1996 Warner Bros
Platforms: PC and Mac
The Egyptian Jukebox was a CD-ROM multimedia title that was first learnt about thanks to contributor Michael Hart, who discovered about the game via the Archive on the Internet blog. This is a blog which highlights interesting media available on the Internet Archive.
Based on the puzzle book of the same name by Nick Bantock, a multimedia adaptation was in the works by Inscape, but was unfortunately cancelled by Warner Bros for reasons as yet unknown. On the website of Lisa Dee, line producer for the project, she includes a promotional flyer that makes it sound like it would’ve been quite elaborate:
“Players explore drawers of a clue-filled jukebox in hopes of unraveling the puzzling disappearance of eccentric millionaire Hamilton Hasp. Each of the ten drawers contains personal items of Mr. Hasp, capable of invoking his memories upon touching them.
From the imagination of best-selling author Nick Bantock, THE EGYPTIAN JUKEBOX features 3D worlds created by the magical jukebox with navigable movies conveying Hasp’s narratives, a perplexingly aggressive artificial intelligence feature, and a dense atmosphere of sound with hit tunes from the 50’s through the 70’s.”
Lisa’s page doesn’t mentioned how far along things progressed, so it isn’t known whether the game got any further than an initial concept and design. An article in Computer Player magazine in December 1996 reveals that the game would have had 3D worlds created by the jukebox, and navigable movies of Hasp’s narratives.
Michael has emailed Lisa in the hope of learning more, and has also reached out to the project’s executive producer Bill Morgan. If anything comes to light, we will update this page. In the meantime, if you know anything more about this development – please do get in touch!
With thanks to Michael Hart for the information (and most of the above text) and suggestion of covering, Archive on the Internet blog for flagging up the game too and Lisa Dee for the flyer image and information.
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