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Zork.

Let’s all take a moment and think about that, shall we? Arguably the first great computer game, Zork was a text adventure (that’s right, kids, no graphics!) where the player wandered around solving arbitrary puzzles, collecting treasures, and dying many, many times. It spawned many a sequel, much nostalgia, and like a horror movie killer, seems to pop back up every time you’re sure it’s dead. Like now.

Because Jolt Online has announced they’re developing a new, multiplayer sequel to Zork entitled Legends of Zork, which will be playable in any internet browser.

The Great Underground Empire has recently fallen and the land is in disarray. The Royal Treasury has been sacked. The stock market has collapsed, leading even mighty FrobozzCo International to fire employees from throughout its subsidiaries. A craze of treasure-hunting has swept through the remnants of the Great Underground Empire. The New Zork Times reports that trolls, kobolds and other dangerous creatures are venturing far from their lairs. Adventurers and monsters are increasingly coming into conflict over areas rich with loot. It’s a dangerous time to be a newly-unemployed traveling salesman, but it’s also a great time to try a bit of adventuring.

LegendsofZork.com will provide online gamers with a persistent online adventure, playable from any Internet browser. Players take up the role of a recently laid-off salesman and part-time loot-gatherer, as he explores the Great Underground Empire. Designed to provide gamers with a casual MMO game they can play on their laptop, desktop or Apple iPhone (in school, work or on the bus), there’s nothing to download…

Didn’t Infocom get sued for using the name The New Zork Times? Anyway…

No word yet on anything related to gameplay. (Will it be text based? How will you play it on the iPhone (which doesn’t support Flash), if there’s nothing to download?) You can sign up for more details on their home page, or wait for more info on their blog (which currently only has one entry). Their other games are based around decision making/consequence and trading, rather than say, point ‘n’ click graphics, so my early prediction is that we’ll see more of that, especially since the press release makes a point of saying your character is a salesman. More on this as it develops.

Product [Legends of Zork] Via [Offworld]