The 1980s were a very different time for gaming in the UK. People bought games at WH Smiths, not Xbox Live and the PS Store. Daley Thompson was the most bankable sports star. And games were basic to the point of modernistic abstraction.
But it was also a bold and fresh time, when every game seemed to offer something genuinely new -- and 45 minute highlight reels and not YouTube teasers were the norm.
This archive footage from November 1988, which popped up today on Kotaku, is a lovely window into that time. It's a perfect snapshot of gaming in the UK at that time - and also the terrible video wipes and effects employed by the WH Smiths team.