The State of Adventure Gaming

By Randy Sluganski

Whoa,
Check out That Figure!

From PC Data, the official sales figures for
adventure games in the month of December, 2000. The first number is the total
sold for the month. The second number is the total sold for the year 2000. Figures
do not include online purchases or sales outside of North America.

Hmm…can those figures
be correct? How can a “crappy” Dreamcatcher game like The Crystal
Key outsell a fan favorite like LucasArts’ Escape from Monkey Island? Not
that LucasArts would ever ask my opinion, mind you, it’s not like anyone at Just
Adventure would know anything about adventure games or gamers, but maybe it has
something to do with knowing your audience and appropriately marketing to them.
Of course, I’m sure that LucasArts honestly believes that they should have run
more two-page color ads in PC Gamer. Maybe LucasArts should study the Dreamcatcher
business model. Or maybe it’s just easier to transfer the blame elsewhere and
attribute your poor sales to a lack of support by adventure gamers. I guarantee
that LucasArts will eventually issue a public statement that there is no support
for adventure games. Tell that to the 176,690 adventure gamers who have bought
copies of The Crystal Key.

400% Bigger–but It’s Not the Size
That Matters

If you need any further proof that adventure games are
on the upswing, then how about this: according to a press release, Dreamcatcher
experienced a growth of 700% for the year 2000. Just Adventure, during the same
period, experienced a growth of 400%, and we have already attracted almost 40,000
new readers for the month of January alone thanks to an article in Access Internet
Magazine. All of which provides a nice segue to our next headline …

Action
Games Are Dead!?

In a shocking move, the ISDA has declared February
to be “Action Games are Dead” month. Citing the low sales figures much
anticipated releases of Daiktaina and Unreal Tournament, combined
with the three-year production cycle of Duke Nukem Forever, the ISDA has
decided that action games are not the hot item they once were.

Industry
spokesperson Duke Nukem was overheard complaining, “I used to chew gum and
kick ass and now I spend my days knitting sweaters and playing bingo and I’m all
out of bingo chips.”

You can support the “Action Games Are Dead”
movement by writing to your favorite gaming magazine or webzine and letting them
know that you support the “Action Games Are Dead” movement. Buttons
will also soon be available nationwide. Wear yours proudly.

Look Mommy,
Boobies!

Just when you start to believe that the gaming community as
a whole is beginning to mature, something like the following happens: Next
Generation editor Tom Russo writes a thoughtful article concerning a lack
of maturity and adult material in our games, and what does he complain about the
most in his lead-in editorial? That he was advised to not print a cover parodying
the infamous Janet Jackson/Rolling Stone issue that had a pair of hands
covering Janet Jackson’s nude breasts. Instead, Next Generation’s parody
has Duke Nukem’s hands covering Laura Croft’s naked breasts. In all honesty, it
is very well-done and humorous. But if that is your idea of what a mature gamer
wants–the freedom to see Lara Croft’s boobs–then, Tom, with people like you
as industry spokespersons, it will be another decade before we have any mature
games.

Take
a Letter, Maria

It seems Eidos has finally quit pretending that it isn’t
marketing their products to the T&A crowd, and if you need any further proof,
then just take a look at this advertisement for Fear Effect 2 from the
February issue of PSM (Playstation Magazine). Subtle, huh? Two women
hugging (ooh … maybe they’re lesbians) and the tag line, “These Two Ladies
Put the Ass in Assassin.”

We
at Just Adventure have decided to jump on the bandwagon and produce a game for
Eidos. The first of our projects will be aimed at the ever-growing female market
segment and will feature two male secretaries who must save the world using only
their throbbing pectorals and stiff six-shooters (and their guns won’t shoot blanks!).
Our tag line for advertising–“These Two Big Boys Put the Dic in Dictation.”
Look for a feature article on the cover of Next Generation.

I
Would Never Belong to Any Club That Would Have Me as a Member

AGOTM.
Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? Adventure Game of the Month Club. No membership
fee, no monthly dues. Nor do you have to buy four games in the next two years
to complete your membership. All you need do to belong is to visit the JA
Forum to discover the title of the Game of the Month and then play along.
This month’s game is Jeff and Karen Tobler’s popular Riddle of the Sphinx.
Jeff and Karen were also kind enough to provide some prizes for five members
of the AGOTM. No, I will not tell you what the prizes are–you have to visit the
JA Forum and find out for yourself. Join Rumpy, Orion, Orb, and other bizarrely
named adventurers from all over the globe as they put their heads together to
form one big, strange-looking adventure gamer.

Just Call Me “That
Guy from Just Adventure”

Some insider info for JA readers: PC Gamer
has for some time now been working on an article debating the future, if any,
of adventure games. When last I spoke via email with PC Gamer editor Rob
Smith, he expressed concern that everyone who had so far been interviewed for
the article had been very negative. It was at that point that I suggested that
maybe PC Gamer was interviewing the wrong people. That instead of interviewing
the people who used to and no longer are working on adventure games, maybe they
needed to contact the people who are presently working on projects and would have
a more positive outlook on the genre. In other words, out with the old guard and
in with the new. Seems they were receptive to the idea, for the April issue of
PC Gamer will feature an article that they are advertising as, “Adventure
games: we found a pulse. We didn’t think we would. We didn’t think we could. But
by jiminy, if we didn’t actually discover that rumors of adventure gaming’s demise
have been greatly exaggerated. Out with the old guard and in with the new: there
are stores to tell, and talented people to tell them. All will be revealed.”

Ubi Still Be Clueless

Can someone, anyone, please explain
to me in an intelligent manner why companies like Ubi Soft continue to run two-page
advertisements for adventure games that cost tens of thousands of dollars in magazines
like Next Generation (or as they now so coolly call themselves, Next
Gen)? This magazine has not given a positive review to any adventure game
for at least two years now (the puzzles give them headaches). Why would you continue
to run advertisements in a magazine that does not support the adventure genre?
Wouldn’t you think running an advertisement in Next Gen would hurt, rather
than help, sales? I could understand if it was a sports game or an arcade game.
But this is a magazine that has done nothing but ridicule adventure games and
point-and-click games.

It’s not like Just Adventure has not contacted Ubi
Soft. We have emailed their marketing department, we have offered to present our
statistics and prove that we have almost as many readers as Next Gen. Strangely
enough, all of our readers are adventure gamers. Not to mention that we
had over two million hits last month. Many of our readers visit every day,
as compared to a magazine that is looked at for one or two days and then forgotten.

So
what do you think the result has been when we have contacted companies like Ubi
Soft and LucasArts and Mattel and asked them to support the adventure genre by
advertising on Just Adventure, or any adventure site for that matter? Asking them
to help keep us afloat. Asking them to show support for the adventure community
that supports them by purchasing their products. They don’t respond. Not a one
of them. Don’t fool yourselves, these companies don’t give a damn about adventure
gamers and they don’t give a damn if the genre survives. They only know how to
do things they same way they have been doing them for years, pumping thousands
of dollars into numerous magazine ads and then blaming the adventure community
when the games don’t sell. As for me, I’m at the point where I don’t give a damn
if some of these companies survive, and I think we as a whole need to quit supporting
them until they begin to show some marketing savvy.

Oh by way, the new
issue of Next Gen gave Stupid Invaders 2 stars out of 5, and the
new issue of PC Gamer gave it a 52%. Shocking, huh? The reason for the
bad reviews–c’mon everybody, you know the routine–the puzzles don’t make sense,
pixel hunting, blah, blah, blah.

Free Stuff! Look Here! No Obligation!

I
have two brand new copies of 9: The Last Resort that I will give to the
first two people who answer the following 10 questions correctly. Please mail
answers to me at [email protected].
Ready? Let’s go:

1. Which game does not feature the voice of
Tim Curry? Gabriel Knight 1, Gabriel Knight 3, Frankenstein, Rocky Horror Interactive
Show

2. Below are the titles of three games that were released in Europe.
What were these games renamed for their US release? Dementia, Aztec, Broken
Sword

3. Who wrote the book version of Starship Titanic?

4.
Which of the following games was not converted to console in the United States?
Riven, Myst, Chronicles of the Sword, Broken Sword, The Neverhood

5.
Which game is not somehow tied in to the movie of the same name? The Arrival,
City of Lost Children, Congo, Titanic

6. Which game does not have a
rat puzzle? Jonny Quest, Nightlong, Bad Mojo, Orion Conspiracy, Martian Gothic

7.
What best-selling adventure game was banned by Comp USA?

8. Who is Larry
Laffer’s great, great grandfather?

9. What two Dreamcatcher games’ box covers
were chosen by Just Adventure readers?

10. The following rock stars all
appeared in a different adventure game. Can you name the adventure game that each
rock star appeared in? Queen, Arrowsmith, Cher

Survey Says!

During
the month of February, we will have our annual adventure gamer survey online.
Please take a few minutes to complete it. The results will be compiled to provide
information to adventure game developers and distributors as to what adventure
gamers want in their games. All information will be separated from its email address,
so there will be no questions about confidentiality. Plus all who complete the
survey will be eligible to win one of ten brand-new copies of Dreamcatcher’s newest
hot release, Dracula 2. But if you would rather not complete the survey,
that is understandable, and we will just continue to allow the action-oriented
magazines to dictate the future of adventure gaming.

Forum Is a Jolly
Good Fellow

Okay, guys and gals, listen up, Just Adventure’s readers
kick butt. We have over 100,000 unique visitors a month from over 75 countries.
But when it comes to the JA
Forum and the JAVE, you
people are a major disappointment. If just half of the readers who lurk around
the JA Forum were to post a message, we would easily have the largest forum on
the Internet. The same goes for the JAVE. The largest adventure encyclopedia in
the history of the civilized world, and how many visitors does it get a month–well,
I could count the total on 720 hands. C’mon people, get with it. You want adventure,
and we’re trying to give it to you. Now put down those chips and soft drinks and
start posting on the forum.

Our Semiannual Cheap Attempt to Obtain Extra
Hits Through Search Engines

Dragonball Z, Survivor, Playstation 2, Pamela
Anderson Lee, N Sync, WWF Wrestling, J Lo, XFL, Valentine’s Day, Hannibal, Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Rock, Baltimore Ravens, Buffy, Gladiator, Pepsi,
Spider-Man, and the Backstreet Boys.