlefield 2 Adventure God of War Family or Children Family rowspan="2" colspan="2" Guitar Hero Children We Love Katamari Fighting Fight Night Round 2 Soulcalibur III Role-Playing RPG rowspan="2" World of Warcraft Jade Empire MMORPG City of Villains,Guild Wars Sports Individual rowspan="2" Tony Hawk's American Wasteland SSX on Tour Team Madden NFL 06 Racing Burnout Revenge Need for Speed: Most Wanted Strategy/Simulation Strategy colspan="2" rowspan="2" Civilization IV Simulation The Movies Special Award rowspan="2" colspan="2" Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award Richard Garriott
Critically acclaimed games Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
+ 2005 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR) Game Publisher Release Date Platform MC score GR score Resident Evil 4 Capcom October 25, 2005 PS2 96/100 95.85% Resident Evil 4 Capcom January 11, 2005 GCN 96/100 95.83% Ninja Gaiden Black Tecmo September 20, 2005 XB 94/100 94.76% Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Ubisoft March 28, 2005 XB 94/100 94.02% God of War Sony Computer Entertainment March 22, 2005 PS2 94/100 93.58% Civilization IV 2K Games October 25, 2005 WIN 94/100 93.36% Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence Konami December 22, 2005 PS2 94/100 92.97% Forza Motorsport Microsoft Game Studios May 3, 2005 XB 92/100 93.05% Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Rockstar Games June 7, 2005 XB 93/100 92.29% Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Rockstar Games June 7, 2005 WIN 93/100 91.94% Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Ubisoft March 28, 2005 WIN 92/100 91.44% Guitar Hero RedOctane November 7, 2005 PS2 91/100 91.96% Shadow of the Colossus Sony Computer Entertainment October 18, 2005 PS2 91/100 91.43% Mario Kart DS Nintendo November 14, 2005 DS 91/100 91.43% Battlefield 2 Electronic Arts June 21, 2005 WIN 91/100 90.07% Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Konami August 25, 2005 DS 89/100 90.35% Burnout Revenge Electronic Arts September 13, 2005 PS2 90/100 90.3% Advance Wars: Dual Strike Nintendo June 23, 2005 DS 90/100 90.28% Pro Evolution Soccer 5 Konami August 4, 2005 WIN 89/100 90.25% Psychonauts Majesco April 19, 2005 XB 88/100 90.21% Silent Hunter III Ubisoft March 15, 2005 WIN 90/100 88.65% Falcon 4.0: Allied Force Graphsim Entertainment June 28, 2005 WIN 90/100 88.56%
Trends In 2005, the total U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 6% over 2004 to $10.5 billion USD ($9.9 billion, 2004) breaking 2002's $10.3 billion record for the industry.
The increase is largely due to the portable game market which counterbalanced sluggish console game sales. Delays, hardware shortages, and anticipation of next-generation video game consoles have been cited as reasoning for slow sales for both console games and console hardware. Console games and hardware dropped by 12% and 3% respectively.
The portable market of the video game industry rose to $1.4 billion, the second time sales broke the $1 billion mark in the industry's history. Mostly due to the release of the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable in North America, sales for portable hardware rose 96% over 2004. Although the release of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP aided in spurring growth in the portable market, the Game Boy Advance still represented 62% total portable software units sold and 52% of total portable software dollar sales.
Computer games continued its trend and declined by 14%, dropping from $1.1 billion in 2004 to $953 million. Although sales did decrease, NPD claims that playing games on the PC is actually increasing through a variety of different mediums including online websites and MMO subscriptions.
Video game systems PlayStation 2 Xbox GameCube Xbox 360
Additionally, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii were officially unveiled during or just prior to E3; however, only the Xbox 360 was released in 2005. The Xbox 360 was released in North America on November 22, Europe on December 2, and Japan on December 10.
Handheld game systems Game Boy Advance/Game Boy Advance SP/Game Boy Micro Nintendo DS PlayStation Portable This year saw the worldwide release of Sony's PlayStation Portable after initially launching in Japan the previous year. The Nintendo DS made its launch in Australasia on February 24 and then in Europe on March 11. Nintendo also released the Game Boy Micro, the final revision model of the Game Boy Advance as well as the final entry in the Game Boy family overall. The Game Boy Micro was negatively received due to it not being backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (unlike the first 2 GBA models), leading to it being one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles of all time.
Hardware releases
Month Day ConsoleFebruary24Nintendo DSMarch11Nintendo DS24PlayStation Portable//April12PlayStation Portable//September1PlayStation Portable/// 13 Game Boy Micro19Game Boy MicroOctober1Game Boy MicroNovember3Game Boy Micro4Game Boy Micro 22 Xbox 360/December2Xbox 360////10Xbox 360
Best-selling video games + Best-selling video games worldwide in 2005 Rank Title Platform(s) Sales Japan United StatesEurope Worldwide1Gran Turismo 4PS21,066,7491,500,000++2Madden NFL 06PS2, XB, GCN3,2504,430,0004,433,250+3Nintendogs DS965,6651,600,000+4Pokémon EmeraldGBA319,8371,700,000+1,200,0003,219,837+5Mario Kart DSDS836,478800,0003,000,000+6Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4)GCN, PS2591,3793,000,0007Star Wars: Battlefront IIPS2, XB 1,567,000+500,000+2,067,000+8Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Winning Eleven 9)+800,000+1,925,464+9Animal Crossing: Wild WorldDS1,382,228 1,800,000+10Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith61,221931,000+611,000+1,603,221+
Japan + Best-selling video games in Japan Rank Title Platform(s)PublisherGenre Sales 1Oideyo Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: Wild World)DSNintendoSocial simulation1,382,2282Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training (Brain Training)DSNintendoEdutainment1,157,8703World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (Pro Evolution Soccer 5)PS2KonamiSports simulation4Gran Turismo 4PS2SonyRacing simulation1,066,7495Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon)DS, GBANintendoRoguelike1,038,8646NintendogsDSNintendoPet simulation965,6657Yawaraka Atama Juku (Big Brain Academy)DSNintendoEdutainment935,5358Shin Sangokumusou 4 (Dynasty Warriors 5)PS2KoeiHack & slash917,9859Kingdom Hearts IIPS2Square EnixAction RPG884,428 10 Mario Kart DS DSNintendoKart racing836,478
United States + Best-selling video games in the United States Rank Title Platform(s) PublisherSalesRevenueInflation1 Madden NFL 06 PS2, XB, GCN EA Sports4,430,000$2 Pokémon Emerald GBA Nintendo1,700,000++$+3NintendogsDSNintendo+4 Star Wars: Battlefront II PS2, XB LucasArts1,567,000++$+5 Gran Turismo 4 PS2 Sony1,500,000++$+6 NCAA Football 06 PS2 EA Sports1,130,000$7 MVP Baseball 2005 PS2 EA Sports970,000$8World of WarcraftWINBlizzard957,000$9 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith PS2, XB, GBA LucasArts931,000+$81,000,000$10 NBA Live 06 PS2 EA Sports826,000$
PAL regions +Best-selling video games in PAL regionsRankAustraliaUnited KingdomFranceTitlePlatformTitlePlatform(s)Sales1Gran Turismo 4PS2FIFA 061,000,000+Pro Evolution Soccer 52Pokémon EmeraldGBAPro Evolution Soccer 5 (PES 5)800,000+ rowspan="9" 3Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasPS2Need for Speed: Most Wanted750,000+4Need for Speed: Underground 2PS2Gran Turismo 4PS2611,000+5The Simpsons: Hit & RunPS2Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith611,0006Ratchet & Clank 3PS2FIFA Street500,000+7Buzz!: The Music QuizPS2Star Wars: Battlefront II500,000+8Need for Speed: Most WantedPS2Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas450,000+9WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006PS2King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie450,000+10Super Mario 64 DSDSThe Sims 2402,000+
Notable deaths
January 15 – Deem Bristow, 57, voice actor best known for voicing Doctor Eggman. July 21 – Long John Baldry, 64, musician who played Dr. Ivo Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, various voices in Captain N: The Game Master, and KOMPLEX in Bucky O'Hare. October 2 – Hamilton Camp, 70, actor best known for voice the Prophet of Mercy in Halo 2. November 13 – Eddie Guerrero, 38 pro wrestler who appeared in the WWE games (cover star of WWE Survivor Series and WWE Aftershock).
Top game rentals in the United States +Top video game rentals in the United States Rank Title Platform PublisherGenre1 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2 Rockstar GamesAction-adventure2 Need for Speed: Underground 2 PS2 Electronic ArtsRacing3 Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition PS2 Rockstar Games 4 Halo 2 XB MicrosoftFirst-person shooter5 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith PS2 LucasArtsAction6 Madden NFL 06 PS2 EA SportsSports7 WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw PS2 THQWrestling8 Gran Turismo 4 PS2 SonyRacing simulation9 Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition XB Rockstar GamesRacing10 NCAA Football 06 PS2 EA SportsSports
Events Date(s) EventFebruary 14 Video sharing platform YouTube is launched. It would quickly become a favorite for gaming walkthroughs, Let's Plays, speedruns, and more. March 6 The television show 60 Minutes tackles issues within video game controversy. This segment of 60 Minutes has been criticized by video game players for encouraging video game censorship.March 7–11 Game Developers Conference Nintendo keynote speech: "The Heart of the Gamer" by Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo.