The Many Problems with the 2006 VU KQ Collection

[Tawmis]

Sounds exactly like I expected from those Sierra collection releases. I'm glad I didn't buy them. I'll just keep relying on my own emulation skills. After playing the special editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2, I wish Sierra games would get the same treatment. Those are the kind of remakes I'd like to see. High resolution 3D graphics while retaining the style, spirit, and controls of the originals.

Well two things. I think it's good to buy them, to show Sierra there's still an interest in adventure games. Though, it may be falling on deaf ears, and they may be seeking to collect whatever free money they can (because I am sure making these collections is a VERY cheap effort for them).

That said, I don't think we will ever see that kind of treatment for Sierra games, because the very thing you mentioned - the spirit - of Sierra is no longer there.

It's been dead for a long time now.

[oberonqa]

Sounds exactly like I expected from those Sierra collection releases. I'm glad I didn't buy them. I'll just keep relying on my own emulation skills. After playing the special editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2, I wish Sierra games would get the same treatment. Those are the kind of remakes I'd like to see. High resolution 3D graphics while retaining the style, spirit, and controls of the originals.

Well two things. I think it's good to buy them, to show Sierra there's still an interest in adventure games. Though, it may be falling on deaf ears, and they may be seeking to collect whatever free money they can (because I am sure making these collections is a VERY cheap effort for them).

That said, I don't think we will ever see that kind of treatment for Sierra games, because the very thing you mentioned - the spirit - of Sierra is no longer there.

It's been dead for a long time now.

I agree... I wouldn't expect too much from Activision when it comes to Sierra products. It was a miracle that Phoenix Online Studios was granted a non-commercial license to finish up The Silver Lining (a miracle I attribute solely to the legions of Sierra fans and the assorted websites that got involved by running articles about the cease-and-desist and about the Save TSL Movement).

As for the 2006 collections.... they certainly are barebones... but if your missing some of them and want to play them without resorting to less-than-legal actions to get said games, they are a cheap alternative.

But they certainly aren't a replacement for the 1997 Collection Series... not by a long shot. I recently purchased the 2006 LSL Collection and while all of the games are playable (I'm on LSL3), having no printed documentation really hurts. Oh sure there's the age-verification skip... but it's kinda annoying to not have any printed documentation. This lack of printed documentation is shared by all 4 2006 collections (I own 3 of them) and is a definite bummer.

I'll definitely be getting the 1997 Collection Series for the remaining Quest sets that I don't have (I only have the Police Quest Collection Series atm)... if for no other reason so I can have printed documentation... and I love the old-style big boxes.

[MusicallyInspired]

Another reason why Sierra games don't get remakes is because the source code for those games no longer exist. The parent company of Sierra threw a ton of valuable stuff out a couple company acquisitions ago before the Vivendi days. LucasArts still owns its own stuff and still has all the source code from their early games.

[audiodane]

Another reason why Sierra games don't get remakes is because the source code for those games no longer exist. The parent company of Sierra threw a ton of valuable stuff out a couple company acquisitions ago before the Vivendi days. LucasArts still owns its own stuff and still has all the source code from their early games.

That is such a shame ... if I didn't know how easy it was to not make backups, I'd not even believe such an allegation. Alas, I know it is all too easy to not make backups. And I'm guessing that very few employees ever "snuck home copies" of the source code they were working on. Even if they did, I wonder if they'd ever step forward or not..

still -- a major shame..

..dane

[MusicallyInspired]

That's the very thing. Ex-Sierra employees (Al Lowe included) said they threw out tons of equipment and papers as if it was all garbage. One included a sophisticated DAT machine they used for speech recording that was years ahead of its time. You'd press space bar to record a line then press space bar again and it would automatically log the speech point for that line and rewind to a point a second or two after the line until it found silence and then marked that as the next speech line. All you'd have to do is press space bar and talk. Al said he showed it to somebody else in the industry or told him about it I can't remember, and he said something like that was way ahead of its time and would be really valuable to the rest of the industry, who were doing things more rudimentary. But they didn't care to know what any of it was.

Quite sad, really. A whole legacy of stuff flushed down the toilet because they were too lazy to find out what it was. It's almost unbelievable, but that's business for you.