The State of Adventure Gaming
By Randy
Sluganski
June 1999
Welcome
Our masthead when you
load our URL simply says, “Welcome to Just Adventure +.” Why so
simple? Because, quite honestly, we appreciate your business. It is a pleasure
to be sharing our thoughts and ramblings as concerns the adventure genre. The
icing on the cake is when a line from one of our reviews is quoted on a game box
(Morpheus, Lightbringer) or in a magazine advertisement (Dark Side of
the Moon, Morpheus) or when I receive an email from a publisher asking my
advice on the purchase of a new adventure release. It was with some humor, then,
that I visited another adventure site on the Internet the other day and noticed
that their masthead stated, “The Premier Site for Adventure Game Coverage
on the Internet!” In whose opinion? As far as I know, this site has never
been quoted anywhere at all! In fact, they have, through desperation, resorted
to printing rumors of new releases. This, though, is the inherent charm of the
Internet–information can be falsified and embellished without fear of contradiction.
More
Welcomes!
It is with great honor that Just Adventure welcomes two newcomers
to the staff. Cindy KM, late of the Warzone Adventure News, is now heading
our Eye on Adventure three
days a week! Cindy’s astute observations and timely links to other areas of interest
are a joy. When I discovered that she was no longer writing for the Warzone, I
was deeply upset, as her column was one of the very few I visited on a daily basis.
Convinced that a day without Cindy is like a day without sunshine, I jumped for
joy when she agreed to do a similar column for JA! Drop
her a line and welcome her to the staff.
Our second new addition is
the wonderful Demolitia, aka Beth, who is famous (infamous?) for her therapy
columns at the Gamepen site. Beth, for obvious reasons, will not be doing therapy
for JA, but she will be contributing editorials, columns and whatever else may
strike her fancy at the moment. I am sure that her keen sense of humor and cutting
sarcasm will keep us all on our toes. But if you think we are resting on our laurels
with our wonderful new staff additions, think again. For we have more surprises
on the way while Just Adventure continues to grow as the voice of the mature adventure
gamer on the Internet.
Previews Up the Wahoo
If you have scanned
our Adventure Releases at E3 article, then you are already aware
that there are a lot of new games scheduled for release. In the spirit of sleepless
nights and coffee with heavy cream, I have devoted myself to previewing, re-previewing
or presenting exclusive screen shots from every game on that list. So be with
us this month and next as we present . . . Previews Up the Wahoo! (I must be out
of my mind.)
Contests and Interviews
We will, later this year,
be sponsoring exclusive contests courtesy of Mindscape and Dreamcatcher, to name
just a few. We have also lined up interviews with Josh Mandel, Al Lowe, the creators
of The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, and we are attempting to convince
David Bowie that it would be good for his career to speak with Just Adventure
regarding Omikron, his new action/adventure game. Also, we plan to do some
contests of our own, so keep watching for details.
Hasbro and Simon
3D Need Your Help!
I realize that I am one of the few who thought
that Hasbro’s purchase of the distribution rights for Simon 3D was great
for the industry, but I am starting to have second thoughts since discovering
that Simon 3D is only scheduled for European release. I have spoken with
Hasbro’s Steve Arthur (Product Marketing Manager) and John Sutyak (Product Purchasing
Manager), and their reluctance regarding a North American release is obvious.
This is a prime opportunity for Just Adventure readers to show Hasbro that we
would support a stateside release of Simon 3D! We need your ideas and suggestions!
Let’s convince Hasbro that adventure games are still a viable product. What do
you as the avid game player suggest Hasbro can do to market Simon 3D
in the United States? What approach(es) could Hasbro take to make Simon
3D a best-selling game? C’mon, guys ‘n’ gals, let’s turn the industry on its
ear by showing our support of nonviolent, intelligent games! Forward
all of your suggestions to me, and I will in turn contact Hasbro. Let’s make
this work!
Nyah, Nyah . . . We Interviewed Lee Sheldon and You Didn’t
Another
unnamed site recently insinuated that JA was “butt-kissing.” Such site
claimed that the only reason we awarded a good review to Lee Sheldon’s and SouthPeak’s
excellent Dark Side of the Moon was so that Lee Sheldon would agree to
do an interview. I would like to call you guys “arses,” but I won’t.
The only reason, that I know of, that Mr. Sheldon agreed to the interview was
simply that I asked! As for the good review of DSOTM, it was well-deserved.
It seems that we at JA are not the only ones to share this opinion, as a new advertisement
from SouthPeak appearing in the July issues of the major computer gaming magazines
has glowing quotes for DSOTM from Computer Games Strategy Plus, Warzone
Gaming Site, Next Generation, PC Gamer, PC Games, Antagonist Games Network, Sci-Fi
Universe and Just Adventure. If we are butt-kissers, then I am proud
to pucker my lips in such hallowed company! When will some of these snobbish,
myopic reviewers realize that their incessant malevolence toward adventure games
for minutiae is destroying the genre, not helping it. Disk swapping and the occasional
bug are, unfortunately, hazards of the profession, not an excuse to dismiss a
product that was worked on for over a year by a team of professionals. The ascent
of DVD players will alleviate the disk-swapping problem, and the eventual standardization
of personal computers will mean less patches in the future. Until that time, let’s
review adventure games more for their content and fun factor and less from our
preconceived opinions of what constitutes excellence.
Pamela Anderson
Lee
If you thought I would go this entire column without once mentioning
the ivory goddess of the Internet, then you don’t know me very well. Imagine my
heart palpitations when I heard that Pamela Anderson Lee has been known to frequent
the Just Adventure webzine! Are these rumors true, or are they just vicious lies
concocted by the competition in order to throw me off the scent of new adventure
releases? Could the deep breathing on the hang-up telephone calls I receive in
the middle of the night really be a nonverbal form of adulation from the shy,
silicon-free beauty? Stay tuned as my search for gaming nirvana continues.
