Oregon Trail game heads toward the iPhone [UPDATED]
Updated 1:58 p.m.: Oregon Trail will be available for download on the App Store on February 28, a Gameloft spokesperson said in an e-mail.
Get your immune system ready. Digital dysentery will be on the rise soon.
Oregon Trail, the computer game that practically raised a generation of American youth thanks to its availability in grade-school computer labs, appears to be making a return on the iPhone.
Video game website IGN today posted a handful of screen shots of the game -- and little else. No info. No release date. Nothing.
The graphics appear very similar to developer Gameloft's other mobile versions of the game (the company hasn't responded to our request for more details). The new Oregon Trail has a cartoonish look, which should lighten the all-too-common situations in which your wagon loses a wheel and your mates are infected with cholera.
If you haven't heard of Oregon Trail, you probably weren't attending a public school in the late '80s or the '90s. The "edutainment" software had players name a group of nomads to travel on the Oregon Trail in hopes of finding salvation -- as well as learning a bit of history and geography in the process.
The nostalgia-inducing game has spurred a number of homages, including a Lolcat and a number of T-shirts.
No word on when the game will be available in the App Store, but the fact that it's in the works should build excitement among many folks eager to get back on the wagon.
-- Mark Milian
I won't buy it or play it unless it's exactly like the original.
Posted by: P. Urist | February 09, 2009 at 09:31 PM
"If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate."
Ok, is it just me, or is this extremely hilarious because no 13 year old would even care about oregon trail!? :)
Seriously, though. I'm psyched. I love that in 3rd grade. Long live the Apple ][!
Posted by: hpux | February 09, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Hpux, I think the lawyers made us put that in.
But you're right. I doubt any 12-year-olds know or care to know what Oregon Trail is. Hopefully the new version will introduce a whole new generation to the hardships of hunting oxen and fording rivers.
Posted by: Mark Milian | February 10, 2009 at 12:11 AM
just a wee bit of a correction. That's not an image from the "original" oregon trail game. The original predated the apple ][, and was text only. You could only play it on a teletypewriter, remotely logged in to the M.E.C.C. (Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium) mainframe.
Posted by: Hurkle | February 10, 2009 at 03:46 AM
I'm so excited! Before I read this, I used to search the App Store for it just in case. :-).
Posted by: Brie | February 10, 2009 at 05:17 AM
I'm holding out for hot dog stand.
I wonder if the cheat still works for OT though...
Buy negative bullets and it gives you money.
AJ
Posted by: AJ | February 10, 2009 at 05:43 AM
I want to tar my wagon and attempt to ford the river
Posted by: Mike | February 10, 2009 at 07:07 AM
You people are clearly too young. Back in the old days, ie. 1980, my 5th grade class played the analog version of Oregon Trail - using paper and pencil.
Posted by: kristyp | February 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM
If only my iPhone would quack like a duck whenever one of my wagon mates drowns in a river!
Posted by: isaac | February 10, 2009 at 02:06 PM
ive had the oregon trail on my LG for over a year... who cares?
Posted by: jeye | February 11, 2009 at 09:02 AM
Just need Odell down under now!
Posted by: Eric | February 11, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Let's be real folks- if you played the old Oregon trail from your grade school days, it would be boring as heck. Let's home our standard for entertainment has changed from when we were 7yrs old. Looking forward to this new version. This company does good games.
Posted by: On the Real | February 24, 2009 at 02:44 PM