Nintendo To Be the Hero of the Adventure Genre? 111
DreamWinkle writes "If you've spent the last few years playing old King's Quest VGA updates and longing for Space Quest and Day of the Tentacle, you'll be interested to know that the Adventure genre might be facing a resurgence — at Nintendo's hand. The adventure game was killed off by the console (poor controls and too much competition), and so it's ironic that Nintendo might be able to pull it from the grave. An article at About.com looks at how Nintendo could use its virtual console to make adventure games profitable again." From the article: "The reason that adventure games are disappearing is because they don't compete well with other genres. Trying to create an adventure game that meets the graphical standards of an audience taught to expect Elder Scrolls IV makes the whole endeavor far less appealing. However, building a product to compete with Geometry Wars might be more doable. Adventure games are not disappearing because no one is buying them; they're disappearing because people are buying other types of games far more often. "
I know this is Slashdot, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
In any case, saying that consoles killed-off adventure games when you can buy adventure games for a console right now is a bit
Re:I know this is Slashdot, but... (Score:2)
But Xbox is previous-generation (and Syberia/Syberia II were ports from the PC).
Know of any for the Xbox 360? Or any that have come out in 2005/2006?
Re:I know this is Slashdot, but... (Score:2)
Yes, there's none for the Xbox 360 but:
1) The 360 is still too new to really make a fair comparison, and
2) People (at least here in Slashdot) have been decrying the death of adventure games for longer then the original Xbox has been around. When The Longest Journey came out, people were saying adventure games were dead (or that it was the first adventure game in years), and that was back in 1999.
The real problem, as summed up by
Re:I know this is Slashdot, but... (Score:1)
Re:I know this is Slashdot, but... (Score:2)
It's not surprising that most if not all of them are availble on the PC as well. I played through both Still Live and Syberia (1) on the Xbox and while I enjoyed the games in terms of their storytelling and puzzles controling them was a chore. Having played throught the first three
Zelda (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Zelda (Score:1)
This article is talking about games more along the lines of the old Kings Quest games, Grim Fandango, Myst or Syberia. I hear Monkey Island also fits the bill, but I never played that series.
Nintendo's already got one well recieved Adventure game for the DS (Another Code), and another that looks like it'll also be great (Hotel Dusk). I don't know how Another Code sold, but considering that Nintendo's allowing the developer to make another similar game is great!
Here's hoping that we'l
Re:Zelda (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Zelda (Score:1)
I GUESS it's possible... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I GUESS it's possible... (Score:3, Informative)
There hasn't? [bigbluecup.com]
How about a nice letter to SciFi Channel Productions saying that we love this game [bigbluecup.com] and we want an official one created just like it? Preferrably with the humor intact, and without all the Three-Dee crud all the game companies try to s
Re:I GUESS it's possible... (Score:2)
Samnmax lives on (Score:1)
Graphical quality? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2)
3D gr
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:1)
An alternate solution would be a fully 3D engine with fixed camera angles, which would far more flexible than having pre-rendered backgrounds, and would allow for things like dynamic lighting.
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2, Interesting)
As I recall, this is how (off the top of my head) Grim Fandango, Monkey Island 4, and Longest Journey worked. I never played Siberia, so I wouldn't know how they did it. Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon was full 3D, and it wasn't so bad, although I thought it was a PI
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:1)
Yes, of course, but the graphical level of RE/RE0 is superb, so the quality of graphics should be a non-issue.
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:1)
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2)
Haven't played them so I can't really comment. I remember it being pretty easy to tell what was 3D and what was 2D in the PS1 Resi games. It's a good point rhough - Resident Evil games (pre Resi 4) are basically adventure games with extra zombies. The genre seems less de
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:1)
=====
You are in a room, there is some kind of bizarre contraption with a suit of armor and some spikes.
There is a book here.
>TAKE BOOK
With a grinding of gears and the sound of stone moving, the contraption springs to life.
>Z
You wait, the sound continues.
>Z
Uh-oh, looks like you've been horrible mangled by the machine.
You have died.
Your scor
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2, Informative)
Have a look at this [mobygames.com], this [mobygames.com] or this [mobygames.com]. The characters blend very well. The difference between the original [mobygames.com] and the remake [mobygames.com] are pretty obvious.
If Resident Evil had lots of dialogue, it wouldn't be much different from
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:3, Insightful)
Disagree, I just played (and completed) Curse of Monkey Island which used Hollywood quality 2D animation, and then played the demo of Escape from Monkey Island which used 3D. Curse ruled, Escape demo sucked, no two ways about it. The 3D models didn't have anywhere near the charm of the 2D characters and looked incredibly ugly to boot. Walking around in a 3D environment was just a distraction.
Also, you can have fundamentally resolution independent 2D graphics, not sure why you think that's restricted to 3
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:1)
And yes, I apologise, you can have 2D vector graphics.
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2)
Re:Graphical quality? (Score:2)
But I think you're entirely correct. A high-res version of the 2D games that we love and enjoy (or any new game done right) would be utter bliss.
2D is more expensive than 3D! (Score:2)
The problem with that reasoning is that a 2D game would actually cost more than a comparable 3D game. 3D is not more expensive than 2D. It's the other way around.
About.com should die. (Score:4, Interesting)
Why, oh why, is slashdot taking them as a primary source of information?
Re:About.com should die. (Score:2)
Re:About.com should die. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:About.com should die. (Score:1)
You're reading one of Zonk's famous fluff pieces. Why oh why do you do that? You know that if it has the Zonk label of crappiness, you should stay away.
(I admit that I only look at the headlines, not at the editor's name. I could filter him out automatically, but unfortunately once in every ten entries he's got something that doesn't merely sound interesting, but actually is interesting. In other words, I cannot stay away from the can
#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:5, Interesting)
I think that this is the main reason the Wii could work for adventure games. IMO, adventure games need some sort of pointing device. I'm talking old school adventure games, where you would point and click on things on the screen. Kings Quest, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, Police Quest, etc... I know it can be done differently, but that's how I remember (and like) my adventure games.
As we know, using a controller to try to control a cursor on a screen is pretty much impossible. But with the pointer aspect of the Wii controller, it can act as a mouse, which would be perfect for adventure games. Hold down the "Use" button, point at the screen and click... or Hold down the "Talk" button, point at a character and talk to them... etc. Just like using a mouse to select things on the screen.
The "Pointer" aspect is one of the main (many) reasons I'm excited about the Wii... adventure games, RTS games (Warcraft, Command and Conquer, etc), etc... Lots of new ground can be explored with the system... I can't wait.
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
But it simplified things so much... There were so many times playing games like KQ1 or Hugo's House of Horrors that I'd type one thing, thinking that's what should be done... but I just typed it in wrong or something.
>Open the door
"I don't know what you mean"
>Open door
"Which door?"
etc.
The point and click interface just
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
>Get ye flask
"You cannot get ye flask!"
*points and presses button at flask*
"You cannot get ye flask!"
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Well instead of trying to figure out what to type to interact with an object, you could either use the "Use" cursor (the one that looked like a finger usually), or select an item you want to use then point to an object on the screen, etc.
It's with items that it really simplifies things. Say you have a match, and you want to light a torch. Would you type "light torch with matches"? Or "Use matches with torch"? That's a fairly simpl
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
He is saying:
"Open the door" - fails
"Open door" - works
The system can't tell that the above two are essentially the same command.
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.html [homestarrunner.com]
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
Well, in Adventure Game Toolkit, there were a bunch of sample Adventure games, including one called Ghosttown [ifarchive.org]. Well, there is a girl in ghost town, and lets just say pulling the girl lead to a perverted passage that was likely inappropriate for someone in my age group (much like the ma
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Playing this game reminded me just how annoying text based games were... haha
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
Also, she wrote these games in GAGS which compatible with AGT but a much more limited parser. Of course, nowadays I'd suggest Inform or TADS.
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Haha... just in case anyone is curious...
What Now? PULL GIRL
You roughly pull her to down. Then jump on top of her tender young body. Through the thin fabric of her ruined dress you feel the hard nipples of her form breasts, the strong stomach muscles and her warm loins pressed against yours. She whimpers into your ear, "Use me if you must, but please, help me escape from here!" Sh
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
I had the same sentiment as you. I slowly lost interest in the games as they became so simple that you just moved the mouse around the environment until it flashed the needed input (e.g. arrow turns to tongue in SpaceQuest so you select the tongue "tool" and click on the spot you were just shown). I do remember the hard ti
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
So, solutions for making console-friendly adventure games certainly existed before. Wii will not change anything, adventure games don't sell.
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
DS! (Score:2)
Plus, the sound and graphics expectations aren't ridiculous, so you can develop with a reasonable budget.
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:1)
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:3)
Then you don't remember the old school days of adventure games. The original graphical advent
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
Right. I do remember the REAL "old style" of typing in commands. One of the first computer games I played was Hugo's House of Horrors, as well as Whodunnit, then the jungle one... I forget the name of that one. Then I moved ont
Re:#1 reason Wii will be good for adventure games (Score:2)
However, the Wii controler goes bejoint just being a mouse-like pointer, the Wiimote is basically a 3D-mouse and that opens the door for a whole new way to do adventure games. Imagin
On the contrary... (Score:1)
Objection!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:2)
I wish they'd make the Myst games for DS. I know you can wedge 2GB onto a memory card the size of a DS cart, so it should be possible.
ScummVM (Score:2)
The largest known official DS Game Cards [pocketheaven.com] are 128 MiB (1 GiB) in capacity. Myst was bigger, but then you only have 256x384 pixels to deal with instead of 640x480, and image compression has advanced since Myst was first published. That said, you can already play many Lucasarts games on your homebrew-enabled DS [pocketheaven.com] through ScummVM [drunkencoders.com].
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:2)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Re:Objection!!! (Score:1)
Where there's a Wii there's a way! (Score:2)
Re:Where there's a Wii there's a way! (Score:1)
The adventure genre? Which one ? (Score:3, Insightful)
The truth is that the former genre is pretty much dead (to my disappointment), since apparently the standards were set so high in the past that any game that comes along and that doesn't offer 200 hours of laughter and entertainment is deemed a failure by the "critics" and the game performs poorly in sales.
As for the latter genre, well I don't think the genre is dying. As the success of Elder Scrolls shows, people are willing to pay big bucks for that kind of entertainment.
Yes, yes, go on. (Score:1)
They were twenty years ago (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They were twenty years ago (Score:1)
That's true of real-time adventures, but what about turn-based adventures, starting with text adventures and continuing up through Maniac Mansion and its successors?
Re:They were twenty years ago (Score:1)
True, a lot of point-and-click adventure games showed up on the NES first, but at least as many were PC based. And there was next to nothing in that genre on Super NES, N64, or GameCube that I can remember.
Re:They were twenty years ago (Score:1)
Nintendo? (Score:1)
Re:Nintendo? (Score:2)
Re:Nintendo? (Score:2)
If you're a subscriber, use the suggestion box to suggest it. Many features and such that customers have suggested have been implemented.
Re:Nintendo? (Score:2)
Best Adventure Game, Ever (Score:5, Interesting)
In other news... (Score:2)
Breaking games news: Some guy on About.com has the scoop on how Super Mario 2 .
Breaking games news: Some guy on About.com thinks the Wii's controller is really cool.
Adventure games, Niche, and what is IF. (Score:2)
The only thing is you must get an interpreter for them, and there are many of them but they all work perfectly. The main ones are TADS, ADRIFT, and INFORM (infocom engine) but there's at least 10 major interpreters that have been used.
The only other thing is this is a niche field but it's also a free niche market that people constantly con
Check out the DS (Score:2)
And why does he say the console killed the adventure game? I remember the late 90's, the adventure game was killed in its home turf of PC gaming. From what I recall, FPSes, RTSes, and s
Re:Check out the DS (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Why did they vanish? (Score:2)
Gfx: 6/19 pretty but static.
Sound: 7/10 very nice music, not much of it.
Gameplay: 5/10 at times a bit frustrating or boring.
Mood: 30/10 OMFG THIS STORY IS INCREDIBLE!!!
Final score: 12/10
Re:Why did they vanish? (Score:2)
At least in europe adventure games never really died out, especially today the genre is quite alive an well (Dreamfall, BrokenSword, BlackMirror, TonyThough, MomentOfSilence, Runaway, The Westener, etc.), it doesn't get the media buzz like a HalfLife2, but there are plenty of good games around to buy. The thing that however changed was LucasArts, they happend to push out one awesome game out after the other on a yearly basis, most of th
Re:Why did they vanish? (Score:2)
Yeah, I know it was a typo.
Check out Dreamfall (Score:2)
There were moments in D:TLJ where I was told to follow someone through a new area, and I felt like a hobbit, running back and forth and just trying to soak everything in as fast as I could, it was so beautiful. I'll be replaying the game just to re-visit some of the places in it. Great game, check it out if you
Re:Check out Dreamfall (Score:2)
What about interactive fiction? (Score:1)
I just think it's sad that the author of TFA only seems to know about a (in my eyes) limited subset of the adventure games genre. But then, how many console owners have a keyboard?
There is so much more out there in adventure-land, and it's called interactive fiction (or IF fo
Keyboard? (Score:1)
I was unaware that Nintendos had a keyboard.
Adventure games are kinda bad... (Score:1)
Re:Obligatory post (Score:4, Funny)
I don't have anything to add to this discussion, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm buying a Nintendo Wii and not a PlayStation 3.
Don't worry, wii understand.