Personal Questions

1) If you could endorse any brand condoms (lubbers) what would it be?

My favorite is "The Whopper™"

2) What is your favorite crop of games to play right now?

Right now? Not much. Like the rest of the world, I'm waiting for that forthcoming great new Infocom text-only game

3) Of all the consoles being released on the market now which ones are you looking forward to playing?

X-Box and Nintendo. But then, who isn't?

4) Are you related to Rob? And have you ever had sex with an underage girl and videotaped it?

Rob is my father. Yes, but it was before videotape was invented!

5) Who is the bigger Jew? You or Leiberman?

Leiberman must be, since I'm not Jewish. ("Loew" or "Loewe" are the Jewish spellings of my name.)

6) Of all the different phases in making a game, from the back end coding, to the design work, and even to making the music for each part, what was it that you enjoyed most?

The design and writing. You can tell by looking at my credits. In my early games, I did everything. But as the years passed, I sloughed off more and more until all I had left to do was make up the situations and dialog.

7) Have you considered making games on your own again? Although it is time consuming and without a team it takes longer, there are those who would be interested in seeing something new from Al Lowe.

Yes, I've considered it, but with game margins as thin as they are today, and shelf life as short as it is, it's a tremendous gamble to make. I could do a little game by myself, but I don't want to. I've been spoiled. I've had great teams of programmers, musicians, and artists before; I just wouldn't be happy doing anything less than something better than anything I've ever done before.

8) What do you feel caused the decline in adventure gaming?

It was the perfect type of game for the period. Back in the 80's, anyone who used a computer had to be adept at puzzle solving-otherwise, you'd never get the damned things to work! DOS was one long training course for adventure gamers. As more and more "non-engineering types" bought computers, they weren't interested in just solving puzzles. They wanted more action. Also, Myst killed off an entire generation of people who were told that it was the perfect game for them. When they didn't like it, or couldn't finish it, or didn't get it, they never had anything more to do with adventure games.

9) What kind of skin cleansers do you use? Do any of them contain Aloe?

I use whatever soap I picked up on my last hotel visit, just like Leisure Suit Larry did in Larry 2.

10) What are your thoughts on abandonware? Gamers are able to get Leisure Suit Larry 1 - 3, Torin's Passage, and Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist completely free of charge because the Internet is allowing them to download them from abandonware sites.

I don't care so much about the non-Larry games, because Sierra has given up selling them-they truly are abandoned. Therefore, if people want to download them and enjoy them, I'd rather they get played than not.
On the other hand, the Larry games are totally different. They are not abandoned. In truth, they remain my primary source of income. If people download them instead of buying Leisure Suit Larry's Ultimate Pleasure Pack (which, at $40 for every Larry ever created, is not exactly expensive), they are stealing, plain and simple.

If (when) Sierra does stop selling the Larry games, and they are no longer available, that would be different. But right now, those games are still for sale, so please don't steal them-even though I know how easy it is to do so.

Thank you, Al for taking time to have this interview. Again for those of you who are reading this, be sure to check out Al's website: http://www.allowe.com/ and for those of you who are not reading this, you're all a bunch of damn liars! Thanks again Al, we hope that you had as much fun having the interview as I did giving it.