Activision releases a trio of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system, including Alan Miller’s Tennis. 
Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
Activision releases a trio of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system, including Alan Miller’s Tennis.
Activision releases a trio of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system, including David Crane’s Tennis.
Electric Light Orchestra‘s ninth album, the science fiction/time travel concept album Time, is released, featuring the singles “Hold On Tight”, “Here Is The News” and “Twilight”. For the first time, almost all of the album’s string parts are played on keyboards. 
ITV airs the 47th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Frank Finlay guest stars.
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Better known for making jukeboxes and speakers, Rock-Ola dips its toes into the video game industry by releasing Warp Warp in the United States. The arcade game, originated in Japan by Namco, features cute, colorful characters in a maze setting, not entirely unlike Pac-Man, but fails to catch on in American arcades.
ITV airs the 48th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Rachel Kempson guest stars.
More about Tales Of The Unexpected in theLogBook.com Store
Tales Of The Unexpected now streaming on Amazon Prime
Exidy’s swashbuckling coin-op video game Venture arrives in arcades, letting players control the actions of the bow-and-arrow-shooting treasure hunter, Winky. The game’s unique structure provides an early example of an “interactive graphical menu” letting players choose which treasure room to plunder next – but a choice has to be made quickly, in real time, because there are still monsters that can kill Winky on the menu screen.
ITV airs the 49th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Joanna Pettet guest stars.
More about Tales Of The Unexpected in theLogBook.com Store
Tales Of The Unexpected now streaming on Amazon Prime
ITV airs the 50th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Andrew Ray guest stars.
More about Tales Of The Unexpected in theLogBook.com Store
Tales Of The Unexpected now streaming on Amazon Prime
Sega releases the arcade game Space Odyssey in American arcades. With its depiction of Schwarzchild radius-style black holes scrolling under the player’s spaceship, this is among the first arcade video games with isometric 3-D graphics.
Sega introduces Astro Blaster to an arcade scene already awash in space shoot-’em-ups, but the game carves out a small niche for itself. Its greatest contribution, later on, may be in providing much of the inspiration for Activision’s home video game hit Megamania.
Mattel Electronics releases the PBA Bowling cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system.
MTV (Music Television), a New York City-based cable channel, goes on the air at one minute after midnight, premiering with the Buggles’ music video “Video Killed The Radio Star”. This heralds the beginning of the dominance of music videos in the music industry, though at first MTV’s format is to concentrate heavily on mainstream rock, new wave and semi-obscure acts (Split Enz features twice within the first 30 videos played). MTV quickly comes in for criticism that black artists are sorely underrepresented in its rotation. In later years, MTV uses its influence with younger viewers to raise political awareness, though it will eventually replace much of its music-related programming with game shows, reality shows, and other programming, until the “music” of “Music Television” becomes somewhat misleading.
ITV airs the eighth episode of the HTV West-produced children’s fantasy series Into The Labyrinth, co-created by Bob Baker (Sky, Doctor Who, K-9) and starring Ron Moody and Pamela Salem. This is the beginning of the show’s second season.
With game play similar to the coin-op hit Defender (but more detailed, colorful graphics), Universal introduces the minor arcade hit Cosmic Avenger in America. Though it never really sets earnings records, home video game rights are eventually snapped up by Coleco, which will offer a home version of Cosmic Avenger on its upcoming Colecovision console.
With one unprofitable flop behind it, the American branch of Nintendo has a lot riding on its second arcade game. Fortunately, it strikes gold with Donkey Kong, the coin-op which launches the careers of both Shigeru Miyamoto and a plumber named Mario (also referred to as “Jumpman”). Nintendo is now in America to stay.
ITV airs the 25th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley. Valentine Dyall (Doctor Who’s Black Guardian) guest stars.
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IBM Model 5150, developed under the code name “Chess” but better known as the IBM Personal Computer, is released, including the original PC edition of Microsoft’s MS-DOS. This not only marks the ascendency of Microsoft as a maker of operating systems, but a sudden shift away from a multitude of other computer platforms (especially the Apple II series) toward the IBM PC. Within a year, the first IBM PC-compatible machine will arrive on the market, but while that begins to cost IBM its hardware market share, it popularizes the Intel-8088-based architecture and makes it the standard of the computer industry.
ITV airs the 26th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Challenging players to fly their space fighter through an array of twisty mazes in an attempt to reach the final goal – destroying the “brain” of an enemy rocket – SNK’s Vanguard is released in American arcades. This is one of the first coin-op video games to present the player with an option upon running out of “lives”: allow the game to end, or insert another quarter or token to continue from the last position.
ITV airs the 27th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
ITV airs the 28th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
ITV airs the 29th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The NASA/JPL unmanned space probe Voyager 2 makes its closest pass to the planet Saturn. Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 does not make a close pass to the large moon Titan, and uses Saturn’s gravity to deflect it toward the planet Uranus, the first man-made spacecraft to aim for that planet. Problems with the aiming mechanism of the scan platform – the arm of the spacecraft containing Voyager’s camera and imaging systems – call the viability of a Uranus flyby into question for a short time, but the issue is resolved and workaround procedures are developed in the event of a recurring problem.
ITV airs the 30th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley. Scheduling conflicts for the lead actors again keep the series off the air until the following year after this episode.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The first game generated by west coast programmers working for Taito’s new American game design division, Qix hits the arcades, reeling players in with its weird sound effects, abstract game play, and an enemy that anticipates the look of Windows screen savers years before either Windows or screen savers exist. Qix becomes an instant cult classic, though it proves to be nearly impossible to replicate with the current generation of home video game hardware.
Not wanting to miss a piece of the Pac-Man pie, American pinball & video game manufacturer Williams Electronics releases Make Trax in Stateside arcades, one of the few Japanese-made games licensed by Williams for American release. Yet another maze chase game, Make Trax at least has the novelty of turning the player into a paintbrush trying to coat the entire maze with color.
Created by Japanese video game manufacturer Konami (which has yet to establish a corporate foothold in North America), Frogger is introduced to the United States by Sega, and becomes an instant arcade hit whose cute graphics make it a natural for Pac-Man fans. In time, Frogger inspires a rock song, a cartoon, and numerous home video game cartridges.
The first episode of BBC1’s adaptation of The Day Of The Triffids premieres, based on John Wyndham’s novel. W. Morgan Sheppard (Max Headroom) guest stars.
NBC premieres the first episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan (Transformers), Kathy Garver (Family Affair), and Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo, Transformers, The Smurfs). Keye Luke, Hans Conreid, and Anne Lockhart guest star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.