A multi-user dungeon, also known as a multi-user dimension or multi-user domain, is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players, and non-player characters, and perform actions in the virtual world that are typically also described. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language, as well as using a character typically called an avatar.
The Compact Disc-Interactive is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA and CD-ROM and specified in the Green Book specifications, co-developed by Philips and Sony, to combine audio, text and graphics. The two companies initially expected to impact the education/training, point of sale, and home entertainment industries, but the CD-i is largely remembered today for its video games.
The Macintosh Classic is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1990 to September 1992. It was the first Macintosh to sell for less than US$1,000.
The Oregon Trail is a text-based strategy video game developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) beginning in 1975. It was developed as a computer game to teach school children about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. In the game, the player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon via a covered wagon in 1847. Along the way the player must purchase supplies, hunt for food, and make choices on how to proceed along the trail while encountering random events such as storms and wagon breakdowns. The original versions of the game contain no graphics, as they were developed for computers that used teleprinters instead of computer monitors. A later Apple II port added a graphical shooting minigame.
Mario Teaches Typing is an educational video game developed and published by Interplay Productions for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh. The game uses the Mario character, licensed from Nintendo, to teach keyboard skills. A sequel to the game, Mario Teaches Typing 2, was developed by Brainstorm and published by Interplay in 1997.
The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1973 best known for developing the edutainment video game series The Oregon Trail and its spinoffs. The goal of the organization was to coordinate and provide computer services to schools in the state of Minnesota; however, its software eventually became popular in schools around the world. MECC had its headquarters in the Brookdale Corporate Center in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It was acquired by SoftKey in 1995 and was shut down in 1999.
Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was an Australian video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Australia. Initially formed to produce books and software to be published by Melbourne House, a company they had established in London in 1977, the studio operated independently from 1987 until 1999, when it was acquired by Infogrames, who changed the name to Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd.. In 2006 the studio was sold to Krome Studios.
Number Munchers is a 1986 video game and a spin-off to the title Word Munchers. It was made by MECC for Apple II, then ported to DOS and Macintosh in 1990. The concept of the game was designed by R. Philip Bouchard, who also designed The Oregon Trail. Two versions of the game were released the Consumer Version and the School Version. After The Learning Company acquired MECC, the game was rebranded as "Math Munchers".
Wordtris is a Tetris offshoot designed by Sergei Utkin, Vyacheslav Tsoy and Armen Sarkissian and published by Spectrum HoloByte in 1991 for MS-DOS compatible operating systems. A port to the Game Boy, by Realtime Associates, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System were released in 1992.
Munchers is a series of educational/edutainment computer games produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) for several operating systems. The series was popular among American schoolchildren in the 1980s and 1990s and were the recipients of several awards. The two original games in the series were Number Munchers and Word Munchers. The brand name is currently owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but is defunct.
SoftKey International was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name.
The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary is an educational computer puzzle game developed by MECC, which pits the player against a variety of mathematical and logical puzzles. It was released in 1992 for MS-DOS and Macintosh.
Freedom! is a 1993 educational computer game developed and published by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC). Based on similar gameplay from MECC's earlier The Oregon Trail, the player assumes the role of a runaway slave in the antebellum period of American history who is trying to reach the North through the Underground Railroad. The game was developed with help of an African-American consultant who guided MECC on appropriate graphics and dialect that represented the era. It is recognized as one of the first video games dealing with the topic of slavery.
There have been a variety of Sesame Street video games released for video game platforms. Most of the Sesame Street video games were published and developed by NewKidCo.
Amazon Trail II is a simulation video game developed by The Adventure Company and published by MECC for the Macintosh and Windows. It was released in September 1996. The game is a spin-off of The Oregon Trail.
Opening Night is a 1995 education/simulation video game by MECC, and developed in cooperation with The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. It is aimed at children aged 10 and up.
Reader Rabbit is a 1984 educational video game and the first of the long-running Reader Rabbit edutainment series. It was made by The Learning Company for Apple II and later for other computers. It supports the KoalaPad graphics tablet. The Connelley Group helped with the Atari 8-bit computers conversion in 1984. A Talking version was developed for the Apple IIGS in 1989. An enhanced version was released for MS-DOS -n 1991. A Deluxe version was released in 1994 for Mac and Windows 3.x. In 1997, the game was remade for Windows and Macintosh under the title "Reader Rabbit's Reading 1".
The Oregon Trail is a series of educational computer games. The first game was originally developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) in 1974. The original game was designed to teach 8th grade schoolchildren about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley via a covered wagon in 1848.
MayaQuest: The Mystery Trail is an educational computer game created by MECC and inspired by the actual MayaQuest Expedition. It is a spin-off title of The Oregon Trail series, featuring cities of the Classical Mayan civilization. While travelling across the lands by bicycle, the player learns all about the ancient culture and history of the indigenous people. The game also contains some Spanish language for additional learning.
The Oregon Trail is an educational strategy video game developed and published by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC). It was first released in 1985 for the Apple II, with later ports to DOS in 1990, Mac OS in 1991, and Microsoft Windows in 1993. It was created as a re-imagining of the popular text-based game of the same name, originally created in 1971 and published by MECC in 1975. In the game, the player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley via a covered wagon on the Oregon Trail in 1848. Along the trail, the player makes choices about supplies, resource management, and the route, and deals with hunting for food, crossing rivers, and random events such as storms and disease.
