Latest Adventure Games News page 327

The Internation House of Mojo has posted the first in a series of articles called the Wilmunder Memoirs. Penned by Aric Wilmunder, who co-created the now-famous SCUMM game engine, the memoirs give us an insight into the beginnings of LucasArts (originally called LucasFilm Games).About a month after my arrival, Ron Gilbert was also hired to join the Koronis team as the Commodore 64 engineer. The goal was to build one game and ship it on 2 platforms simultaneously. Ron would later become the genius behind SCUMM and during this time we first developed our styles for working with one another. One technique that I remember Ron using was during an afternoon when we had a disagreement on how to solve a particular problem. We were both very zealous about our proposed solution, and this eventually evolved into a shouting match. Ron got up shouting and left the office slamming the door loudly behind him. That shook me up a bit, since we had always worked well together. Two minutes later, Ron came back, a smile on his face saying, "OK, I got that out. Now let's solve this problem."

Red Herring Online has posted an article on Cyan Worlds and Myst Online. The article doesn't reveal any new details on the upcoming game, but offers some comments from Rand Miller about why he signed with Ubi Soft, and a small hint that Myst Online might be heading to consoles after its initial PC launch.

Both Adrenaline Vault and GameOver has posted their reviews of The Watchmaker today. The adventure is made by the Italian developer Trecision, and offers a real-time 3D world, in which the player is allowed to control two main characters independently, each with different personalities, traits and skills.

Funcom, developer of the much-loved The Longest Journey, has announced that they are cutting staff in all three of their offices. This is said to be done "[a]s part of Funcom's continuing efforts to strengthen its focus on Anarchy Online," their massively multiplayer online game. Considering how many people are rooting for a sequel to TLJ, it would be a shame to see this company go down.

Just Adventure has conducted an interview with Al Lowe, of Leisure Suit Larry fame. They mention Al's recent appearance on television, the future of the Larry series, and his "'off duty' hobbies."

Lucas Arts, the game developer behind adventure classics such as Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion and Grim Fandango, recently celebrated it's 20th birthday. You can find several 20th anniversary goodies over at LucasArts' site, such as a logo animation video, and a gallery. The whole story reads as follows:Join the Celebration!

Arxel Tribe has released a movie trailer for their upcoming game, Ring II. The file checks in at just over 17 MB.

Just Adventure has interviewed Trecision, developers of The Watchmaker. Topics discussed range from their efforts to find a North American publisher, to the popularity of the adventure gaming genre.

Quandary's Gordon Aplin has posted his review of The Watchmaker, the 3D adventure game by Got Game Entertainment. Sound and graphics are considered impressive, and gameplay consists of puzzles that fit well into the context of the story. A decidedly different viewpoint from GameSpot's review.

XXv Productions has released a demo of their horror-themed adventure, Dark Fall. The file is a modest 10 MB, and includes a single room to explore, which is not available in the full game.

XXv Productions is now taking credit card orders for Dark Fall. The cost is £19.99 (that's in British pounds, you'll want to convert that to your own currency), and that cost covers packing and shipping worldwide. Purchase the game here. Adventure Gamers will have a review of this game early next week!

Games Domain has posted a trailer with footage from the upcoming Microids game, Post Mortem. The file, which clocks in at just under 38 MB, is nothing more than a teaser, with a short segment of CG footage.

The highly anticipated adventure from Microids, Syberia, has shipped to stores in Canada. As Microids most expensive project ever, Syberia puts you in the role of Kate Walker, an American lawyer who sets out to find the missing heir to an old luxury toy and automaton factory.To read more or download a demo, visit

LucasArts has posted a video with some footage from their upcoming games. The trailer debuted at the E3 Expo last month. Although there were shakycam recordings taken at the show, these are the first clean pictures of Full Throttle II and other titles in development.

Auryn Quest, the new 3D arcade/adventure game from Dreamcatcher, has just begun shipping. The game lets you assume the role of Atreyu, a hero on a quest to save the world of Fantasia from destruction. Dreamcatcher promises us six graphically beautiful and richly detailed surrealistic worlds with various puzzles and thrilling arcade sequences, the degrees of difficulty increasing with each task accomplished. The game has a retail price of $19.99Read more on the game over at Dreamcatcher.