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Can Nintendo Save the Adventure Game Genre?
Gamasutra is running an editorial wondering whether the Wii can save the adventure game genre. With the intuitive nature of first-person control and interaction the Wiimote/nunchuck combination provides, it's been an open question since the console's concept was announced whether or not the Nintendo could revive a much-beloved but sadly absent game genre. Scott Nixon writes of the future for point-and-click titles, talking about their hearty success on the DS (with Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright) and the requirements of design such games would make of the Wii. With word that a Wii developer for the Sam and Max series is being sought, the question isn't if but when adventure titles begin appearing on the system. Here's hoping they get a warm reception, from an audience ready for their reintroduction. Update: 02/07 01:03 GMT by Z : Fixed the link. Sorry.
I played Maniac Mansion when it was brand new (I was a kid) and it kicked off and defined a golden era of adventure games that lasted from the late '80s well into the '90s. Something like Broken Sword: Angel of Death is the spiritual successor in our present day for this genre.
Shh.
Adventure games never really died. They just got lost in the massive push toward All Things 3D(TM). I'm happy to see that companies are starting to understand that these games are still popular, in the same way that RPGs are still popular both in 2D and 3D.
:)
Translated to Marketeeringese: Good Adventure Games = $$$Ka Ching!$$$
While you're waiting, consider playing a little Stargate Adventure. It's short, but it will take you back.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I am starting to wonder if the whole 'adventure gaming is dead' notion comes from a failure to recognise that games like Zelda, Oblivion, Deus Ex and so on are, in effect, adventure games. You freely explore a large environment solving problems, frequently involving puzzles, the need to talk to characters in the world, or the need to acquire specific objects, all within the framework of a larger story. Just because it doesn't involve 2D sprites and some hand-painted backgrounds doesn't mean that what is often called an 'RPG' isn't a traditional adventure game.
However, it is a reasonable assertion that the Wiimote does offer the possibility that mouse-driven adventure games could finally work well on a console.
Read Pynchon.
Depends on they definition of adventure game. If you include RPGs (which I certainly would), I say they are as strong as they every were. Zelda, Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy all have great new releases. All consoles have a great adventure game. BTW, the problem with them hasn't been with the controls, so no, the Wii will not fix the plot staleness of adventure games, developers willing to take a chance on an unproven concept will.
Honestly, why does it have to be Nintendo's job to save the adventure game?
Why did Sierra (Leisure Suit Larry, Kings Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest) and Lucasarts (The Dig) ever give up on the Adventure game in the first place, and why can't they save it?
I saw this article, and frankly I'm not convinced. There's so much hype surrounding the Wii right now and all the amazing innovative things people expect out of it. If adventure games succeed on the Wii, it won't be because there was some kind of pent up demand for adventure games that wasn't being served. There have been some excellent titles over the last couple of years like Dreamfall and Indigo Prophecy the people just flat out ignored. Rather, if Adventure titles succeed on the Wii, I think it will be because of the excitement that surrounds that machine. Nintendo has done such an amazing job marketing this thing that people are practically falling over themselves to just to play games like Mario Party 8. Pretty much any game that comes out for the system is viewed through rose colored glasses at the moment. I suppose in that sense, it certainly could bring back the genre.
Granted, I'm not old enough to remember any of the adventure games from the 80s, but Myst essentially defined video games for me, and I've played through the 4 sequels and abolustely loved them. Point and Click will always have a fond place in my heart, and I've been really sad to see it go.
Games like Final Fantasy and Oblivion, while they are really, really nice, just aren't the same. The basic concept of the game is different. There are puzzles yes, but they are a secondary element, instead of being an integral part of the story and experience.
No discussion of adventure games is complete without Old Man Murray.
I miss Old Man Murray.
Not a typewriter
Sure, Zelda, Deus Ex, and RPGs like Oblivion provide many of the same pleasures of a good adventure game. I like all of them. But you know what's meant by "adventure games" in this case. There is a strong emphasis on puzzles and a traditionally paced plot. These games are typically more slow paced with a strong focus on thinking. They have little to no emphasis on action, combat, or character skills and attributes. These are games like Zork, King's Quest, the Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, or Hotel Dusk.
Suggesting that Zelda, Deus Ex, or Oblivion are somehow replacements is as unhelpful. You might as well suggest that Oblivion is a first-person-shooter since you can shoot arrows or spells at people, or the Rainbow Six series of games is interchangable with real-time strategy games like Warcraft, since in both games your success relies on your ability to give AI controlled units commands. Sure, you can make reasonable definitions that blur those lines, but those lines are useful as they distinguish very different styles of play that different people like.
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With the introduction of the Wiimote, Wii can bring back point-and-click interface gaming.
Games like Myst were appealing to a wide range of players; the beautiful graphics, interesting puzzles, and simple play style (no spells to memorize, just use your brain) made it a hit seller.
I think that could happen over again on the Wii. While it doesn't have the best graphics of this generation, I don't think it will be a stretch to move the graphics of the various Myst games to the system, since much of it, to my knowledge, is pre-rendered.
It would also be another way for Nintendo to reach out to the "non-gamer" audience. Myst doesn't involve frantic violence, movements, sexuality, or most of those other things games are usually chided for. It's simple point-and-click, point-and-click, point-and-click. A great game for parents or grandparents, aside from those nostalgic for days of yure.