Video games - 1980 in video gaming

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	Video games - 1980 in video gaming

Events

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) – the first video game to employ 3-D graphics, 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.

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.

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