1982 was a pretty nice year, overall. Wikipedia goes into gruesome detail on many things, but doesn't list all of these.

• Commodore 64 was published
• ZX Spectrum, a significant 8-bit computer in the UK, was published
• PC-9801, the dominant Japanese 16-bit home computer by NEC, was published
• Intel designed the powerful first stepping of the 80286 processor
• Sequential Circuits' Prophet 600, the first MIDI-standard synthesizer, was published while the original MIDI specification was being written
• The Computer was given the Time Magazine's Man of the Year nomination
• Digital emoticons were proposed

• Lucasfilm Games was formed
• Microprose Software, Inc. was founded

• Ultima II was published
• Zork III (for microcomputers) was published
• Mickey & Donald, the first video game starring Donald Duck, was published as a Game&Watch handheld
• Utopia, possibly the first game in the sim/god genre, was published
• Artworx's Strip Poker, possibly the first in the genre, was published
• Koei's Night Life, the first commercial erotic game in Japan, was published for PC-8801

• Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe, and Everything was published
• Tracy Hickman started developing Dragonlance at TSR
• James Hogan's Voyage from Yesteryear was published
• William Gibson's Burning Chrome was published, coining the term "cyberspace"

• Chariots of Fire won something at the Academy Awards
• The movie Blade Runner was released
• The movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released
• The movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released
• The movie Tron was released
• The movie Shaolin Temple, Jet Li's first appearance, was released
• The movie Conan the Barbarian was released
• Monty Python performed Live at the Hollywood Bowl
• The original Blackadder pilot episode was produced
• The first season of Family Ties, a sitcom with Michael J. Fox, was aired
• The brief comedy series Police Squad! was aired

• Ed Starink founded Star Inc., the famous synthesizer music studio
• Jean-Michel Jarre released the album Concerts in China
• Michael Jackson released the album Thriller
• Depeche Mode released the album A Broken Flame
• Madonna released her first single, Everybody
• The Alan Parsons Project released the album Eye in the Sky
• Yazoo published their first album Upstairs at Eric's
• Frank Zappa published the single Valley Girl, featuring a monologue by his daughter, Moon Unit

• David Copperfield set up Project Magic, intended to teach magic tricks to disabled patients in hospitals to improve their physical and mental control and supporting their self-esteem

• The longest lunar eclipse of the century took place
• The Soviet Union successfully launched space station Salyut-7 into orbit
• The Soviet probes Venera 13 and 14 each deposited a lander on Venus, and sent back the first color photographs of the surface
• The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, a significant experimental fusion power generator in Princeton, New Jersey, began operating
• British Airways Flight 9 flew into a volcanic ash cloud, experienced complete engine failure, observed exciting luminous plasma, and eventually landed with no casualties
• The European Court of Human Rights did something right for once and prohibited teachers from physically punishing kids (unless the parents said they could)
• Germany, Italy and the UK jointly produced a design for the Agile Combat Aircraft, a milestone on the road to the modern Eurofighter
• The British, seven-sided 20p coin was issued
• The metropolitan in Helsinki began operating
• Kyiv celebrated its 1500th anniversary, although the exact founding date is obviously guesswork

• Koivisto replaced Kekkonen as President
• Andropov replaced Brezhnev as General Secretary
• Javier Pérez de Cuéllar y de la Guerra replaced Kurt Waldheim as UN Secretary-General
• Keke Rosberg won the Formula 1 world championship

• Kirsten Dunst was born
• Anne Hathaway was born
• Jenna Haze was born
• The radiant Princess Madeleine of Sweden was born