Zork News from ActiVision

[DrPaul]

This was posted on the r.g.i.f newsgroup today by a fellow named Peter.

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Here's some news from www.infocom-if.org/news.html if you haven't seen it already.

"Thursday, February 12, 2004

Today Activision's Ken Love wrote in an email that the "Zork IV" project
(see news from last year) is dead.

However, according to Ken there still is another project being planned and
especially "old school" Infocom fans might welcome it more than a first
person version of "Zork," if it really materializes.

The project at this time has a tentative title, no release date, material
for it is still being gathered and it might be cancelled anytime as well,
but you could take it as a good sign that Activision does ponder
possibilities.

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Ken has a number of questions for the Infocom fans out there: "Can you
Infocom fans tell me why Masterpieces fetches so much money on Ebay? Also,
I'd like to know the title' weak spots. what would you like to see in a new
Infocom compilation? Email me with your ?'s. Thanks!"

Interested in having a word on what should appear next under the Infocom
name? The contact Ken rightaway at klove@activision.com ."

Regards,
Peter.

[DataAngel]

LOL this is funny...

[Nemesis]

Masterpieces gets a lot of money because it's so damn hard to find! At Amazon, you can only get it used, and the pries are in the 300-500 dollar range.

[DataAngel]

I just find it funny that this person wants to make a game and then asks everyone else for the information he should already know. Its like asking how to make a game then using their ideas to profit. I say ignore this loser. If they want a game then study Zork etc. otherwise don't rip off others ideas for personal gain thats just wrong.

[DrPaul]

I think this guy is not talking about making a new game.  He's talking about putting together a new compilation, and is asking what we would like to see in it.  For instance, a lot of people that already have Masterpieces would probably be willing to buy it again if it came with some of the nice feelies that were in the original games.  Or maybe if the documentation was better than a PDF file, and better organized than the one that came with Masterpieces.  Heck, I'd buy it.

[DataAngel]

Well he implies a new series of some sort.

[DrPaul]

You're right.  He implies that the 'old school' Zork fans might appreciate it more than a first person Zork game.

I hope it's not just some hot air.  From that description, I would expect something like another text adventure.  That would be interesting, partially because ActiVision only does things for money, and nobody (hardly) does text adventures for money anymore.  Hmmm.

[drex_ej]

It sounds interesting, I think Dr. Paul probably has the jist of it though.  I'd like to see a new masterpiece collection w/ everything in it.  Including the original pamplets and maps.  Thats what I though was the coolest thing about back when I got my first game (at about 13), was the whole environment they built.

[Not_Afgncaap5]

Whatever Acitivision can do to make the most money with the least amount of effort is what will happen.  Of course, that could also mean nothing at all, since they might feel they'd lose money in the venture.

Look at LucasArts, both Full Throttle 2 and Sam and Max 2 were cancelled.  Why? Because it'd be easier and more profitable to milk the Star Wars name.

[DataAngel]

Yeah my friend is REALLY pissed about the Sam and Max game getting cancelled especially since its practically done.

I still think World of Warcraft will get canned.

[John Crisp]

Several years ago there was talk of 3 new Zork Games. Grand Inquisitor to be the first of them. I look at these message boards and i see nothing. There used to be a Zork Homepage, cant even find that anymore.

[DataAngel]

Yes you are correct, there never will be anymore Zork games unless fanmade... And the Zork page is MIA.

[ezekiel]

Depends which zork page your talking about as ive mirrored the last two official sites as much as i can

[Andy]

Am I right in saying the new Myst game is now a 3D adventure? Rather than point n' click? Never having played Myst, I may well be wrong.

Let's put it this way. Activision will not spend money on the Zork series. Not unless they can do a Doom Clone (I know, they're called FPSs now, not Doom Clones, but hey...) where you go around shooting Orcs and Grues (in the dark of course).

In the light of the "amazing" and "groundbreaking" Halo and Half-Life etc, I don't think anyone would buy into an older license they've never heard of and you don't get to kill some alien scum.

[brian0918]

You should try checking out the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) for remnants of the old zork activision sites.  Here's some of the old Zork Nemesis site:

http://web.archive.org/web/200010151421 ... index.html