Leisure Suit Larry creator: Gaming has immatured

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 15, 2009 6:08 pm PT

Q&A: In the wake of Larry's latest Box Office Bust, the amorous icon's distanced designer Al Lowe assesses the state of the industry and humor in games.

Though not as critically pilloried as the latest installment, the Leisure Suit Larry series was never what one might describe as terribly sophisticated or especially erudite. The Sierra-published graphic adventure games of the late '80s and early '90s were instead the innuendo-laden chronicles of a pitiable, aging, sex-starved man with all the depth of a reservoir tip.

Al Lowe

So when Al Lowe, the original creator and designer of the Leisure Suit Larry games, says that the industry has actually "immatured" in the years since he made his mark, maybe there's cause for concern.

"It's regressed," Lowe told GameSpot in an interview this week. "I'm the perpetual optimist and I always think that things are getting better. But the gaming business has gotten very, very different in the past 10 years, and it's straining my optimism. I don't want to be an old fuddy duddy here, but on the other hand I need to see some signs of hope, and light, and enlightenment from the business."

Now how can you get less mature than this?

Lowe acknowledges the shortcomings of his own library of games, but underscores a key difference between those early efforts and the sex-obsessed games of today.

"While my games were always sexist and misogynistic, they were always showing people that was the wrong way as opposed to the ideal way," Lowe explained.

Lowe's view comes from outside the industry these days, given that the creator stepped away from gaming and the Leisure Suit Larry franchise in general a little more than a decade ago. These days his primary creative outlet is his very own humor site, AlLowe.com, but it wasn't so long ago that he sought to get back into gaming. A 2006 attempt to return with a new studio in iBase Entertainment fell short after the company's first project, Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure, failed to find a publishing deal.

Lowe said that when iBase shopped the project to publishers, it received an abundance of positive feedback. However, every publisher wanted to know about comparables--previously released games like it that could be used to help create sales projections.

Oh.

"When we said we didn't have any comparables because there are no other games quite like this, they all said, 'We can't publish it then. We can only look at things that sold well and try and do the same thing again,'" Lowe said. "I think part of it goes back to the big corporate mentality where the people who are making the decisions really are afraid of what's going to happen if they make a mistake."

That's not to say that humor-based games don't get made--although the new Leisure Suit Larry almost didn't hit store shelves. Dropped last summer by Activision Blizzard after the absorption of its previous publisher, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust was released last month to excoriating reviews. Lowe hasn't played the game yet, and based on negative word of mouth, he's not sure he ever will.

It wasn't Larry's first voyage without Lowe. In 2004, High Voltage Software and Vivendi Games released Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude on multiple platforms. Lowe did actually play that game, and though he acknowledged that the developers had some good ideas when it came to updating the main character and revamping the gameplay, they ultimately missed the point.

So far, Box Office Bust is a critical bomb.

"I think they thought the game was about sex and big boobs. While I never shied away from that, I don't think that's what the game is about," Lowe said, adding, "It's a bunch of pixels, you know? It's not real women. If you want pornography or sex, you can rent a DVD for $2 or something. You don't need to put that in a computer game. It just doesn't work. For me, it never worked at least."

As for whether or not he would ever go back to Larry, Lowe gave the E-rated quip, "Gosh, I think Box Office Bust has taken care of that answer for me."

More excerpts from the interview--including Lowe's take on the death of Leisure Suit Larry publisher Sierra Entertainment--will be included in the April 21 episode of GameSpot presents The HotSpot.

135 Comments

  • LqdSnk

    Posted Oct 22, 2009 4:00 pm PT

    That's why Xbox Live, WiiWare and PSN are the best options for smaller developers.

  • berengard

    Posted Jul 24, 2009 3:19 pm PT

    Al Lowe is my Hero! I'm a huge fan and I admire his ideas & state of mind!

  • supatips

    Posted Apr 26, 2009 5:37 am PT

    How can anyone connected with Leisure Suit Larry say that games are immature

    I dont really think that games are immature anyway as a handful of people have said developers have started taking less risks and I am inclined to agree if anything the industry has perhaps stagnated slightly

    The unfortunate thing is that original ideas or somthing a bit off the wall dont always sell well a recent example being Okami which as far as I was concerned somthing special The only way developers and publishers will start taking risks again is when it can be proved they will sell well

    You have to ask yourself why on earth would somone give funding for a crazy risk of a game when its so much easier to develop somthing done a million times over that sells well sadly its all about the money

    Take all the shovelware on the wii for instance casual uniformed gamers simply look at the box and probably end up taking it to the checkout because the box made it sound good and maybe they picked up that shovelware at the expense of say Okami or Mad World then you end up with some fantastic games not getting the recognition they should

    Basically the people calling the shots want what sells not always what is good and the only way to change that is to stop buying crap Inform the uninformed gamer in your life so they stop buying turkeys and have them take a chance on an original game now and again because if we are not careful all the original ideas will just stay as ideas and that would be a shame

  • BloodMist

    Posted Apr 25, 2009 12:06 am PT

    Yeah Princess_Rectum and, much like the music and movie industries, the harder it is to actually make a profit, the inherent dumbing down of the content just gets worse and worse.I was never around to see this happen to the movie and music industries slowly over time, but i am for gaming.And it is very sad.However if the masses didn't buy the crap, every developer would try just that much harder to make a quality game.Sadly that's not the case.

  • RavageGT posted Apr 24, 2009 7:47 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    RavageGT

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 7:47 pm PT (hide)

    This guy is a complete joke to the gaming industry

  • Princess_Rectum

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 1:37 pm PT

    ""When we said we didn't have any comparables because there are no other games quite like this, they all said, 'We can't publish it then. We can only look at things that sold well and try and do the same thing again,'""


    Whoa whoa whoa, you mean to tell me that the gaming business is..... a business!? NO WAY! It should come as no surprise that game developers and publishers mostly just want to make money instead of creating a game with a fresh new concept. That's why we get 'Final Fantasy 27', 'Call of Duty 12: Another Fictional Battle' and 'Leisure Suit Larry: [insert sexual double entendre here]'

    I think we can all agree that in this gaming market it's becoming more and more of a challenge to really turn a profit with a 3rd party game. They have to look at demographics + what helps a game sell. It's the same in the music industry. It'd be like going up to a major record label with a demo disc full of weird quirky experimental techno and hoping they'd take a risk and mass-produce and release your album.

  • Shinkada

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 9:23 am PT

    I look through these comments and I see a whole lot of blame-dodging.

    When it comes down to it, there's only one person who can be blamed for the games industry being the way it is. That person can be seen quite easily, if you switch off your monitor right now.

    Okay so more modern monitors don't reflect quite so well. You get the idea.

    The simple fact is, creative games don't sell. If I look back at all the genuinely inventive games, games that just had an idea without any motivation to sell, they don't sell. You think the games industry is scared of being original because it's too conservative? That's crap. It's because in the past, when an inventive and interesting game has come out, nobody bloody bought it!

    I'm not one of those people who thinks that gaming was better in the 'golden years' of the NES and SNES. I much prefer gaming now. But let's face it. New ideas were much better received back then. Not only because games were cheaper to make, but because people were more willing to buy the truly new stuff.

    You can't blame production price, you can't blame advertising and you can't blame mainstreaming, unless you're one of the absurdly few people who would rather buy a new title than [Game] 4/5/13. Maybe if anyone had actually BOUGHT God Hand or Steambot Chronicles, or NOT absolutely lampooned the trivial flaws on inventive modern games like Mirror's Edge or Assassin's Creed, we would see developers being more adventurous.

    And before anyone mentions Okami: I did mention 'games that are not designed to sell'. A game that crams as much Japanese mythos and culture into a game for an era obsessed with Japanese mythos and culture does not constitute as 'not designed to sell'.

  • Mr__Peanut

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 8:19 pm PT

    who even cares about this franchise

  • SuperGamer911

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 5:19 pm PT

    Perverted

  • ijackupscores posted Apr 23, 2009 2:19 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    ijackupscores

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 2:19 pm PT (hide)

    this guy should be making porn games

  • Mikethechimp

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 6:41 am PT

    "Mindless, repetitive gameplay and a truly atrocious sense of humor help Leisure Suit Larry live up to its name--it's a total bust."

    **** you.

  • mr111111

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 8:26 pm PT

    ???
    odd article

  • ej1041

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 8:08 pm PT

    his games are immature.. gosh...

  • eagles_band

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 6:48 pm PT

    This guy makes games about a guy that wants sex, and amid awesome titles such as Fallout 3, Dead Space, COD, GOW, etc... has immatured. LOLOLOLOL

  • Land-0-Funk

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 3:27 pm PT

    Still have my copy of LSL 7: Love for Sail..It was a fitting end to the Al Lowe contributions. Even if it did have a cliff hanger ending..LSL..In Space!!!

  • endocrine

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 1:33 pm PT

    I do not really think the game industry is any more or less mature than it was. There is a greater need to make a quick buck, that that really has nothing to do with maturity.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Apr 21, 2009 2:19 pm PT

    Come back, Al! Larry needs you!

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 21, 2009 9:40 am PT

    Mature, immature... the point is that while games like DOTT, LLL, etc... they're gone. When developers try to recapture that magic, it turns out that our tastes run to more complex fare. These are not games that let you explore graphical or social limits... the last LLL was a bunch of laughable minigames with an anatomical theme. Obviously someone took a look at the franchise and said, "Lets milk this puppy, but it looks so dated... SPRUCE IT UP!" The tragedy follows.

    Games like these, such as Pac-Man, or Ninja Gaiden, need to be given the NG treatement, or the Pac-Man treatment: either a total re-imagining of the game based on its roots, or a remake that stays faithful to the original while merely enhancing that experience for modern tastes.


    It turns out that when people want cheap, dumb fun, they want it straight up. If I want to play a Hidden Objects game... fine! Give it to me... make it REALLY good, then worry about the flair that makes it branded. Game-makers need to look at how Movie Studios treat games, and then do the POLAR OPPOSITE. It's that simple

  • tawagivercetti posted Apr 20, 2009 11:13 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    tawagivercetti

    Posted Apr 20, 2009 11:13 pm PT (hide)

    WHO WANTS TO BE MATURE ANYWAY

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $17.34 – 58.99

Amazon.com $17.34 SHOP ›
eBay $22.95 SHOP ›
Deep Discount.com $58.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    4,994 of 77,937
    (down by 465)
    X360 Rank:
    540 of 1,915
    Highest Rank:
    2 in 2009
    Tracking:
    170 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    106 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    14
    Player Ratings:
    204
    Users Now Playing:
    10
  • Number of Players:

    1 Player

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. leisure suit larry
    2. box office bust
    3. team 17
    4. adventure
    5. box office
  • Mature Rating Description

    Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement