Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry (and Freddy Pharkas!), chats with Matt this week about comedy in games, focusing on his fabulous work with Sierra On-Line in the 80s and 90s. Note that it's broken into two parts for your inconvenience.
Part I:

Part II:

Here's this week's Matt Chat featuring Jessica Chiang of Her Interactive. I talk to her about the history of the company, Nancy Drew, and what kind of games appeal to women. Enjoy!

I recently completed my advance copy of Phantomery Interactive's Outcry:The Dawn, a 2008 game now being published by Mamba Games under their Odyssia label. Outcry is a great game in the style of Myst, with fun puzzles, a rich story, and creepy, surreal atmosphere.

OutcryThe story is complex enough that even after finishing the game you may not be quite sure what happened. At least, that's how I ended the game--though this isn't a criticism; indeed, the mysterious and unexplained aspects of the storyline make it even more intriguing to play. Basically, though, we have here a sort of H.P. Lovecraft take on Jules Verne. The protagonist travels to another dimension, which is apparently built of fragments of his own rationality. The game is psychological to the point of having players read snippets of Freud and Yung (as well as experiment with mind-altering chemicals).

The Void is a new game developed by a Russian team named Ice-Pick Lodge and imported by Mamba Games, a small publisher dedicated to expanding the genre with truly innovative and distinctive games. The game is set for release on October 16th, 2009, and I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy to review.

Here's the "Matt Chat" you've all been waiting for! Lucasfilm Games' 1987 masterpiece, Maniac Mansion!

At long last, here it is. Matt Chat 22: Deja Vu, Uninvited, Shadowgate, and Macventures. I was finally able to get my classic Mac emulator (mini vmac) up and running, so please enjoy--a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into getting this footage! :)

Good news for adventure game fans--LucasArts is releasing several of its best graphical adventure games on Steam. Of particular note here is The Dig, which is one of my very favorite adventures and a seriously underrated title in my opinion.

Still Life 2If you're into adventures, skip over to Adventure Classic Gaming to read my review of Still Life 2, just published today. Overall, I thought it was a good but not great game, but a clever patch could change that situation. Lots of screens, too!

P.S. Please leave a comment over at ACG if you get the chance.

It took literally all day and all night to get it done, but here it is: Matt Chat 8: The Secret of Monkey Island. This one should be available in HD soon, but it's my understanding that it can take awhile for YouTube to post the option. This is the first time I've attempted to do a HD video, so bear with me. Hopefully, the options will appear after the video has finished processing.

Enjoy the video and please let me know what you think!