'Hitchhiker's Guide' game back for 30th anniversary

Twitter updates are the latest addition to the classic adventure game version of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

Revived for the anniversary of Infocom's original 1984 text adventure and hosted on the BBC's website, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy now complies with HTML5 standards and dovetails with Twitter. 

The game is just as obscure as ever, though the BBC site also contains hints and tips for travellers in need of a helping hand. 

And this time, in keeping with Douglas Adams's mischievous tone, it's not just players that can tweet out their achievements — the game can now send out its own updates on users' progress (or lack thereof). 

Another update means that where the 20th Anniversary edition added basic imagery to the sparse and gleefully obtuse classic, this version wears an on-screen keyboard, with a couple of extra keys corresponding to odd interplanetary currencies. 

So it's good to know that although The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is currently optimised for desktop and laptop computers, touchscreen support and portrait modes are on their way for smartphone and tablets in due course. — ©AFP/Relaxnews 2014