1979
| 1979 | |
| Products and events | See 1979 categories |
1979 was a year of continued expansion of the use of computers in multiple industries.
Motion pictures
Animation
The computer scientist, Jim Blinn of the NASA-funded Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, released a short film titled Blobby Man. It was created to showcase advanced body movement in computer animation.
Live action
On May 25, 1979, 20th Century Fox released Alien. During the landing sequence, raster wire-frame model rendering was used to depict the navigation monitors.
On December 18, 1979, Walt Disney Productions released The Black Hole. It used raster wire-frame model rendering and computerized camera technology to depict the black hole during the opening credits.
Companies and organizations founded
In England, Dixons Group formed a subsidiary named Advanced Consumer Electronics that distributed video game consoles under the Acetronic label.
In Europe, the Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial began using the Panasonic brand name.
In the U.S. state of California, Computer Arts was founded by Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller, and Bob Whitehead. Shortly after its foundation, Computer Arts was renamed Activision.
Also in California, On-Line Systems was founded by the husband and wife team of Ken Williams and Roberta Williams. They initially formed the company to develop and distribute graphic adventure games that were designed by Roberta and programmed by Ken.
In Tokyo, Japan, ASCII and Microsoft jointly formed the first overseas sales office of the latter, ASCII Microsoft.
On May 30, 1979, also in Tokyo, Kenzo Tsujimoto formed IRM, which was intended to manufacture and sell game machines. Later that year, IPM was changed to Irem after receiving a letter from IBM which stated that IPM was too easy to be confused with its company name.
Tose was founded in November 1979 in Kyoto, Japan.
People born in 1979
Jennifer McMurray, the founder of WE Computers Museum, was born on March 17.
Video games set in 1979
1979 Revolution: Black Friday by iNK Stories and Art of Fighting 2 by SNK were set in 1979.
