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Are they available as iApps?

You've probably already looked it up, but there's a free Z-code interpreter called "Frotz" in the iTunes Music Store.

Several Zork games were released by Activision as freeware a few years back, so the games are available here, among other places (I think there are a few links from the Wikipedia entry).

I've been checking in on Play This Thing on and off for years. A lot of what they find is very odd, very small, and often pointless, but it's more than worth a look.

They also bring out indie tabletop games (cards, board, etc) about once a week.

He's clearly never played Dwarf Fortress - for someone working in the games industry, it's equal parts sad and telling.

Hello folks, I have addressed the originality (or alleged lack thereof) of the remix contest in another message here.

I chose XONG because it's a small and relatively simple game, so it would be easier to get started remixing. There is a review of Xong here: http://playthisthing.com/xong

And, folks, the game includes a thorough HELP screen on the F1 key, and an interactive in-game tutorial. So if the videos seem inscrutable, try reading the instructions.

I make no claim to the engine or game being the greatest ever, but I hope the contest will be fun and get people possibly involved with creative commons licensed art, or free software, or lisp game dev. Who knows?

While I do really appreciate your effort and ideas, theres a few things you should look at first.

1) The game looks like from the 80's. It doesn't make a good impression and is hard to get people involved. Hell, some of the games I coded at 12-13 year old had a lot better graphics and ideas (no offense to you, just good old critical comment if you want it!)

2) Are there any tools to help change the game? There is and have been already immersive modding community out there. You have to provide similar tools, just being "open source" doesn't really do much.

As a person working in the games industry, and who has coded since 8 years old and working in freeware/shareware, indie, and commercial industry, I really think you need more to accomplish your goals.

Hello folks, I have addressed the originality (or alleged lack thereof) of the remix contest in another message here. I chose XONG because it's a small and relatively simple game, so it would be easier to get started remixing. There is a review of Xong here: http://playthisthing.com/xong And, folks, the game includes a thorough HELP screen on the F1 key, and an interactive in-game tutorial. So if the videos seem inscrutable, try reading the instructions. I make no claim to the engine or game being the greatest ever, but I hope the contest will be fun and get people possibly involved with creative commons licensed art, or free software, or lisp game dev. Who knows?

First of all, the full title "Stalin's Dilemma" is so so so much more googleable. Second of all, it's not really THAT hard to provide the link, is it? Copypasta of your 'Stalin, a three turn economy simulator' has it on lucky.

http://playthisthing.com/stalins-dilemma

You mean like MMORPG Tycoon?

You can have something which is completely utilitarian, which is not a game. These programs exist: Iraqi culture simulations, reflex training programs, etc. You can also have something which has a sense of whimsy and fun. This is a game, and some of them have the potential to make you think or to awe you with their beauty.

Hey, or you can not rudely condescend to everyone else and inflict your lack of imagination and vision on everyone else.

How about this: You can have something that tells an engaging and meaningful story in a branching, linear, or emergent interactive environment. You can have something that something that makes a satirical or philosophical statement through its mechanics. You can have a game that elegantly tells a science-fiction story, simply and unpretentiously.

I don't know what the author is bitching about. He wants games without the fun, it would seem; games which take themselves as seriously as he does. Those just aren't games. He thinks games are a medium on the level of television. This is wrong. The computer is the medium. Games are merely a flavor of program, much as game-shows are flavor of television. Do you expect your game-shows to "progress intellectually" as you age?

So games are a genre (I think that would be incorrect? Are you saying the medium is inherently inflexible and vapid? Or are you saying that fun precludes maturity? Just what are you saying? Why are you so rabidly attacking a search beyond the status quo?

Fucking games journalists. Enough pretentious, bullshit opinion pieces. Get back to your fucking jobs.

And what thought out rhetoric! Truly you've won me over with your emphasis and shocking command of ideas. You know, like telling games journalists to get back to their jobs and... criticize and evaluate games? Perhaps you meant to imply that the jobs of games journalists are to parrot praise for every standard barely deviating example of the genre shoveled out by obliging companies.

You can have something which is completely utilitarian, which is not a game. These programs exist: Iraqi culture simulations, reflex training programs, etc. You can also have something which has a sense of whimsy and fun. This is a game, and some of them have the potential to make you think or to awe you with their beauty.

Hey, or you can not rudely condescend to everyone else and inflict your lack of imagination and vision on everyone else.

How about this: You can have something that tells an engaging and meaningful story in a branching, linear, or emergent interactive environment. You can have something that something that makes a satirical or philosophical statement through its mechanics. You can have a game that elegantly tells a science-fiction story, simply and unpretentiously.

I don't know what the author is bitching about. He wants games without the fun, it would seem; games which take themselves as seriously as he does. Those just aren't games. He thinks games are a medium on the level of television. This is wrong. The computer is the medium. Games are merely a flavor of program, much as game-shows are flavor of television. Do you expect your game-shows to "progress intellectually" as you age?

So games are a genre (I think that would be incorrect? Are you saying the medium is inherently inflexible and vapid? Or are you saying that fun precludes maturity? Just what are you saying? Why are you so rabidly attacking a search beyond the status quo?

Fucking games journalists. Enough pretentious, bullshit opinion pieces. Get back to your fucking jobs.

And what thought out rhetoric! Truly you've won me over with your emphasis and shocking command of ideas. You know, like telling games journalists to get back to their jobs and... criticize and evaluate games? Perhaps you meant to imply that the jobs of games journalists are to parrot praise for every standard barely deviating example of the genre shoveled out by obliging companies.

Lambda The Ultimate (programming languages): http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/rss.xml

Greg Costikyan (culture): http://feeds.feedburner.com/costik/gXjD

Darius Kazemi (gamedev networking): http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Warren Spector (design): http://junctionpoint.wordpress.com/feed/

Tom Forsyth (graphics): http://www.eelpi.gotdns.org/blog.wiki.xml

Christer Ericson (collision detection): http://realtimecollisiondetection.net/blog/?feed=rss2

Erin Catto (physics): http://www.gphysics.com/feed

Duncan Fyfe? (writing): http://www.hitselfdestruct.com/feeds/posts/default

Soren Johnson (design): http://feeds.feedburner.com/Designer-notes

Fun Motion (physics games): http://www.fun-motion.com/feed/

Play This Thing (short reviews & commentary): http://playthisthing.com/allposts/feed

GoGamer (game deals): http://feeds.feedburner.com/Gogamercom48hourMadnessSpecial

CheapAssGamer (game deals): http://feeds.feedburner.com/cheapassgamer

Kotaku (news & commentary): http://kotaku.com/index.xml

Rock, Paper, Shotgun (PC gaming): http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?feed=rss2

1) a gaming PC is substantially more expensive than a console

Assuming you mean "a roughly equivalent" gaming PC, sure, you're right.

2) you frequently have driver and other compatibility problems

You'd have to define "frequently," but yes, as a developer supporting PCs is definately harder.

3) a number of PC games are launched in a rather buggy state

And this is a fault of the platform how? If anything, the ability to ship buggy software, making initial money, then ship the fixes later should lower costs. PC games don't need to be buggy, it's just what the market tolerates. And we're slowly seeing patches become more and more common for consoles.

4) the overall performance level of consoles has improved a lot in the latest generation

That's just silly. Sure, consoles get more and more powerful, but so do PCs. Sure, Rainbox Six: Vegas looks great on the Xbox 360 at 720p, but it looks even better at 1920x1024 out of my gaming PC.

There's just not a lot left that PC games can claim superiority on.

And here is where I really disagree. PC gaming can claim superiority in one key area: truly independent development. You can develop a PC game on a $600 desktop. You can ship it from a $30 per month web hosting account. No one needs to approve your game. The more unique, more experimental stuff starts on the PC. The best the console people can hope for is that the PC version does well enough to attract investment for a port. Developing for a console is much more expensive. The console's manufacturer is free to reject your game, locking you out. If PC gaming largely dies out, this will be the biggest loss. The cost and filtering will encourage the already cautious publishers to err even more on the side of sequels and knock-offs.

(On that note, if you're looking for interesting new stuff, I recommend Play This Thing!. It's a mixed bag, but it's almost always interesting. The Independent Games Festival used to be a really good place, but it's increasingly dominated by games that haven't even shipped a demo yet, let alone an actual game, which seems like cheating to me.)