Who said all the posters I put here should be from movies only? ;)
The very first Fighting Fantasy book, “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain” was actually published in Bulgaria as number 3 as “Магьосникът от Огнената Планина”. I remember the day I saw it in the bookstore down the street. They sell snowboards and sportswear there now, but back in those days it was a great bookstore, filled with the smell of coated paper and fresh-printed ink. I begged my mom to buy me the book and I was jumping with joy when she agreed. Instantly it became one of my top favourites! A couple of years later I gave the book to one of my classmates. He didn’t return it for moths and I was about to use my fists in order to persuade him to give it back. I was heartbroken when he told me that he had lost it and offered me some money to cover the loss. But it was a loss you cannot cover. The book was rare and out of print for years! I searched for a copy everywhere but I couldn’t find one.
Some years later, on my way back from school I stopped by a second hand book stand. It was a religious experience! I went through a heap of gamebooks and suddenly there it was!! “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain”! My heart was pounding in my chest, I could hardly believe this miracle! But… but I had no money. It wasn’t expencive, it was just that my pockets were desperately empty! I was holding the book in my hands and I felt that if I leave it there for even one day I may never see it again. What if I come back tomorrow and somebody else have bought it? I couldn’t stand the thought of losing the book again. I looked for the seller. I saw him sitting on a chair behind the stand. He was an old, blind man. Iremember that I had seen him from time to time on the bus on my way to school. I went to him holding the book and asked him to give it to me even though I couldn’t pay. I promised that I will come back as soon as I can and pay, but he didn’t want to listen my promises. He just said “Ok, you can take it”, and I think he smiled slightly. I was so happy! I runned, no, I flied home!
I’m not sure, but I think that the next day I went there again and the stand was closed. I went there again and told the man “Maybe you don’t remember me, a few days ago you gave me a book and I came to pay for it…”. "I remember” –he said and I think that again he slightly smiled. “I knew that you’re an honest boy”. And I gave him the coin… I will never forget it – the bland man who was selling books and the trust he had in me.
* * *
In the years to come the gamebooks became bestsellers, they developed and evolved in various ways, new rules were coined, thew ideas were explored, there were several publishing houses which focused especially if not only in this field. New titles were printed every week. Stories from every genre from fantasy and science fiction action adventures to horror and detective stories and even historical and sport gamebooks.
The Bulgarian gamebook writers were sort of celebrities now (you can’t even imagine how happy I was when I got “The Castle of the Goblins” and its two sequels signed by the author Liubomir Nikolov at a convention in Plovdiv). We fans found out that they were using pen-names because in the beginning some policy was forbidding them to use the gamebook pattern as if some foreign publisher owns the rights to the idea. So our Bulgarian publishers found a way to get around this rule – they pretended that they publish only translated gamebooks! And by the way American authors were selling better, especially in the beginning of the 90s, when we had just abolished communism and our society was hungry for “decadent western culture”. The authors were hiding behind their western pen-names. Later on things changed and they could use their real names but the pen-names had become a tradition – they continued to use them even after they uncovered their real personalities.
For some reason the gamebooks’ golden age faded away and I can’t help it but get nostalgic talking about this. They are no longer being published (or at least not in Bulgaria). Some of the kids these days have heard about them from their older brothers and sisters or maybe even have read/played a book or two. You can find dusty volumes at second hand book shops. Fantastic adventures awaiting on forgotten shelves. And if by any chance you happen to find some of these books… do not hesitate! Take it. Turn the page over… and Decide Your Destiny!
What you’ve just read is far from comprehensive and in case you’re interested and want to find out more on the subject, I give you these useful links:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebook
- http://www.ffproject.com/
- http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/
- http://www.gamebooks.org/
OK, so I did top 3 about comic books, now it's time for the video games. The rules - the games shouldn't have any adaptation on screen - no cartoons, no movies, no nothing. And the games should not be based on comics or something else, cause otherwise they should be in the other Top 3 (like "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs"). And I have to tell you that I can't really rate teh games and these number 1,2 and 3 are JUST numbers, I can't say which one I like better and which is the best for me...
3. Syberia
Benoit Sokal's "Syberia" is an interactive movie by itself, with complex characters, a lovely visual style and soundtrack that adds a great deal to the unique atmosphere of the game.
2. Full Throttle
Back in the good old days Lucas Arts did some really amazing not-Star-Wars-related stuff, most of them adventure games based on the SCUMM engine. And they surely have plenty of stuff I wanna see like animated movies or motion pictures, they've got Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle, Zak McKracken, Monkey Island... But they are more cartoonish and I think that they'll be appreciated mostly by the fans. And "Full Throttle" is something that really ROCKS, literally! The beautiful animation, biker gangs in a postapocalyptic future, born-to-be-wild storyline about freedom, brotherhood, honor and justice and the superb heavy sound of The Gone Jackals who did the songs for the game...
Some time ago I even downloaded a Full Throttle movie, edited from the cut scenes of the game and some gameplay footage! You can still get it from here I think - http://www.gamershell.com/news_27175.html
1. DUKE NUKEM
Alien bastards come to Earth, steal our chicks and do some more nasty things, and the most kick-ass game character ever is the one to make them sorry for messing with our planet and quote some B-movie one-liners! A huge variety of huge guns, plenty of ugly mutants, monsters, aliens and plenty of other things to shoot at, blow up, kick, blast, destroy, anihilate, shrink and step on, half-naked chicks, naked chicks... This game is just BITCHIN' GREAT!!
And after "Duke Nukem: The Movie" it will be "Serious Sam: The Movie", starring The Rock as Sam "Serious" Stone, and then we'll do a crossover and we'll have "Duke Nukem & Serious Sam" with cameo appearance the guy from "Doom", Freeman from "Half Life", Lara Croft and the guy from Castle Wolfenstein... Hell yeah!
Before I begin my review, let me say that I am not really familiar with the Turok comics or video games. So if you're a Turok fan you may feel that I lack the background knowledge on the history of these series. But I'm a huge dino-nerd anyway. 
Ето лудото парче от саундтрака на Republic Commando! Още в началото като започнах блога си му бях посвал текста.
Накрая на клипа - "Enemy terminated! Proceed to next sector" - ще разпознаете гласа на Temuera Morrison - Jango Fett, който озвучава собствения си клонинг в играта :)
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So here it goes: Goblin's Blood Island El Grande
I hope someday in the near future we'll be able to check it out and play it :)
