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List of years in video gaming       (table)
… 1972 .  1973 .  1974 .  1975  . 1976  . 1977  . 1978 … 1979 1980 1981 -1982- 1983 1984 1985 … 1986 .  1987 .  1988 .  1989  . 1990  . 1991  . 1992 …
Related time period  or  subjects
… 1979 . 1980 . 1981 - 1982 - 1983 . 1984 . 1985 … … 1950s . 1960s . 1970s -1980s- 1990s . 2000s . 2010s … 19th century . 20th century . 21st century …
Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Science +...

Contents 1 Events 1.1 Notable releases 1.2 Hardware 1.3 Business

[edit] Events

• December 27 - Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.

[edit] Notable releases

• October 13 - Mystique releases the Custer's Revenge adult video game for the Atari 2600 home console.
• Activision releases Barnstorming and Megamania by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600.
• Bally/Midway releases the Tron arcade game before the movie
• Gottlieb releases the Q-Bert arcade game.
• Atari releases E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, possibly the biggest flop in video game history and one of two major video game releases (along with the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man) that helped spark the video game crash of 1983.
• Mattel releases Utopia by Don Daglow for Intellivision; Utopia was the first sim game.
• Namco releases Dig Dug, Pole Position, Super Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus and Xevious.
• SEGA releases the Zaxxon arcade game.
• Starpath releases Dragonstomper by Stephen Landrum (the only RPG for the Atari 2600) and Escape From The Mindmaster also for the Atari 2600.
• Warner Communications' Atari releases the Quantum arcade game.
• Williams Electronics releases the arcade games Joust (designed by Barry Oursler, art by Constantino Mitchell) and Robotron: 2084 (designed by Eugene Jarvis).
• Parker Brothers releases Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Atari 2600 and Intellivision), the first Star Wars video game.
• Edu-Ware releases Prisoner 2 for the Apple II, Atari, and IBM PC.
• Sir-tech Software, Inc. releases Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds, the second scenario in the Wizardry series

[edit] Hardware

• Atari releases the Atari 5200 home console.
• Astrocade Inc. (formerly Astrovision) releases the Astrocade console.
• Coleco Industries releases the Gemini home console, an Atari 2600 clone.
• Commodore Business Machines releases the Commodore 64 home computer.
• Emerson releases the Arcadia 2001 home console.
• Entrex releases the Adventure Vision home console.
• General Consumer Electronics releases the Vectrex home console.
• Sinclair Research releases the ZX Spectrum home computer, which would become the most popular gaming computer of its generation in the UK.
• Coleco releases the ColecoVision home console.

[edit] Business

• New companies: Electronic Arts Inc., Lucasfilm Games, MicroProse Software, Inc., Enix Corporation.
• Ultimate Play The Game (later to be known as Rare) is founded.

v • d • e History of video games By generation First (1972–1977) · Second (1976–1984) · Video game crash of 1983 · Third (1983–1992) · Fourth (1987–1996) · Fifth (1993–2002) · Sixth (1998–) · Seventh (2005–) By decade 1990s · 2000s By year Years prior to 1972  · 1970 1971 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 2010 · 2011 · Future