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.