Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Returns For 30th Anniversary

[Andy Chalk]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Returns For 30th Anniversary

I hope you froods know where your towel is, because it'll soon be time to go hitchhiking.

Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been many things: a BBC radio play, a five-part book trilogy, a television series, a movie and of course a video game that helped put Infocom on the map. Its appeal has proven remarkably durable, and soon gamers who missed it the first time around (or any of the others) will be able to stick a fish in their ear and travel the stars in a "refreshed" version of the adventure game classic.

The BBC has announced that a 30th anniversary edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will be released next month, with high-definition graphics, social media integration and other updates "to meet modern technology demands." The game will be published on the BBC website and will be playable on tablets and mobile phones as well as conventional PCs.

"Douglas was a true visionary and in his own glorious way foresaw all the technology we now take for granted," Caroline Raphael of BBC Radio 4 said. "Hitchhiker's fans will be rewarded for their loyalty over the years and newer fans have a real, but fiendish, treat in store. March 8 is a special day for the galaxy, so help us celebrate it in the unique way that only BBC Radio 4 Extra can."

March 8 is the day that the updated Hitchhiker's game will debut, 36 years to the day that the radio show first aired. (The game came out in 1984, hence the "30th anniversary edition.") That same day, Radio 4 will rebroadcast the first two series of the original radio show, "The Primary Phase" and "The Secondary Phase." That will be a good day indeed.

Source: British Comedy Guide


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[IndomitableSam]

I never could get Arthur past the destruction of his house back in the day. But to someone under 12, a text-based game where you had to spell 'aspirin' properly was nearly impossible.

Maybe, MAYBE I got him to the bar once, but that was as far as I got. I read the first book as a kid, but didn't read the rest until a few years ago.

Not sure how I feel about a remake.

Crap I feel old. I mean, it was the early 90's (Or possibly late 80's) when I played it, but... still. A 30th anniversary edition of a game I played the original of. Yeesh.

 

[Covarr]

This game is unreasonably hard and filled with moon logic. I'm definitely a Douglas Adams fan, but I certainly didn't like the game.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Genocidicles]

The BBC has announced that a 30th anniversary edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will be released next month,

Sweet.

With high-definition graphics,

Neato.

social media integration

For fuck's sake.

God I wish social media would just fuck off sometimes. It has no place in a single player adventure game.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Please tell me the last re-release through the BBC website was for the 25th anniversary and not the 20th. I'm not sure I'm ready to accept that that was 10 years ago just yet 0.o

It was a nice re-release, by the way, with limited graphics, the hint books reproduced via html, a visual represntation of your inventory, and so on.

 

[JoJo]

I always have liked Hitchhikers, I'll definitely give this a look even though I'm not quite sure of the quality of the game >.>

 

[Greg Tito]

I love this game, but I'm even more excited about the rebroadcast of the radio series. It really is the best form of Hitchhikers ever made.

 

[Yopaz]

I love this game, but I'm even more excited about the rebroadcast of the radio series. It really is the best form of Hitchhikers ever made.

It's available for download on audible.com and audible.co.uk I picked them up there just a few months back and they are as AWESOME as ever. I love those books and Douglas Adams in general.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Awesome I shall have to listen to the rebroadcast of the original radio series, followed by re-reading the books and watching the TV series and movie again.

The BBC has announced that a 30th anniversary edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will be released next month,

Sweet.

With high-definition graphics,

Neato.

social media integration

For fuck's sake.

God I wish social media would just fuck off sometimes. It has no place in a single player adventure game.

Don't worry I'm sure a future anniversary edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide Game will be sent back through time, the title screen of which will explain that the people who where responsible for the social integration in the 30th Anniversary Edition where the first up against the wall when the revolution came.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

God I wish social media would just fuck off sometimes. It has no place in a single player adventure game.

Don't worry I'm sure a future anniversary edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide Game will be sent back through time, the title screen of which will explain that the people who where responsible for the social integration in the 30th Anniversary Edition where the first up against the wall when the revolution came.

If Adams were still alive, I'd like to think an updated version of the book would say something like this:

Here is what the guide has to say on 'social media'. "There exists a human saying that if you have a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters, one of them will eventually produce a great work of literature.
Curiously enough, among the Bl'harugh people of Epsilon 7 there exists an almost identical saying, only with 'typewriters' and 'monkeys' replaced with the culturally corresponding Bl'harugh words, which are 'data cubes' and 'humans' respectively.
The saying persisted for so long that eventually one Bl'harugh entrepreneur by the name of Klakiroski decided to test the theory, by creating a device that was almost entirely like the Bl'harugh data cube but adapted for human control. The Bl'harugh are of course a telepathic race whose thoughts are captured by the data cube within seconds of materialisation, so the human version had to be designed for manual input of every individual thought; whether it be the colour of one's breakfast, the amusing behaviour of another species (usually a feline), or an expression of admiration for a more famous person in the pretension of having a conversation with that person.
So far the experiment has not produced a great work of literature, although a moment of excitement was generated when one rather introspective human began a series of entries into the data cube about the futility of man's existence in a galaxy with a finite lifespan; only to be cut short when he got distracted midway through by a video of a dog riding a skateboard."

 

[webkilla]

I will agree that Adams' books were somewhat ahead of their time

However, I think the single most visionary thing he predicted was basically fantasy football - or online shipping - or both... if you're creative enough

It was from the book where Arthur Dent is trying to avoid/prevent the assembly of three pillars and some stuff that would destroy the universe - I think - its been a while since I've read all the books.

Spoiler

Adams described the most popular sport in the galaxy:

You'd have players from all kinds of species, all heavily genetically modified for grand spectacle and whatnot.

Rulebooks so volumnous and arcana that no single person could ever agree on the correct way to play.

...and then the games would be held within large armored concrete domes, completely sealed away from fans and the press - so everyone could simply sit down and imagine what would happen and how awesome it'd be.

And it was the most popular sport in the galaxy

 

[cerebus23]

I could never get past the hyper intelligent door on the heart of gold, having to do with showing it a piece of your mind and the hyper tweesers possibly but i could nevr figure out how to make it work with the fail screen.

 

[CelestDaer]

Not sure how I feel about this... Especially without Adams around to mould the narrative the way every new iteration of the story had been up until his death.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

The BBC has announced that a 30th anniversary edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will be released next month, with high-definition graphics, social media integration and other updates "to meet modern technology demands."

See, that is the exact combination of words I would have used to make a joke about a remake of a game. Spamming your progress in a game to everybody you know in a desperate attempt to get them interested in buying it as well is not a "modern technology demand". It is a demand of incredibly stupid people. If I ever learn that any of my friends is the sort of person who actually expects games to do things like that, I will be promptly un-friending them. Both online and IRL.

Besides, how can you add "high-definition graphics" to a game that had no graphics to begin with? It was a purely text-based game. Unless they're planning to do some sort of Thy Dungeonman III type thing and add a big still picture for every scene.

Not sure how I feel about this... Especially without Adams around to mould the narrative the way every new iteration of the story had been up until his death.

It sounds like this is probably just a straight port of the original game with a few bells and whistles thrown in.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I will agree that Adams' books were somewhat ahead of their time

However, I think the single most visionary thing he predicted was basically fantasy football - or online shipping - or both... if you're creative enough

[snip]

That's a bit of a stretch. I can do you one better. He predicted Kinect:

The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive -- you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but it meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.

 

[Something Amyss]

Not sure how I feel about this... Especially without Adams around to mould the narrative the way every new iteration of the story had been up until his death.

Considering he worked on that awful movie right up to his death and one of the more inane subplots was attibuted to him, I have trouble believing it'd make much difference.

 

[CelestDaer]

Not sure how I feel about this... Especially without Adams around to mould the narrative the way every new iteration of the story had been up until his death.

Considering he worked on that awful movie right up to his death and one of the more inane subplots was attibuted to him, I have trouble believing it'd make much difference.

Yes, but Adams would rework the story slightly for every different medium he released it in/on... Just slightly...