Udvarnoky

We're looking at a score of 8.4 at Gamespot.

I don't think the announcement will simply be Psychonauts (though it could damn well be as anti-climactic), nor do I think it will have anything to do with the job listings or some sort of new title. Kinda early for that.

Uh, just about everywhere else? I was simply trying to say that I doubt the actual mechanics of maneuvering Raz were ever intended to be revolutionary. The game has always seemed highly original in the areas of design, story, characters, art direction, etc. I'm not pretending to fully know a designer's intentions, if that's what you're getting at. And I can't really tell if it's been successfully manifested until I play the game. I'm just building on what I think Bc9b was getting at about what I found to be an unsurprising reactions from EGM.

It was always expected that the platforming aspect of Psychonauts was to be somewhat generic in that it doesn't really offer anything new in terms of jumping, climbing, swinging, etc. - that's simply not where the game's originality lies. All I'm really concerned about in that area is that it's solid and responsive, and by accounts that seems to be the case.

Post the damned pictures!

Hey guys, did you know that Majesco Entertainment is now the Home of Advent Rising, Psychonauts, and BloodRayne? Yes, the title text does not lie.

Yes, there is a lot of depth in MM. I think it's the closest to an adventure game the Zelda series has gotten so far.

I dunno. I thought Nintendo made it pretty clear from the beginning that it wasn't intended to be the next GBA.

I really don't see how the time structure "blocked" you from doing anything. I mean, you still had just as much freedom as you did in the other Zelda games to do what you want.

WHAT!? I cancel my Gamestop order to take advantage of the playing cards and this happens? Fuck, time to buy another copy of the game for someone who doesn't exist.

People don't hate it, but I've always found The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask to be underrated. Man, that game is awesome.

So is there any reason to think that the first issue of that The Bootcamp Bulletin newsletter will be sent out anytime soon?

I love everything.

Except they've been part of OTHER adventure games as well, and I happen to like Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island.

Again, optimism comes with this sort of territory in my case. Still, though, Brendan Ferguson is in fact a writer and if his Telltale and Dudebrough blogs are anything to go by he's a very funny guy who at least probably has a decent handle on character writing. Also, you'd think that even though the rest of the team aren't writers they'd had to have picked up something from the talent they worked with (Schafer, Stemmle) if they loved making these kinds of games enough to start a new company that specializes in them. The team has a pretty impressive background (at least in terms of the projects worked on) and they at least seem like they may be headed in the right direction. I've been pretty satisfied with their comments in all interviews so far though as you've said it's easy to talk about magically revolutionizing the genre and quite another to actually accomplish it. So, yeah, I haven't got much to go by, but I've just got a feeling (or I'm delusional and naive).

More is known about A Vampyre Story than that. We know that it will be a lot like The Curse of Monkey Island in regards to its interface/artwork, and that it's being produced by ex-LucasArts employees, notably Bill Tiller. There's also a limited story known, yeah. It would appear as if the goal of AVS is to be exactly like a LucasArts adventure game in all but name. It's like Autumn Moon isn't doing anything new or groundbreaking and they know it; they're simply catering to a limited group of people. Obviously being among their number I think it's awesome, but this can't be a game that adventure evolution supporters are going to take too kindly to. Even less is known about Telltale, but we do know a great deal about the team and their direct involvement with Freelance Police (which has given them some free positive publicity). I guess I'm excited about them because they actually seem to have a grasp of what story-driven games should be like, and it appears as though they will try to experiment a bit more than Autumn Moon. I dunno. It's not much, but it's the kind of stuff people like me get very excited about in times like these.

Well since I'm we're desperate for things to talk about, one might notice that Psychonauts has earned itself a random image generator beside Advent Rising on the Majesco Games main page. Weee.

True, but he does have a long history of being part of games that use them, and expertly. And, misleading or not, I'd have rathered the article reference his experience rather than the infinitely more involved!!1 KOTOR. Of course, the point has been made, and this is just me being bitter. Pointing out KOTOR is going to strike a lot more chords with mainstream gamers than soley mentioning a graphic adventure. It just feels like a low blow. Plus I hate Star Wars.

They'll fully know, eh? I guess. It's still sort of insulting, though, depending on how familiar the reader is with Schafer's past work, or the classic graphic adventures in general.

Heh. "Great, this game's got dialogue trees, so it's almost as good as KOTOR! Yeah!"

Geeze. I can remember back when Double Fine promised us a game for 2002. Heh. It will have been very close to five years of development when this game finally gets released. I wonder when they started working on the game? Was the design itself created while Tim was still at LucasArts? Did nothing happen until awhile after DF was formed? Oh yeah, gotta love this from one of the magazine previews: "What's cool is your ability to choose your interaction with characters via dialogue trees. Though it's not as deeply developed as say, KOTOR, it adds a nice twist."

Yeah. I mean, who "launches" a fucking newsletter anyway? The game's coming out in April. That's long enough. Otherwise I'm going to start declaring "launch dates" for meaningless newsletters, which is gonna make heads roll. It's nice to know that being a member of the web site will actually have benefits (other than gaining access to a members-only section that can be easily bypassed by simply typing in a URL). And perhaps we will soon hear information concerning explosion stickers, which I deeply feel Schafer owes us. The lying bastard.

Are we talkin' PC box or Region 1 PS2? Because they both offer a different variety of unrelenting ugliness.

I thought the box art was perfect from the beginning. Oh, and April? April?!