Saturday, May 14, 2011

Cover to Cover: Virgin Games 1992 Catalog (pp. 15-16)

We're continuing our cover-to-cover pagethrough of the 1992 Virgin Games catalog, up to pages 15 and 16.

Page 15 features Scrabble Deluxe, an enhanced edition of the classic physical-world word game:


Scrabble is Scrabble, of course, but having The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary online is a nice touch (noting that hard disk installation is required, as the 100,000-word dictionary likely spanned more than one 3.5" diskette.)  And the big draw with most of these adaptations is that the computer can provide AI opponents, so dedicated Scrabble'rs need not round up actual human beings for a quick game.  The game also features PULL-DOWN MENUS, presumably with mouse compatibility, which was still a pretty neat new thing in 1992.

Page 16 features a genre near and dear to my heart, with KGB, a graphic adventure game set behind the newly post-Cold War-era, rapidly shredding Iron Curtain: 



KGB was developed by the French software house Cryo Interactive, and is a point-and-click adventure game with a dense plot that, reportedly, may be difficult to grasp unless the player is very, very thorough about explorations and conversations.  There was a CD-ROM upgrade released later on, with new video clips featuring Donald Sutherland and a retitle as Conspiracy, presumably to make the game a little less historically specific.

On to pages... drum roll please... please?  Hello?  Never mind... we'll look at pages 17 and 18 tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. "VCR-style "REWIND" option" lol
    How long does this catalog go for by the way?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a 24-page catalog, including the front and back covers. We're coming down the home stretch soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome! Its been an enjoyable read so far, keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete