James Brightman, GamesIndustry:

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) announced today that Infocom co-founders Dave Lebling and Marc Blank will be receiving the 2013 AIAS Pioneer Award, presented to them by Steve Meretzky, vice president of game design at Playdom, during the 16th DICE Awards on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Resort and Casino Las Vegas.

Zork introduced adventure gaming to the first generation of personal computer owners, and Infocom, the company that published it, built a business out of the now nearly forgotten computer genre of interactive fiction: games that eschew graphics in favor of the written word.

I dearly loved Zork and the many other games Infocom published – funny, challenging and wonderfully immersive games that emphasized using your creativity, imagination and puzzle-solving skills to win. It’s great to see Lebling and Blank receive this industry honor.

By the way, if you’re a fan of interactive fiction and you haven’t already seen it, check out Get Lamp, a wonderful documentary about this very subject.