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(re: KINGS QUEST 5) Well as far as I’m concerned it’s futile to try and play the old Sierra games on XP, I was trying to play win version of Space Quest 6 and Larry 6 (talk version) and everything kept freezing up and act buggy (considering when I tried them on my old computer they worked fine).
But If anybody knows of a secret way to actually play them on XP, then I’m all ears.(re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal) Ok, think I got it.
More plainly, you mean that your understanding is that, in order to sell off Sierra Entertainment, they’d want to divest themselves of every group they had (Blizzard, Sierra, etc.). Thanks for clearing that up.(re: re: re: re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal)
> There are, perhaps, in addition to the 1,000+ original Sierra employees, at least another 1000 hard-core gamers, who would be willing to work for a living wage, just to have a Sierra business card, me included. < This is actually something a lot of people don’t know about me… In 1997 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, my prognosis was pretty good, but I felt like crap all day. I called my dear friend Cindy at Sierra, and she got approval to have me go inside. I’m still under a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which means I can’t talk about the projects that weren’t released, but man, being at Sierra, inside Sierra, saved my life. I met up with AL Lowe and Jane Jensen, some terrific graphic artists, sound artists, programmers. It was the best day of my life. When they closed Yosemite I cried for days. I couldn’t understand. I now had a life with no purpose, I couldn’t work for Sierra, not the new Sierra… it wasn’t the same. They didn’t care like they did in the old days. I always wanted to be the Hero, I wanted to save the town… all I wanted was a Sierra business card, and for Ken to come by one day, and tell me, Dave, you did a good job. That was my life dream. I may never have that business card, but I hope that some day, some day, Ken comes to me, shakes me hand, and says “Dave, you did a good job.” I know it’s a dream, but hey, we all need a dream to drive us when we wake up in the morning. Dave
(re: re: re: re: Sorry to say this about your website.)
Oh, definitely get Al here.
Ken, if you won’t write a book, can we at least get Al to write a book, about his experiences.
If you don’t know this, as of August 1, you can upload a PDF file (book) and sell it at CafePress in paperback, so Ken, you could write a say, 250 page book with Roberta, and then it’d cost you about $12 for every one you sell, and you could sell it for say, $18.95 (that’s what I’d pay, I’d still buy it for $19.95 in paperback, but I think I’d feel like you’re ripping me off for a 250 page… now, if you were willing to do the full 300, I’d definitely pay the $19.95).
My first book is coming out there this friday, for $15.95.
Dave
(re: re: re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal)
Ken,
Wouldn’t you agree it would be beneficial to have the character, assets, and all other rights to the quest Series returned to a company that would allow the original others to run with it, or make new games, based on those characters?
There are, perhaps, in addition to the 1,000+ original Sierra employees, at least another 1000 hard-core gamers, who would be willing to work for a living wage, just to have a Sierra business card, me included.
Dave
(re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal)
I am only interested in the assets through the end of 1999, excluding any valve or third-party licenses.
(re: List of Sierra Products) Wasn’t – Larry 8, SQ 7 – were also cut in Feb. 1999 ?
Larry 7 is missing from the list.
How about including the collections ?
All the Swat games were actually “Police Quest: Swat” , weren’t them?(re: Who designed the Sierra half-dome logo?) actually this is a REAL dome from the Yosemite National park, which is not far from Sierra original facilities in Oakhurst. Later, Sierra moved its headquarters (when they started with all the sub-companies – Sierra Studios,Sports, Home etc..) and the department that left there (original Sierra) was given the sub-brand “Yosemite Entertainment” and stayed with the logo. (the Sierra corporation logo was changed to “S” like). Check out the Yosemite logo and picture –
Link: http://www.yosemite-entertainment.com(http://www.yosemite-entertainment.com)
(they were shut down, the trademark name currently used by some other company)(re: looking for a game) In most abandonware sitess that carry adventure games there is at least the first five King Quest games, and sometimes King Quest 6 is there too. But I can’t recommend any special site though, since it’s been a while since I made use of these site frequently (found out buying the games was alot less risky when concerning viruses) but that was long time ago.
(re: re: Solution to old copyrights) Brian Provinciano
Link: http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php(http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php)
is developing SCI Studio, which when he releases SCI Studio VGA, it should be able to handle all versions of SCI, even SCI32. You will be able to make your own SCI games.(re: KQ6 – Floppy Demo) Brandon, this has the original SoundBlaster driver in it. This is the infamous “AUDBLAST.DRV” that gives initialization errors on modern, fast computers. It might be nice to replace the one in the zip with the updated driver from the “SB16DRV.EXE” patch on Sierra’s FTP site.
Even though I have both the CD and floppy versions, I have never watched the intro to the floppy version before. I had assumed there was no “TOON.AVI” equivalent on the disks. It is interesting that Alexander’s voice does not seem to be done by Robbie Benson in this version.(re: Space Quest 4 CD) Try using DOSBox
Link: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/(http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/)
.(re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal) The problem is, one of Vivendi’s most promising assets lies in Sierra On-Line: the publishing rights to Half-Life 2. There’s no question that an astronomical profit will be made on that game. For that reason, I would think Vivendi would be extremely loathe to sell off Sierra’s assets as a whole.
– Evan
I have no way of knowing, but it isn’t clear to me that Half-Life publishing rights are as profitable to Sierra as one might think.
Half-Life was externally developed (by Valve). I’m 99% certain that Sierra at one time controlled the name Half-Life, but I heard that the rights were returned to Valve after I left Sierra.
My guess is that Half-Life is an expensive product for whoever distributes it. By this I mean that the bulk of any profit is flowing to Valve, not Sierra.
Like I said though — I’ve been out of the loop for a long time — but, I’d be willing to bet that the latest Sierra-Valve agreement is heavily slanted towards Valve.
-Ken W(re: re: re: Sorry to say this about your website.) “My long-term goal is that this site get taken over by one of my sons. Both are talented programmers, but neither want anything to do with the site. “
Does that mean that, if/when that happens, we won’t have you to reminise with/ask questions of? Or does that mean that you’ll just do less direct programming here?
Morgan
Good question. I’m not sure what the answer is. For at least the next year I’ll be heavily involved in this. I have a major upgrade to the software that I’ve been doing while traveling. I’ll install it as soon as I get home. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see one of my sons, or my brother get involved. There’s even been a discussion or two with Al Lowe about his getting involved.
And, actually – I’m having fun doing this! So I may stay involved.
Who knows? I haven’t gotten today figured out. How can I know what I will think tomorrow?
-Ken W(re: re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal) Huh? I don’t understand that comment. Well, perhaps I should say that I don’t understand what you mean by “gaming division as a whole.” Isn’t Sierra Entertainment, as it exists now, a gaming division, complete with all the properties that Sierra On-Line had? That is to say, is it a division seaperate from, for example, Blizzard (from what I last saw, a Vivendi division). Are you suggesting that there are other parts of what was once Sierra On-Line that survived the chaos leading to the present day situation and are in existance as seaperate divisions in Vivendi? I’d thought they were all condensed to Sierra Entertainment. Either that, or sold off.
Morgan
I’m not sure how they are currently configured, but – my assumption is that many functions have been centralized; such as marketing, finance, manufacturing, sales, etc. Sierra used to have all of these groups, but doesn’t anymore.
When Sierra was sold, 99% of product development was internal. We had around 700 people just in development. My understanding is that most of development is external today – and, that Sierra’s internal development is a very small group.
In other words, it’s not clear what exists of Sierra to buy…
-Ken W(re: re: Other) Well, as someone already mentioned, there are five books in the Prydain Chronicles. These are, to my mind, the best children’s series out there. Much better than Harry Potter, really. They are written by Lloyd Alexander (who also writes the Westmark trilogy, which I can recommend as excellent books, as well (these were written for young adults)). The first is The Book of Three. The second one is The Black Cauldron. The third, fourth, and fifth are, respectively, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. They contain elements of, but adapted from, Welsh legends and myths. Each is excellent on its own, and even moreso as a whole. All of the characters continue throughout the books, for the most part, and if you read right to the end everything is concluded very well in The High King. That said, I repudiate any connection between the movie and the books. I, too, bought the video the moment it hit store shelves, and was bitterly disappointed. It brought up feelings of Ralph Bakshi’s LotR, but worse. Of course, it was Disney, so I should have known. Everything was much more poignant in the books, and everything they did to, I guess, make the plot simpler to follow just made it less effective. I’m ranting now, so I’ll finish by saying read the books first, then watch the movie, and know true, bitter disappointment.
I haven’t played the game, so I can’t really say how it compares.(re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal) The problem is, one of Vivendi’s most promising assets lies in Sierra On-Line: the publishing rights to Half-Life 2. There’s no question that an astronomical profit will be made on that game. For that reason, I would think Vivendi would be extremely loathe to sell off Sierra’s assets as a whole.
– Evan(re: re: Sorry to say this about your website.) “My long-term goal is that this site get taken over by one of my sons. Both are talented programmers, but neither want anything to do with the site. “
Does that mean that, if/when that happens, we won’t have you to reminise with/ask questions of? Or does that mean that you’ll just do less direct programming here?
Morgan(re: re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal) –Last i heard about buying Vivendi’s gaming companies is that Vivendi would rather sell their gaming division as a whole. So, by saying that, I mean they wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about selling off parts. But who knows what could happen in the future.–
Huh? I don’t understand that comment. Well, perhaps I should say that I don’t understand what you mean by “gaming division as a whole.” Isn’t Sierra Entertainment, as it exists now, a gaming division, complete with all the properties that Sierra On-Line had? That is to say, is it a division seaperate from, for example, Blizzard (from what I last saw, a Vivendi division). Are you suggesting that there are other parts of what was once Sierra On-Line that survived the chaos leading to the present day situation and are in existance as seaperate divisions in Vivendi? I’d thought they were all condensed to Sierra Entertainment. Either that, or sold off.
Morgan(re: re: Quest For Glory 4 – Won’t run) Download the Win2k Patch.
(re: QG4 bugs) Download the Win2k patch and that should work greatly.
(re: Buying Sierra from Vivendi Universal)
Last i heard about buying Vivendi’s gaming companies is that Vivendi would rather sell their gaming division as a whole. So, by saying that, I mean they wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about selling off parts. But who knows what could happen in the future.
(re: re: Talkspot – or life after ‘Sierra Reunion’) Hi Jess, Guys,
After a long time searching for it, I finally found a ‘Sierra Reunion’ audio file. I downloaded the one in your Virtual Broomcloset’s Download section, but it seems as though the .ram file is corrupted or something like that… at exactly minute 28:00 of play, any audio stops but it keeps playing until the end of file (after 1 hour and 16 minutes).
Have anyone else experienced this behavior in the file or is it just my Real Audio player? (I’m using RealOne Player ver 2.0)
If the file is somewhat corrupted, Can you fix it? Anybody know where else can I find the file?
Thanx in advance.
Vicc.(re: Quick Opinion Poll) SierraGamers.com is the best in my opinion, and just re-direct the rest of them (I can do this free at GoDaddy… <g>)
Dave
