Larry Laffer creator Al Lowe talks "misguided" DRM, and the remake of the classic adventure game
For PC gamers of the late 80's and early 90's, the name Al Lowe and Leisure Suit Larry should not be an unfamiliar one. An adventure game definitely not for the kids, but still played by many hormonally affected males, Larry's legendary adventures were, well, legendary.
With a remake on the cards, creator Al Lowe looks upon the state of the current gaming industry, particularly its obsession with DRM, and says it's the wrong direction, but a direction that he's been trying to avoid since 1982.
"I refuse to buy products that have DRM. Ya know I'd rather pay for a CD and rip it than download protected music. To me it's just misguided and it has been misguided since my first involvement with it in 1982," Al told Kotaku in an interview.
Lowe isn't a stranger to piracy though. His Larry games were so pirated, that more hint books for the games were sold than actual copies of the games. But DRM, according to Lowe, is about as useful as pocket lint in an adventure game. "It never was protected from those people who wanted to break it. It was always breakable. All it did was hassle people who paid for the product. And those are the people that you want to be nice to! Be nice to the people who pay and ignore the pirates, because they do what they're gonna do anyway," Lowe added.
As for the remake of the first Larry game, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Lowe has already managed to fund the project via crowdsourcing website Kickstarter, with a series of hilarious and/or awesome rewards for different levels of contribution.
The remake, dubbed Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards Reloaded, will be available on PC and mobile platforms.