Infocom
Infocom was best known for their text adventure games. The most famous of which would have to be Zork. Founded in 1979, then bought by Activision in 1986. Periodically they do re-release the Infocom games in the Lost Treasures of Infocom series, the latest of which is available for the iPhone & iPad.
Infocom rode the first wave of personal computer games, which were text only. People who would afford computers in the late 70's and early 80's tended to be professionals who read books. This was a perfect fit for Infocom. However the market changed as the user base got younger, and started to demand things like graphics, and sound. Infocom didn't want to be in the games business, and instead used the games to fund it's business line of software. Cornerstone however was not the hit they were hoping for. Running a database in the ZIL VM on an 8bit microcomputer proved too slow for all practical purposes.
Text Games
- Zork I
- Zork II
- Zork III
- Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
- Cutthroats
- Planetfall
- Starcross
- Suspect
- Suspended
- Witness