Blue Fang Releasing Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego On Facebook

Zoo Tycoon developer Blue Fang has revealed that its bringing two classic educational game franchises, The Oregon Trail and Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?, to Facebook. Collaborating with rights-holder The Learning Company, Blue Fang will launch the two social game adaptations early next month, starting with The Oregon Trail on February 2nd and Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? on February 9th. Originally introduced in 1971 by a trio of student teachers, The Oregon Trail series has sold over 65 million copies with its many editions, sequels, and remakes (most recently an adaptation by Gameloft) released across a variety of platforms. Broderbund Software (which was eventually purchased by TLC) debuted Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? in 1985, and the franchise has enjoyed a number of follow-ups, spin-offs, two game shows, an animated series, books, and more. Though Blue Fang is mostly known for its popular Zoo Tycoon series on PC and Nintendo DS, the company released its first social game last March with Zoo Kingdom. The Facebook title currently attracts 236,000 monthly users and 35,000 daily players. "I loved both of these games as a kid," said Blue Fang lead analyst Darius Kazemi, who announced and posted trailers for the social games this morning. "One of the main reasons I took the job at Blue Fang was to get a chance to work on these awesome titles." The Colbert Report writer Rob Dubbin has also revealed that he worked on Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'s script along with Jay Katsir (also a writer for The Colbert Report) and gaming/music journalist Chris Dahlen.