Ron Gilbert (Wikipedia) recently sat down with his game, The Secret of Monkey Island, and wrote a commentary track detailing the design, secrets, and cuts made in creating the game. (via) [more inside]
posted by shadytrees on Jun 5, 2009 - 27 comments

Travels of a Boy Reporter - Track Tintin's travels across the globe. Click on the map to find out more about the locations or books they appear in.
posted by Artw on May 22, 2009 - 23 comments

Glum Buster is a charityware puzzle/adventure/exploration game developed over the course of 4 years by Justin Leingang. Kind of like a more linear Seiklus. Windows only.
posted by juv3nal on Apr 30, 2009 - 7 comments

Scarygirl. Flash platformer/adventure game with absolutely staggering production values and art. The intro sequence is awesome.
posted by juv3nal on Apr 14, 2009 - 40 comments

Around Cape Horn - if you've ever wished for an authentic glimpse into the bygone era of the majestic age of sailing, this is it - a rare 1929 true adventure film about sailing a four-masted commercial barque around the Cape Horn during a huge gale. It was shot with a hand-cranked camera by Captain Irving Johnson who offers a spirited narration. 36 minutes, B&W
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 11, 2009 - 29 comments

Scenery: check. Hiking boots: check. Spicy sausage: check. Immodesty: check.
posted by william_boot on Mar 17, 2009 - 38 comments

A man whose bravery and fame is matched only by his commitment to truth, the great Baron Münchhausen has permeated all artistic mediums of any worth: books (on-line and off), films (old and new), cartoons (french, english), an animated short film, an online graphic novel, even a game of role-playing -- if you are so despicable a person as to, for no other reason than the amusement of yourself and your fellows, slander the Baron's name with lies of your own invention. Though a similarly-named syndrome would falsely imply otherwise, he is an entirely honest man who exaggerates as little as he boasts, and as to the latter I have assurances from no less a personage than the Baron himself that his humility is without equal in the 7 earth continents, and 2 out of 3 of the moon's.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed on Feb 27, 2009 - 22 comments

New Extreme Sports. Mega ramp skateboarding, ostrich racing, underwater golfing, pole dancing and pillow fighting are just a few of the innovative new sports you may see in future X Games. (via SpoFi)
posted by netbros on Feb 6, 2009 - 32 comments

"Well behaved women rarely make history," said Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Scandalous Women brings you the lives, loves, and sexual adventures of some of the most fascinating women who rocked the world. Like Olimpia Maidalchini who managed to achieve something that no woman ever has, for the 11 years of her brother-in-law Innocent X's reign as pope, Olimpia was the real power at the Vatican; or Elizabeth Armistead, wife of a cabinet minister, courtesan to many. Read the bios and follow the tales of nearly a hundred women of scandalous pursuit from Mata Hari to Typhoid Mary.
posted by netbros on Jan 16, 2009 - 14 comments

Youngest Briton to climb Everest dies in Alps Last year, two British kids skied, sailed, and biked through North, Central, and South America, en route from the north pole to the south pole.  They made it the whole 180 degrees, but as you can read in the articles, they almost died several times.  You may enjoy reading an interview about that trip. They had already climbed to the top of Everest at 19 years of age. They were named Adventurers of the Year for 2008 by National Geographic. They died this weekend, January 10, 2009, climbing in the French Alps.
posted by peter_meta_kbd on Jan 13, 2009 - 31 comments

Wartime wandering through the Eastern states by bicycle, truck, and riverboat. 1944.

In 1944, a dear friend, Doris Roy, and I undertook an adventurous journey that we dreamed of during countless hikes together over our college holidays. We had been Camp Fire Girls together, loving the out-of-doors, camping and hiking the open road. Our dreams finally developed into a plan to ride bicycles from our home in Buffalo, New York, to Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River met the Mississippi. We admired Mark Twain’s adventures, had read his Life on the Mississippi, and sought to follow his path to the Midwest. We were 21 years old...
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Dec 28, 2008 - 9 comments

World Record BASE Jump: from 650 meters up the Burj Dubai. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Nov 22, 2008 - 47 comments

The circumnavigators are out there. In February, Mike Beaumont completed the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle. Tomorrow, Rosie Swale, age 62, finishes her 4 1/2 year run around the world. As posted previously, Zac Sunderland is now attempting to break the record for the youngest sailing circumnavigation of the planet, now held by Jesse Martin.
posted by Xurando on Aug 24, 2008 - 9 comments

Josiah Harlan, first American in Afghanistan, Commander-In-Chief of the Afghan Army, Quaker, and Prince of Ghor; the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Man Who Would Be King" (and thus the John Houston film). The title was gained for himself "and his descendants in perpetuity" and never rescinded, making actor Scott Reiniger (Dawn of the Dead), Harlan's great, great, great grandson, technically a prince of Afghanistan. (previously)
Ursula Graham-Bower, an English archeology student who ventured to India in 1939 "to putter about with a few cameras and do a bit of medical work, maybe write a book" and ended up in the jungle on the Burmese border as "Queen of the Nagas", leading headhunting tribes against the advancing Japanese Army. (Real Audio BBC Radio history segment, extended MP4 video interview from 1985, shortly before her death, online archive).
The "White Rajas" of the Kingdom of Sarawak, a dynasty of the Brooke family, who ruled a region of Brunei for over a century; the progenitor of the family, James Brooke, was likely an inspiration for Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim". [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Aug 13, 2008 - 18 comments

Ray Parer & J C McIntosh; The Flying Wreck. In 1919 six teams entered an Air Race from England to Australia, but only two teams finished. The winning team finished in 28 days, while the second team didn't even get started until the race was already over, but they didn't let that stop them. Ray Parer and John McIntosh in their de Havilland DH9 airplane deviated considerably from their intended course, suffered many mechanical problems, had 7 crash landings, and took 237 days to finish. But they sure did have an adventure. [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Jul 30, 2008 - 8 comments

Rental Car Rally. (From the guys who brought Street Wars to NYC). That is all.
posted by allkindsoftime on Jul 8, 2008 - 29 comments

In 1930, Eric Sevareid and Walter Port embarked on a wild adventure when they launched a canoe at Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River and paddled over 2200 miles north to Hudson Bay. Sevareid later documented their story in the book Canoeing with the Cree. The book has since served as inspiration for young adventurers. Two such men, Colton Witte and Sean Bloomfield, departed on their own trek on April 28, 2008. The pair made it to Hudson Bay on June 17, 2008, in only 49 days. They aren’t the only ones to follow in Sevareid’s and Port’s footsteps – Scott Miller and Todd Foster made the same journey in 2005.
posted by cabingirl on Jun 19, 2008 - 7 comments

Fascinating account (w/ pix) of a motorcycle journey through Angola. Stumbled onto this from the Black Flag forums and have not been able to stop reading it.
posted by jcruelty on May 26, 2008 - 40 comments

An Untitled Story. (apologies, pc download only). An action-platformer by Matt Thorson in the tradition of Seiklus, Knytt (previously 1 2), & Metroid It is full of awesome. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal on Apr 14, 2008 - 14 comments

Inspired by this earlier post, I thought it was time to formally introduce people to Rocky's Boots. [more inside]
posted by wanderingmind on Mar 28, 2008 - 12 comments

Mark Boyle should either take language lessons, read some Peter Jenkins, or wear a better jacket...and yet he blames it on the French!! [more inside]
posted by Melismata on Mar 11, 2008 - 9 comments

David Horvitz will do things for money. [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Feb 24, 2008 - 92 comments

Like to faire une photo? You're not alone. The inimitable (but perhaps for not much longer) National Geographic magazine has advice for taking portraits, travel photography, landscapes, excitingly vague 'adventure' photos and even plan old digital photography. After you've created magic how about selling it or getting published? Sharing is so 2007.
posted by oxford blue on Jan 20, 2008 - 13 comments

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (previously), he of "Chzo mythos" and "Zero Punctuation" fame, has released a new game: The Art of Theft, a heist adventure in grand retro style.
posted by Iridic on Nov 23, 2007 - 17 comments

UK native Karl Bushby has been walking around the world since 1998. No, literally: walking. around. the. world. It hasn't been without its trials, of course (resolution). He isn't expected home until 2012.
posted by desjardins on Nov 3, 2007 - 19 comments

In 1936, the American widow Ruth Harkness became the first person to capture a living panda from the wild.
posted by bassjump on Oct 8, 2007 - 13 comments

Well, THAT was certainly frustrating. More random cruelty to a cartoon cat, this time with a springy pole-vault thing. (like Cat with Bow Golf, previously on MeFi)
posted by yhbc on Sep 28, 2007 - 21 comments

The antidote to the controlled, indoor world of modern kids might be Adventure Playgrounds. Messy, chaotic, but counter-intuitively, safer than traditional playgrounds, there are only two in the US: Listen to Berkeley's Adventure Playground on NPR, or check out some flickr shots. In Europe, where they originated from the rubble of WWII, and in Japan where they are also popular, the importance of play that involves risks is better understood. There are hundreds of Adventure Playgrounds outside of North America.
posted by serazin on Aug 18, 2007 - 38 comments

Real Life "Colossal Cave Adventure”! Discussion of original source code, different versions of the game, hand draw maps, and lots of photos inside the cave the game is based on. Grab your shiny brass lamp and tasty food and meet me at the Bedquilt entrance.
posted by cosmicbandito on Aug 13, 2007 - 17 comments

Lost Art is the fascinating site of Brazilian Mefite Ignacio Aronovich and Louise Chin. It's a deep vein of adventurous, quirky, and kinky photo essays from around the globe. Scroll down on the main page to see a text menu or browse the visual index. Much content is NSFW but - stick with "adventure" and "travel" if that's a concern - or view the SFW slide show Our Year in Pictures 2006 (with sound) or without sound.
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 25, 2007 - 5 comments

5 Days a Stranger. 7 Days a Skeptic. Trilby's Notes. 6 Days a Sacrifice. The great retro-fun of the Chzo Mythos adventure games, all of which are freeware.
posted by jbickers on May 16, 2007 - 6 comments

Adventure II (a sequel to Adventure, here's a playable version of the original)
posted by bardic on May 11, 2007 - 23 comments

Photorealistic CG water (and a little on how it's done).
posted by hoverboards don't work on water on May 2, 2007 - 41 comments

The Addventures. Imagine the possibilities of an interactive web, but before Flash, before Java, before video plugins, before anything but text and graphics (and graphics take up so much bandwidth!). Addventures came out of this era, and over the years there have been quite a few (not all paths SFW) incarnations of the concept. You can even roll your own with open source. Can you find your old stories?
posted by mazatec on Mar 21, 2007 - 11 comments

The Pororoca is an Amazonian tidal bore that generates waves up to 12 feet high which can last for over half an hour. Surfers from all around the world have visited Brazil in order to ride this mega-wave. Here are some videos:

The Pororoca Phenomenon (4:28)
Pororoca 1 of 2 (3:11)
Pororoca 2 of 2 (3:21)
Pororoca (26 minutes long)

posted by jason's_planet on Dec 4, 2006 - 16 comments

The Real North Pole Expedition is a journey to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, to the actual North Pole, using research submarines, tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2008. Spots are still available. And if that doesn’t interest you, they have other expeditions that might.
posted by jason's_planet on Oct 21, 2006 - 10 comments

Tanya Streeter is a champion in the sport of competitive freediving. Anyone who can dive to 400 feet and return using muscle power and fins, or to 525 feet below the surface of the water using a special sled, on just one breath of air, has won my undying respect.
posted by jason's_planet on Oct 19, 2006 - 44 comments

Kira Salak is a writer who embodies an old-fashioned spirit of adventure. She has kayaked the Niger River solo; during her time in Africa, she freed a slave. On another trip, she sampled Ayahuasca in the Peruvian jungle. At the age of 24, she trekked alone through the tribal violence of Papua New Guinea. Her work is a wonderful alternative to the blandness and narrowness of contemporary consumer society, in which there is nothing new to be discovered and everything can be reduced to lucre.
posted by jason's_planet on Oct 17, 2006 - 21 comments

CDX: great Flash adventure by BBC History (in association with Preloaded) for their "Ancient Rome" series.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Sep 24, 2006 - 9 comments

The cruiser Emden was launched in 1910. When World War One broke out, she was under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl Friedrich Max von Müller, with Kapitänleutnant Hellmuth von Mücke as executive officer, who "was as extroverted as his commander was modest." When Graf von Spee, commander of the East Asiatic Squadron, decided to keep it united and head for Chile to coal up, Müller said he'd rather go off on his own and harass British shipping. Spee agreed, and the Emden embarked on a spree of destruction that made him a hero not only to the Germans but even to the British; when it was over, the Telegraph said: "It is almost in our hearts to regret that the Emden has been captured and destroyed.... There is not a survivor who does not speak well of this young German, the officers under him and the crew obedient to his orders. The war on the sea will lose some of its piquancy, its humour and its interest now that the Emden has gone."
posted by languagehat on Aug 19, 2006 - 35 comments

Do you feel that science has gone mad? Do you yearn for a time when adventurers were unfailingly courteous and infallibly polite? Well look no further than the adventures of Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer--now available weekly on the radio! Episodes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. In case this makes little sense, some background is available here.
posted by vernondalhart on Aug 15, 2006 - 5 comments

"Have entered industrial wasteland - unbelievable hell-hole. Clocked 4000miles! Border guards nicked our fizzy cola bottles! Gits! Roads r not good."

Two weeks ago 159 crap cars set off from London, England for Ulan Bataar, Mongolia. A journey spanning 8,000 miles, 2 deserts, 5 mountain ranges, on roads ranging from bad to non-existent. All this with no support crew and in a car you swapped for a bag of crisps. Stir in the odd party in far-flung parts of the globe, dodgy border crossings, and the occasional bribe and you have an inkling of the Mongol Rally.

Sound too safe for you? Maybe racing a rickshaw across the Indian subcontinent for a spot of tea is more your speed.
Two great charity events brought to you by the Institute of Adventure Research
posted by woj on Aug 3, 2006 - 38 comments

"King Anfortas currently owns this magic stone, schmooze him, take him surprise, how ever you will get it, but bring me this stone! As award I promise you my daughter and a place on the crown!" -- The Mystery of Castle Wildenburg, a slightly goofily-translated game that combines point-&-click with classic text adventure gameplay, and photos of the lovely German countryside. Read the "Prehistory," mouseover everything, save often (though you lose your accumulated points on loading a saved game), and be careful not to die of thirst.
posted by Gator on Jul 17, 2006 - 6 comments

The Rational Neo-graphic Magazine. Special Edition: Into Thick Air - the thrilling challenges of low-altitude mountaineering
posted by pyramid termite on May 13, 2006 - 9 comments

"What has our world come to if we cannot join nature by climbing one of nature's most beautiful features?" asks Dean Potter after he free-climbs Utah's Delicate Arch and pisses off the Park Service. Again.
posted by mr_crash_davis on May 9, 2006 - 87 comments

Dancing with demons - riveting underwater adventure about a close encounter with a giant, hungry Diablo Rojo. Also see filming the Humboldt squid. Past squid threads:1, 2, 3, and 4. Via Squidblog.
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 6, 2006 - 16 comments

Itchana Tchones resembles-but-is-legally-distinct-from a certain beloved adventurer whom you may remember from a certain series of copyrighted movies. The first few games in which he stars are in French (and a little on the primitive side), but the gameplay is simple enough: Arrow keys to move, jump, and duck, spacebar to attack with the whip. The latest game in the series, Alien Wars, can be played in English. Lovely squishy little blood spurts, among other things, when death ensues. (Flash.)
posted by Gator on Mar 8, 2006 - 7 comments

Pedaling & Paddling Around America. Swedish adventurer and climber Renata Chlumska is circumnavigating the USA's lower 48 states by bicycle and kayak. She originally planned the trip with her late partner, the great climber Göran Kropp who most famously rode his bike from Sweden to Nepal, climbed Everest, then rode back. After his death, the project was put on hold while Chlumska dealt with US visa regulations. If you are on her route, go out and say hello.
posted by liam on Mar 2, 2006 - 11 comments

The Flowering Nose in Slugland adventure game. As a goblin with a flower for a nose, your ultimate goal is to find the lost sprout. Defeat enemies by throwing flowers at them; power up with hearts; teleport from level to level with such esoteric trinkets as donuts and cherries. (Java.)
posted by Gator on Jan 27, 2006 - 15 comments

Cities is a cross between Urban Dead and Kingdom of Loathing.
posted by ChasFile on Jan 16, 2006 - 23 comments