See also: 1980 in video gaming, other events of 1981, 1982 in video gaming, history of video games

Contents

1 Events 1.1 Notable releases 1.2 Hardware 1.3 Business

Events

• Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found Electronic Games, the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of video game journalism.

Notable releases

• Bally/Midway releases the Gorf arcade game
• Konami Corporation creates the Frogger video game
• Namco releases the Galaga arcade game
• Nelsonic releases the Space Attacker watch LCD game
• Nintendo releases Shigeru Miyamoto's Donkey Kong arcade game
• Williams Electronics releases the Stargate arcade game
• IBM and Microsoft include the game DONKEY.BAS with the IBM PC, arguably the first PC game.

Hardware

• Astrovision Inc. distributes the Bally Computer System after buying the rights from Bally/Midway
• Coleco Industries releases the Total Control 4 home console
• SEGA test markets the SG-1000 home console
• Sinclair Research releases the ZX81 home computer, the first widely available 'domestic' computer to play games in the UK. Shortly, J.K. Greye's 3D Monster Maze is published by M.E.Evans – the first computer game featuring real-time 3-D graphics without using specialized vector graphics hardware.

Business

• APF Electronics Inc. goes defunct