Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I think I’ve already answered this…
I really never took it more seriously than thinking of it as “extra income”. Licensing video game rights was similar to licensing t-shirt rights or lunchbox rights. I let them use my copyrights to do a game, and we were paid (well) for the priviledge.
Overall, I didn’t like doing this, because the games always turned out horribly. We enjoyed cashing the checks, but that’s about it. The problem was that this was in “the old days” and games were on cartridges, not CDs. Cramming a CD-based computer game onto a little cartridge doesn’t work.
Today’s game machines are more powerful than most computers — so, it’s a completely different world.
-Ken W
So Ken,
Sorry to bring this up after two years but what’s the history behind Sierra’s relationship with Konami and creating King’s Quest V for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
You’re right. Turbo slows down everything so you can get past the timer bugs on faster machines. With even more powerful machines these days, slow down utilities like Turbo and CPU Killer just don’t cut it.
Here, you can find a bunch of them:
Timer Bug: Basically computers became too fast for some older software. I am not sure what Turbo is, but I assume it simulates a now non-existant turbo switch on many 486/Pentium computers of the 90’s. Basically, it slows down the computer so that old software is usable.
I could be wrong on this, but… someone wil correct me 🙂
The images look great! I really hope this project gets completed, these guys seem incredibly talented. Although I was pretty sad when the “screensaver” link turned out to be broken.
(gets all excited again about the thought of playing a new Shivers game)
Considering what I have read on this page, I think I am ok in doing this: I have just about every Sierra adventure game archived on my computer – anyone who wants one (or more) can email me and I will get it to you 🙂 LONG LIVE SIERRA! Email me at jesseglen AT gmail DOT com with the name of the game you want, and I’ll get back to you promptly with the download.
Oh and hello to Ken and Roberta, you guys MADE my childhood and turned me into the computer / game geek I am today. Definitely changed my life. Heartfelt thanks to you and the rest of the Sierra team.
Is there ANY way we can get you to bring Dee Dee, Mike, and the rest of the “real” Sierra back, to create some “real” games? Back in the day, Sierra was the ONLY game company making anything worth playing… these days, games like KQ, PQ, SQ and Manhunter are very, very hard to come by. When you play Sierra titles, you can FEEL the enthusiasm that was poured into the games, and you can just imagine the team getting so excited over this scene or that new puzzle… man it must have been an exciting time. Anyways, love you guys 🙂
Jesse
Joe sums it up perfectly. Just a legal trick to screw us over again.
It’ll have DOSBOX and VDM Sound on it, this collection, IF it ever comes to fruition. But I don’t know if it will..
It’ll be a lot less interesting than people think, though.
– Alistair
I’ve been in contact with Williw- he doesn’t reply to me often, but I keep getting emails. I’ll keep you guys informed if he ever offers me files.
– Alistair
Quote:
“… (by Gildor Inglorion) I don’t know which of you have observed the followin in the ’10th anniversary’ pamphlet distributed in almost all SCI games, around 1991:In the advertising page for LSL3 you can see two pics: the one from the comedy hut, and one close up of Patti. These are different from the actual game. The charis of the Hut are triangular, while Patti has not the pose of the close-up frm the game.
The funny thing is this: years ago, I saw a photograph of a woman, but kill me, there is no way to remember who it was… a model? an actress? a singer? a famous one or not? The pose of the photograph was IDENTICAL to that pic of Patti, as appears in the photo (not the game). The graphic designers must have based Patti on her!!!
IF anyone knows something about these screenshots, why were they altered for the final version and of course, if you know on whom was based that unused closeup of Patti… please enlighten us!…”
Nice, Gildor. I have 2 copies of the booklet, so I know what you mean.To me she looks like Demi Moore- but if anyone actually knows, let us know, yeah!
I just noticed for the first time the COmedy Hut is the ‘Comedy Shop’- nice! Thanks Gildor.
– Alistair
Quote:
“… (by bsb_4_life_86@hotmail.com) ok, i got the files working, but for the life of me i cant get the speech to work. why is this so hard?
…”You don’t need any of those files mentioned previously. You just need to run sierra.exe with VDM Sound/Speedset and have resource.aud (which should be a big file, 200 MB plus).
Regards,
– AlistairQuote:
“… (by JT Harkey) this is a very good point. i almost agree with them if that is the case. being a programmer myself i do not support downloading software.i was thinking this too. i figured it would be too costly to actually recode them, there were way too many versions of each engine to deal with. if you remember, old sierra did this too back in the day with some of the collections, all they did to deal with the timer issues was put a copy of one of those cpu slowdown utilites on the disk instead of actually fixing them.
…”I agree and don’t agree. I purchased all the PQ/SQ/LSL games and a vast majority of the others. But through the years the disks went bad, got lost, etc. So, my point of view is that I paid for them years ago therefore I should still be entitled to play them. Granted the only proof I have is that I sent in my registration cards on each to ensure my subscription to the Sierra Magazine stayed current.
I am sure that [abandonware] has added a number of new fans (maybe not a lot but some) that wouldn’t have been fans if they couldn’t aquire them by a legal/illegal means. To new gamers who are used to the advances in gaming today would also probably be turned off by the standards of the 80’s-early 90’s when these games were cutting edge.No chance of a complete re-code. We’re talking 20+ titles here, it’d be in the high millions to bring them up to todays technology and would probably ruin the game for the old timers. (Cough) LSL – Magna Cum Laude (cough)
I remember the cpu fix. I tried loading the original pq on a 486/66 or maybe a P1 and sonny bonds would fly off the screen and be killed by traffic by the time I could press the right arrow key to stop him again.
Finally, I realized that these are compilations, not collections. So it may just be a subset of each collection. But we can hope that they are complete. Also, it’d be great if they release the [CGI] originals along with [VGA] remakes.
Maybe Ken or one of the other Sierra originals can give their opinion on what it would take to fix the original source to work in today’s enivronments(Opposed to just including a DOSBOX type emulator)? What they expect these may contain (Unreleased art/movies/parts of the game that never made releases)?
Also, will the old Sierra employees be buying their old work to replay their old creations? (I saw a post somewhere here that Ken stated Roberta and him don’t have a complete collection of Sierra games from when they owned the company)
I also found it funny that Meriam Webster’s Legal Dictionary defines Compilation as:
A collection of preexisting materials and data so arranged to form a new original work under the law of copyright
http://www.answers.com/compilations&r=67Quote:
“… Additionally, it may just to bring them out of the unofficial Abandonware status so they have a reason to shutdown the sites hosting the files….”this is a very good point. i almost agree with them if that is the case. being a programmer myself i do not support downloading software.
Quote:
“…My fear is that all they are going to do is push DOSBOX out the door with the original code all on one cd/dvd and rake in what they can. It’s probably a great way for additional capital, since they’d have to do absolutely nothing with the exception of support….”i was thinking this too. i figured it would be too costly to actually recode them, there were way too many versions of each engine to deal with. if you remember, old sierra did this too back in the day with some of the collections, all they did to deal with the timer issues was put a copy of one of those cpu slowdown utilites on the disk instead of actually fixing them.
Quote:
“… (by JT Harkey) i will admit that this seems real and promising, but doesnt anyone think that it is very odd that they havent started advertisement on these collections with less than a month till release? especially since they are so old and most people will not be out looking for them. i mean, if they only include the “classics” the last one was LSL7 back in 96. the video game market has a short memory. and where the heck is a Quest for Glory collection, and why not Phantasmagoria also? it was a huge hit for sierra. i still think something is fishy about it. how do you have conformation of it brandon?
…”My guess is that they are going to try and capitalize on what they can with the games and see how they sell. If there is a lot of interest they may ok another title for one or many of the series, which follows the story lines since the recent LSL was a big disappointment. (IMO) Additionally, it may just to bring them out of the unofficial Abandonware status so they have a reason to shutdown the sites hosting the files. Granted, they could have done this already without releasing the games. They might not be releasing the additional collections that you mention until they see how these do. I think LSL, SQ, KQ, and PQ were some of the best selling series back in the day. At least they were the ones that I always concentrated on.
My fear is that all they are going to do is push DOSBOX out the door with the original code all on one cd/dvd and rake in what they can. It’s probably a great way for additional capital, since they’d have to do absolutely nothing with the exception of support. Which may be why they aren’t marketing them at all. Besides, the people who are going to buy the games are the ones on this and other Sierra Classic fan boards. The general gamer today is not going to be interested. (Not a shooter, no rape, no car jackings, pimping, need I go on?)Something else i didn’t like about the Inca games, was their surreality. You just have to ignore everything about plot, characters or history, and concentrate on gameplay.
In 1993, the technical part of the game (3d graphics combined with real life video etc) was next to incredible, but that’s all.
Anyway, the game reminds nothing of other Sierra adventures
Thanks for the response! I just think it’s fascinating to try to take a bit of a sociological approach to something like the history of computer games… especially since “social issues” isn’t really something that naturally or automatically comes to my mind when thinking about computer games.
Also, what you say about wanting to censor some of the inside humor stuff makes sense. But I also think that a lot of the stuff (like your cameos in the LSL games, etc.) that reminded players that there were real people behind the game development made for a bit of a bond between regular Sierra game players and the designers. Feeling like you’re familiar with the designers probably made a lot of players more interested in and loyal to Sierra. At least it had that effect on me…
i will admit that this seems real and promising, but doesnt anyone think that it is very odd that they havent started advertisement on these collections with less than a month till release? especially since they are so old and most people will not be out looking for them. i mean, if they only include the “classics” the last one was LSL7 back in 96. the video game market has a short memory. and where the heck is a Quest for Glory collection, and why not Phantasmagoria also? it was a huge hit for sierra. i still think something is fishy about it. how do you have conformation of it brandon?
its just my luck though, i just spent the last year collecting all of the games seperatly over time because i couldnt afford the outrageous ebay prices for the old collections. i even put together a really nice sierra computer and now i might be able to run them on xp without emulators and patches. oh well.
Quote:
“… (by Johann de Waal) How Ken brought himself to sign Coktel Vision, I’ll never know.…”
Wrong! You’re about to learn. Here’s “the rest of the story”…
Coktel was bought because:
1) I was looking to expand Sierra beyond games. Coktel Vision was #1 in Europe in education software.
2) I felt Coktel’s educational product would be a huge success in the US
3) Sierra was doing only about 10% of our revenue at the time in Europe. I liked the gentleman (Roland Oskian) who owned/ran Coktel, and thought he would be perfect to run Sierra’s european operation
4) Through adding together Sierra’s and Coktel’s european revenues, we were able to afford more sales offices in more countries.The combination worked! Sierra’s european revenues exploded. When we sold the company, almost half our revenues were coming from Europe.
On the downside…
Coktel wanted to produce games, in addition to their educational software. Several games were produced, including Inca and Goblins. Both did reasonably well in Europe, and bombed in the US.
Our introduction of ADI, their european educational product, in the US, was a failure. The product was too “serious” for the US education market. It was very curriculum focused.
Overall: It was an awesome acquisition!
-Ken W
The website works for me, but unfortunately this was the last update:
“A long waited but unfortunate update. Me and the small amount of staff ive had has been working on the game and do have some rooms done but due to lack of staff the game is being momentarily halted until more staff sign up….were sorry to bring the news to the long waited fans for this game but shivers 3 will be out in the near future”
I’m hoping work is still being done, because this game looks to be awesome!
By the way, if the shivers3.cjb.net link doesn’t work for you, try http://www.geocities.com/shivers32004/. That’s where it should bring you.
