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Someone Found The Old Maxis Game SimRefinery & Made It Playable

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A relic from the first big boom of simulator games has resurfaced as Maxis' SimRefinery has been found and is totally playable. Before it was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997, the company was thriving in the late '80s and early '90s. So much so that it had its own subdivision called Maxis Business Simulations, whose purpose was to design games with corporations that promoted what the company was about while also being a game. Remember back when Blitz Games made the Burger King-themed game Sneak King for the Xbox 360? Yeah, kinda like that. Where you're getting what's supposedly a pretty simple game but it's also a constant advertisement in your face. It's that kind of weird relationship that eventually brought us the game SimRefinery in the first place as the developers worked with the oil company Chevron.

A look at the title screen for SimRefinery, created by Maxis.
A look at the title screen for SimRefinery, created by Maxis.

So what exactly happened to this game? Well, for one, it was never released because it was never intended for the public. It was more or less a training sim for Chevron employees, and all of the game's assets were eventually liquidated so no one really had access to reproduce it. However, this year, someone found one of the original floppy drives for the game and uploaded it. It's been a process to get a working copy, due to the game being so old and requiring certain software to make it work. Which is a journey you can read about more in-depth at ArsTechnica , as well as an article from gaming historian Phil Salvadore, as they dove into the deep end on this one for two really great historical pieces on it as you'll find anywhere. But a working copy is now a thing, as you can see in the video below. Now we just have to see if and when the public can get ahold of it.

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Gavin SheehanAbout Gavin Sheehan

Gavin is the current Games Editor for Bleeding Cool. He has been a lifelong geek who can chat with you about comics, television, video games, and even pro wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy on Overwatch, recommend random cool music, and goes rogue in D&D. He also enjoys hundreds of other geeky things that can't be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vero, for random pictures and musings.
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