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Thread: How have console/portables avoided an Oregon Trail port all these years?

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    Default How have console/portables avoided an Oregon Trail port all these years?

    I know this game has had several computer iterations since it's debut in 1971, with one of it's most notable (and super-nostalgic for anybody who was in public school in the 80's) being on the Apple ][ ...

    ... but I'm really shocked that it's never made it's way onto a single solitary console or portable from Atari to Playstation.

    I think that the game, while basic in terms of being a turn based strategy/agrarian sim, is undeniably a classic in it's own right.

    Broderbund who published the game on Apple and elsewhere - published a few titles for the NES back in the late 80's ... I wonder if they ever had any designs to bring the edutainment classic to the console world.

    Would anybody pay for Oregon Trail on, say, XBLA (ala Catan), the PSN Store, or on the DS or PSP?
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    That's a good point you bring up. The game was very popular, and I bet it would have fared well in the 16-Bit era.

    I'm not sure how well it would do on XBL though, as its a bit on the easy side, and the multiplayer element just isn't there.

    That's not to say I wouldn't buy it if given the oppertunity though. I'd be fording riviers until the break of dawn.
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    A whole new generation of people crying over Ben Dover's drowning death.

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    Well, you couldn't type on many consoles until relatively recently. Having to buy a keyboard to play a really simplistic game... eh.

    Now that there's actual keyboards for consoles? I can see it happening, but I doubt it would even turn a profit.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitsune Sniper View Post
    Well, you couldn't type on many consoles until relatively recently. Having to buy a keyboard to play a really simplistic game... eh.

    Now that there's actual keyboards for consoles? I can see it happening, but I doubt it would even turn a profit.
    You really only need a keyboard for name entry, which can be done onscreen. Pretty much everything else is just numerical lists, which could be handled by scrolling with a directional pad like RPG menus.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Push Upstairs View Post
    A whole new generation of people crying over Ben Dover's drowning death.
    And dysentery.

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    Using the stylus for Oregon Trail for the DS would work.
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    ahhh memories.
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    Best idea for a remake I have heard in years
    I bet 3 people could make a new oregon trail with passable graphics for chump change and put it on a modern system and it would sell.


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    I was actually just wondering why they hadn't released it on mobile, it would work out quite well on a cellphone.

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    according to wikipedia there are some newer versions of the game:

    click here

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    Quote Originally Posted by Willem View Post
    according to wikipedia there are some newer versions of the game:

    click here
    Yes, the latest PC version was released around 2002 I think.

    We're just postulating how it never made it to home consoles and/or portables.

    Look at the success of just about any quote-unquote "classic" PC software that's ported to consoles from Maniac Mansion to Diablo to Civilization to Myst to The Sims ... they all moved units on consoles regardless of their relative quality.

    Oregon Trail is freakin' RIPE for a port (or, maybe STALE for a port, considering how long it's been) ...somebody needs to get somebody on the phone and figure out how to pick up the license and bring it to the screens of modern console / portable gamers post-haste.
    Last edited by Frankie_Says_Relax; 10-23-2007 at 03:04 AM.
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    This is probably the best question I've seen in a long time. I mean, if freakin King's Quest got ported to the NES, why not Oregon Trail?

    Personally, I think Broderbund saw the sales figures for other "edutainment" titles and passed.

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    I wonder if licensing issues are hindering the release of a console port of the original game.

    Unofficial versions/remakes playable by modern consoles are readily available online (e.g. Westward Trail and Thule Trail).
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    Quote Originally Posted by koster View Post
    I wonder if licensing issues are hindering the release of a console port of the original game.

    Unofficial versions/remakes playable by modern consoles are readily available online (e.g. Westward Trail and Thule Trail).
    Ah, neat.

    I'll have to try those on the PS3/PSP/Wii browsers.

    I wish that both Opera and Sony would get off their asses and upgrade their respective browsers' flash compatability to at LEAST Flash 8 if not fully to Flash 9.

    Though, it's nice that they all do use flash in some capacity.
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    Quote Originally Posted by boatofcar View Post
    Personally, I think Broderbund saw the sales figures for other "edutainment" titles and passed.
    That's probably it right there. "Educational game" sounds lucrative from a marketing standpoint, as one envisions dutiful parents gladly queuing up to pay for something like that, along the lines of those horrible Baby Einstein DVD's . But in the reality of overall sales, not so much.

    It's been the same cultural perception for a quarter-century now: If you want to play videogames, you buy a console. If you want to edumacate your kids, then you buy a computer instead and have them play videogames on it.

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    I could have sworn there was a release on the PSone or on a CD console, maybe not? Either way I don't know of a re-release worthy of discussing in the past decade or longer. It's a shame there hasn't be some awesome 3D adventure game made based off the series including some fun hunting/fishing mini-games and a waggon simulation. How about fixing that broken axle? Fun times can be had with a modernized version if done right.

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    Are you serious? This is a game all of us loved to hate in elementary school. Why would you want a modern remake? It's only fun because of the kitsch factor, not because the game itself was particularly well made or addictive. I'd rather see a remake of MULE or something that actually has some replay value.

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