Tech(xt)s [links between text and technology]

Two of the most productive links between text and technology resulted in hypertexts and interactive fiction. Has this union of text and technology taken two totally different paths? Hypertexts, originally thought to be entirely new modes of expression for mass literature, have been largely relegated to highly academic textual experimentation, while narratives and stories in PC and console games are told through graphics, sound, streaming video and 3D acceleration. Text is completely absent or relegated to on-screen, subtitled dialogue. Can we do anything that reunites text and technology to end the "all-text or no-text" divergence? Hypertextual authors and computer games designers must consider many issues as they move forward. Multimedia artists and developers of next-generation handheld devices are inheriting a wonderful legacy of interconnection between text and technology. After almost 6,000 years of unity, now is not the time for separation.