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Don’t know if anyone has posted this yet. I read it on another board. The rumored classic Sierra game compilations are now listed on Vivendi’s site, confirming that are in fact being planned and are scheduled for a fall release. I’ve included links below as well as my comments.
Space Quest:http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1941
King’s Quest:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1939
Leisure Suit Larry:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1942
Police Quest:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1940
For now, the links only have box art and release date, but if you look closely at the boxes, you can make out certain details. These details are what disappoint me about the compilations. It seems that not all of the games for each series are
included. If you look closely at the box, King’s Quest says 7 full games. I’m
guessing they left out KQ8, which is the one that needs XP
compatibility the most and could use some enhancing. Police Quest looks
like it’s only 1-4, once again leaving out the games that people might
actually have trouble running in Windows. I was hoping they’d include one of the later FPS SWAT games
since those got good reviews. Space Quest looks like it has all 6
games so it seems to be the ONLY compilation with the full series. For some reason Larry says it only has 5 games, so I’m guessing
they left out part 7. That’s pretty disappointing to me and makes me think
that the games won’t be specially coded for XP and instead they’ll
include an emulator or slow down features for the DOS games. But the
sad thing is that they’re going backwards and including less games than
the previous collections so they’re really not offering anything to
people who already own the older collections except for new boxes. And the latest games in each of these series (excluding Magna Cum Laude if you want to consider that an actual LSL game) all came out about 7 or 8 years ago at least. At first, I thought they were going to somehow make the games run natively in XP, but now I’m starting to think they didn’t do anything special at all. Some of the boxes say ‘Runs on Windows XP.’ I know the games can run on XP to begin with, but how well they run is completely different.
I was expecting all of the current games in each series PLUS MORE, like
unofficial remakes and maybe some random games not related to a series
similar to King’s Quest including the Laura Bow and Mother Goose games.
They could’ve spread the other less popular games across the
collections and included them as well leaving some for the inevitable
Quest for Glory collection. And I know VU wouldn’t have done it, but if
I were rereleasing these games, I would’ve included scans of the
different manuals and box art associated with the included games, plus
disk images for alternate systems or I would’ve just remade the games
to be XP native and included new features and options like graphic
enhancements similar to DosBox or IIgs sound for the older AGI games,
plus MT-32 sound converted to general midi.I know we should be ‘happy’ to get anything at all, but when what you’re getting is less than what you could get 8 years ago, then it’s pretty much a big disappointment. The least they could’ve done was repackage the old collections, but now they offer less. Luckily, I never got my hopes up. I was only really interested in the LSL collection since that is the only one I really missed out on. And I just don’t understand what VU is thinking short-changing people like that, because I think others will definitely notice.
I’m interested in hearing opinions and comments from the rest of you.
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Don’t know if anyone has posted this yet. I read it on another board. The rumored classic Sierra game compilations are now listed on Vivendi’s site, confirming that they are in fact being planned and are scheduled for a fall release. I’ve included links below as well as my comments.
Space Quest:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1941King’s Quest:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1939Leisure Suit Larry:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1942Police Quest:
http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1940For now, the links only have box art and release date, but if you look closely at the boxes, you can make out certain details. These details are what disappoint me about the compilations. It seems that not all of the games for each series are included. If you look closely at the box, King’s Quest says 7 full games. I’m guessing they left out KQ8, which is the one that needs XP compatibility the most and could use some enhancing. Police Quest looks like it’s only 1-4, once again leaving out the games that people might actually have trouble running in Windows. I was hoping they’d include one of the later FPS SWAT games since those got good reviews. Space Quest looks like it has all 6 games so it seems to be the ONLY compilation with the full series. For some reason Larry says it only has 5 games, so I’m guessing they left out part 7. That’s pretty disappointing to me and makes me think that the games won’t be specially coded for XP and instead they’ll include an emulator or slow down features for the DOS games. But the sad thing is that they’re going backwards and including less games than the previous collections so they’re really not offering anything to people who already own the older collections except for new boxes. And the latest games in each of these series (excluding Magna Cum Laude if you want to consider that an actual LSL game) all came out about 7 or 8 years ago at least. At first, I thought they were going to somehow make the games run natively in XP, but now I’m starting to think they didn’t do anything special at all. Some of the boxes say ‘Runs on Windows XP.’ I know the games can run on XP to begin with, but how well they run is completely different.
I was expecting all of the current games in each series PLUS MORE, like unofficial remakes and maybe some random games not related to a series similar to King’s Quest including the Laura Bow and Mother Goose games. They could’ve spread the other less popular games across the collections and included them as well leaving some for the inevitable Quest for Glory collection. And I know VU wouldn’t have done it, but if I were rereleasing these games, I would’ve included scans of the different manuals and box art associated with the included games, plus disk images for alternate systems or I would’ve just remade the games to be XP native and included new features and options like graphic enhancements similar to DosBox or IIgs sound for the older AGI games, plus MT-32 sound converted to general midi.I know we should be ‘happy’ to get anything at all, but when what you’re getting is less than what you could get 8 years ago, then it’s pretty much a big disappointment. The least they could’ve done was repackage the old collections, but now they offer less. Luckily, I never got my hopes up. I was only really interested in the LSL collection since that is the only one I really missed out on. And I just don’t understand what VU is thinking short-changing people like that, because I think others will definitely notice.
I’m interested in hearing opinions and comments from the rest of you.
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Though I’m waiting for more details on these releases, I agree that things don’t look very promising. If that’s the way Vivendi plans on handling the re-release they are wasting their time and money.
They start off at the wrong foot declaring that the games would run on Windows XP, because by now Sierra fans are wise enough to know that whatever runs on XP today would be useless on whatever system Microsoft will issue five years from now. That’s why they all have DosBox. They don’t need to buy the games again.
I also think that including bonus materials with the games would be a good idea. How about stuff like Peter Spear’s books? This is something fans can’t find anywhere else. Perhaps arranging new interviews with the original designers? If they want me to buy these collections, than they’ll have to give them some added value.I agree that smaller titles like the Laura Bow games and the Conquest series (and perhaps even stuff from the earlier days, like what was included in the Roberta Williams anthology) could have also made good candidates for re-release, but perhaps Vivendi is testing the water with the bigger names. In this respect, at least, I hope they will succeed.
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Yeah, but not everyone is going to rush out and update their computers. I still have an old computer just for old Sierra games. Sometimes it’s a hassle figure out how to run Dosbox or get games to work other ways but the arrival of these new compilations will allow adventure gamers to play games they just simply can’t get ahold of.
I wish they’d put more goodies in as well but at least Vivendi has at least a little sympathy for the longtime fans who never played them or never finished the series.
Even though Vivendi has been toying with our minds for the past year, seeing the box covers gives a little reinforcement that it very well could be the real deal.
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Well….. its cool that these are no longer just a rumor. I like the box for Space Quest the most. Reminds me of the lightsaber Return of the Jedi poster. I’m disappointed that King’s Quest is only going to be seven games. What is interesting about that box is it looks like its Connor in the crystal ball. And they are leaving that game out most likely?
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i think that the compatibility thing isn’t an issue. people are too hard on microsoft, saying that things are not compatible enough. that’s simply not true. windows 3.1 apps still work on xp, and all xp software will continue to work on windows vista. the fact that the games are made for xp will be just fine. the only reasons we have compatibility problems with sierra dos games is because of the old hardware is not in the system (the isa soundcards) and new computers are too fast for sierras bad timing programming. both are non os problems. the only thing i dont understand is why ms doesn’t have their own a full blown msdos emulator built into windows. that would be nice, and logical.
im not happy that they aren’t including all of the main series of each game. thats too bad for all of us that missed out on the old collectors editions. i have all the games already, but the only collectors disk i have is quest for glory. i was hoping to pick up all the different ones. i dont know now.
i still have a hard time trying to figure out why vu is even doing this. there can’t be demand enough for a set of games that are all so old. as much as all of us love sierra, most people dont even realize who they are. they are now more popular for releasing half life than they are for kings quest.
did anyone else notice they listed the genre for them as action/adventure? thats funny.
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I’m not too concerned about XP compatibility either, but some games do need to be updated to work on current systems. King’s Quest VIII is the first one that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others too. And not everyone knows how to use DosBox, so while a lot of the old games might work, not everyone will know how to get them to work properly. Also, anyone who doesn’t have an MT-32 system will never hear that quality of music, unless they spend a lot of time trying to figure out emulating it. I would’ve liked new drivers (maybe general midi?) that supported that quality music without needing actual MT-32 players. I think only fans who grew up with these games will be interested them, and they won’t be attracting a lot of new people to the series. And that’s why I wish they included a lot more. I was expecting the bare minimum of every game in each series being in each collection, and I’m suprised that it looks like that isn’t happening.
If anything, I was hoping they would’ve ported the Apple IIgs versions of the AGI games to DOS/Windows so that players could at least have the option to play with high quality sound rather than PC Speaker sound. I have to play my old IIgs games through emulation because I refuse to play the DOS versions.
I agree, the guy in the crystal ball is Connor and the wizard is definitely Mannannan and I’d assume they’re leaving KQ8 out. Or maybe Vivendi just can’t count and they’re really including all of the games. And do the numbers on the boxes include or exlude the remakes? There’s no reason for them not to include the remakes, but then you’d think they’d use those to bolster the number of games on the box. I’m so confused.
I think Vivendi should just open source these games.
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About Vevendi rereleasing these its cool that they are doing this. I don’t think its gonna make a lot of money, but its cool that they are finally listening to the fans. Its been about 20 years since I got into Sierra games, and it would be neat to get a copy of the Kings Quest compilation for my cousins, as well as neice and nepthews, since they are all about the same age as I was when these games first came out. Who knows, if by some fluke they are successful, maybe they will make some new installments? I know its not the original folks there anymore, but it would be nice. 🙂
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