(Re: A suggestion for Ken Williams) Chuck,
You are right, something should be done to be able to play old (Sierra) games on newer computers. But I do not think each game should be recoded. Instead, using emulators provides for running any older game, and is a generic solution. Such emulators already exist, at least partly (For the PC: DosBox, Bochs, Tand-Em, …), but there is still a problem: those emulation projects are themselves tied to the current state of computers (Windows, Linux and MacOS for now), and as computers and OSes evolve, they will suffer from the same problem as what they are meant to solve: they will become obsolete. My main goal is to solve this issue.
For the games themselves, they must be properly imaged (virtualized) so that old game protections are not an issue, and the original game can be played with emulators. This is the goal of Disk2FDI for floppy disks, and there are many good CD imaging tools out there as well.
Finally, the rights to the games must also be acquiered so that the original games can be distributed without infringing copyright laws. This can be pretty difficult since many companies have merged or been closed down, so it’s often difficult to know exactly who holds the rights.
If all these issues can be overcome, then I would think that an on-line “old game shop” could potentially do well if the games can be sold for about 1-5$.
Oh well, you started me 😉
Vincent. –=====================_27533090==.ALT–