ARE WE BEING CONNED?

                A question from Peter Clark

I thought that I would put pen to paper and put forward some
thoughts on the current adventuring scene. I know we always talk
about progress but I wonder some times whether all this rush
towards faster and faster machines and the increasing importance
put on graphics etc. is all really necessary.  We have all
suffered from the situation that, as soon as we have bought
another PC or upgraded our existing machine, we find that
something even better is on the market.

As far as the adventurer is concerned we all managed with our
Amstrads and Spectrums for many years without the need for massive
upgrades and the continual ripping out of the insides of the
machines.  Yes, it would have been nice to have more memory but,
as far as the graphics are concerned, how many of us switched off
the very basic pictures that came with some adventures because we
felt that they distracted us from the game? I know that I did.

Perhaps I am just getting old (no rude comments please) or maybe
it's just a case of nostalgia but I still get as much, if not
more, enjoyment from the old text adventure than I do from any
amount of pretty pictures and long waits while I am shown longer
and longer video sequences.  There are times when I think that we
are all being dragged by the nose by Mr Gate's Microsoft, Intel
and the games producers.

The thing that worries me now is the way that the new 3D cards are
being pushed.  They come as standard on many of the newer machines
and now we see that games are being produced to take advantage of
these cards.  The new King's Quest Adventure is one that supports
such a card.  This one can be played without it but how long will
it be before we see adventure games that will not run without 3D?
There are already plenty of "beat 'em up" and racing games that
need such a card before they will run.  When this happens it will
mean that either we will have to dig deep again or go without the
newer games.

Unfortunately, as far as adventure games are concerned, the
addition of 3D will not add one iota of game play at all.  The
manufacturers will, however, be a lot better off and this will
keep them in beer and fags while they think of yet another way to
screw more cash from unwary PC user.

I say, enough is enough.  Let's get back to real game play and use
our imaginations while we play larger and larger text games.  My
imagination works in 3D already. I would be interested to hear
whether anybody thinks the same way, or differently, on this
matter.

It would seem that there are many people still interested in text
adventures. One only has to look on the Internet to see the many
games that are available on the amateur scene.  Some are rubbish
but there are many that are as good, if not better, than those
that we were all used to back in the Spectrum days.

Are we getting too old to use our imaginations?  Do we want to be
spoon fed with more and more video sequences?  Do we want to rush
headlong into the upgrade spiral for no real reason?  What do you
think?

@~Comments welcome for next issue! ... Sue















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