Short answers, pulled from the story.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1982) was a scrolling shooter for the Atari 2600, programmed by Rex Bradford and published by Parker Brothers. It was the first licensed Star Wars video game ever released. An Intellivision version followed in 1983.
Rex Bradford programmed the Atari 2600 version of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which Parker Brothers published in 1982.
In 1982, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Frogger together sold a combined three million cartridges for Parker Brothers, making them the company's two best-selling games that year.
Harlan Ellison reviewed the game in Video Review magazine and called it a "shamelessly exploitative little toy" and "the latest icon of the Imbecile Industry." His sharpest criticism centered on the game's lack of a winning condition, as both possible endings are failure states.
The game cannot be won. It ends either when the player's fifth speeder is destroyed or when the lead AT-AT walker reaches and destroys Echo Base. Both outcomes are failure conditions; the objective is to survive as long as possible.
On the Intellivision, AT-AT walkers require thirty hits to destroy; on the Atari 2600, they require forty-eight hits. The Intellivision version was released in 1983, one year after the original Atari 2600 release.