[Intrepid Homoludens]

I more or less agree to mgeorge and stuboy's posts.

Looking back at the past several years, there hasn't seemed to be any kind of discernible trend of general progress in these types of games. Occasionally you'll see titles such as Indigo Prophecy touted in the news and online communities, but really, a game like that ultimately has nothing to do with adventure games categorically. It simply receives press coverage because it offers some unique things as a game (just like any other kind of game with a very strong or original idea behind it), thus providing no coattails on which the adventure game 'genre' can ride deservedly.

Collectively the 'genre' has nothing new to offer us today that it offered us ten years ago in concept, execution, or scope. It would indeed be laughable for, say, The New York Times or BBC News to write a story with the headline "Another 2D Point-&-Click Adventure Game With Linear Story, Cookie Cutter Puzzles, And April Ryan Clone Released".

What games out there today that have some relation to the adventure game (as we know it) - Phoenix Wright, the Sam & Max series, and some others - and are getting coverage in the media deserve that coverage. Why? Because they're NOT old, repetitive, and outdated in concept, execution, or scope.

Faithful hardcore adventure game aficionados may be snobbish about their preferred game type, quick to defend it as intellectually superior to many other kinds of games (which I think is sad for reasons I'll explain in another post). But that snobbery and defense will NOT gain the adventure game any more attention by the media.

But it is definitely true that there is still a strong niche market for this type of game (proved by sales stats). It's merely that, given the state of gaming today as an insanely competitive multi billion dollar industry and a profound cultural influence, why should the more mainstream and influential media for the most part waste its time covering a genre that has remained fundamentally stagnant for at least a decade?