You Don't Know Jack about Jellyvision

[Justin_McElroy]

Remember "You Don't Know Jack"? Blast from the past, huh? What about Seaman? Head Rush? What we at Get the Sugar (http://getthesugar.blogspot.com) wanted to know is: What the hell happened to Jellyvision? (http://getthesugar.blogspot.com/2005/07/you-dont-know-what-happened-to.html)

There's a few answers in our interview with Jellyvision (http://www.jellyvision.com) president Amanda Lannert.

Well, YDKJ was originally envisioned as the perfect experience for Interactive TV. We’re certainly interested in technology, particularly broadband, that provides the opportunity for a meaningful, two-way interaction between the user and the characters in a program. But we really feel that the interactive potential for our experiences will be realized once every American owns a rocket-powered jetpack.

[XxSATANxX]

Seems like a great company. I've applied there a few times. The best rejection letter
I ever got was from them.

Too bad they could'nt figure out a next step for games.

*This but not the robot story???*

[Cupelix]

I goddamn loved the YDKJ games. The best was not inputting your name and letting the host choose one for you. I think I lost my YDKJ 3 disc, which was the most recent version of the game that I had. I need to look into picking up new copies.

[Justin_McElroy]

Cupelix, the best was when you'd play on a Friday night or something, and the host would mock your social life, ditto for playing on a holiday. That always used to blow my mind when I was a pup.

[TrackZero]

Odd bit of an interview there. I took away from it that they weren't making much money selling their games so they simply stopped (which I find shocking, as they had crazy-sales for that franchise).

[Justin_McElroy]

Right, which is exactly why I find it so puzzling. I mean, they've got some really creative people there, maybe they just got bored. Their website is surprising if you only know their games, it's like a manifesto for revolutionizing how we communicate with computers.

[jeffool]

I had YDKJ 1 and 2. Good stuff all around. One day some friends and I were remembering the good times of the game and I went out and got 6. All I could say was "Wow. Pirates, huh." For some reason, the magic was gone. But that's cool, someone dug out their copy of 1 and much fun was had.


I figured I posted in your blog, so I'd add it here too.
Shame they're not entertaining the thought of next gen consoles. I would imagine an X360 version of Jack would be great, especially with the iCi.

You could play against two or three other people, hit your controller to buzz in, and speak your answers rather than type them. Just keep a nice flow of questions coming as free updates and you definitely have a game I'd pay for.

It would be a kickass Live game and a game that I could put in when company was over. Y'know, the type of company that thinks games are just "running around and killing thing."

[Player 1]

Were those guys associated with Bezerk? (I think the YDKJ stuff seems to ring a bell with Berzerk in it).

I used to play these incredible client-based online games such as Acrophobia, What's the Big Idea and Get The Picture that looked like they'd be right at home with the rest of the Jellyvision output.

Goddamnit I loved those games. Why'd they take their gameservers down?

I know Acrophobia came back as a web-based version but IT'S JUST NOT THE SAME.

That's it. I'm off for a sulk.

[Cupelix]

Cupelix, the best was when you'd play on a Friday night or something, and the host would mock your social life, ditto for playing on a holiday. That always used to blow my mind when I was a pup.
Heh, I had forgotten it did that, actually. I remember many years ago I was playing it on my laptop in my parent's car on Thanksgiving and it yelled at me for playing games instead of eating Turkey. Quality stuff.

[superherotaco]

Man whenever I'm with friends and we're in the right mood (see also: high) we have a great time playing You Don't Know Jack 1. Actually last weekend we played for like 2 hours. And seaman was a great game too, very inventive, especially for its time. I'd love to see one now with the better voice recognition software we have now. And come on, Leonard Nemoy was the voice over, how cool is that?

And when you'd curse at him durring the giberish question with "fuck you". He'd be like, "Fuck me, fuck you" and then you'd loose like 100,000 points. Then he'd add "No no no, I didn't mean to say fuck you. I ment to say FUCK... YOU" and then knock off like another 100,000 points. Then if you did it the next question he'd just kick you out of the game all together with a snide comment.

[MosBen]

Yeah, Best...Trivia...Games...Ever for my money, even counting table top games. I'm a big Trivial Pursuit fan, but the writing in YDKJ and the great voice work they had really put it over the top for me. I'll never forget playing the demo for the first game on a friend's PC Gamer disc. There were only something like six questions, but I knew I had to get that one when it came out.

And I second the thought that they should put something out for the 360. Actually, I'd think they could reuse a lot of the old questions from the various versions (maybe update some of the no longer current ones) and have a huge ammount of questions for a trivia game. Plus, the developement costs can't be that huge, especially with that much reusable content, so I'd imagine it'd be pretty easy money.

[Derwin]

I remember playing it at my cousin's house a long time ago and I loved it so I asked for it for Christmas and I actually got it for Mac (I even had a Mac when I was 11) and the game was exactly the same. But like a child, I took terrible care of my CDs and so my copy of YDKJ is scratched beyond recognition and doesn't work anymore :(

[jeffool]

Well, I'm going to do my part. I'm officially creating an internet petition to get Jellyvision to make a new You Don't Know Jack game. You know how effective internet petitions are. Careful now guys, not all at once. We don't want petition online to become wanged, slashdotted, farked, or whatever else you want to call it.

Sign here! (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/JellyvisionLove)

[Justin_McElroy]

Great idea Jeff, doesn't seem to work for me though. Fight the power, by the way.

[Kefkataran]

I used to love these games.

Also: holy crap, Justin, your site is getting stuff that's not about Uwe Boll that's worth reading. What's the deal? Pretty soon you'll be a bigger gaming news site than Evil Avatar!

[Justin_McElroy]

Actually, Kef, it's part of a larger strategy. I'm tired of gaming news always being about what's happening right now. It's boring. I want to remind people of where we've come from, and that means not forgetting about those that have brought us joy in the past. Others I'd like to capture in this "where are they now?" type thing are the guys from Old Man Murray and Chip and Zach, the hosts of GamingNoise.com.

[Mr_Snuffle]

YDKJ is one of those perfect games. There is nothing wrong with it. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and does it well.

Kinda like Virtua Tennis

[*Legion*]

The original Jack was an awesome game.

Much of the reason for that was the host, "Nate". Other hosts simply didn't deliver what he did. It's the difference between the smart-ass of a group that makes everyone laugh, and a smart-ass that everyone just thinks is a jerk. They may say the same things, but one guy makes it pop and the other guy makes it flop.

[Kefkataran]

Actually, Kef, it's part of a larger strategy. I'm tired of gaming news always being about what's happening right now. It's boring. I want to remind people of where we've come from, and that means not forgetting about those that have brought us joy in the past. Others I'd like to capture in this "where are they now?" type thing are the guys from Old Man Murray and Chip and Zach, the hosts of GamingNoise.com.

Sick. Well, whatever, I'm in.

[Spigot]

I just lent out my copy of Seaman to my neighbour's kids. He hates me now :)

YDKJ was one of those defining games of my university years in the mid-late 1990's. Ah, those were the days...

[dr_qwandry]

YDKJ 3 and The Ride where the best of the series.
you could find them dirt cheap now. Amazing party game.