Chris

They say...

I would just like to point out that I wrote that article.

Quiet, you.

What, Monkey Island? The guy wrote the swordfighting insults, I hope he likes the game.

I think Trep IS bald, but Kingz isn't quite. I think.

No, silly, only Windows 2000 keys work with XP.

Yeah, they're different games...

Yeah, pretty much.

What's with the wacky caps today Trep?

Impervious, perhaps?

You're what?

But would hanging around a drab military base for hours on end while you try and figure out puzzles actually be fun? In a FPS game, the gameplay distracts from repetitive locations, but in adventures it doesn't.

Same here...

It's not out, as far as I know. It comes out on September 14 or something.

Sad but true...

Hey, what a coincidence! That's the same cap I have!

The thing about games is that very few people actually complete games. Not just adventure games, but any kind of games. The problem is that if you only play half of a shooter, you've still got a decent experience out of it and you got some good gameplay. The replay value is still fairly decent (most likely) due to things like multiplayer. Same goes for strategy games. Platformers and RPGs (except for MMOs) don't have multiplayer but they're still at least somewhat gameplay oriented, especially platformers, and so they can still be enjoyed to a fairly high degree of their potential without being completed. Adventure games, on the other hand, do not leave great memories if the player does not complete them. They may leave ok memories, but it won't be particularly awesome. A long-ass game like Grim Fandango is great for the people who play it, but probably pretty forgettable for those who don't. Adventure games these days need to be pretty short and manageable, but the problem there is that people aren't willing to pay full price for a really short game, especially if there's no real replay value to speak of. The problem with that is that to actually make a good adventure game costs money. Broken Sword 3 is the type of game that I think could actually save adventure games, if not restore them to where they stood in the early-mid 90s. It was priced at standard retail PC pricing, but if it was cheaper it could have been billed as a game for serious gamers to pick up and play in addition to their stadard fare, sort of a side excursion. Of course what's left of hardcore adventure fans would buy it too. However, the game was really expensive to make, and The Adventure Company can't market for shit. The next game I see occupying the BS3 position is Dreamfall. I suspect that too will be a full-price game, because from what I've seen it looks it'll be a more costly game to produce than BS3, but perhaps Funcom and the other worldwide publishers will do a better job with the promotion. Anyway, why am I talking about adventure games so much on Thumb?

Whoa, I've never ever seen anyone use the acronym "LOZ" for "Legend of Zelda"... it looks really weird.

I don't actually remember very clearly what the first Soul Reaver was like, I guess I was pretty much just basing my statement off of the more recent games of which I have a clearer recollection.

Yes, yes it was.

If Soul Reaver jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? EDIT: also, Soul Reaver is a much more actiony title than KOTOR isn't it?

Courtesy of Jake: http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/17/film.freddy.reut/

Yes. That said, it's worth noting that there are developers giving it their best shot--Revolution's third Broken Sword game was clearly a heartfelt offering, and I think Funcom knows what they're doing with Dreamfall. (For example.) But the genre isn't really swimming in hits at the moment.

Yes, it has been flying around for almost a year now. I'm not saying the movie is set in stone or even probable but Campbell commented on it three months ago, and clearly the situation has become newsworthy again or in some way changed or CNN would not have bothered reporting on it.

Hooray! We actually have lots of news today!