The State of Adventure Gaming

By Randy Sluganski
April 1999

Time Out or Out of Time?

I hope that a lot of us are taking advantage of this lull in new adventure releases to discover some games that we may have previously overlooked or to revisit old favorites. As slow as the industry has been, you may have noticed that we at JA are busier than ever! We now update daily and are soon approaching the point where we will be updating twice a day. Plus, the scarcity of new releases stateside has led the staff to discover the riches of adventure games still being produced outside of North America. We do have reviews on the way of games from France, England, Germany and Sweden, to name just a few!

Adventure Gamers Unite!

There is currently a concentrated effort underway to unite all of the major adventure webzines in a common cause: the preservation of the adventure genre. We will soon be providing a list of publishers and email contacts so that adventure gamers from the world over will be able to voice their opinions on the lack of adventure games. There is a serious flaw in the industry when games like Simon 3 and Broken Sword 3 cannot find a publisher, yet we have numerous spin-offs of Deer Hunter fighting each other for shelf space. Be here next month as adventure gamers from around the globe unite to save our favorite genre.

A Pat on the Back

Kudos to JA for what I believe to be the best staff of any adventure webzine on the Internet. We are blessed with Stu's excellent new release updates and Audrey's constantly interesting links page. Rob's weekly column on creating your own adventure games has been a big hit thanks to his in-depth knowledge, and Tom's first review was a pleasant surprise (although I wouldn't have expected anything less from Tom). I especially don't want to forget Mr. Bill and his wife Lela ('cause if I did, Mr. Bill would write and let me know I forgot!). We have added two more permanent staff members who are more talented than we deserve. Sarinee is an expert on older adventure games and will be reviewing and criticizing to her heart's content. Katie Scarlett will be our new RPG editor, and she brings to the site not only a passion for RPGs but also a love for all things Gabriel Knight and adventure. I know that our ever-increasing readership will be pleased with our new additions. Oh, yeah, if you have a chance, drop Lela an email and tell her to get well soon!

E3 ... E3 ... E3!

The first thing I ever wrote for JA, in fact the first thing I had written in years after a self-imposed layoff, were my E3 diaries. Well, due to popular demand (Joe Popular of Woodbury, Indiana, demanded it), the E3 diaries will be back next month as JA goes where no other web site will go and sniffs out the dark and dank corners of LaLaLand in search of unheralded adventure games. Be here with us as we tell all and hobnob with the not-so-rich and never-to-be famous from the heart of Silicon Valley.

Previews or Epics?

I received an email that simply read, "I love your previews, they are short and to the point." Hmmm. Really not understanding this remark, I did a little research, and here is what I found: there are some magazines and web sites that do previews that are three and four pages long. Then the final review of the game is only a half page or maybe a page at the most. Am I the only one who thinks that this does not make any sense? The average movie preview is about a minute in length for a two-hour flick. Books and music releases are never previewed—only the final versions are reviewed. Yet games that are incomplete are covered more thoroughly than the final release. Are these magazines and web sites actually providing us with newsworthy previews, or are they just serving as shills for public relations departments? Drop me a note and let me know how you feel about this.

Controversy Schmontroversy

Adventure gamers are certainly a touchy group of individuals. We all have strong opinions, but many of us do not want to hear anyone else's opinion. Maybe this is because adventure games are always being put upon and ridiculed for playing old-fashioned point-and-click games. When Stuart Yoder asked me to post his open letter on the front page, it was done as a means to inspire discussion among mature adults—and the majority of you understood that. Some, but not many, took it as a slap in the face to adventure gamers all over the world. A few contributors have even refused to submit articles because we are so "controversial." Well, my opinion is that if you are afraid to take a chance, if you shy away from controversy—then you will never be a very interesting writer. JA will always (as long as I am at the helm), attempt to deviate from the norm. We want to inspire new thoughts; we want you to look at an old problem in a fresh manner. The Internet is a wonderful place; let's be open to new ideas and ways—we may be surprised at the results.

Cryo—Friends?

I have had my share of fun liberally taking shots at Cryo over the past year. As was inevitable, they have finally submitted to my winsome, boyish charms. Cryo has been kind enough to supply JA with a huge box of games to review. As many of you are aware, the majority of Cryo products are not available in the United States, but Cryo is in the process of opening an online store on their web site to generate sales. Now there will be no excuse for not owning a collection of these hard-to-get games. Stay tuned to JA for reviews of Dreams to Reality, Scotland Yard, Riverworld and many more.

LucasArts—Foes?

My pleas to LA for information on The Phantom Menace largely went unheeded. Then I received a letter stating that if I wanted any information on TPM, I should just go to their web site like everyone else. LA insists that absolutely no one was given information beforehand. Fine. Then how did major magazines that appeared on the newsstands the next day already have exclusive shots and previews of TPM? How did every commercial web site have a story posted within hours of the updated LucasArts web site? Maybe I'm being a little too sensitive here, but this seems to be just another case of the core adventure gamers being largely ignored for the "good" of the mass public. Hey, LA, a little TLC toward your adventure fans would go a long way right now.

That's about it for this month. Be here in May as I don my thongs and Speedo and head off to Los Angeles. But, being the gaming geek that I am, I will probably never even make it to the beach!