I noticed the other day that a project to scan every InterAction and other Sierra in-house newsletter ever published was completed as of July, so I finally downloaded the ones I didn't have physical copies of and gave them a gander. The one you see above is from the summer of 1998 and features a Gordon Freeman who doesn't seem all that terribly alarmed to see aliens and soldiers around the lab.

InterAction holds a special place among fans of old adventure games, being the official mouthpiece of the most prestigious adventure maker in the US. Like Infocom's newsletters from a generation past, they were remarkably laid-back affairs, letting designers talk about their games freely and even addressing tricky issues brought up by pushy fans. Everything from Outpost's blatant bugs to King's Quest IV getting a crappy Apple IIgs port was duly covered and commented on by the company president, although not always to the liking of everyone involved.

Back before the Internet, this is how companies like Sierra gave its audience an inside view of the company. It's nice to see, in retrospective -- and it's a lot more permanent a record of what life at Sierra was like than your typical modern publisher's website, which tends to be extremely corporate and boast forums which shut down the moment something controversial happens.

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. In his spare time he does writing and translation for lots and lots of publishers and game companies.]