There was quite a stir recently when the Kindle started offering games up for user consumption. Even more so because they were actually well done, in general! I’ve played around with Scrabble and love it, and really nobody has room to complain about the two freebie games that Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN) released, seemingly as test cases. Now, however, things have moved on to a whole new level and it’s amazing.
Now, maybe you’re young, or only a little tech savvy, or just not too into computer games. I don’t know anything about that. I grew up playing text based games on various ridiculously outdated(even at the time I was using them) computers. I remember the frustration of getting eaten by a grue, and wondering why the hell I was shoving a fish into my ear and how they expected a person to guess such a thing(having read an amateur walkthrough of the Hitchhiker’s Guide game years before I acquired my own copy). So when somebody I know sends me an email telling me to check out PortableQuest.com’s new sister site, KindleQuest.com using the Kindle browser, I get excited. This reaches a high point when what do I see but:
West of House You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. You could circle the house to the north or south. There is a small mailbox here. >
I know that for some people this will mean very little, but it’s a chance to relive some amazing old memories. I give full credit to the designer for doing something amazing for us nostalgia nuts. If you’ve never tried a Zork game before and have some spare time, some patience, and a sense of humor, I heartily encourage you to grab your Kindle and check it out. Probably works on a nook too if you try hard enough, for that matter. You’ll get to map out new areas, discover goals as you go, type strange commands in on the off chance they make sense in a given situation, scratch your head for hours wondering why the little description can’t just tell you what you need to do already, eventually look up a strategy guide, and then brag to all your friends! Or something like that. This, though I’m admittedly biased, seems like Kindle gaming has finally taken off.