The anomaly of Nancy Drew games
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 23rd 2007 at 5:00PM }
Some of you out there may not even know the Nancy Drew adventure series exists, but like High School Musical, a lot of other people do. So much so that the latest Nancy Drew game -- there have actually been 16 so far -- is currently at the #13 spot on Amazon.com's Top Seller list for video games. A bunch of hardware is higher on the list, but the only software beating Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek is Resident Wii-vil 4, Mario Party 8 and Pokémon Diamond. The latest Nancy Drew is even beating recently released titles which don't even make it into the Top 25. Poor Pokémon Pearl is at #24, is it the name? Should they have called it something more masculine?Yes, it is Amazon.com, so it isn't the greatest tracker of what's really selling out there, but it is interesting to note. And, for all we know, gamers are too embarrassed to buy the game at retail so they shop online. The Nancy Drew series is on its 16th episode, somebody has obviously got to be buying it, and the games actually are good old-fashioned adventure titles. Anybody out there who plays this series consistently care to explain the appeal? These Nancy Drew games feel like they have a lot in common with the casual games market. We hear there's a whole independent games movement out there too. There's a lot of money being made in software beyond the $15 - $25 million dollar projects we talk about every day.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
p-diddy @ Jun 23rd 2007 5:19PM
yes, no joke, as immature as it is, I bought diamond instead of pearl because it seemed like the lesser of the two effeminate evil choices.
-p-
flamingsquirrel @ Jun 23rd 2007 5:46PM
My sis plays these, i dunno why she likes em. She liked the books, I guess it's becuase it's something she knew about (the books) but she's interacting with it, and it's not "scary" and "hard" like most video games...
I dunno, i'm not my sister, ask her =/
KenShigeruKutaragiMiyamoto @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:12PM
This is the closest you can get to adventure games now a days. Your sister has good taste. I bet you like Madden.
ck @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:39PM
I actually want to get into these games. Yes, I'm a dork and a loser. But I'm itching for adventure games and it seems like there's nothing out there and at $20 a pop, that's not too shabby for an adventure game. It doesn't hurt that my wife adores Nancy Drew either and would want to pick up these games, too. I even obliged to go see Nancy Drew the movie and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
Sean @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:43PM
My wife owns every one of the Nancy Drew games.
obo @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:53PM
These and the Adventure Company games are the only games my dad, an old-school Sierra/LucasArts adventure gamer, buys or plays anymore (outside of his neverending obsession with godmoding through every square inch of Morrowind). I'd imagine he's not alone.
Rob Accomando @ Jun 23rd 2007 7:23PM
How come no Photoshop contest for a free copy?
Mr Khan @ Jun 23rd 2007 7:51PM
The "Second" Pokemon game has always sold worse
Blue sold worse than Red
Silver sold worse than Gold
Sapphire sold worse than Ruby
Now Pearl sells worse than Diamond
although my first pokemon was Blue, so i've always made sure to get the "second" game of the pair
uros @ Jun 23rd 2007 7:52PM
They're O.K. according to JustAdventure.com , but I guess people buy them because they were the closest you can get to an actively-developed adventure game series. (Nancy Drew games started out way before Sam & Max from GameTap)
lwelyk @ Jun 23rd 2007 9:34PM
I have them all, they're very popular. And I really don't like the attitude of this post. Acting like they're horrible because of the name and their genre. Just because you're not shooting things doesn't mean it can't be fun. They're a fun way to relax. And I'm sick of the "nothing dies, it's casual and therefore below me" attitude. Don't deny it. It's fairly obvious from various posts.
panzerjedi @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:10PM
The games are even available for digital download: http://digitalstore.herinteractive.com.
Um yeah... "Nancy Drew, it's up to you."
Philipmein @ Jun 23rd 2007 11:04PM
These games are a lot like the early Myst series games. First person adventure games with puzzles and a mystery. They have fairly good voice acting and compared to the first few games the new one look great.
My Mom and sisters play them and I wouldn't call them "casual games", they are just good ol' fashioned adventure games with a girl friendly license.
Loki @ Jun 23rd 2007 11:13PM
4. I actually want to get into these games. Yes, I'm a dork and a loser.
Good call....
J/K.
Viridium @ Jun 23rd 2007 11:53PM
obo; I've tried a few games by Adventure Company, and in general they're pretty crappy. I stopped wasting my time; I'm better served by going back and re-playing the classics I still own.
panapasa @ Jun 24th 2007 12:02AM
Um...yeah!I kinda love this games and yeah it's up to you.
P/V
something_something_parasol @ Jun 24th 2007 6:05AM
This game is aimed at and played by young girls (the company is called Her Interactive). This might explain why you never heard of it and why you won't read about it on gaming blogs even though the series is successful.
People usually mock the idea of "games for girls" but it seems to be working in this case (probably because the title is not condescending/stereotypical/too pink).
t_m @ Jun 24th 2007 8:34AM
This perfectly illustrates the problem with the "mainstream" games media. If you look at gamerankings they are all pretty highly rated.. but none of the "big" sites like gamespot, gamespy, IGN, etc.. have ever reviewed any of them!!!
All the reviews are from minor sites. Just shows that the so called "mainstream" magazines and sites are ctually just aimed at the hardcore, teen boy market.
The same thing is clear in almost all Wii coverage. Hardware reviews in newspapers and by new/casual gamers all loved it, but the hardocre sites all rated it low. Hardcore sites are all split over Wii game scores too.. whereas every non-gamer I've spoken to has LOVED the controls in almost every game.
Strange that non-gamers can handle the controls, but hardcore reviewers cant.
the big sites need to broaden their viewpoint, and their reviewers..
generic @ Jun 24th 2007 11:00AM
The Nancy Drew game series was a godsend when I used to work at EB. Parents would often come in, looking for ANYTHING for their little girl, which to them meant anything pink. They were usually dead-set on something from the Barbie franchise, but thankfully were easy to convince that their daughter probably needed something more engaging than "Let's go shopping!" lines and virtual pony tending. In the end, they would often leave the store with a Nancy Drew game, and very appreciative for the help.
Far as I'm concerned, there need to be more titles like Nancy Drew. Young girls deserve more than to be spoken down to and patronized by cutsey crap titles like Barbie.
machrc @ Jun 24th 2007 1:27PM
^ ^wow serious dude.. Ima go get a copy of the latest for my fem-fatale crew here at home.. they are bored with all the 6 expansion/stuff for sims 2 and maybe they can get into to the nacy drew world with the movie release and all..
Jared @ Jun 24th 2007 2:31PM
I've actually been playing The White Wolf of Icicle Creek to review on my website, and as my first Nancy Drew title I've been very impressed (and surprised) by how good it is. Sure, it's obviously low budget, but it's a solid adventure game with a good mystery, and a difficulty level that seems to be just right for the demographic.
olhado @ Jun 24th 2007 8:18PM
I have two friends (girls) who love these. Once like two years ago when I was like fifteen they made me bike all the way out to one's house so I could bring them a guide. The guide didn't make any sense but I ended up staying there playing it for like six hours. They're pretty fun.