jennifer@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Jennifer Schlickbernd) (05/16/89)
Good news first. ST Battlechess is shipping now, as is Might and Magic II for IBM. Mac Bard's Tale I to ship at the end of the month (no, Interplay will not be doing Bard's II/III for the Mac, but if sales of Mac Bard's I are good enough, EA will probably contract the conversion to someone else). Now for the bad news-Mediagenic, Infocom's distributor (and essential owner) are closing Infocom's offices. All designers have been released, including Meretsky and Lebling. The 3 or 4 remaining employees are being moved to Mediagenic's offices in California. Infocom expects to get the IBM versions of their new games (Quarterstaff, Zork Zero) out before going under completely. Quite frankly I wouldn't hold my breath, but will cross my fingers :). Sad day for us Infocommies, but I think 3 things led to their demise. 1. Cornerstone. They lost mucho bucks on this turkey, and its release is what led to problem #2, Activision acquiring them, which led to bad decisions on what should be released by them (infocomics, ychh!!). The 3rd and final problem was the rise of the graphic computers and seeming distaste for Infocom's traditional all text games. They had to put so much into graphics it cut into their profits I'm sure, and that is almost certainly what led to the decision by Mediagenic to close them down. black armband for me today. -- Jennifer Schlickbernd (Lorini) Jet Propulsion Laboratory jennifer@jato.jpl.nasa.gov or elroy!jato!jennifer@csvax.caltech.edu CIS: 72466,3413 Voice:(818) 354-8617 "Great leaders are rare, so I'm following myself."