No idea, but the 'Infocom' adventures don't seem to be listing with appropriate details (and distribution denied). Sorry I can't be of any help.
Entirely different company (bought by Activision, hence denied). :-)
As far as we could find, none of the Infocom adventures were actually published for the Spectrum, despite playing hints/tips being given in magazines, so no records have been added for them.
I'd imagine that the only definitive spelling is the one in Cyrillic, where it would be a K. I see from the screenshots that it's been transliterated differently on different occasions, and it's probably more a matter of taste than anything...
Anyway, the intro text in 'The Main Blow' (currently listed under Infokorm) does say Inforkom (in Cyrillic), so that can definitely be moved to one of the other two. I didn't see any references to the company name in the intro screens of the Dune II demo.
1. "Main Blow, The" is published by инфорком which has two correct latin transliterations inforcom & inforkom. It should at least be removed from infocorm though which is incorrect for this game and placed in one of those other two.
2. I downloaded and examined "Dune II" demo. After a quick search, I cannot find any publisher name in this title (Only the authors).
3. I downloaded "kribedg", also published by инфорком. It appears that the Russian authors themselves decided to transliterate their name in this game to inforcom. I can now see why there has been some confusion here - standard transliteration tables and web based transliteration will most likely transliterate this as inforkom, not as the authors themselves intended.
4. Since both inforcom and inforkom are derived from the same Russian name, it is likely that they can be reduced to one single publisher, either the kribedg author's intended inforcom or the "standard" transliteration inforkom. I haven't looked at any of the other games yet so I think more information is needed before a final decision is made on whether or not to do this.
Entirely different company (bought by Activision, hence denied). :-)
As far as we could find, none of the Infocom adventures were actually published for the Spectrum, despite playing hints/tips being given in magazines, so no records have been added for them.
I don't know about the other titles, but, Hitchiker's Guide was definitely published - I have a copy on my computer (it was +3 only). But the link to 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The' on this page points to some other game that isn't the version by Infocom. I think it's that problem which Andrew was referring to.
HH was published on the +3? I thought it was only playable under John Elliot's z-machine implementation for the +3. Of course you could play the standard CP/M editions on a +3 if you had CP/M. On the other hand they would have looked better on the Timex disk system (CP/M 2) which used the hi-res screen mode.
Now you have me worried. All I can tell you is I have a +3 disk image with the Infocom Hitchhikers on it (ie, the version that DNA wrote). I'm sorry, but I don't know where I got this from.
But the link to 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The' on this page points to some other game that isn't the version by Infocom. I think it's that problem which Andrew was referring to.
Given that no Infoseek reference is there for the Infocom game, you're effectively browsing SPOT, which is done on title only (to be able to find cases where the magazines listed a different publisher label than Infoseek does, and I otherwise can't ever find what goes with what).
Hence, Mr Scrollwheel will lead you to the entry you were looking for.
But we're veering off-topic. I was inquiring about Russian companies in this thread.
I learnt that infokorm literally means "info forage" so that could very well be a correct Russian name too (not just a misspelling).
I also learnt from Russian wikipedia that Inforcom/Inforkom is the name of a Moscow based scientific and technical society that published "ZX Review" magazine from 1991-1997.
Again I have seen both "Inforcom" and "Inforkom" used on various web pages, when this publisher name is translated.
I suppose if a Russian spec-chum reads this thread, then they may know more. Sorry I can't be of any more help!
I will post my limited conclusions for reference anyway in case anyone else is able to add to this info:-
Currently listed as publisher Infokorm:
Main Blow, The - we know this needs to be moved to either Inforcom or Inforkom, because we can see that the original Russian publishers name in the software itself can be translated to either one or the other. The big problem is that we don't know exactly which one is correct or even if there are two different publishers with those names (There may well be only one, and both names are equally valid translations from the Russian).
I suspect that both Inforcom/Inforkom came about because of the ambiguous translation issue and may refer to the same publishing body. However, I cannot prove that there are not two separate organisations operating under the Russian name инфорком.
Dune II - cannot determine name of publisher from demo in the WoS archive. Another Hungarian website mentions it as being published by "Infokorm", but for all I know that info could have been derived from WoS in the first place.
Currently listed as publisher Inforcom:
BK CardFile - This is correctly listed. The translated publisher name is visible in the software in latin script literally as "Inforcom". By the way, the developer is Ukrainian, but the software is published on license by the Moscow based Inforcom.
Color of Magic - ???
Kribedg - This is correctly listed. Again, "Inforcom" is displayed in latin script in the software itself.
President's Guard - Again, correctly listed - "Inforcom" is mentioned in latin script the software.
Skeletons - ???
Currently listed as Inforkom:
Assembly Lessons - ???
Examination Investigation - ???
'???' indicates the game is either MIA or I was unable to find any information on it.
Comments
Entirely different company (bought by Activision, hence denied). :-)
As far as we could find, none of the Infocom adventures were actually published for the Spectrum, despite playing hints/tips being given in magazines, so no records have been added for them.
Anyway, the intro text in 'The Main Blow' (currently listed under Infokorm) does say Inforkom (in Cyrillic), so that can definitely be moved to one of the other two. I didn't see any references to the company name in the intro screens of the Dune II demo.
1. "Main Blow, The" is published by инфорком which has two correct latin transliterations inforcom & inforkom. It should at least be removed from infocorm though which is incorrect for this game and placed in one of those other two.
2. I downloaded and examined "Dune II" demo. After a quick search, I cannot find any publisher name in this title (Only the authors).
3. I downloaded "kribedg", also published by инфорком. It appears that the Russian authors themselves decided to transliterate their name in this game to inforcom. I can now see why there has been some confusion here - standard transliteration tables and web based transliteration will most likely transliterate this as inforkom, not as the authors themselves intended.
4. Since both inforcom and inforkom are derived from the same Russian name, it is likely that they can be reduced to one single publisher, either the kribedg author's intended inforcom or the "standard" transliteration inforkom. I haven't looked at any of the other games yet so I think more information is needed before a final decision is made on whether or not to do this.
I don't know about the other titles, but, Hitchiker's Guide was definitely published - I have a copy on my computer (it was +3 only). But the link to 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The' on this page points to some other game that isn't the version by Infocom. I think it's that problem which Andrew was referring to.
Now you have me worried. All I can tell you is I have a +3 disk image with the Infocom Hitchhikers on it (ie, the version that DNA wrote). I'm sorry, but I don't know where I got this from.
Given that no Infoseek reference is there for the Infocom game, you're effectively browsing SPOT, which is done on title only (to be able to find cases where the magazines listed a different publisher label than Infoseek does, and I otherwise can't ever find what goes with what).
Hence, Mr Scrollwheel will lead you to the entry you were looking for.
But we're veering off-topic. I was inquiring about Russian companies in this thread.
I also learnt from Russian wikipedia that Inforcom/Inforkom is the name of a Moscow based scientific and technical society that published "ZX Review" magazine from 1991-1997.
Again I have seen both "Inforcom" and "Inforkom" used on various web pages, when this publisher name is translated.
I suppose if a Russian spec-chum reads this thread, then they may know more. Sorry I can't be of any more help!
I will post my limited conclusions for reference anyway in case anyone else is able to add to this info:-
Currently listed as publisher Infokorm:
Main Blow, The - we know this needs to be moved to either Inforcom or Inforkom, because we can see that the original Russian publishers name in the software itself can be translated to either one or the other. The big problem is that we don't know exactly which one is correct or even if there are two different publishers with those names (There may well be only one, and both names are equally valid translations from the Russian).
I suspect that both Inforcom/Inforkom came about because of the ambiguous translation issue and may refer to the same publishing body. However, I cannot prove that there are not two separate organisations operating under the Russian name инфорком.
Dune II - cannot determine name of publisher from demo in the WoS archive. Another Hungarian website mentions it as being published by "Infokorm", but for all I know that info could have been derived from WoS in the first place.
Currently listed as publisher Inforcom:
BK CardFile - This is correctly listed. The translated publisher name is visible in the software in latin script literally as "Inforcom". By the way, the developer is Ukrainian, but the software is published on license by the Moscow based Inforcom.
Color of Magic - ???
Kribedg - This is correctly listed. Again, "Inforcom" is displayed in latin script in the software itself.
President's Guard - Again, correctly listed - "Inforcom" is mentioned in latin script the software.
Skeletons - ???
Currently listed as Inforkom:
Assembly Lessons - ???
Examination Investigation - ???
'???' indicates the game is either MIA or I was unable to find any information on it.