| 4 January 2009
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Happy New Year? You bet! |
Well, it seems like it's been a while since the last update... oh yes it has, seeing as how the last news item was a year ago! It's been an incredibly busy year (no different than usual, I suppose!) and I only wish I had more time to do research and update the site - but I'd rather take the time to do it properly and bring you worthwhile updates. Speaking of updates, I've got a great one, and hopefully it was worth a year's wait. The following is new:
- Earthware Computer Services as a profiled publisher, and two of their titles: Zoo Master and Black Belt, written by Kevin Ryan, of Dynamix fame. Both titles saw limited distribution, with sales of around 100 copies
- Edu-Ware as a profiled publisher, including a game profile on The Prisoner, all with insight from Edu-Ware employee and author David Mullich
- Speakeasy Software as a profiled publisher - yes, I finally managed to track down information on Speakeasy, and what a tale it is. Company founder Brian Beninger tells it all!
- The little-known and possibly unique Harper & Row version of Amnesia (the text adventure written by Thomas M. Disch and eventually released by Electronic Arts)... including Disch's 436-page manuscript, in text-searchable .PDF format for your convenience!
- The original Queen of Phobos artwork, under the Phoenix Software section
- Updates to Beneath Apple Manor, now including a disk image of the original 1978 release
- A disk image of the Sherwood Forest coloring book - essentially an early version of Sherwood Forest pictures (look under Sherwood Forest)
- A disk image of Dale Johnson's adventures which includes "Mission in Madness", what looks like a developmental version of Masquerade (look under Masquerade)
- Various other small corrections
- ...and saving the best for last: the design document to Prisoner 2, a fascinating and historically-significant document which details everything about the inner workings of Prisoner 2. Thank you David Mullich!
Enjoy! And please remember that if you have any information/items which could be of use to the GUE (our "most wanted" list is just below), please, please, please send us a note!
Happy 2009! |
5 January 2008
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New items for a new year |
Happy 2008 everyone! Just in time for the new year, I unshrink (blasphemy, I know!) a very rare Apple II game called Real Life: The Greatest Adventure of All, and present it here for your viewing and downloading pleasure. This text adventure game sold between 50-100 copies, a total which was not helped by very poor reviews. The original disk was not copy protected, which made for an easy conversion to .DSK. You can find the game, and the reviews (including a scathing article by John C. Dvorak) under the "Others" section.
I've also made a slight improvement to the game archive for The Tarturian: you can now download the entire manual (in .PDF format), instead of just the cover page.
Here's hoping 2008 is a good year for Apple II and computer game preservation - as always, if you have information or items that are on our wanted list, please get in touch! |
1 August 2007
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First edition Mystery House and The Lost Ark of the Covenant |
Ever wonder what the first release of the first ever graphic adventure game looks like? Yes, that would be the very first release of Mystery House, which you can find under the "Others" section.
Also for this update, some behind-the-scenes information from John Botti, author of The Lost Ark of the Covenant. Now CEO of Black Ops Entertainment, John was gracious enough to answer my many questions about his game. A fantastic read which you can find under the now-updated game description. Thanks John! |
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Most wanted information/items:
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| 1. Contact information for Dale Johnson, author of Masquerade and Fraktured Faebles, among others |
| 2. Original packaging for Wheeler Dealers (Speakeasy Software) |
| 3. Original packaging for Fraktured Faebles (American Eagle) |
| 4. Original disk for Gemini, by Phoenix Software |
| 5. Original packaging for Bronze Dragon and Dragon Side II (Commonwealth Software) |
If you can help with the above, then please send an e-mail using the link at the bottom of the page |
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The GUE is also looking for the following original game packages. Can you help?
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| Epidemic! – box only (SSI) |
Pursuit of the Graf Spee – box only (SSI) |
| Tank Command (Broderbund) |
Akalabeth - Castle version (California Pacific) |
| Gobbler (On-Line Systems) |
Skeetshoot (On-Line Systems) |
| Trapshoot (On-Line Systems) |
Both Barrels (Synergistic) |
| Campaign Trilogy (Synergistic) |
Procyon Warrior (Synergistic) |
| Probe One: The Transmitter (Synergistic) |
Empire III: Armageddon (Edu-Ware) |
| Gemini - disk only (Phoenix Software) |
Fraktured Faebles (American Eagle) |
| Wheeler Dealers (Speakeasy) |
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems) |
| Chambers of Xenobia (Avant-Garde Creations) |
Bill Budge’s Space Album (California Pacific) |
| Windfall (Edu-Ware) |
Thunderbombs (Penguin) |
| Crime Wave (Penguin) |
Bronze Dragon (Commonwealth) |
| Dragon Side II (Commonwealth) |
Secret Agent: Mission One – disk only (Jor-And) |
| Norad – disk only (Southwestern Data Systems) |
Warriors of Ras Vols III (Wylde), IV (Ziggurat) |
| Lordlings of Yore (Softlore) |
Apple Cider Spider (Sierra) |
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