I'm gonna say 1992 simply because of Mortal Kombat. Why? It was the year the Government began to fear video games. They realized kids were happy and not by traditional wholesome means like, church, school, and war. Instead, kids were playing a game that literally had legislation created and the ESRB. Also Mortal Kombat brought a realism to video games never done before and pretty much evolved the fighting genre. Any year that makes the government of the USA afraid to a point of holding legislation and writing bills, and creating things like the ESRB.. thats a year that moved not only players, but governments of 1st world countries. That was the year everyone knew, video games were here to stay.