The State of Adventure Gaming–October 1998

The State of Adventure Gaming

By Randy Sluganski
October 1998

September stared with a whimper and ended with a bang as a late flurry of adventure games jostled for space on the store shelves. Morpheus, Redjack, Cydonia, Nightlong and Abyss all have the newsgroups once again buzzing with activity.

October, though, promises to be the month we have long awaited. Grim Fandango, Redguard, Enemy Zero, Silent Hill, Quest for Glory V and The Blackstone Chronicles are all scheduled to be released by month’s end.

What’s up for JA? Well, we will soon have an exclusive interview with best-selling horror author John Saul. His Blackstone Chronicles looks to be a real Halloween treat for horror/adventure fans. Speaking of my favorite holiday, I thought it might be fun to conduct a poll to see what our readers think is the scariest adventure game of all time. Also, don’t forget to check out our excellent daily news column by Matthew Arcilla. Matt puts a lot of work into his column and it shows! Plus, I am sure that the Dungeon of Shame and the Clearance Bin will both put in another appearance before month’s end!

Recently some unusual e-mails came across the desktop of our newest reviewer, Stuart Yoder. Before I share these letters with you, let me preface them by saying I think it is time for adventure gamers to take a stand. We alone can change the industry’s view of adventure gamers and this would be the perfect opportunity:

Dear Stuart,

Thank you for your recent email. I am pleased that you have found DOGDAY to be a quality adventure game. It received adventure game of the year here in Australia. However we found that 90% of the editors that reviewed DOGDAY hated the game and thus DOGDAY was a complete failure in the North American territory.

DOGDAY II has been put on hold for this reason, even though this is certainly a much better game than the first. I am biased because I loved DOGDAY I. So anyone that loved the first version will be absolutely blown away with DOGDAY II. In fact, in my opinion, the ideas and concept’s in the game are first time features. Taking the adventure genre to a new level. However DOGDAY II may be reinstated early next year. It would be nice if you could tell the DOGDAY fans. It would also be nice if you ran a poll, for your adventures those who want DOGDAY II and those that don’t care. Perhaps you can feed us the results.

One bit of good news is that we are finalizing a Sony Playstation version of DOGDAY. It is in for approval of Sony America, this will utilize the new Dual Shock controllers and the ending has been changed. You now play a character by the name of “Cracker”. Who is a cool dog!!!! It would be also good to know what the adventure community thinks of a DOGDAY PSX. We feel their is a very broad audience on a console and we may have a different response, what do you think?

Thank you very much for your support.

Sincerely,

Mark Bracken
President
IMPACT Interactive Publishing Pty Ltd

* * * * *

Dear Stuart,

I’m the one that has put DogDay II on hold because the returns from DogDay have not been good enough. We are self funded here at Eyst, so if I don’t think there is a good probability of at least getting the investment back or preferably making a little then I simply can’t afford to do it.

If you think you can convince me otherwise then I’d be glad to listen. I had some very cool plans for DogDay II which may eventually surface as another adventure later, even if DogDay II doesn’t happen.

Regards,

Ben Moss
Eyst

Bottom line: we all bitched when Blizzard canceled Warcraft Adventures–well, this is a chance to show our support! Once again an adventure game stands to be canceled because magazine editors in North America do not like adventure games. I know for a fact that only one store in my city even carried Dog Day and that two two weeks later it was relegated to the $10 bin. What can we do? E-mail Stu and he will forward your support to Ben and Mark. Call a local store in your area and ask them if they have DogDay I in stock or if they plan to carry DogDay II. If you find a copy of DogDay I for $10, buy it! Invade the newsgroups. Even if you did not like DogDay, show your support for the adventure game genre or pretty soon we won’t have any games to support.

Finally, I know I usually pound on the mainstream computer magazines every month, but Jeff Green at Computer Gaming World has to be the funniest gaming columnist I have every read. He shares the love of adventure games that we at JA have, but he also seems to realize that, hey, they’re still just games let’s not be so dead serious all the time. If you haven’t read Jeff, check out the last page of CGW every month. Oh yeah, he’s also a big Temujin fan and is running a contest to give away his extra copies!

‘Til next month … spooky gaming!