Zork rereleases at Good Old Games (GOG.com)

[KM3K]

GOG.com just released a teaser page for their next release: http://www.gog.com/en/page/1801

For those that aren't aware of GOG.com, they're Good Old Games, a company that rereleases games in downloadable format for modern (Windows) computers, without any DRM, at a cheap price.

There's the obvious ASCII art pointing to something related to text-based games, but that could be anything. Some people on their forum determined that the images on the upper right corner of the page is of a Dornbeast and a Wizard, as depicted in the Beyond Zork manual. For the Wizard, they link to a scan of the manual. http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/be ... endor9.jpg
For the Dornbeast, they linked to a Zork Wikia page showing the image from the manual for the Dornbeast, and they both match. http://zork.wikia.com/wiki/Dornbeast (On a side note, I've never come across that wiki before, anyone familiar with it?)

So that seem pretty definitive that Beyond Zork is coming, and because this is their first release of Zork, this is most likely a collection of some kind. I'd love to see a collection of all Zork games, or at least all Zork interactive fiction. I'm more familiar with the graphical Zork games than the text ones, so this would be really interesting to me.

[lordskylark]

When I talked with Activision a couple months ago, they had vaguely mentioned something about Zork games being released for updated systems. As vague as it was, I wasn't certain that I even had heard correctly. But this seems to confirm it.

[KM3K]

They released "The Zork Anthology", which includes Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, and Planetfall, plus GOG.com's usual additions like scans of the manual, maps and other things.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/the_zork_anthology

[MacCentris]

I've worked in the Zork wiki, I wrote a few articles there last year. Fortunately it helped supply the compendium with a few pieces of information about Legends of Zork, coming from a person (me) who has brought 5 characters over level 44; I have studied most of the lore from that particular version.

I have mixed feelings about the re-release of the text games though. Are those issued by Activision, or did Activision just simply sold part of the rights to certain people like Jolt, for them to sell a few games and do whatever they wanted with the information?

I mean I dunno if I make any sense. Just that it seems LoZ is already on it's way to being shelved... and it seems the only thing from Activision in the LoZ game is the logo at the bottom of the page. To be specific, yes they follow a lot of the original Zork canon, I must say they did pretty good; specially on quests. But wished somehow Activision would be involved, this way Jolt wouldn't do whatever they want with the LoZ game (which indeed they are).

Already many people from the game have left, to never return! Ok, the game is LESS than 2 years old and it's already going down? A Zork based game? Am I delusional? I thought Jolt would do better than this, there is no future for it unless they iron some of the old game bugs and introduce new material, and how about those 2 Double Fanucci cards that never worked? Jester and Grue?

I am sorry to have completely gone off topic here, I am happy to see something like this but if this is just another smaller company attempting to get rich with the Zork history I can't help but feel appalled! Also isn't this like the third re-release of these games? Whatever happened to new Zork games?

I guess I'm just not happy about the fact that this is not a NEW, never before seen Zork game. Also I have a Mac so it wouldn't do me any good to download them. But for others who can, I mean, I am happy and I hope it works out great. Not that all the loyal Zork fans haven't already played these games in DOSBOX...

I hope this doesn't bother anyone, apologies guys, just not my day

[KM3K]

Well GOG.com's main purpose is to re-release games that aren't available elsewhere anymore and do so without DRM, so it makes sense that they have the old games. They work directly with publishers to re-release games, so Activision was definitely part of that decision making process.

It's unfortunate that there aren't any new Zork games and that Legends of Zork has been so poorly maintained, but I think the re-release shows that Activision is aware that Zork is still valuable. Maybe if this sells well, it will make them want to bring out more Zork games.

[MacCentris]

I think I'm just trying to remain positive about it. I just hope there are enough loyal Zork players to order and make a point to Activision. I must have mentioned a few times before, I have no interest for ANY Activision game currently. All I want is for them to bring Zork back (in a new game), then I'll be happy.

Thanks for helping!
Liliana

[KM3K]

I totally agree. I think the last Activision game I bought was Guitar Hero II and that was just because I'm a big fan of the game developer Harmonix. I'm so glad Harmonix split off from Activision to make their Rock Band games.

[KM3K]

Today, Good Old Games has rereleased Return to Zork! http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/return_to_zork GOG releases always come with digital downloads of things like soundtracks or manuals or maps or artwork. The Zork Anthology came with manuals, maps and invisiclues. This release comes with the manual and the encyclopedia frobozzica.

I really hope this is just the start. It would be great if they put up Zork Nemesis and Zork Grand Inquisitor in the coming weeks. I think it would be a big benefit for Zork to have all the games so easy and cheap to buy.

I'll be maintaining this GOGmix that will list all Zork games at GOG. Vote for the GOGmix to get Zork more exposure on their website!

[Siriusstar]

This is wonderful news! I haven't been able to play RTZ in years and I'm really looking forward to it. It would be great if they get the others available soon, too. I'd love to see the games readily playable and available to everyone.

[Afgncaap5]

Oh, wow. That's great. I need to pick that up. I can still "play" RTZ on my updated PC, but it frequently skips all of the in-game movies and just prints an error message about not being able to play the movie.

I wonder if it's the version where you automatically disembark after the raft ride, or the one where there's a risk of staying on for too long.

[KM3K]

The rereleases continue!

GOG added Zork Nemesis to their catalog today! http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/zork_nem ... dden_lands The game also includes a digitial copies of the manual, a journal and a map.

[lordskylark]

Has anyone gotten these yet? I am curious how the qualities of the scans look like for any of the games.

[KM3K]

I picked up The Zork Anthology because I never had any of the text adventures outside of Zork I-III. The scans of the manuals and maps from The Zork Anthology are of good quality, but not super high resolution. Though I haven't done so, I think they're of acceptable quality for printing. They're mostly PDFs for the manuals and documents. Some of the maps and extras are JPGs.

[KM3K]

Zork Grand Inquisitor has now been released by GOG: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/zork_grand_inquisitor

It includes a digital copy of the manual and something called a "Zork chronologue". Since this is my favorite Zork game, I plan to buy this soon.

[Arjak]

The chronologue is a full timeline of the history of Quendor up to Zork Grand Inquisitor. It is absolutely hilarious reading.