1up spoke with Gameloft’s vice president of production, Julien Fournials about their remake of the MECC classic Apple II game Oregon Trail that was one of the highlights from computer lab back in elementary school.

When asked about the remakes updated:

We chose to go with a cartoony style for the updated version of the game. As you probably recall, the graphics for the original Oregon Trail were quite old, pixeled and grainy. A cartoony style seemed to be the best choice to take the edge off and allow for a wider range of animations. We have also zoomed in closer to the characters, so you can see the events unfold. For example, rather than being told in a message that a bear has attacked someone, you can see the bear come out of nowhere and maul a party member, in a humorous manner of course.

Any other changes?

It was important for us to stay true to the core storyline, but also update it for today’s gamer whose expectations are a bit higher. Buying specific items and supplies at the shop has been removed. This was done to make the game more accessible to the casual player. We replaced the specific items with general stats such as Supplies and Food. This way the user only has to manage a few resources and focus on keeping the party healthy and moving towards Oregon.

New mini games - offering more places where the player must make a decision; events (bandits, bears); alternate routes; and being able to see your party on screen.   Hunting is now objective driven with an increasing level of difficulty as the player progresses. The controls were designed to allow the player to move and shoot in any direction. Animals were given AI to react to the player.

There are a total of five mini-games - Hunting, Fishing, River Crossing, Rafting and Repairing mini-games, all of which will have new levels to unlock as an incentive to complete each objective.

We have also added various difficulty levels to make the game slightly more casual.

Could this remake be considered an educational game?

All the locations were taken from the actual historic sites from the Oregon Trail (also found in the original game). Throughout the game, players will be given various facts about the Oregon Trail and the landmarks they visit. Although some elements were added merely for entertainment value, this remake can be considered a very fun educational game for today’s audience.

Historical figure Marcus Whitman is also featured in the game, and journeys along the Oregon Trail during the same time players do. Marcus Whitman was an American physician and missionary in the Oregon County who started a mission in 1836 that became a stop along the Oregon Trail. He also led the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail, establishing it as a viable route for the thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following decade.

With Spore set to take fire on PC’s & Macs this September 7th, and scaled back versions of the game also being released for Nintendo DS & mobile platforms there has been relatively little information regarding gameplay and online aspect of the game.

A grandiose simulation of every stage of life, from the primordial soup to space exploration is how Wired.com’s Chris Kohler described Spore in his extensive first look at the latest version of the game.

The following video interview features designer Will Wright & EA producer Caryl Shaw describing the massive online scope of this massively single player game. Huh? Watch the video and you will understand.

PocketGamer recently presented this list of top 10 games released this first half of 2007 for your mobile phone.

World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge Developer: Glu Mobile Publisher: Glu Mobile Take on the stars of the poker world in this game, which eschews the usual ‘six players round a table’ format in favour of face-to-face duels. It’s slickly designed, with some neat features including a Tilt meter, which fills up as you win hands, and forces your opponent to play like an idiot when it reaches the top. The Career mode delivers bags of depth, and the AI is top-notch, providing poker buffs with a long-lasting and rewarding challenge.
Townsmen 4 Developer: HandyGames Publisher: HandyGames There aren’t enough truly great strategy games for mobile, but HandyGames’ Townsmen series has always provided the goods. Townsmen 4 is the best version yet. It’s still a town-building game in the vein of Civilization or Settlers, with lovely stylised isometric graphics and a deep mission mode to keep your interest up. Balancing your resource levels is a tough task, but if you want a mobile game that truly taxes your brain, look no further.
Resident Evil: The Missions (3D) Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom If you’ve got a decent 3D-capable handset and relish the thought of things that go bump in the night, Resident Evil: The Missions is a must-buy. It has you playing Jill Valentine as she works through heaps of objective-focused missions, most of which involve dealing death to pesky zombies. Each stage lasts a few minutes, making them perfect for dip-in/dip-out mobile play. Meanwhile, the controls are actually better than the famously quirky console versions.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 Developer: IUGO Publisher: EA Mobile Tiger’s latest mobile outing is polished from start to finish, not least because it’s a great mobile golf game, as opposed to a great console game squeezed unhappily into a phone. The whizzy 3D version has just one course, but it’s a lush-looking Pebble Beach. Most impressive are the one-thumb controls, though, enabling you to blast through a round in minutes. Just the game to help you get in the mobile swing of things.
Championship Manager 2007 Developer: Dynamo Games Publisher: Eidos Mobile When you think about the games that should work well on mobile, sprawling stat-heavy football management titles probably aren’t high on the list. But the latest mobile Champ Man proves the doubters wrong by being a hugely playable and accessible mobile game, while packing in as much depth and number-crunching as possible for fans of the PC version. Take control of a Premier League club and work your magic in the transfer market, on the training ground, and most importantly, on the pitch.
The Fast and The Furious Fugitive (3D) Developer: Firemint Publisher: I-play We haven’t always been big fans of I-play’s The Fast and The Furious racing games – especially the 2D versions – but this latest 3D incarnation is absolutely spiffing. You play a disgruntled cop on the run across America, with each location you visit having a mixture of pure races and missions, before a final bit where you outrun the police to the nearest border. Ace graphics, smooth handling, and accessible controls make this a top-notch mobile racer.
Real Football 2007 (3D) Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft It’s not long until Real Football 2008 comes out, but this version will do for now. And how. It’s a fully 3D football game that just pips the excellent FIFA 07 to the title of ‘best current mobile footy game’. It’s only out for high-end phones, but lets you string together super-slick passing moves, offers a choice of camera angles, and has some fantastic presentational tricks, with replays and cutaways to celebrating managers. It’s got sparkle, panache, and enables you to give Chelsea a good tonking on demand. What more can you ask for?
Pyramid Bloxx Developer: Digital Chocolate Publisher: Digital Chocolate We’re still playing DChoc’s Tower Bloxx nearly two years after it originally came out, so we were plenty excited about the follow-up. Thankfully, Pyramid Bloxx is just as good, if not better. The one-button gameplay involves chucking stones from worker to worker using the ‘5’ key, and the better you do, the better your pyramid. There’s monkeys and donkeys helping for comic effect, and a finely-tuned scoring system that’ll keep you playing for months.
Chuzzle Mobile Developer: PopCap Games Publisher: PopCap Games Furballs. When your cat’s boking them all over the floor, they’re not good. When they’re in a stellar mobile puzzler, they’re ace. Chuzzle was PopCap’s first in-house mobile game, and it’s a corker. You slide rows and columns of furry Chuzzles back and forth to make matches of three or more, with combos scoring you extra points, while the appearance of Super Chuzzles and Rainbow Chuzzles mixes up the gameplay even more. Fearsomely addictive stuff.
Playman Extreme Running Developer: Mr. Goodliving Publisher: RealArcade If we had to put our hand on heart and state the mobile game that’s most impressed us so far this year, it’d be Playman Extreme Running. The parkour platformer has you running, jumping and somersaulting around a selection of city locations, trying to score points, collect flags and/or beat rivals to your goal. It’s genius not only because of the simple controls and fluid animation, but also as a result of the carefully crafted progression that sees you unlocking levels easily and then coming back to refine your scores. Every mobile user should have this game on their phone.[source]