Colecovision released
The video game wars officially enter a new generation of hardware as Connecticut-based toymaker Coleco unveils the Colecovision home video game system. Packaged with an almost-but-not-quite-arcade-accurate port of the hit game Donkey Kong, and pushed by an advertising campaign focusing on the message of “bringing the arcade experience home,” Colecovision’s best opening gambit may be an “Expansion Module” allowing the use of Atari VCS games on the console, making it possible for Atari owners to step up without having to rebuild their game libraries from scratch.
Math Gran Prix
Atari releases its “edutainment” cartridge Math Gran Prix for the Atari VCS, a title designed to stave off critics of video games’ negative effects on kids’ schoolwork. Perhaps predictably, Math Gran Prix fails to cross the retail finish line – the same parents complaining that the Atari is keeping homework from getting done aren’t buying educational games for it.