Articles

Well, I’m back again. Those of you who follow JA on a regular
basis are probably aware that this column has for the most part been
incorporated into the weekly Eye on Adventure, but there is such
an overload of information right now that only a new State of Adventuring
Gaming could contain the overflow of news. So let’s get going…

WHAT TIME IS IT BOYS & GIRLS? ITS JUST ADVENTURE TIME!

Just Adventure reader Tom Stetar was kind enough (and very astute)
to send us the following,

While playing the
new Nancy Drew game last weekend, Danger on Deception Island,
I noticed
a plug for Just Adventure in the game… look
at the bottom of the calendar in the lighthouse.

Now I ask you, what else would a lonely lighthouse keeper do late
at night than surf Just Adventure – and thanks to Her Interactive
for including us in their game!

HOW MANY MISTAKES CAN YOU FIND IN THIS PARAGRAPH?

Sierra is developing a
new Leisure Suit Larry game without Al
Lowe.
Sierra refuses to respond to
any queries about said game. Sierra, apparently not aware that there
are now sites on the Internet that exclusively cover adventure games,
funnels information about the game only to a magazine. The cover
of the magazine is then suspiciously ‘leaked’ to the
Internet three weeks before the magazine’s street date.

If you guessed ‘all of the above’ then contact Sierra’s
public relations department as they don’t seem to have a clue
on how to market an adventure game.

RAZZIN’, FRAZZIN’ NO GOOD FOR NOTHINGS…

As everyone knows, the
PC Gamer staff is the biggest. . . Huh? What’s
that? The December, 2003 issue of PC Gamer claims that ‘Your
best bet for all things adventure-related is the website run at JustAdventure.com.
It’s a handy repository of all things adventure-related and
is the indispensable online destination for PC adventure seekers.’

As I was saying, as everyone knows, the PC Gamer staff is the biggest,
most wonderfulest group of people in the world and their taste in
adventure game webzines is impeccable.

DON’T SING THE ‘NAME GAME’ WITH CHUCK
OSBORN

We have never hesitated
in the past to point out the bias that is often evident in adventure
game reviews, so it’s only fair
to point out Chuck Osborn’s exemplary review of Darkfall in
PC Gamer’s November issue. The game is reviewed on its own
merits with suggestions offered for improvement and shows a true
appreciation of the adventure genre. And not once does he use that
hoary cliché employed by hacks everywhere…well, we’ll
take more about that phrase in our next article.

But first, everybody sing
– Chuckie, Chuckie, bo buckie, fee fi….

SILLY RABBIT

C’mon, you knew
I wasn’t
going to keep blowing kisses for this entire column. As we pointed
out in the September 24th Eye
on Adventure,
numerous magazine reviewers seem to have a stock phrase they use
to showcase their ignorance of the adventure genre. We would like
to thank Computer Gaming World for providing the following hilarity
in their November issue. Here is the opening line from a 2-page preview
of Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon. Now sing along again as we follow
the bouncing ball…

Adventure games are
a dieing breed here in the United States; just a handful come
out
each year, and fewer still are any good. Why?
To be blunt point-and-click graphic adventures just don’t work
anymore.

Well, wasn’t that fun boys and girls? A ‘handful’ of
adventure games – what planet is this author from? I can easily list
twenty adventure games that will be released this year alone. Then,
as justification for his opening line, the author then totally misinterprets
Charles Cecil’s now infamous ‘point-n-click adventures
are dead’ remark. Maybe someone should hire Scooby Doo to solve
this mystery of the supposedly dead genre. Personally, I think Mother
Theresa was behind the entire conspiracy as I hear she was a big
fan of fraggin.

WELL SLAP MY BUTT AND CALL ME SKINNIE MINNIE

Not to be outdone, the same issue features a well-written review
of Darkfall, but this time the opening line takes on a new twist:

With some of the bigger
developers abandoning adventure games for other genres, amateur
independents have stepped forward to fill the
gap…

Zzzzzzzz….oh, sorry, I dozed off there for a moment. Yes,
there have been some independent developers step forward, but exactly
what ‘bigger developers’ have abandoned the genre? Ubi
Soft – one of the largest developers in the world – released
CSI earlier this year, has Uru due out in November, Uru Live early
next year and is committed to at least two more entries in the Myst series. Lucas Arts is hard at work on Sam & Max 2. Sure, Full
Throttle 2 was cancelled, but guess what – wasn’t an
adventure game. Dreamcatcher, not only one of Canada’s largest
developers, but also one of their fastest growing companies, has
at least ten different adventure games in various stages of development.
Microids – anyone ever hear of Syberia 2? Electronic Arts – other
than some great Sherlock Holmes games about 10 years ago, they’ve
never really been known as adventure game developers. So who does
that leave? Oh that’s right – Sierra. Hot news flash
for the staff of CGW – up until this past week, Sierra abandoned
the adventure genre five years ago! Get over it already, everyone
else has.

BANG, BANG YOU’RE DEAD!

One of our favorite people,
Hubert Chardot – the creator of the Alone in the Dark series –
sent us this artwork from his newest project,
a French western comic book titled The Last Ride. When does this
guy sleep? He’s just written a comic book, finished a script
for a werewolf movie and is working on a new game.

SAM & MAX & BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE & KATE

Kudos to Lucas Arts for
their innovative marketing of 2004’s
second most anticipated adventure title, Sam & Max Freelance
Police. Everyone who pre-orders their upcoming Armed & Dangerous
(one of the best games we played at the E3) receives a free preview
disc that also contains the full version of the original Sam & Max
Hit the Road and a sneak peak trailer of Freelance Police – which
you can also download from the front page of JA! This is the trailer
that had previously been posted on the internet. We received ours
this week and it’s great. Now that’s how you market an
adventure game!

Speaking of innovative
adventure marketing, cheers also to Microids for opening a Syberia
2 forum
months in advance of 2004’s most anticipated release in an
attempt to build a strong fan-base. Isn’t it great that these
companies are finally listening to the marketing suggestions of adventure
gamers!

HITCHCOCK EVEN MAKES A GUEST APPEARANCE IN THE GAME!

Is anybody else as impressed
with the box for Conspiracies as I am? Not only is it a real eye
catcher, but it also evokes memories
of Hitchock’s classic Vertigo. Sometimes all it takes is a
memorable box cover to sell a game.

RED HERRINGS

• We have some
  great stuff coming your way for the rest of this year, but
  the biggest news of all may be the new JA Game Portal.
  Be here next week as both JA and adventure gaming go mainstream.
• Our new Just
  Adventure Developers section is also about to open. If you are
  a independent developer who would like to get
  maximum exposure for your game, then shoot me an email.
• It looks like
  online adventure games may finally make an impact in the adventure
  community. Not only do we predict that Uru will be a huge hit, but Agon has proved to be very popular and we also know of a few other
  online games in development.