Weather: State of exigency ** ** ** * II VOL. V. ... No. 4 ****- SPRING 1986 - INTERVERNAL EDITION Trinity: A Nuclear Time Warp · Interactive fiction lets you con­ fateful experiment of all time: the trol the course of a story. Trinity'/' world's first atomic explosion, the exciting new fantasy from In­ code-named Trinity. focom, takes this one step fur­ Trinity blends fantasy and ther. It lets you attempt to alter realism to bring you an other­ the course of history. worldly experience somewhere Trinity begins in London, between Alice in Wonderland and where you are a tourist deter­ The Twilight Zone. Although mined to enjoy the last day of author Brian Moriarty conducted your $599 vacation, despite extensive research to ensure the ominous rumblings from the accuracy of locations and events, superpowers. But the peaceful at no time are you completely in ambience of a su=er morning reality. Even at the Trinity site, quickly turns to horror as air raid magical things can happen. sirens fill the air and a hydrogen As the first puzzle-oriented bomb threatens the city with in­ game to be written with stant annihilation. Infocom's Interactive Fiction lf you're clever, you'll escape Plus™ development system, through a mysterious white door Trinity has more of all the things into a magical garden filled with lnfocom fans have grown to Every Trinity package includes ''The Illustrated Story of the Atom Bomb, '' curious artifacts and overgrown know and love. There are dozens a map of the Trinity test site, an intricately decorated sundial, and instruc­ with gigantic toadstools. But this of challenges, nearly 600 objects tions for folding an origami bird. hauntingly beautiful landscape is and locations, and a vocabulary of only the starting point of your over 2100 words. Interactive Fic­ journey. You've discovered a tion Plus doubles the potential twilight world in which every size of a program, allowing for atomic explosion that has ever larger, richer stories and more Conterstone For $99.95 occurred is inexplicably con­ sophisticated user interfaces. nected; and you'll need to explore To get you started, the Trinity Cornerstone;" the powerful, easy- many of the people who would every inch of it, crisscrossing package includes a copy of Theil­ to-use database from Infocom, is benefit most from Cornerstone time and space, before you can lustrated Story of the Atom now available for only $99.95. just couldn't afford it. So we understand and control its power. Bomb. This historical comic Why did we lower the price on a repackaged it to cut costs and set Your quest will lead you from book fills you in on the facts product that's already getting a price more accessible to the in- the Siberian tundra to a tropical behind the fantasy, as well as pro­ great reviews from users and dividual user it was origi!lally island, from deep underground to viding valuable clues to the f~r;es:s~?~S~i~m5p~l~e~. ~~~e~re~al~iz~·~..JJ;iai;..-1..J;w.._.i.....-....i...----.----~an~ the depths of outer space. The puzzles in the story. Also includ­ chilling climax takes place in the ed are an intricately decorated New Mexico desert, where you'll punch-out sundial, a detailed * • * • * arrive minutes before the most Please tum to page 9 h out there beyond the Great Underground Empire, ..-~·J~.ew ere ' h espaper _ er no - a news- b exists a strange world w ere a. gru . bl. h d' We don't e htfocom Weds Activision 'h N Yi rk Tunes is pu is e · or us paper cfalled T e ha~:y~k is (something like a yak, we sup- d On February 19, 1986, Activi­ Levy responded with a (clean) know or sure w don't want to meet . sion, Inc. announced that Info­ limerick. ~~ pose), but if they're ;dnt~~i ~:~~:'(:~eh we are quite sure il~ com would be purchased by Acti­ The bride wore a veil made one. Anyway, they ) hink that a zork and a york are av are at least as nasty as grues t e vision, in a transaction valued at from five yards of nylon net, and loc approximately $7 .5 million. carried artificial flowers. Both pretty much alike. f • • • 1f you have a the S , looking for a new name or · . • • • Mere weeks later, in a dramatic bride and groom wore looks of affirmation of combinatorial bemused surprise. su~~s~~~Ine( Thel2N5e~~i!fg~~~~ r~~~~u~~~~d~e~oMA ' lofocom, c., spirit, Activision President James After a honeymoon at Aragain H. Levy and lnfocom President Falls, the newly merged couple 02Thl4~ winner will receive a subscription to The Nethw York ~ Joel M. Berez were merged in a will maintain their separate pro­ her choice Now at you Times or the newspaper o f his or h. ill be • • * moving ceremony presided over duct development and marketing , e sure that your c oice w · by InfoRabbi Stuart W. Galley­ facilities in Mountairl View, CA, . know the diff. erence, w_el! f eople who bought The New - 0 witz. Infoco=ies cheered, par­ and Cambridge, MA. (i.e. We'll We apologize to the mil 101:1s ;F. Entries must be received k T" hoping to receive · In 1 ticipated irl responsive readings still be the Infocom you know ~orAu:s:~5, 1986, and become th~ property of lnfo~o~~e c. from Hackers (written by Steven and love.) y h right to come up with our own narn ' Levy - no relation to Jim), and Queried about graphics in Inter­ (We reserve t e 11 "bl but we'll award the prize to the . thirlk yours are a tern e, threw rice at the beaming CEOs. active Fiction stories, oi: better least bad entry if that happens.) Berez read a tone poem drawn parsers in Little Computer People, from the purple prose of several the happy couple declined com­ Please tum to page 9 InteractiVe Fiction stories, and ment, but smiled enigmatically. B PAGE2 * * * * SPRING1986 Fooblitzky Available at Your Corner Store Would you rather spend an even­ Clue® and Mastermind'." It's a 128K, graphics card, and prefer­ Bringing Fooblitzky to the ing with a serial murderer than challenging strategy game with ably a composite monitor), or an postaphobics is just the beginning with a mailman? Does the mere fun graphics. It's a competitive Atari XL/ XE (with 48K and 810 of a long, long crusade. There are thought of licking a postage game which promotes social in­ or 1050 disk drive), or an Apple II still many more computer stamp cause your mouth to dry teraction between players. It's a plus/Ile/Ilc (with 128K), and at owners that need to be united up and your tongue to swell? Do perfect family game, one that least $39.95 of disposable in­ with this unique game. For exam­ you shudder and hyperventilate young and old can play together. come. As part of this crusade, we ple, people who do not subscribe to the beat of MI. Postman by the It's enjoyed by males and females are now making Fooblitzky avail­ to • • • • might Marvelettes? Do you break out in alike. It's a game that even able through retail channels, not be aware of Fooblitzky. Or hives or a cold sweat when you're computer-haters can love! thereby ending one of the greatest this might be the perfect Infocom within a hundred yard radius of a Having confirmed our belief in discomforts that postaphobics game for the few lost souls who mailbox? Will you only eat its greatness, we knew we must have had to suffer. With Fooblit­ don't care for interactive fiction. Kellogg's raisin bran? If you embark on a crusade to make zky painlessly available at their So please join us in our crusade. answered 11 yes 11 to one or more of Fooblitzky available to every local software dealer, victims of We need your help. Spread the the above questions, you most man, woman, and child in the postaphobia need no longer be news of Fooblitzky - because a likely suffer from postaphobia - free world who owns or has ac­ deprived of the joys of Fooblitzky thing of beauty is meant to be the fear of anything pertaining to cess to an IBM PC/XTI AT (with ownership. shared. n the post office or mail service. In the past, victims of this crip­ pling condition have been unable to enjoy all the pleasures and Eniac and Other Little Known Computer Faes treasures that life has to offer - namely, Fooblitzky'!' Fooblitzky, This year marks the fortieth an­ CATARAC. An early artificial ed jointly by Masters and John­ Infocom's unique graphic strate­ niversary of ENIAC, the first intelligence experiment, CAT­ son, the U.S. Air Force, and Para­ gy game, has been available only modern-day computer. Built at ARAC was the first computer mount Pictures. No results from through mail order. If posta­ the University of Pennsylvania, designed to "see." Its ' built-in this experimental project were phobics attempt to purchase ENIAC was the first all-electronic camera would analyze objects in ever published, but whispered anything via mail order, they are digital computer. Unlike earlier attempt to identify them. Unfor­ rumors indicated that the interac­ sent into a terrifying tailspin. computers, it used vacuum tubes tunately, the lens was prone to tions between the three machines 11 Their anxiety attack is of such rather than relays in its logic fog, causing wildly erroneous were "intriguing. great proportion that nothing circuits.