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. Besides Jen’s excellent articles and
constantly improving web skills, we are also 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!
