Latest posts
- Ultima IXFeb 06, 2026Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of the Ultima series. Years ago, [Origin Systems] released Strike Commander, a high-concept flight sim that, while very entertaining from a purely theoretical point of view, was so resource-demanding that no one in the country actually owned a machine that could play it. Later, in Ultima VIII, the […]
- Omikron: The Nomad SoulJan 23, 2026Jimmy Maher
The idea of being in the body of a guy and making love to his wife — when she believes you’re her husband, even though you’re not — was a very strange position to be in. That’s exactly the kind of thing I try to explore in all my games today. — David Cage, speaking […]
- HomeworldJan 02, 2026Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of real-time strategy. The first-person shooter and the real-time-strategy game, those two genres that had come to absolutely dominate mainstream computer gaming by the end of the 1990s, were surprisingly different in their core technologies. The FPS was all about 3D graphics, as aided and abetted by the […]
- Huge for the Holidays: Epic Interactive Fiction of the Millennial PeriodDec 19, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of post-commercial interactive fiction. After fighting the tendency for decades, I’ve finally learned to accept that I’m a bit of a conservative, if not a downright Luddite, when it comes to my interactive fiction — or my text adventures, as I still persist in calling them. Despite its […]
- Mr. Roberts Goes to Hollywood, Part 2: The ProducerDec 05, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of Chris Roberts. With the Wing Commander movie having gone down in flames, there was nothing left for Chris Roberts and the rest of Digital Anvil to do but go back to making games. This undoubtedly pleased Microsoft, which had been waiting for some return on its generous […]
- Mr Roberts Goes to Hollywood, Part 1: A Digital AnvilNov 21, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of Chris Roberts. What I’d really like to do is a game where you could travel from planet to planet — and there would be hundreds of planets — with full 3D action. You could go down and explore each planet in detail and interact with all sorts […]
- The Space Sim’s Last HurrahNov 07, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of space sims. Amidst so much else, the 1990s saw the rise and fall of the narrative-driven space sim. The sub-genre was effectively invented in 1990, when Wing Commander dared to add a set-piece story line to the sturdy foundation of the more open-ended British classic Elite. It […]
- A Looking Glass Half Empty, Part 2: A Series of Unfortunate EventsOct 17, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of Looking Glass Studios. Coming out of 1998, the folks at Looking Glass Studios believed they had pretty good reason to feel optimistic about their future. With Thief, they had delivered not just their first profitable original game since 1995’s Flight Unlimited but their biggest single commercial success […]
- A Looking Glass Half Empty, Part 1: Just Lookin’ for a HitOct 03, 2025Jimmy Maher
This article tells part of the story of Looking Glass Studios. There was some discussion about it: “Wow, gosh, it’d sure be nice if we were making more money and selling more copies so we could do crazy games of the type we want, as opposed to having to worry about how we’re going to […]