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The Latest News
November 25th, 2008
Reaching Out and Touching Readers by Setting Them on Fire.
November 23: Malinche becomes an official iPhone/iPod Touch Developer.
November 24: "The Core Four" of our
titles available now on Amazon's Kindle.
What Does This Mean To You?
Official development on the iPhone and iPod Touch is now underway. When all of our interactive fiction titles are available in the iTunes Store we'll let you know.
If you own an Amazon Kindle you can purchase special eBook editions of Pentari: First Light, Greystone, Endgame and The First Mile for your Kindle right now!
Pentari: Second Dawn and Pentari: The Apprentice coming to Kindle soon.
With all of these breakthroughs behind us, Howard can hunker down and get Saints in Sin City ready for a January 20th, 2009 release without any more delays or distractions.
August 25, 2008
Visions of GenCon 2008
Howard on Author's Avenue ready to greet the masses....
Note to historians: After nearly five glorious years of proud service, the famed Malinche banner behind Howard is being ceremoniously retired. She has traveled thousands upon thousands of miles and has been on display in the mightiest gaming halls in America. Her time in the sun has passed. She will always have a proud place in Howard's private collection in his private studio.
And here they are lining up!
Above-mentioned masses in the main hall of the Indiana Convention Center
Workshops included fencing for fun and profit...
Game On!
(Notice the people literally RUNNING in the aisle there behind the table? They do that at the opening of the exhibit hall each morning to make sure they're first in line for the all the free goodies we exhibitors give away.)
Live music was performed all day long out in the main hall.
What would GenCon be without people in exquisitely detailed costumes?
Everyone was made most welcome at GenCon 2008!
Absolutely everyone!
At GenCon Gamers are Gaming Anywhere and Anytime and ALL The Time!
Exhausted Gamers Also Crash Anywhere and Anytime After Non-Stop Gaming!
Howard Even Had Some Time for Sight-Seeing....
The RCA Dome.... closed and ready for demolition.
Almost closed... but some remote outposts are still thriving!
(Howard gives a shout-out to Kevin the bartender for some AMAZINGLY strong drinks and service!)
The Classic Rail Station... where some GenCon events are held.
Howard's crashing in Starbucks at the airport sending emails and trying to catch up with life after five frantic days on the road after GenCon is over....
...and the gamers are still gaming!
Howard's Trip Report...
Being away from my family for five solid days was undoubtedly the hardest part of making this last trip. Every time I saw a little girl with blonde hair I thought of my little two year old Milana hundreds of miles away and wondered who was coping with the separation better... her or her dad.
Milana's mom kept the home fires burning strong with some really interesting pictures she emailed me every day....
The rest of the show was a cake walk. The crack-of-dawn arrival at the airport, the long stays in hotels (I stay in comfy places but there's no place like home...), the so-so food and the frantic races to fill in last-minute gaps are all old-hat for a seasoned, veteran road warrior like me.
Within thirty minutes of starting day one I knew I made the right choice. The Internet is a wonderful thing but nothing can replace the human element of in-person contact. I met a few long-time Malinche fans, a couple of more general interactive fiction followers and hundreds of people that never even heard of interactive fiction but thought the idea was pretty cool.
Special shout-out to Larry M - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for the uber-rare December 1980 issue of Byte magazine with Adventure on the cover and super-treasured articles by Dave Lebling, Scott Adams and the late, great Tim Stryker inside!!! It was an honor and a privilege to meet you and chat with you, great sir. Rest assured this extremely rare and valuable artifact will enjoy a prominent place in my private collection for years, decades and centuries to come.
In other news -- The GenCon specials we ran were a runaway success; we hit an all-time high on titles sold shattering every other record we ever set. First Light was completely sold out and our on-hand inventory of the rest of the Pentari series was rapidly depleted down to a scarily low level.
Shucks, if only we could all have such problems.
Friday night was nice. I found a nice Conservative Synagogue in Carmel and was made to feel most welcome. The fact I was the tenth and last person to show up that night was particularly warming to me.
All along I made the acquaintance of all of my neighbors on Author's Avenue and long-term bonds were forged all around.
The energy and enthusiasm was almost tangible -- everybody was energized by just being at GenCon. Some folks I chatted with save up all their cash all year just to go to GenCon and have four days of fun. One lady I met at the airport on the way home shared her incredible story with me -- she'd spent nearly every dollar to her name on the trip to GenCon and gaming goodies. She nearly didn't make it to the airport because she was nearly flat-ass broke. Her luck didn't run out; she was able to split the cab fare with another gamer heading to the airport.
It's so reassuring to know that in a world of wide-screen plasma TVs and increasingly-realistic video games, legions of people can be captivated by cards and dice and words and... most important of all... imagination.
In every sense of the word GenCon 2008 was a life-changing experience for me filled with wonder, discovery, knowledge, adventure and fun. If you weren't there then you shoulda been there.
July 1, 2008
Saints in Sin City Pushed Back.
In accordance with his "I will never ever be rushed to meet a deadline" policy, Grandmaster Sherman has delayed the release of his latest spy thriller/murder mystery until November.
More details will be found in the Sin City Blog.
May 14, 2008
An Implementor in Indianapolis
Malinche Returns to GenCon!
Howard is on Author's Avenue From August 14th to August 17th
Attend Gencon and you'll get to meet Howard and staff, get your folio editions signed and be among the first to experience Saints in Sin City!
May 4, 2008
Third Time's a Charm
We are proud to announce the triumphant return of the Malinche Affiliate Program!
Yes, again!
Long-time fans will recall that twice before we took a stab at an affiliate program that would work well for our affiliates and for Malinche and up until now we've been two for two in shutting down the program for one reason or another.
Howard always wondered -- was he demanding too much from the Malinche affiliate program?
He only had two established requirements:
1. The program has to offer generous commissions while making economic sense to Malinche.
2. The program has to be easy for affiliates to participate in and easy for Malinche to manage.
Howard never gave up on his vision of a powerful, profitable affiliate program. Come to think of it Howard hardly ever gives up on anything he attempts...
This time we hit the jackpot and you can too.
The new Malinche affiliate program exceeds all of our requirements:
Affiliates will earn no less than a 20% commission on every sale with escalating tiers based on volume that can earn an affiliate as much as 30% on every sale.
Affiliates can sign up and within minutes of receiving their approval start implementing text links and banner ads on their website/blog and earning money almost immediately.
Howard has committed to keeping this affiliate program open forever. So sign up today and be confident in the fact that your small investment of time will not be wasted.
Step right this way and fill out your affiliate application.
May 1, 2008
Howard Steps Down As the World's Only Implementor
Don't panic! Howard will still be a resident Implementor and will retain his position as Chairman, CEO & President of Malinche Entertainment.
It's just that Howard can no longer claim the distinction of being the world's only active Implementor of Interactive Fiction any longer.That's because the world-famous husband and wife team Lori Ann and Corey Cole have joined the Malinche family.
Here's the Official Press Release:
(Matawan, May 1, 2008) Malinche Entertainment Corp, the world's only publisher of interactive fiction, announced today that world-renowned adventure game design team Lori Ann and Corey Cole have started work on "School for Heroes", an interactive fiction adventure for readers and players of all ages.
"I'm happy to give up my title as the world's only Implementor of interactive fiction to make room for Corey and Lori Ann Cole," says Howard Sherman, Chairman, CEO and Founder of Malinche Entertainment. "They are true masters of their craft giving adventure game fans the groundbreaking Quest for Glory series, Shannara, Castle of Dr. Brain, and Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. The magic they once wove for Sierra On-Line and Legend Entertainment is part of Malinche's magic now," Sherman added.
Tapping into their talents in creating vivid, entertaining adventure games, the Coles are excited about the possibilities of interactive fiction. School for Heroes will be a perfect blend of professional writing and truly interactive decision making wrapped within a compelling plot and an immersive setting. The Coles’ philosophy of good interactive design is: The player must win - It’s all about fun. The Coles are known for providing a roller-coaster ride of humorous moments in rich, serious stories and School for Heroes will continue that tradition.
School for Heroes will delight gamers thanks to deep character interaction, conversation, and unique freedom of choice. The player can choose to take on any of four different personas within the game, each one leading to a different variation on the story line. All of these features will create mind-blowing replay value, letting readers enjoy School for Heroes again and again.
As with all of Malinche's text adventure games, School for Heroes will be playable on all computer platforms and many handheld devices such as the Nintendo DS, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Palm phones among many others and should be available this Christmas.
About
Malinche Entertainment
Founded in 2002, Malinche is the world’s only publisher of text adventure games (also known as interactive fiction). Malinche’s text adventure games span mutiple genres, and can be played on Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, Palm, Windows Mobile, iPhones and most other smart phones, iPods and the Nintendo DS. Questions can be sent to sales@malinche.net.
About Corey and Lori Ann Cole
Lori and Corey's fantasy adventure games have earned
them a place in the history books with sales exceeding 1,000,000 copies.
Nearly as impressive is the diverse array of talents this husband
and wife team brings to adventure games.
From voiceover work to cameo appearances in other adventure
games, art, programming, and game design, Corey and Lori Ann Cole are
among the most multi-talented teams in the greater computer game galaxy.
To schedule an interview with Lori Ann & Corey Cole or
Howard Sherman, please contact Howard Sherman at howard@malinche.net or
call the Malinche offices at 877-299-7999.
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With Howard planning to complete Grand Damned in time for the holiday season coupled with School for Heroes, this will be a very merry Christmas indeed!
April 28th, 2008
Infocom 2.0
That new term, coined by our own customers, makes it's debut to much fanfare in this exclusive interview with Armchair Arcade.
February 27th, 2008
AdventureCon 2008 is well under way! Visit The Official AdventureCon Site
Saints in Sin City is Progressing Nicely. Howard is Implementing Day by Day.
Smooth Sailing Now. Full Speed Ahead!
Archived News can be found here.