I hesitated to ask this coz it might be superfluous, but I can’t seem to find any feedback on Malinche games here, nor does a quick Google search show a representative quantity of reviews. Not that I’d buy any - they come for about six times the price I’d pay for decent IF with feelies - but I’m curious anyway, and so for quite a while - are they good? Do they have any technical gimmicks I’d like to see as a player, such as an automapper or a map feelie? Is the guy behind it some sort of a taboo since he’s never mentioned here? Do people actually buy his games at these high prices?
And, off topic thought, could a little pocket money be made by selling hundreds of IF games online for 0.99€ per game, forwarding the money to the authors?
My impression is that the Malinche guy refuses to acknowledge that the modern IF scene exists, so in turn the community pretty much ignores him as well. I think there has been more direct confrontations in the past. There’s some background in this thread: https://intfiction.org/t/howard-sherman-article-at-adventure-classic-gaming/81/1
The reason why there aren’t reviews from outside the community might be, as you say, that the games are too expensive for anyone to buy and review.
I played it a long time ago and had vague memories of awfulness. I played it again this morning and found that nostalgia had crept in; there was nothing vague about the awful.
Just reading his adcopy makes my brain bleed.
Speaking of his many testimonials (from such luminaries as Joan B, Alan M and Vivienne S) can that Marc Blank quote be for real?
My personal favorite part of the website, though, is this:
I love the image of a busy boardroom full of Malinche Entertainment executives, having drafted this generous return policy, waiting with bated breath to see if the big boss will sign off on it And then … RAPTURE, he does so! PERSONALLY!
There’s a type of promiscuous women who enjoy to vilify prostitutes. These women see themselves as heroically depraved amateurs who’ll have sex with just about anyone for free. They see the prostitutes as vulgar money-grabbing whores who have no respect for the beauty and purity of their promiscuous craft. What these amateurs of promiscuity are not comprehending is the fact that the true heroism of their craft lies not in the act of spreading their legs, but in the act of putting a price tag on their product.
Nobody here is taking him to task for selling, though. If anyone here had an issue with just selling, they would have dogpiled on me by now (unless they’re simply cowed by my enormous flame-red eyebrows).
I assume from your writing that English isn’t your first language, but surely you can’t be that confused by the thread.
To extend the prostitution metaphor, if I (or Textfyre or Peter Nepstad, etc) are escorts selling a friendly lay for a few c-notes, Malinche seems to be a diseased madwoman offering handjobs starting at half a million, using her rusty hook-hand with motor oil for lube, complete with promotional quotes from Mae West.
But to properly torture the metaphor: maybe the feelies are fantastic
When you people look at this photograph, your feel Schadenfreude, which is convenient as Schadenfreude happens to be your favourite emotion. When I look at it, and see Howard’s ugly shirt, cheap pants and insane smile, I feel pity. Then I look at his merchandise and begin to admire his relentless courage. How many of you people have such faith in your interactive fiction, you would rent a booth at the largest gaming convention in North America and stand there for hours on end trying to sell your stuff? The irony, of course, is that while you guys are slurping semen for free, Howard is leading an artistic existence of near-celibacy. This fact amuses you to no end. It’s an itch you love to scratch. How about renting a booth at Gen Con and competing with Howard on his own turf?
