Sierra Re-Releasing Classic "Quest" Games

[Flack]

As posted on the DP front page:

"Sierra, responsible for such classic series as Space Quest, King's Quest and Police Quest are being re-released this March. The new compilations, which are compatible with Windows XP, will retail for $19.95 through Target and other retailers."

Target.com (http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-1/qid=1140563390/ref=sr_2_1/601-8634920-2040968?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B000AYH89M)

[jajaja]

Really nice of them to do that! :)
Wont be the same to play these games today as it was back in the days tho, but this might give the younger people a chance to discover the classics.

[VACRMH]

Even better

Yippie! (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000AYIP8A/sr=8-2/qid=1140618375/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-6978460-8095004?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)

[hydr0x]

i don't wanna burst a bubble here, but those packages have been announced for a while, first for october 2005, then january 2006 and now march 06. They are not confirmed in ANY way by Vivendi and noone on the bigger adventure sites is sure if they are just vaporware or will actually be released :/

[Ed Oscuro]

But can't you still find unopened copies of Police Quest? Well, I did, but maybe I'm special. Scratch that, of course I am.

Good word on the re-releases; as more classic PC game coverage = good.

[Snapple]

That explains why none of the abandonware sites I've seen let you download old Sierra games. They want to squeeze your dollars.

Of course, the fan remakes of KQ1 and 2 are still free. I highly recommend them.

[jajaja]

I wish the re-made Larry 3. Not in 3d, but more advance 2d. Think it would look really cool :)

[calthaer]

If this is indeed the case, then it is a great day for humanity.

[Geddon_jt]

If this is indeed the case, then it is a great day for humanity.

LOL. For some reason, that reply really cracked me up.

... and I happen to wholeheartedly agree. :P

[Jorpho]

As hydr0x says, these have been available for preorder on Amazon for some time now. Could this really be it?

[Austin]

I have the Quest for Glory anthology set they put out yeeeeaaaaars ago. I hope they do re-release these, though, I'd love to replay through the other series, and abandonware/dosbox is just a pain.

[CaryMG]

"Sierra, responsible for such classic series as Space Quest, King's Quest and Police Quest are being re-released this March. The new compilations, which are compatible with Windows XP, will retail for $19.95 through Target and other retailers."

Jesus f-in' Christ ....
I was just about ta start a topic on this ....
I was gonna poll WHAT ONE GOLDEN AGE GAME WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE XP-ized?"
And now "Sierra" has actually done it !!! WOOOOOOOT !!!

Now if only "LucasArts", "INFOCOM" ["ActiVision], "Delphine" & "Origin" would pick up the ball that "Sierra" has thrown & run with it ....


Later!
:) :) :)

[Kitsune Sniper]

Sierra doesn't exist anymore. When Vivendi took over, ALL their games went on the backburner. I doubt they even care about all those classics. Which is funny because of the fan-made KQ sequel. They threatened to sue them and halted development of the game for a little while.

Amazon is notorious for adding listings for stuff -people want- but which may not be released, ever. Lots of people want DVD sets for some TV shows, and Amazon has listings for them, but they never go on sale.

I make a lot of cash reselling Sierra games on eBay. People -do- want these games. Vivendi just doesn't give a damn... yet they'll tarnish Leisure Suit Larry's uh... good name with that awful sequel that has nothing to do with the original. Al Lowe must be pissed as well.

Edit:
CaryMG, Infocom games shouldn't be updated. Many of their classic games are text only and that's the way they should remain. If anything, they should release the games with JPG/PNG/PDF versions of the docs, which often contained important clues and were missing from the Infocom collections they released in the late 90's.

[tylerwillis]

Whether or not it comes to pass I say this:

No QFG!?! For shame! For shame!

[CaryMG]

CaryMG
Infocom games shouldn't be updated.
Many of their classic games are text only and that's the way they should remain.
I wholeheartedly agree !

What I meant was -- they should be "XP"-ized, not UpDated.


Later!
:) :) :)

[Jorpho]

Infocom games XP-ized? It's been done! The mysteries of the Inform parser were plumbed long ago, and any Infocom game can now be played on a vast, vast variety of platforms (including the original Game Boy, apparently). WinFrotz is the Windows parser of choice.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I wholeheartedly agree !

What I meant was -- they should be "XP"-ized, not UpDated.


Later!
:) :) :)

Er, there's been an opensource project called Frotz for years now. If you can get the datafiles from those old Infocom games, you can run them on any platform you choose. It's pretty much the same as ScummVM!

[Buyatari]

Really nice of them to do that! :)


Don't think they did it to be nice but make $. These games still have some demand and hell they are already programed so costs are pretty small. Better get one on release as I wouldn't doubt if they resold for $100.00 on eBay once shipments dried up.

[MarkMan]

OH MY GOD

This is great news!

I'm so happy that I get to play King's Quest games again on my PC! :)

[hezeuschrist]

As of a couple weeks ago I officially put all of those collections on my wantlist, and holy hell do they fetch a price. Kings Quest and Space Quest both cost a shitload, usually at or over $100, and Quest for Glory pushes $80. Larry and PQ aren't bad, but you're still paying original retail for some really ancient games that are going to be a pain in the ass to run.

I really hope this comes to pass, not fade like all my dreams.

Sorry.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm, collections for all the games in those series?

And QFG II goes for nothing... LOL

[Kitsune Sniper]

As of a couple weeks ago I officially put all of those collections on my wantlist, and holy hell do they fetch a price. Kings Quest and Space Quest both cost a shitload, usually at or over $100, and Quest for Glory pushes $80. Larry and PQ aren't bad, but you're still paying original retail for some really ancient games that are going to be a pain in the ass to run.

I really hope this comes to pass, not fade like all my dreams.

Sorry.

It's funny... the Police Quest collection goes for less than $5 on eBay. $7 if it's the second version (which includes Police Quest: SWAT). *coughsi'mauctioningthemcoughs* 8-) Larry, Space Quest and King's Quest are much more valuable.

[pragmatic insanester]

they need to port them to consoles. like, have a new 3d whatever and then have unlockable older games included. i wish they would have included a few of the leisure suit larry games on the console version (i'm still pissed its censored. i couldn't bring myself to play it knowing the content was edited).

[-hellvin-]

I've been hearing about these collections for some time, but I've seen word spread around A LOT that it will be released in March. Kinda disappointing to see that there's no Quest for Glory comp coming out =*(. Hopefully it actually pans through...they were pretty hostile about making the fan made project Silver Lining change its name from King's Quest: Every Cloak has a Silver Lining, so maybe it had something to do with them actually planning to release this.

[cyberfluxor]

I got a $10 gift card to Target earlier this month. If I come across it I'll pick it up only if it's complete series.

[hezeuschrist]

As of a couple weeks ago I officially put all of those collections on my wantlist, and holy hell do they fetch a price. Kings Quest and Space Quest both cost a shitload, usually at or over $100, and Quest for Glory pushes $80. Larry and PQ aren't bad, but you're still paying original retail for some really ancient games that are going to be a pain in the ass to run.

I really hope this comes to pass, not fade like all my dreams.

Sorry.

It's funny... the Police Quest collection goes for less than $5 on eBay. $7 if it's the second version (which includes Police Quest: SWAT). *coughsi'mauctioningthemcoughs* 8-) Larry, Space Quest and King's Quest are much more valuable.

I never played Police Quest as a kid so I didn't put that on my list. These are strictly nostalgia purchases, with a chance here and there of actually playing because of the horrendous pain it is to set up these old games.

But if they're coming to XP, I'm all over it.

[coinheaven]

anybody get this yet? they were supposed to be released friday.

[Jorpho]

Target says Out of Stock, Amazon says December 31, and Wal-Mart says July 1. Them's breaks.

[-SuperYoshi-]

NICE! I am so getting that Space Quest compilation. I remember playing the first three as a kid. I loved Sierra's adventure games.

[Jorpho]

Guess what? Box art has materialized!

http://www.vug.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1940

[MarkMan]

Sept. 15th!

It's close!

[Jorpho]

Further investigation suggests they will simply have PDF manuals on the disks and that the much-touted "XP compatibility" is just DOSBox.

[MarkMan]

Wow. For the lose.

:(

Makes me sad.

I really wanted a guidebook to the land of the green isles again.

[Jorpho]

It can be said that by purchasing these games you are supporting this rerelease initative and may encourage other companies to rerelease other classic PC games. In theory, anyway.

[alec]

Nice, if those dates are right, Kings quest should be out in 5 days. I can't play the old ones anymore, but I would be more than happy to spend $20 on a compilation if it has all the old games. That was such a great series, one of my favorites. I have a lot of great memories playing Kings quest V.

[Ze_ro]

It can be said that by purchasing these games you are supporting this rerelease initative and may encourage other companies to rerelease other classic PC games. In theory, anyway.
There's a bit of a catch-22 here in that by buying it, you're also supporting half-hearted release efforts, which are all-too-often the norm for classic compilations like this. I'll likely not buy it (or buy it out of the discount bin), since it provides nothing that isn't already included in the original versions I already have... but my refusal to purchase will basically be interpreted as lack of interest by the industry.

Aside from contacting the company directly (good luck), there doesn't seem to be any effective way of proving a point that we expect better than this.

--Zero

[GM80]

Further investigation suggests they will simply have PDF manuals on the disks and that the much-touted "XP compatibility" is just DOSBox.

DosBox and old games? Already got it, thanks. Additional thought:

If this is the case, for the grand total of about zero dollars more they could have stuck a Mac OS X version on the disc as well (considering I've been playing all these games in DosBox on my iMac G5 for months).

[Austin]

This is extremely disappointing. Dosbox + old discs I'll stick with... I would've gladly purchased this if they'd made them easier to run on new computers, but I'm not going to re-buy games I bought nearly ten years ago now.

[Jorpho]

This is extremely disappointing. Dosbox + old discs I'll stick with... I would've gladly purchased this if they'd made them easier to run on new computers, but I'm not going to re-buy games I bought nearly ten years ago now.

Well, since they're integrated with DOSBox (and presumably the integration is seamless), then they have been made easier to run on new computers, yes?

[QueenKatofTypos]

The old Collections are much better. These new ones don't have any of the goodies, which include trailers, demos, mini games (like King's Quest trivia) and stuff. The new ones also don't have all the versions of the games - for example, only the KQ1 remake is included in the KQ Compilation. And on the LSL Comp, only the diskette (not CD) version of Larry 6 is included.

[coinheaven]

just got mine (kings quest) in the mail today. it is works flawlessly. it even has a nice menu, so you can pick which of the 7 games you want to play. i am really happy about this, highly recommended...mostly because i could never get dos box to work.

[blue lander]

I got the Space Quest one yesterday. I've only had the chance to try out SQ 4, though. The game runs okay, but it ran a little slow on my PIII 500mhz laptop. The voiceovers in particular had a tendency to break up. But then I replaced DOSBox with the latest version and it performs much better.

I don't know if I like the collection or not. On the one hand, I'd have gladly paid $40-50 for a proper collection with a manual and maybe some extra material (like the stuff included on the last Space Quest collection). But I can see that Vivendi is trying to go after the casual purchaser who probably wouldn't pay more than $20 for a collection of old games. They should have done a deluxe edition for those of us willing to shell out the cash, though. I also wonder why it took them almost a year to release it when it's just a cardboard box with a CD in it.

[Jorpho]

Any sign of these things being available locally yet, or is it only Amazon so far?

[Geddon_jt]

A single local EB got 2 copies of each game in, much to my suprise. I'm pretty convinced its the only retail store in my area (Tampa, FL) that stocked it.

I'm glad too, because I placed an Amazon order on Tuesday that had yet to ship!

[Jorpho]

Hey, my local EB has them too. I was told they would be released in DVD cases, but no, these were in fairly well-done miniboxes.

Alas, they are priced at $25 CDN, and I still find myself refusing to spend more than $20 on a computer game, even if it is a nice bundle.