The State of Adventure Gaming

By Randy Sluganski

Adventure
Sales Figures

All sales figures were provided by PC Data and are for
the month of March 2001. These sales figures do not reflect international or online
sales.

To provide a point of comparison, below are the sales figures for two
of the most heavily advertised nonadventure games of the year.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Our
recent interview with American McGee has not only become our all-time most talked
about article, but it seems that forum posters at many of the larger action-oriented
sites were mortified that we were so bold as to ask difficult questions about
a controversial game. Some even went so far as to anoint me an a**hole. (Now,
this in itself is not a shocking revelation. After eighteen years of marriage,
I often think that a**hole is my first name.) God forbid anyone inside the industry
pose any questions more difficult than, “What influenced your choice of 3D
engines?” But what these reactions ultimately prove is that computer and
video gaming professionals need to learn to be more critical and introspective.
If the industry as a whole were to exhibit more maturity and common sense, then
maybe we wouldn’t always find ourselves on the defensive against negative criticism
from outsiders. But enough from me, it’s time to let our outspoken friend Josh
Mandel have the last word, for now, on this subject.

“I
read with great interest (as you knew I would!) the interview with American McGee
in regard to his American McGee’s Alice. I was delighted to see that you
were so upfront with him about the “Go
Ask Alice” article, but regretful that you felt a need to imply that
you had put your foot in your mouth by publishing that article. [I have since
informed Josh that I was not apologizing for publishing his article, but for some
remarks I had made; my apologies if anyone else thought the same.]

“Mr.
McGee was quite respectful in the private emails we exchanged shortly after the
article appeared. His public response, though, indicated to me that he may’ve
misconstrued the message of my criticism. The message I attempted to convey in
the article was not, ‘This is going to be a bad game because it’s violent, and
games shouldn’t be violent.’ Rather, the article was saying, ‘This is a game that,
because of its concept and timing, will further erode the public perception of
game developers.’ Because I dealt with the game’s concept, which was clearly spelled
out in the Alice website at the time that I wrote the article, this stance
was wholly supportable by the available information. Moreover, that message has
nothing at all to do with how enjoyable the game may or may not be, so it shouldn’t
have led you to imply that you’d done a disservice by publishing the article.

“McGee
says, ‘I was only upset that Josh would take a negative stance towards something
that he knew so little about. At the time of his article we had released only
small bits of information on the game, and it seemed odd that someone could form
such strong opinions about something that hardly even existed.’

“That’s
an odd reaction. I based my impression of the game on what EA chose to display:
many pages of graphics dripping with animated blood, a rotatable animation of
Alice with a carving knife and an inverted cross, and some discussion of the plot
of the game and the thrust (pardon the pun) of the gameplay. I made no assumptions
about the game, I used only the information provided, and I was careful to reiterate
that the game was still very early in development.

“Obviously it was
EA’s and Rogue’s intention, in creating the pre-release Alice website upon
which I based the article, to create a strong positive image for the game and
generate pre-release sales. To then imply that it’s unfair for someone to come
away with a strong negative image is hypocritical. If Mr. McGee would’ve preferred
that I held my thoughts until after the game was released, was he equally in favor
of turning down pre-orders and quashing positive buzz in the press, because those
people were also making a judgment based on fragmentary early information? I sincerely
doubt it. Unless the marketing and development teams at EA and Rogue were unusually
holy individuals, I’m sure they eagerly soaked up as much favorable early press
as possible, attempted to create more, and gladly accepted pre-orders. If EA and
Rogue were willing to accept early praise and early sales, they should be equally
unafraid of early criticism.

“In most regards, Mr. McGee comes across
as a humble and thoughtful individual. It’s refreshing to see a designer speak
so respectfully of his team; I know many ‘star’ designers who dole out such praise
grudgingly, if ever (insecurity about the value of their own contributions, I
think). But if I could communicate one thought to him, it would be this: if you
choose to listen to the good things people say about you, then you must also listen
to the bad things they say about you … and give them equal consideration, as
free of defensiveness as possible.”

Whipping Boy of
the Month

You know them, and as frustrated adventure gamers calling
their technical support desk and sitting on hold have discovered, you dislike
them … that’s right, we’re talkin’ ’bout UbiSoft.

Between Stupid Invaders
and now Myst 3, their PR department has already captured the “Clueless”
marketing award for this year. Internal policy seems to dictate that “children
should be seen and not heard,” as constructive criticism concerning their
inept marketing of adventure games has been met with negativity on their part
and, in fact, certain high-placed individuals have asked that we not provide them
with any more information concerning the wants of adventure gamers. Who cares
what we want, we are sheep who will be led to slaughter.

For a heavily advertised
game like Stupid Invaders to sell only 2,454 copies during the first month
of release (figures provided by PC Data) is an embarrassment that can easily be
explained by UbiSoft’s insistence on advertising the game to nonadventure readers
at Next Generation magazine and PC IGN. Though they had the European distribution
rights to In Cold Blood, they passed on the North American distribution
rights. One can only speculate that either they did not know how to market the
game or they believed that an adventure game sans the toilet humor would not sell
to Americans. By the way, In Cold Blood, which probably has one-tenth of
the advertising budget of Stupid Invaders, sold 2,500 copies during the
first month of release. As for Myst 3, it will sell half a million copies
on name recognition alone, not because of any innovative marketing on behalf of
UbiSoft, for they have neither developed nor financed the game, they only bought
the company that put the sweat into the product.

I
wish I could inform you of the botched distribution process for the review copies
for Myst 3: Exile, but I would then have to betray confidences. I can tell
you that major magazines and websites are screaming bloody murder over the ineptness
of a company that sent advance review copies of Myst 3 to outlets geared
towards an action-oriented fanbase (PC IGN, Gamespot) and ignored many sites and
publications that have shown strong support for the adventure genre.

We
have yet to even mention their unbelievable marketing decision to release the
localized European version of Myst 3 at least four months after the
North American release, a marketing blunder that has alienated their European
fanbase. The delay is probably a blessing in disguise, though, for, as American
adventure gamers are discovering, a major gaming company has once again foregone
quality control in favor of the almighty dollar.

Yep, the biggest adventure
release of the year is a nightmare to install, and gamers across the newsgroups
and forums are speaking volumes. From the official
support FAQ for Exile:

Q. I have problems when
installing or trying to play the game. The game prompts me for a CD, but it doesn’t
recognize that the disk it is looking for is already in the drive?

The
problem seems to be as a result of CDROM drive letter assignment. If you have
one or more CDROM drives assigned to letters higher than H:, you will need to
reassign the drive letter to something lower. The best configuration should be
the next available drive letter. For example, if your hard drive is letter C:,
try changing your CDROM drive letter to D:. If you have more then one hard drive,
change the CDROM drive to the next available drive letter. The object is to make
your CDROM drive letter as low as possible.

To change your drive
letter assignment:

1. Right-click on you’re my Computer icon and
choose Properties.
2. Click on the Device Manager Tab and Double Click on CDROM.
3.
Double-click on your CDROM drive and click on the settings Tab.
4. Make a note
of your current drive letter assignment. Using the Start and End Drive Letter
drop down boxes, select the lowest available drive letter for both.
5. Click
OK and restart your computer.
6. Once your computer comes back up, Myst III
should run without problems.

*NOTE*
Changing your CDROM drive
letter may prevent other installed programs from working properly. The Myst development
team is aware of this problem and is working on a better fix for this issue.

Well,
that’s a simple solution–not. UbiSoft’s answer: we will release a patch
on our website. My question: why wasn’t the game released in a playable state?

There
are also other minor problems being reported: an inability to exit from the game,
system crashes, and soundcard incompatibility. The consumers complaining now are
hardcore gamers who know how to work around some of these inconveniences, but
what will happen when the general public faces these problems? Thousands of returns,
that is what will happen. If ever a company was in need of a clue …

All
That Glitters Is Not Gold –Or Is It?

Strange
things began to happen last month after we posted our review of the long-awaited
Gilbert Goodmate and the Mushroom of Phungoria. Emails from the game’s
developers arrived accusing us of reviewing an unfinished beta version; which
I thought peculiar since our copy clearly had “Master Submission” stamped
across the cover. There was clearly no doubt in my mind that we had the version
of Gilbert Goodmate that was intended to be sold to the public, sans the
fancy retail packaging. This is when the story gets interesting.

Yes, we
did review the gold master, or final version, of Gilbert Goodmate, but
in a gutsy business decision that I believe is unprecedented in the industry,
the game’s developers responded to criticism that had been directed toward the
game and resolved to correct the problems by remastering the final version of
the game. So now when the new and improved version of Gilbert Goodmate is
released, some small bugs will have been corrected, much extraneous dialogue will
have been cut, and Gilbert’s walking speed will have been increased. Kudos to
the developers for improving a game after the gold master had already been pressed,
especially when too many larger publishers won’t hesitate to release a buggy product
that later needs to be patched.

Now, in response to the over 1,400 readers
who have already downloaded the Gilbert Goodmate demo, many of whom have
asked for information on how to order this game: Gilbert Goodmate and the Mushroom
of Phungoria will be published in the UK on June 8th by FastTrak Software
Publishing Ltd at a price of £29.99 and can be delivered worldwide. The
official Gilbert Goodmate website
is now up and running providing product information, latest news, and an active
adventure community.

E3–Small-Breasted Women Need Not Apply

Just
Adventure will once again be the only adventure site represented at the E3. We
will be there in full force, as Jen, Cindy K, Darcy, Ray, and I will be sifting
through the noise and the booth babes in search of the misplaced adventure game
(I have volunteered to personally frisk every single booth babe in search of adventure
games).

Since Just Adventure will not have a “war room” on the
E3 floor, don’t be surprised when some of the smaller sites publish “scoops”
before JA, as they will appropriate their “exclusive” updates from the
news wires and software web sites. As for us, we have meetings scheduled with
Arxel, Cryo, Dreamcatcher, Electronic Arts, Her Interactive, Konami, LucasArts,
and Sega, among others, and after the convention, rest assured that we will have
more adventure-related interviews, news items, and inside stories than you could
wish for in your wildest dreams. In fact, we have just lined up an exclusive interview
with Charles Cecil to talk about his upcoming Broken Sword 3.

Now,
just to prove that we strut our stuff for good reason, here’s a tidbit to whet
your appetite: Microids will be showing exclusive screenshots to JA and announcing
the production of Amerzone 2 at this year’s E3.

Are There Any
Naked, Gun-Toting Bunnies in Your Game?

A developer would have to be
out of his mind to attempt to produce a mature game directed toward intelligent
adults. Nary an American publisher will touch a product unless there is bloodshed
aplenty or cute little animals hopping around. So why would Rob Landeros and Dave
Wheeler, the creative geniuses behind Tender Loving Care, The 7th Guest, and
The 11th Hour, once again attempt to broach the adult marketplace with
their new full-motion-video game, Point
of View? According to Rob:

“We’re in that strange
twilight zone between movies and games, adult and youth entertainment. The game
company creatives, and some within the media, admire and appreciate what we do.
Several of my friends working for game companies express envy for the kind of
projects we create for ourselves to work on. But management and marketing won’t
go for it. As far as they’re concerned, TLC and PoV are marketing
nightmares. And to an extent, they’re right. They wouldn’t know how to begin to
sell a product outside their regular fare.”

If you are
one of the thousands who enjoyed Tender Loving Care, do yourself a favor
and visit the PoV website
and show publishers that we do want some variety in our games.

That’s
Me in the G-String

Those who like a little skin with their adventure
games need look no further than the May issue of Maxim magazine (or you
could just go here).
For those who lead a sheltered life, Maxim is a toned-down version of Playboy
aimed at the 17-to-25-year-old male. Never did I imagine that Just Adventure
would be featured in a major publication that worships nude female celebrities,
but I guess that’s the price I pay for hiring such sexy female adventure reporters
(little do they know that part of the deal for our mention was that they will
participate in an “Adventure Gamers at the Beach” photo shoot).

In
the interest of equal time, we understand that we are next to be featured in Blue
Boy. Note to Tom, Ray, Adam, Eric, and Matt: you may want to start working on
those tans.

We Don’t Want Your Steenkin’ Money

What
in the hell is the matter with you people? We are giving away $1,000 cash and
only four readers have entered the contest! All you have to do is download the
Time Warrior 2 demo and then answer one simple question. You don’t even
have to play the entire demo or order the game (though it would be nice if you
were to show support for small developers by purchasing Time Warrior 2).
Over 1,100 readers have already downloaded the demo, but for reasons I can’t even
begin to fathom, only four readers have entered the contest.

Believe me,
if I weren’t prohibited from entering, I would already have about 20 submissions
using multiple email addresses and aliases (don’t tell the Time Warrior 2 people
I said that). Are Just Adventure readers all independently wealthy, or do you
have sugar daddies buying you every new adventure release? We give away a game
with a retail value of $19.99 and we get 800 entries; we give away $1,000 cash
and no one cares. You people are really being difficult (and, yes, I know that
the contest is only open to U.S. and Canadian residents).

Why Doesn’t
Anyone Ever Remake Bloodwings or MTV’s Club Dead?

Normally, for obvious
legal reasons, we refuse to publicize fan sites that have created adventure games
based on copyrighted characters. Personally, I believe that the creation of these
games is further proof that publishers are still not hearing the buying public
and instead are sucked into the misconceptions propagated by the action-oriented
gaming magazines. But are you going too far when you publicly acknowledge the
remake of a classic game like King’s Quest 1, as Tierra
Entertainment claims to be doing?

We asked Roberta Williams, former
owner of Sierra, for her thoughts:

“‘New’ people are
not able to experience the older games whereas older books, movies, etc. are
available. Actually, I think it’s a shame; a computer game designer’s work
only has a short time span for people to enjoy it … and then it’s gone. Whereas
the work of book authors, or movie actors/directors, or singers/bands can seemingly
go on forever. I suppose that part of the reason is that with computer games,
technology is an issue that those other mediums don’t have to contend with as
much … I guess I would care if these people would somehow denigrate my past
work and/or try to ruin my reputation. As long as they are not doing that, I should
take this as a compliment.”

We will keep you updated.

That’s
Me in the G-String–Part 2

In late May/early June, we will be featuring
what we believe will be the world’s first live 3D adventure chat room. Sponsored
by Cryonetworks, our 3D chat room will be allow you to enter a time machine that
will then transport you to the Middle Ages. Once there, you can choose your avatar
and wander around a medieval atmosphere as you interact with gamers from around
the world. The more adventurous will want to scan a headshot to put upon their
avatar’s shoulders. From the various rooms of the 3D world, you will be able to
view demos, link to the JAVE and other JA features, and chat live with another
gamer.

Take a look at the fabulous screenshots we have provided below, and
then, if you are still not interested, you don’t have a pulse.

Serverice
with a Smile

As Just Adventure’s popularity has grown, the small servers
we have been using have had difficulties supporting our increased readership.
As of June, we finally will have all of our adventure gaming goodness–Just Adventure,
the JAVE, and the JA Forum–on one dedicated server so we will no longer be afflicted
with the downtime and server crashes that have become so commonplace over the
past four months. In fact, we will be utilizing the same company as Ziff-Davis,
so if we do go down, we’re taking Gamespot with us.

Don’t Touch That
Dial!

On
Sunday, July 8, from 3 pm to 5 pm, your fondest wish will come true. That’s right,
you’ll once again be soothed by the melodious musings of my voluptuous vocal cords
as I appear live, coast-to-coast, on Dave Graveline’s Into Tomorrow radio
show. For our overseas fans who cannot wait an extra week for the international
broadcast of the show, it can also be viewed live on the Internet so not only
will you be able to hear me, but you can see me also! Oh, how I envy you!

My,
You Have a Big Stinger

I can’t yet mention a name, but I have recently
had some wonderful telephone conversations with the most famous name in adventure
gaming–S … oops, I almost gave it away. Anyhow, we will soon be publishing
an interview with Sc … dang, it’s hard not say that name … and are even speaking
with Sco … sorry … about a possible monthly feature for Just Adventure. I
know this one is pretty hard to figure out, so here is another clue: back in the
days when gaming magazines actually cared about adventure gamers, Scor … man,
it’s hard to not say that name … used to write a monthly column on adventure
gaming and was in many ways an inspiration for Just Adventure.

On a totally
unrelated note, has anyone yet seen The Mummy Returns? I was just wondering
about that new character–The Scorpia-n King. Does anyone know when the WCW is
scheduled to return to television? My favorite wrestler was Sting. I love it when
he takes down his opponent with his Scorpia-n Splash move. Did you know that when
you go to the beach …

Red Herrings–Odds and Ends Until Next Time

Don’t
look for Simon 3D to be released anytime soon. Rumor has it that much fine-tuning
is needed before we see this comedy of errors.

Riven had the largest
returns-to-purchase ratio of any game in history. Will Myst 3 suffer the
same fate since UbiSoft thought it wise to heavily advertise Exile in magazines
and sites with a predominantly male readership in the 17-to-25-year-old range?
On the other hand, if Myst 3 is an unqualified success, will the gaming
magazines blame Exile for the newest death of the adventure genre if there
are numerous poorly designed Myst 3 clones? Why don’t these same magazines
ever point a finger at Doom or Quake when the innumerable cheaply
made first-person shooters are released?