Ode to the glory days...

When I were a lad, there were these brilliant things called ‘point n’ click’ adventure games, so called because you used a PC mouse to point at things, and then to click on them. You could click on things to look at them, to pick them up, to talk to them or to use them on other things. It was marvellous. Many of the best examples were British (Discworld - pictured - and Simon and the Sorcerer to name a couple), though most of the really good ones were being made by an ancient and forgotten American company known as “LucasArts”. Almost every game made by this innovative developer during the late 1980s up until the late 1990s was pure gold. But then sophisticated 3D graphics came along and rapidly every game was about a grizzled marine shooting the guts out of Nazis/aliens. It was a sad time.

LucasArts continued making adventure games with the new 3D graphics for a couple of years (making Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island), before they realised that they would make more money whoring around the Star Wars license instead. They had always made a lot of highly rated Star Wars games, but for the last ten years they have been just about all LucasArts have made (and to a terrifyingly low standard). So adventure games died along with the reputation of their biggest advocate.

However, there are a few reasons to be cheerful, as in the last few years the genre has had something of a minor resurgence. A company of ex-LucasArts employees called Telltale Games has released new games in the old Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises (as well as a number of new series), whilst the brilliant 1996 game Broken Sword has been re-released on everything from the Wii to the iPhone (pictured below) in recent times. The iPhone platform has also seen the re-release of Beneath a Steel Sky, an even older game also made by Broken Sword’s creator, Charles Cecil. Valve’s Steam service on PC has (in the last year) seen LucasArts cashing in on their former glory by re-releasing a bunch of the old classics including: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis; The Dig; and Loom, as well as a remake of the original Monkey Island.



With the iPhone and small downloadable games (like those on XBLA or PSN) becoming increasingly popular, perhaps this once proud genre can find a new home and thrive once again. I certainly hope so. I leave you with some footage of a few of my favourites:

By far the best original point and click of the last half-decade, Capcom's largely unloved 2007 adventure Zack and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, may not have the dialogue and story of most the classic adventure games of yesteryear, but it's every bit as good:



One of the most stylish and well-designed games ever made in any genre, 1998's Grim Fandango, published by LucasArts and created by the legendary Tim Schafer (Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island). I remember when my PC wasn't good enough for this:



My personal favourite Monkey Island game had nothing to do with the original creators (Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer). The third game in the series, The Curse of Monkey Island, introduced the voice cast now associated with the franchise (with Dominic Armato as Guybrush) as well as giving the game a major graphical facelift. The Curse of Monkey Island maybe my favourite point-and-click game simply because it feels like you're playing a detailed cartoon (whereas its 3D successor has aged less gracefully):



Check out the LucasArts Classic Adventure pack on Steam. It's £6.99 and includes four great adventure games (The Dig, Loom and two Indiana Jones adventures).

Grow Up Australia!

Pardon the inflammatory title, but “Grow Up Australia” is the name of a high-profile campaign which is seeking to persuade the Australian government to allow the introduction of an ‘18+’ age rating for in-game content (read the full news item here). This has been a hot issue in Australia for many years, with a great deal of moral panic generated by the media and politicians regarding the dangerous moral sewer that is the video gaming industry. There are lots of good articles about the history of video game censorship in Australia and the video below depicts a notorious recent example of this policy in action, with footage of the Australian version of Left 4 Dead 2, released with significant changes to its content last year.



I won't get into whether or not media images can turn children into serial killers (though, for the record, I doubt it) as that is an issue for another day and a longer post. I am just baffled by the fact that this debate is even happening in modern day Australia. Censorship is an unpopular idea when it comes to limiting freedom of expression, so how is it possible for video games to be singled out in this way? Well, because they are still not are still not seen as a form of artistic expression and so they are easier to censor or ban than a book or a film, especially as they are still perceived by many to be children's toys. In the UK, many parents I have spoken to (whilst working in games retail) will happily buy their young children BBFC-rated '18' games, whilst they may be less keen on them seeing a film with the same certification. People simply assume that a video game is something produced for children. When I have explained to parents that a game they are buying include the similar content to that of a violent film, they often express surprise that a video game might contain such graphic content.

Isn't the video games industry partly to blame for this perception? Because whatever their content, most games are still too juvenile to be taken seriously. It is the games industry, as well as Australia, that needs to grow up, and once that happens games may be able to confidently contain the same content as a graphic movie, perhaps even with the consent of the Australian government.

The official "Grow Up Australia" website is full of information about the history and future of Australian video game censorship and those interested should check it out!

Games used to come on shiny, silver discs...

It is well known that a couple of things really scare the games industry these days. One is pre-owned games, which undercut publishers and provide zero profits for anyone but the retailer. The other is the internet and all the high-speed piracy it has introduced - pretty much crippling the PC games market all together (with the exception of The Sims and Football Manager), whilst consoles like the DS have also seen their software sales take a hit thanks to illegal downloading.

But as Valve have proven with the success of Steam on the PC (pictured), internet downloading can be a friend to Games publishers (and developers themselves), who are looking seriously at cutting out the middle man on the high street and selling directly to the consumer. By doing this, publishers can better dictate the price of games, can cut out pre-owned and can provide a legal alternative for those who prefer to download their media. This sounds like a good solution for everyone (but the high street retailer).

Although we maybe a few years off a total download-only games industry, the first signs of this change can be seen happening within this console generation. The PS3 already has full retail games like Burnout: Paradise available in digital form on its PSN store. Similarly the 360 has launched its own Games on Demand service, allowing gamers to buy a whole range of older titles using their Microsoft points. None of the titles offered by these services have, as of yet, been new releases, with Sony and Microsoft seemingly content to dip their toes in the water, but it is a sign of things to come.

Another good indicator of this trend is the online-exclusive download games available on all three major consoles, via XBLA, PSN (pictured) and WiiWare. Whilst a few years ago the output in this domain was limited to retro arcade titles or HD renditions of simplistic mobile-phone quality games, they now in some cases rival full-retail products, having become increasingly sophisticated. Games like Epic’s Shadow Complex on the XBLA are now pushing at the boundaries between download-only and retail product, whilst a number of PSN titles have since become retail products (Pain, WipeOut HD, Quest for Booty, Siren: Blood Curse). Fable 2, a full 360 retail game, has also been converted into an episodic XBLA game, available in small instalments, another move which could indicate future changes to the way we receive this medium.

So far, these titles have subtly served to introduce gamers to the idea of downloading games directly to their consoles, as well as to the idea of paying for something without receiving a hard copy. Now all that remains is for the majority of people to have high-speed internet access and then we can expect to see this form of games distribution become the mainstream.

Of course, there are already download-only platforms on the market, in the form of the PSP Go and the iPhone (and now the iPad). There is also the OnLive platform, which was announced last year and plans to cut out retail through live streaming of games over the internet (think of it as being like YouTube, but for games). Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter has already written an interesting piece questioning its viability, which I won’t go into here. But whether or not OnLive works, it is yet another example of a burgeoning trend in video game distribution.

Here are some download-only games I highly recommend:

Oh, the hours I've spent on this! A brilliant re-vamp of an arcade classic, Pac Man Championship Edition on XBLA (also available at retail in the Namco Museum compilation):



The highly-rated World of Goo, available on WiiWare (and through Steam on PC):



And of course, as mentioned before on this blog, the amazing Flower on PSN: