Forum Replies Created
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Posts
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(re: Building a Sierra Computer)
The MT-32 was an external sound module that you hooked up to your MIDI card. It would be best to get an MPU-401 compatible card to use with it. Quest Studios message boards is a good place to go for more information and help on this.
(re: Finally – Al Lowe won´t be involved in LSL – MGC)
At least it’s good to see that the people that are making the game really care about the series and are actually emailing al lowe and stuff. There may be a chance that this game will actually turn out to be decent.
(re: What are the Sierra “Talkie” Games?)
Gabriel Knight 2 was kinda ” Interactive Movie ” & it wasn´t a silent movie 😉
(re: Sam & Max 2 gets canceled)
Lucas Arts appears to be more interested in Star Wars games. The cancellation of Sam & Max 2 was really weird, because they were almost done with it and it was getting good press. But who knows why big companies do what they do… they seem to have gone the same way Sierra did.
In Runaway’s defense, it didn’t crash once for me and I didn’t have any bugs in any of the chapters. And it is a wonderful game.
-emily
(re: Does anyone know what’s happening with Chris Braymen nowdays?)
According to mobygames, he still does some music for games.
(re: Sierra (Vivendi) to release Tribes/Tribes 2 for FREE)
That’s pretty cool, I’ve always been a fan of the tribes series. But FilePlanet makes you cooler? Yeah right, I rather not wait hours to download a file.
(re: Sam & Max 2 gets canceled)
When a company forgets about products and wants a free license to produce money . . .
(re: re: BBS )
Oh thanks totally! Lately, I’ve be using mIRC to chat and stuff related to such. I’ve heard of the others.
Speaking of LD bills, when I my phone bill came in, it was like a few hundred bucks, so I stopped using it. Then I got this dumb idea to adapt the cell (old brick kind) into the PC. Whoops, as it was a LOT more than the phone!
See you at one of these sites! Or just share memories here!
(re: BBS ) If you’re interested, there are still BBSs around. Better yet, since you connect via the internet, there are no long distance charges. 🙂 You can use the Telnet that comes with windows, but I recommend MTelnet. You can get it here:
Link: http://ozone.eesc.com/(http://ozone.eesc.com/)
. It has full ANSI support. And
Link: here’s a list of BBSs(http://www.synchro.net/sbbslist.html)
. They all run on Synchronet software, but you can find others. A fun place to try is Gameland (gameland.darktech.org I believe). It has TONS of doors set up. Play LORD, Usurper, Lemonade…lots of others. And by the way, I loved BBSing too. I’m the same age as you, and I remember those LD bills too. 🙂 I also ran a small hobby board for a few years in the early 90s. It was a blast.(re: re: re: BBS )
Yeah RIP! Wow! Seems like centuries ago! PCs/BBSs have changed so much!
I don’t really remember any specifics of RIP script, but every now and then I run into one from something I have of something I downloaded about a decade ago (94/95).
I do recall faintly (thanks to amnesia) some *.mod player that had RIP script for graphics. It also played (now that my memories jogging) *.vod, *.vox and *.vx files, but I never knew what the *.vod/*.vx files were, only that it was supported according to it’s F1 file.
Thanks for brining up this side of BBSs I had almost totally forgotten! 😀
(re: re: BBS ) speaking of sound file you rember mod files also you rember some of the graphical programs like RIP script they were near the later part of the bbs days
aroud 94 or 95 is when I rember them(re: Game Manuals)
http://www.replacementdocs.com or use mIRC
(re: BBS )
BBS was so fun! I remember downloading *.xm/*.xa/*.mod music files before *.mp3/*.m4a became standard. Boy, they were awful, but it worked through my internal speaker!
Las Vegas area’s last BBS services disappeared in the summer of ’98. By then, the fun wasn’t there anymore.
I like sites like this because of the BBS style (well, like older BBS styles).
(re: Thanks for all the good times )
Oh, hell yes. Sierra games, LucasArts, Virgin/Westwood, and the AD&D by SSI were truly, truly fun. And the quality and concepts of these games are in a league of their own, even by today’s standards.
(Link to Adventure Hall of Fame) Hi there,
Today I read Ken´s interview from 2003 for the first time.He said that he wasn´t always happy with his decision when the right time for the release of a game would be.
On
Link: http://www.adventure-hall.com(http://www.adventure-hall.com)
you can take a look what people think at least about the adventures that finally became Ken´s ” okay ” for shipping.
By the way, I don´t know the owner of this this site or have anything else to to with it. I just like to read the informations about games I just thought you´d like to take a look at this site too. It´s pretty well done & has a nice voting system on it.
Best regards from germany
PatFinden Sie den nächsten WLAN HotSpot mit dem
Link: Lycos WLAN Sniffer!>( http://www.lycos.de/startseite/wlan/download.html)(re: Sierra’s Game Creation Software)
Thats an interesting question Steve. We all know about the different engines they used, but you’d imagine that they had graphics software too.
(re: re: re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
It was a little harsh – I love a couple of UBISoft’s recent console games like Prince of Persia and Beyond Good and Evil.
An important thing that was mentioned though was that the Sierra name is just being used to slap on games to make them more appealing as a known quality brand to gamers which is wrong. In doing this they have/are diluting the Sierra name. The logo they have is crap compared to the “legacy” Sierra logo. If you treat a person like VU has the Sierra name you go to jail for a long, long time with all the other r*pists.
And developing a new Larry game with out Al Lowe on board is a terrible idea – look what happened to the Monkey Island series after Ron Gilbert left – it became a weak, pathetic parody of itself (in Escape From Monkey Island).
As far as I know, Zelda 64 was a new engine, not an enhancement of Mario 64. I’ve never heard that one – but I guess it shows what 3D has done to games – they all end up looking and playing like each other.
(re: re: re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
How many years have you been following, involved or studying the game industry? I’ve 24 years and counting, since 1980, and little here and there.
Your attitude and tone in the response in written in poor taste, towards opinions and hopes. And, apparently, you offer no proof towards your critisms, just blind praise of things that are, and from my “opinion”, no desire to actually change, like Conservatives on Talk Radio.
C’mon, work with everybody, and start giving solutions with the critisms, and start to offer encouragement with the rage. I can do the same as you, but I choose not to. Not worth my time. I raged at the current state of games, and expressed a hope that some industry giants would see past their own egos to create what I feel inside of Ken whenever this issue comes up.
Your letter is an anti-Nintendo, anti-Windows type of letter. Why? What have those concepts done to you personally? (Just curious.) I encourage you the next time you write something in response, keep attacks on opinions and hopes out of it.
By the way, PC games do suck compared to what I’ve played over the last 24 years. And to compare another concept/industry to the gaming industry is not very meaningful. Why do that? Apples and oranges. Don’t do that, fire at me with my stuff, no rhertorics. It don’t work.
Now, follow my response here carefully and understand I’ve critizing and giving you solutions to give a more powerful response to my opinions and hopes. The words you gave off, honestly, feel very powerless and seem just be an attack. Since I am a business owner, and also have worked in high management positions for over 40 years, I’ve seen these kind of responses before. Sorry, but whatever you were sharing with me isn’t there. The response isn’t from your heart, just your head.
Please, re-read what I wrote, and give me an excellent response backed up with proof of what your see and what your have experienced.
(re: re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
Little harsh, don’t you think? The country of origion doesn’t dictate the “goodness” of games. I’ve found several of ubisoft’s games quite fun.
Of course I have to buy all of Sierra’s games out of bargin bins. Not many good ones comming out now. 🙁 And how (and why) would Gates, Jobs, Ken, & Nintendo get together? First off, Bill has his X-Box. Nintendo has it’s GameCube & GBA. Jobs has his fans. Ken has his wife and a big boat to go from point A to point B in. 🙂
And how do PC games suck? I found all the Doom & Quake games quite fun. GTA is fun. Beyond Good & Evil is fun. Star Trek: Elite Force is fun. UT2004 is fun. Battlefield games are fun. May Payne is fun. Chess is fun. 🙂 I don’t see any of these as clones of anything.
Doom wasn’t the first FPS eigther. That would be Wolf3D. So Doom is a clone of Wolf3d, right? You mention Double Gradon, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Super Mario, Contra, Commander Keen. Those were all basicly the same: you were a “hero.” You fought bad guys. You ran. Walked. Jumped. Ducked. At the end of the game you got a cool ending. One game you shoot, one game you use melee attacks, but it was all mostly the same with different graphics. They’re all also platformers. Most playformers play the same.
All the adventure games could be called Kings Quest clones. After all, they ALL let you use the keyboard to move and you type a command (or, later on, use the mouse to select something).
I also find it funny you say Zelda 64 was good, but it WAS a clone of Mario 64. They used the same engine, slighly modified. And what about metroid prime? That’s an excelent game. It’s 3d. In fact, nintendo did the OPPOSITE of what ken said he did (listen to fans) and didn’t listen to the fans and make it a sidescroller. Excelent game.
I don’t think ken planned on having his video game vets take over the game world. Did you ken? 🙂 Maybe a strong nitch, but if there was no competition, what other good stuff would they have to compare themselves to? No competition, can’t say “we’re the best!” Microsoft doesn’t say they’re the best, they say you have no choice.
Games are evolving. How many people complained when TV evolved from B&W to color? Or radio to Stereo? Or they had to upgrade to VGA cards to play the latest games?
(re: Wouldn’t it be nice if…)
TWO BIG HONKIN’ DVD-12s WITH ALL THE SIERRA GAMES!
Read my other reply at the other topic for my take on this.
We, the fans, are behind Ken and Roberta!
(re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
Writing as a fan, perhaps the name and properties of Sierra are to be let gone unto God, and time for a new company could be formed. However, I understand about am owner watching their creations dissolve into unsuccess, and I know about fighting for that cause, to bring it back to snuff.
VU Games is a company, in my opinion, that should have never been formed. Other than Simpsons Hit and Run and some of the Lord of the Rings games (about 5 games or so), VU has crashed not only Sierra, but Universal as well. I don’t know how many companies can publish Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, or Half-Life. VU has shown such disrespect to Sierra by removing Sierra’s series names of Police Quest and Half-Life from the new SWAT and Counter-Strike games. Furthermore, their Fox games aren’t that great, and I think it’s sales of old Blizzard games that are keeping the company floating somewhat.
In the past posting, I’ve either kept neutral or optimistic about new games. But let’s face reality about PC/video games at present: THEY SUCK! I might be backwards, but on-line games want me to pay to play the game, after I’ve already bought the game? What a slap in the face! And what’s with all of the crappy first-person shooters? Was DOOM really worth copying 10,000 times? And though Diablo/StarCraft is good, why so many AD&D/Forgotten Realms clones? And it’s another series that both VU Games and Wizards of the Coast flushed down the crapper!
Man, I wish Ken, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Nintendo would all co-operate to create the most powerful games in the world. I being overly hopeful, but I can’t stand these companies like VU Games, Ubisoft, Inforgrames/Atari, or any of these other French companies. France + games = poor companies & poor games.
Though many companies over the last 30 years have done games, it wasn’t until 1995 that the copycats started being published. By 1999, either the game was a copycat or a forced attempt at originality (see Shenmue or Seaman on Dreamcast). In the distant past, each company, whether the game was action or adventure, would create a look and style unique to either than company or that series. Double Dragon and Ninja Gaiden are different, Mega Man and Super Mario, Contra and Commander Keen, Monkey Island and Leisure Suit Larry, Westwood and SSI, and so forth etc. etc. I personally believe that polygon-based 3-D gaming has killed almost every game that’s come across it. I belive the polygons should be used for extremely pretty graphics (Zelda 64, KQ8, Final Fantasy 7) that promote the story. Since almost every game plays like either Diablo, Tomb Raider, Mario 64, Doom, Virtua Racing, Final Fantasy 7, or is a sports title, 3-D gaming has truly murdered original concepts and styles that the old techology capitalized on. I feel if the veterans and pioneers of the industry at the beginning were in charge forever, games would be excellent to this day! And I take it, that’s what Ken is shooting for. I also deduct that Ken has a goal with a vision for Sierra, or at least a vision or a goal, and he will do something, somehow. When the hour is darkest, the light shines the brightest. Some businessman said that in the 1800s.
(re: re: re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
I’m not sure if VU is 100% to blame for the current state of Sierra. Take a look at Blizzard. They’re owned by VU and they still churn out good products (one in a couple years, but they’ve always done that).
Also, when you goto the Sierra site, they say they do HL, but you are always forwarded to a VU site (support, etc). You can’t even e-mail sierra directly anymore for tech support (which stinks).
I’m thinking, and this is a long shot, that Sierra/VU is close to publishing HL2 which they are claiming will “revive the computer game industry.” (every time I hear/read that I wonder what they’re talking about: I’ve been buying games for year and have been happy!). They’re probley hoping it will revive Sierra/VU, and since Valve is owned by them, they will got lots of $$$ from sales & engine liscences.
But ken, I hope you get through to them. Or maybe you could get a couple of “promising” people together & invest in them to start something you’d like (not work with, just nudge them along). 🙂
(re: re: So Ken, anymore news on this “meeting” with Sierra’s CEO in April?)
It’s unfortuante that nothing came of you contacting them. It actually sounded really promising when I read your first message that spoke of meeting with the CEO. Of course, I find that most things coming out of Sierra/VU Games nowadays always sounds promising at first, then gets scrapped later on (like the cancellation of the new Space Quest last year, cripes, will this game ever get made?)
I get the vibe from reading various sources (such as this fine site) that no one who has a shred of power in the corporate heirarchy actually cares about the company itself. They don’t seem to want to put forth the resources and talent needed to innovate, or generally even make a good product. I remember back when my family got its first computer (1993 WOOH!!!! Packard Bell!!! Ok ok, we were slow adopters when compared to other posters here, so sue us :P) that computer stores were loaded with Sierra products. I remember buying Space Quest IV (2 years old by that point, but in the perfect price range for a youngin’ looking for a game to impress his computer-lacking friends) and watching a demo movie of Police Quest III playing on a computer at a local Radio Shack and thinking how cool it looked. Now, you walk into a store and MAYBE see one product with a Sierra logo on it (usually a friggin’ collection, like Half-Life or something).
I also wonder how much is left of the former Sierra. During 1998-2000, the company seemed ok enough. Sure, adventures weren’t on the agenda (last one was Gabriel Knight III I believe), but atleast there was a relatively constant flow of new product. A good balance of internally produced software (SWAT 3, Gabriel Knight III) and externally produced software (Homeworld, Half-Life) meant a robust selection of quality titles. Now, I can’t even remember the last title actually produced BY Sierra. Until I heard of SWAT: Urban Justice (which has been in development for 2+ years, so it better be good), I actually thought the company had no development studios internally at all. They outsource everything now, even flagship titles, such as Leisure Suit Larry and (at the time) the rumoured Space Quest.
Despite all these problems, I believe Vivendi is to blame. The company has such a stranglehold on Sierra that I can’t blame the lack of creative freedom, what with all the corporate problems. VU Games has also taken quite a bit of publishing from Sierra (apparently VU will publish Half-life 2 & Leisure Suit Larry 8), which makes me wonder if Sierra isn’t just a brand name to grab a few nostalgiac gamers who happen to glance at the game and recognize the logo.
Hopefully Vivendi will get its act together, and hencefore, enable Sierra to get its act together. I hope you don’t completely give up trying to offer your services. Eventually, someone has to come along who actually gives a damn and will listen.
Oh, and by the way, thank you very much for lengthy response. It’s very heart-warming to know you take the time to craft an intelligent response that answers all the questions, unlike other game message boards where developers might drop in every few months and leave a few badly-spelt messages that don’t really say anything.Nate
