Infocom, founded in 1979, were one of the great studios of the early days of PC gaming, responsible for classics like the Zork series. They may be long gone (Infocom were shut down in 1989), but their history lives on in this incredible collection of old documents.
The Lost Treasures of Infocom collection is now available for iPad and iPhone, boasting 27 classic adventure games and more than 350 hours of gameplay for a mere $10.
Go read/play Wired's fantastic interview/game with/about the pioneers of Zork and interactive fiction.
Zork is one of the oldest adventure game franchises there is. The series is so old, in fact, that aside from a few rare instances you can only play the games using, and seeing, text. No graphics, no icons, no heads-up display, nothing.
Normally, the sequel to a popular video game remains largely the same as the preceding title (or titles). If the first one was a shooter, the second one is a shooter. In 1993, however, one series did things a little differently.
Or is it the dorkiest? However you want to label it, the ability to play Infocom text adventures like Zork and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with a typewriter is without a doubt neat.
In 1998, Stanford University's Henry Lowood began preserving video games and video game artifacts. Lowood, along with a four member committee, has announced a game canon, for the Library of Congress. Japan begs to differ.
Errol and Pifie have written a walkthrough to help you beat the grand-daddy of text adventure games, Zork. You won't find it on Gamefaqs, however, because it's written as a rockin' three-minute song.
Guitar Hero's been played out. Colours pass in front of you, you mash a button, music plays, life goes on. If only there was a way to take the core mechanics and make them fresh.
Jason Scott, connoisseur of all things old-timey, knows (and loves) his gaming history. His Flickr gallery shows this. It also shows, remarkably, that he's got a copy of the lifetime sales figures of a bunch of Infocom games. Infocom being the developers of games like Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. It's…
iPhone gaming just got a shot in the arm with the release of Frotz, an interactive fiction (aka text adventure) app that's free to download. With it, iPhone owners can while away the hours with dozens of text-only games, getting lamps, facing north, being frozen by wizards... all that fun stuff! That means you have…
