1980 in video gaming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Notable events of 1980 in video gaming. See also history of computer and video games.
[edit] Events
[edit] Notable releases
- Richard Garriott creates Akalabeth, a computer role-playing game for the Apple IIe. It launches Garriott's career and is a precursor to his highly successful Ultima series.
- Mattel releases the Intellivision video game console.
- Namco releases Navalone, Kaitei Takara Sagashi, SOS, Pac-Man, which is their biggest selling game of all time, King and Balloon, which is the first game to feature synthesized voices, Tank Battalion and Rally-X, which is the first game to feature a bonus round.
- Rogue is written by Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold, spawning the category of roguelike games.
- Nintendo releases the Radar Scope arcade game and the Game & Watch handheld LCD game by Gunpei Yokoi.
- Sinclair Research releases the ZX80 home computer, the first 'domestic' computer to play games in the UK.
- Stern Electronics (a subsidiary of Universal Research Laboratories) releases the Berzerk arcade game.
- Warner Communications' Atari releases the Missile Command arcade game, and the Battlezone arcade game (it was later enhanced for the US Army for military training) – albeit relying on specialized vector graphics hardware.
- Williams Electronics releases the Defender arcade game.
- Warner Communications' Atari releases the Centipede (by Ed Logg & Dona Bailey) and Warlords arcade games and also the Tempest color vector arcade game.
- Edu-Ware releases The Prisoner, loosely based upon the 1960s TV series of the same name. Programmed by David Mullich, it becames a classic of the Apple II platform.
- Infocom releases Zork I, the first Zork game and the first Infocom game.
[edit] Business
- New companies: Mindscape, Inc., Sierra On-Line.
- Mattel creates the original five-programmer Intellivision game design team, nicknamed the Blue Sky Rangers by a magazine writer when the company keeps their names secret in a TV Guide interview.
