The State of Adventure Gaming
By Randy Sluganski
August
1999
Scooby
Doo Adventure Game Outsells Myst! Scooby Snacks for Everyone!
Don’t
laugh, we may be reading this headline by the end of this year. Adventure game
publishers have never been recognized for their inspired marketing ploys, but
that is about to change. Bob Chase, Media Relations Specialist for SouthPeak,
informs us that SouthPeak
will be inserting coupons for their Scooby-Doo and the Phantom of the Park
adventure game in the packaging for Warner Brothers’ all-new, feature-length
Scooby Doo movie, Scooby-Doo
and the Witch’s Ghost. Lest you snicker, Warner Brothers plans on putting
$65 million worth of advertising dollars behind their canine superstar’s new video.
Why such a huge push? Well, last year’s Scooby video, Scooby Doo on Zombie
Island, was the top-selling children’s video of the year. October 5 is the
street date for the video–expect the SouthPeak game to follow soon thereafter.
Hey Bob, now tell your programmers that if they want SouthPeak’s The Wild Wild
West adventure game to be a sure-fire hit also, they should put that catchy
Will Smith theme song adaptation in the game!
Kudos to Mindscape and
South Peak
Thumbs
way up to Mindscape for having the chutzpah to purchase the distribution rights
for Ring in North America. With adventure game sales as low as they are
and Ring not exactly your normal everyday adventure game, Mindscape is
indeed taking a big chance on adventure gamers. I hope that their confidence is
rewarded with steady sales so they are encouraged to distribute upcoming Cryo
titles such as Faust and Atlantis 2. Let’s not forget SouthPeak,
either. Their acquisition of Rent-A-Hero was indeed a splendid surprise.
Now we just need some U.S. publishers willing to take a chance on Curly’s Adventure,
The Real Neverending Story, WM and The Longest Journey. It’s nice to
know that not all publishers are as gutless and greedy as Hasbro and GT.
A
Shameless Plug
Adventure gamers everywhere are undoubtedly groupies
of Mad Magazine and Alfred E. Neuman. Now for the cheap price of only $69.99
retail, you can purchase a seven-CD boxed collection (distributed by Broderbund/Mindscape)
that contains every single word, every single page ever printed in Mad Magazine.
That’s right, that usual gang of idiots from Mad has quit wasting paper
and is now wasting CDs. For the unbelievably low price of only $10 per CD, you
can be the embarrassed owner of a complete collection of these American classics.
Now if only I could figure out how to fold my monitor so I can view the fold-ins!
End of shameless plug.
Good Gosh, I Hate Ebay!
Honest! I really
do! Unlike UGTZ, Ebay is totally
worthless. Remember the good old days when you used to be able to buy a game on
the marketplace newsgroups from a fellow gamer? Well, no more. Now it seems like
every time you click on a “Grim Fandango FS” posting, up pops a link
to an Ebay auction. I actually attempted to use Ebay, but anyone who has will
agree with me that not only is it a pain to put in your passwords for any bid
you make, but then a day later you receive an email that you have been outbid.
Rather than consistently repeat this time-consuming and frustrating process, I
have taken the easy route and erased the marketplaces from my newsgroup listings
and Ebay from my favorite web sites. If anyone out there agrees with me, then
give me a big “Oh, hell yeah!” (I gotta quit watching the WWF!)
What’s
Up with That Plus Sign?
When we first added the plus sign to the JA
logo, it was with the intention of reviewing RPGs and some simulations. Well,
since that time, I have happily discovered that there are many areas of adventure
gaming that we were ignoring, and as the premiere adventure webzine on the Internet,
we were neglecting some of our readers. That is why we have recently added Mac
reviews to the site and are in the process of including text adventure reviews.
If that is not enough, JA Kids! will soon be branching out on its own! Don’t ever
let the doomsayers convince you that adventure games are dead: a strong European
market, the emergence of adventure games on the Playstation, the new breed of
action/adventure games, and the burgeoning “garage” developers are proof
of a genre that refuses to die!
PC
Gamer Proclaims Adventure Games Dead! Ding Dong–PC Gamer
is full of … 
Yes, that’s right. The esteemed PC Gamer has, in their September
1999 issue (it’s the issue with the hot picture of Roberta Williams inside), declared
us extinct. Michael Wolf, PC Gamer’s adventure game “expert,”
in his monthly Alternate Lives column, has decided that GK3 is the adventure
gamer’s only hope. He then asks for reader opinions on why the genre is dead.
As I am a reader, I emailed the following:
Mike,
Adventure
games are far from dead, but have rather been relegated to a niche status.Take
a look at the upcoming releases page on my site and then honestly tell me that
adventure games are dead! With the scheduled release of The Real Neverending Story,
SImon 3D, Discworld Noir, The Longest Journey, The Quivering, Faust, WM, Rent-A-Hero,
etc. I maintain that the adventure game is dead only in the eyes of the American
gamer who is too myopic to see beyond anything that is not a “major”
release like GK3.Just because you guys don’t review it, does not
mean it does not exist. Open yourself up to the plethora of adventure games being
published world wide! Some of these games are the best I have ever played, but
the mainstream magazines ignore them because they don’t have multi-million advertising
campaigns behind them.And finally, shame on you for buying into
the fallacy that adventure games are dead. Just Adventure receives over 800,000
hits a month from over 20,000 devoted readers worldwide. If we are deceased, then
I must have missed the funeral.Randy Sluganski
Owner/Editor
Just Adventure
http://www.justadventure.com
Of course,
I received no response. Do me and all adventure gamers a favor, if you agree that
some of these “major” magazines need to get off their asses and do a
little research instead of waiting for everything to be delivered to them hand
and foot, then email Mike and share your
opinion with him.
Gabriel
Knight, Gabriel Knight, Wherefore Art Thou Gabriel Knight?
What light
shines in yonder window
It is not I playing Gabriel Knight 3
For
this martyr, the fan-anointed “savior of adventuredom”
Has been
bumped hither to October
Methinks something smells rotten at Sierra
Hark,
I heareth a knocketh at my dooreth
It is a strangely clad warrior with a Federal
Express package
Oh lookie! It’s a gold master of GK3! Enough of this
silliness, I’m outta here until next month.
