@MrBionic: Sierra+Titus=486+Turbo button.

PsycheE

Sierra should've died with the adventure games.
I know they made pretty good games after that, but should've been with another name.
So, I don't want to let Sierra die... to me, it's already DEAD.

Kenshiro style:

+ Watch video

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Sierra is responsible for my earliest and best memories of PC gaming. We started on a TRS-80 Model I, but soon moved up to a Tandy 1000HD. On that system I was introduced to King's Quest, Police Quest, and Space Quest... and I'll never forget them for as long as I live. They occupy a place in my heart that no other game has come close to replacing...

But times change, and life goes on, and new companies take over.

I owe my love of gaming to you Sierra. Well played.

MrBionic

@KamuZ:

<_<; I've played those uh "adult orinated" games as well. LSL: Shape up or slip out.

akumaserge

@shredmanifesto: It'll be good, but Sierra, oh, excuse me, Actistupid isn't publishing it anymore.

Ashkihyena

I'm pretty unimpressed that Kotaku would advocate giving up the fight like this.

I'm more pissed off people would ask this question in the first place.

Don't give up the fight!

GrandfatherParadox

It breaks your heart to see such a great company go in shambles, even sadder when the founder is confused and angst.

Space Quest will be forever remembered.

PsycheE

As far as I'm concerned, Sierra died when they greenlit Mask of Eternity. For shame, Roberta Williams.

It's probably for the best. LSL Box Office Bust looked to be horrible (not to mention it was being written by someone from Adam Sandler's studio, a recipe for fail), and an earlier attempt to revive Space Quest involved forcing the developers to not play any earlier Space Quest games (I'm serious) and the main character was to be named "Wilger."

Yeah, it's for the best.

Jeff Paine

King's Quest III was my first computer game... now I'm almost 28, I worked 8 years in the IT sector, and looking back, Sierra really started it all. But I haven't paid attention to the name "Sierra" since Quest for Glory V.

Sadly, this is hardly an isolated case. The great pioneers of gaming all seem to end up here eventually, snatched up and wrung dry by larger corporate conglomerates. (Atari, anyone? Black Isle?) First you get bought, then there's the brain drain as teams of bright-but-unconventional programmers are fired to make room for uninspired, tie-wearing cube-dwellers who will crank out code 80 hours a week...

I agree with Ken, it would probably be best to just give the Sierra name a peaceful death.

alaren

@akumaserge: I hear you. When i was young (over 16+) i played almost ALL sierra adventure games, even the ones i shouldn't have played because my age *coff*Larry*coff*.

The transition between "text input" orders to point-and-click adventures, it is a shame the genre is almost dead now but they will always be important in my life as i spent a lot of time with Sierra and Lucas Arts games.

What a shame... suddenly i feel really old and thinking in Al Lowe thanking me for playing LSL1... good times! :)

KamuZ

all I remember is that they made the Diablo expansion

Kiri Komori

Yeah, it's a shame when great companies fade like this and their once great IPs go into hiding under a huge company that don't really care about them and wouldn't think of producing any new entries.

Mezodon

Let it die, let it live, it doesn't really matter. It isn't the same Sierra that it was years ago, which means the Sierra it currently is is simply using the name for recognition, but if the name doesn't carry much weight anymore then there's no reason to keep it.

But there's no reason to change it either.

Laho

...Oh god. A part of my childhood just died. I loved playing the police quest series. Except 4. What the fuck did you do with 4?

akumaserge

Sierra's demise is pretty sad news, but unfortunately not surprising. I too remember the glory days like with No One Lives Forever and the King's Quest games (I still have the Roberta Williams Anthology). To see it sink so low...sad. (Example; earlier today at a Big Lots I saw a Space Quest collection as part of a buyout. $6.00)

relic1980

They've definitely lost their way. Despite having some of the most fondly-remembered franchises in the history of PC gaming, every pitiful attempt to bring them into the 3D era failed miserably.

Sierra died when they stopped making games our whole family could enjoy. People like Mum, my Aunty, my grandparents - they loved King's Quest. I couldn't get enough of Space Quest, and my brother played Police Quest. Perhaps their death was symptomatic of adventure gaming's fall from grace in general, but I can't help but feel they could have kept those series going indefinitely, if only they'd remained true to their roots. Instead King's Quest became a combat-heavy RPG and Police Quest became a SWAT simulator. WTF?

So.... so long, Sierra. Thanks for the memories - at least, the ones you didn't manage to piss all over. (Space Quest remains pure, thank God...)

freakout

sierra is one of my favorites. they have made a lot of great games. i think that it sucks that they could be shutting down.

mr_grimster

You know, killing off the Atari name might actually work well as well.

Rebranding it to (what will likely be) poorly made casual online games seems a worse fate than retiring it all together.

Nirolak

Now I wanna play Police Quest.

Roto13

i just hope Ghostbusters is good

shredmanifesto

@jettokisora: Very good point.

Pattypie

Well look at that picture, a perfect score.

Emiat

When Tribes 2 was released in 2001, it topped the sales charts for several months and was widely considered to be a revolution in online multiplayer shooters.

Sierra fired the entire team that worked on it.

Yeah. No sympathy.

jettokisora

my earliest sierra games memory is of lord of the realms, it was a hard game when i was like so young.

stryker1800

Fare thee well, Sierra. To me, you died when Roberta Williams left.

ShaggE

@PsycheE: I'm sorry... what?

MrBionic

Sierra, sadly, has been dead along time - essentially from the moment Cendant took over and the employees at the heart of everything were forced to move with the company or be let go.

Now, it's just the lonely zombie corpse being profiteered around by the evil wizard that we do all hope our Hero will finally slay.

Sierra, I said my goodbyes to you long before, though you are not forgotten - it is better this way.

sir_carrot

The Quest series need to be revived. That's the only thing I'm remotely interested in coming from Sierra ever again.

crescentfresh

Man, I enjoyed so much those old Sierra games... I bought all the Kings Quest, Police Quest and Space Quest games... and Leisure Suite Larry's :]

JoseLuis

Come to think of it, what are Roberta Williams and Lori and Corey Cole (and the rest of the gang who brought us the various Quests) up to these days?

Paviel

@justhesh: No, Sierra has always made PC games and PC games only.

Jeff Paine

@Paviel: I think he was referring to the collective Quest series. Basically, their adventure games.

Fun little sidenote: The Colonel's Bequest is also technically a Quest game. (The Colonels Bequest)

Jeff Paine

Don't they make a lot of Arcade titles?

justhesh

@crescentfresh: "The Quest series..."

You do realize that there are at least four such series...es, don't you? (King's, Space, Police, and for Glory come to mind immediately.)

That said, I do agree with what I think you're saying: They should all be revived.

Paviel

There was a time where i just assumed every game was made by sierra. Makes me sad seeing them as dead as they are.

snakepliskin

Just found out there was a Space Quest Collection re-issued in 2006... can get it on Amazon, but alas, my CC is maxed. lol.

I want!!

MrBionic

Sierra was the one that got me into gaming. It'll be sad to see them go, but the glory days ended over a decade ago. All I can ask for now is for the classics to get released over Steam, I can assure you I'd buy them all.

Pezdispenser

@Paviel: According to Wikipedia:

Roberta Williams is writing a historical novel, and she won't be designing computer games anymore
Ken Williams operates a website design tool called TalkSpot and published a book titled Crossing an Ocean Under Power, about his adventures across the Atlantic with Roberta
No one knows what's going on with Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (the Two Guys from Andromeda)
Al Lowe plays in local jazz bands, and has tried game design recently with a game called Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure, which unfortunately was never released. The game's cancellation put him off to the idea of designing another game.
Doesn't seem like Lori Ann Cole and Corey Cole have been up to much.
Josh Mandel's been working on some fan projects (including the voice of Graham in AGD Interactive's fan remakes of King's Quest I and II and Infamous Adventure's fan remake of King's Quest III, and he's on the Space Quest 7 fan project team)
Jeff Tunnell, the guy from Dynamix, went on to form GarageGames which you've almost certainly heard of before.
Jane Jensen's been publishing novels and designing Flash games for Oberon Media (how the mighty have fallen)

That's about all I can remember for major people at Sierra.

Jeff Paine

@Paviel: I think The Williams' are retired. Don't know about the others.

ShaggE

@sir_carrot: I agree. Sierra died when it got into the hands of Vivendi. They've basically been a shell of what they once were since then.

Vivendi killed Sierra. What's even worse is if you look at the gaming "firsts" that Sierra had to its name (taken from Wikipedia's entry for Sierra Entertainment):
* Mystery House: First text adventure to incorporate graphics.
* King's Quest IV: Day/night cycle, first game to support stereo sound card.
* King's Quest V: First game to have CD voice-acting. It was Sierra's first VGA game, although several other studios had published VGA games (even VGA adventure games) the years before.
* Sierra Screamin' 3D: Sierra supports 3D acceleration in games by marketing their own card.

Sierra was a big, wonderful, innovative company. I'd say I'm sad to see it go, but I already watched it die.

meowfaceman

Sierra killed tribes... I say let the brand go down in flames.

Lazlow

I remember The Realm Online... think the last time I played it was about 7 or 8 years ago. Had fun with it.

evslin

Anyone remember The Realm Online?

Bigfoot

@Jeff Paine: And Lori and Corey Cole created Transolar Studios, and also have a blog called School for Heroes.

Sierra was a big part of my childhood. From my first ever experience when Quest for Glory 1 VGA came out when I was 7 or 8, I was hooked, to my mom's extreme anger at me playing Leisure Suit Larry (I was so young, I didn't know what condoms were, and I couldn't remember how to spell the word, so my mom found a sheet of paper with some words on it, and in big text, PROPHYLACTIC, written in blue highlighter. I still played them, just while they were at work), to jumping around in Police Quest. Police Quest 4, to this day, is still my favorite Police Quest adventure game. And who could forget the Gabriel Knight series? Pure awesome.

It's sad to see Sierra go, but then again, it was time to see it go when Black Monday hit in 1999.

Wolfgeist

I miss Quest for Glory.... I want it back!

Zakupilot256

Earthsiege, Starsiege, Tribes, the Aces series (Dynamics branch of Sierra)...
God rest their souls. Ken is right though the company really did go down the crapper when he sold it. Space Quest II has one of my all time favorite moments (Type "cheat" at the very beginning). In retrospect though a lot of their adventure games were flawed (whops forgot to pick up the ink pen at the beginning of the game? Well, you're screwed; but, they paved the way for an era).

terminalraptor

@terminalraptor: Aw man. I loved Earthsiege. Makes me wish that a mech game will be released in the future that isn't a Crysis mod.

Shin-san

I never forgave Sierra for canceling Babylon 5: Into the Fire.

lonkley

@Jeff Paine: No, I checked. They also do 360 Arcade games, as well as other console related stuff.

justhesh

Well under their eyes they killed Spyro and Crash so yeah its clear their not "with it", its a shame though, i they made alot of great titles in their lifetime,
But yeah I don't think the ship can be saved so let her go...

Ryuujin1024

I will indulge myself with acts of thievery in Quest for Glory Anthology. Also was Cold Winter such a bad game for ps2? I beat it, and I personally think it was underrated.(Being as it may there was nothing else to play) it was fun to watch the heads roll. I will miss the Sierra Anthem at the startup logo -_- Love you Sierra. <3

VirgoKnight

Sierra has great brand recognition for people over 25. Killing the brand seems pointless, especially since Activision itself is not a brand reknowned for quality. Activisioni relies on the reputation of the various studios inside of it, and can't be killing those brands willy-nilly.

I had been seriously considering buying Activision stock, as the video game business is the one I probably know the most about via this ridiculous fandom we all have, but the news over the last couple weeks has convinced me they have no freakin' clue what they're doing with all these properties they've acquired, and I have serious doubts about their profitability a year or two down the road.

rexdart007

Man, I loved Sierra.

King's Quest really engaged the imagination in its best moments. The Space Quest games are still some of the funniest that I've played. And I love, love, love Quest for Glory. The combination of adventure and RPG, the character importing, the replayablility... I even cherish every godawful pun perpetrated by that series.

And Sierra did publish my favorite computer game ever: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Sigh... R.I.P. Troika. And R.I.P. sooner rather than later, Sierra.

Cam_Ras

I love coming here and seeing so many other fans that share the same memories. I got into King's Quest I back when I was about 5. Sierra piqued my interest in video games and is the reason I work with computers now. So many fond memories.

But like other's have said, the name hasn't meant the same thing for years now. Honest to god, the thing that first occurred to me when they announce non-Nintendo platforms for the Wii Virtual Console, I was crossing my fingers for the various Quest games. Especially since they've introduced the keyboard, no need to limit yourself to the mouse based ones (or the mouse based remakes of the originals).

If they wish to keep the name, I think they should use it. It is one of the strongest names in adventure gaming. Perhaps they could go the whole retro route that Mega Man is going and such. One can only dream.

BTW, how do you kill off the company? I mean, would they just stop printing the name on the boxes? The parent company is still going to be around.

MistakenIdentity

I used to think Insomniac owned the Spyro and Crash licenses but I guess i was wrong.

If they are going to kill sierra they shouldn't kill their franchises like King's Quest (I still say they should remake that) and Leisure suit Larry. It would be a shame if they killed them franchies.

Dirame

Every adventure game Roberta Williams "wrote", sucked ass. They were TERRIBLE games, had non-logical puzzles, and you could die for knocking on a door (King's Quest 5). She set back adventure gaming one day for every day she worked on a game.

Of course, the fact that her Husband, Ken, owned the company explained a lot. There's a Yoko reference in there somwhere.

But Sierra did well where Roberta wasn't, and they launched Dynamix, Jeff Tunnell et al. Dynamix rocked so hard... Incredible Machine, Aces of the Pacific, Willy Beamish... ah the memories.

Snokie

@FotoVerite:

In a fit of adventure game nostalgia, I recently played Gabriel Knight I for the first time. Great game with a terrific atmosphere. That led to a Quest for Glory marathon using a single character. Fun times were had by all.

Cam_Ras

I'm a relatively young guy, so I never got a chance to play these games. I can still respect that they made a huge impact on the video game industry. That being said, yes, they should probably close up shop before their name becomes only a faint reminder of what the company once stood for, ala Atari.

Thorax

Oh forgot the reason for my post. Jane Jensen is putting out a new game in 2009 called gray matter. Lets hope she still got the magic.

FotoVerite

Wait a minute people! Aren't we forgetting the best game series that Serria put out? Gabriel Knight with Jane Jensen. So much fun. Especially the first one with a remarkably well rendered story compared to other franchises. I love space quest humor when I was growing up, but always thought the ingenuity displayed in Gabriel knight I was top notch. Even the shitty looking 3d one was great once you got past the graphics.

FotoVerite

The idea of killing off the Sierra label is sad to me. Too many memories, both computer and life related. All the faces behind those games deserve recognition.

mrpibb79

that's a real shame. The old sierra logo along and the midi audio that went along with it still fill me with excitement.

Just_as_planned

It's sad that Sierra wasn't put to rest years ago. It seems they milked every bit of worth from the Sierra name until there was nothing left.
Sierra should have gone out on better note :(

Kymeira

Phatasmagoria wasn't a bad game and was written by Roberta Williams if I'm not mistaken but what sadden me the most is the lack of mention to Gabriel Knight.

Lacan

It's true, Sierra has really been deteriorating over the years. It's terribly sad for any of us who were PC gamers growing up especially, but such is the way with old stalwarts oftentimes.

Swift_

They better dont touch World in Conflict, only the best RTS to date

zaagis

And here I was hoping for SWAT 5 :(

BTFzor_Freestyle

I guess this means we'll never see another Dr. Brain game.

Rocci1212

Brand names don't die, they get ported to DS.

NeoStarr

@mr_grimster: sierra is one of my favorites. they have made a lot of great games. i think that it sucks that they could be shutting down.

I feel exactly the same way. I grew up on Sierra's adventure games, and would hate to see them die.

@ShaggE: Fare thee well, Sierra. To me, you died when Roberta Williams left

I think that's a big part of it. Many of the game creators (and the franchises they created) we truly loved were created by visionaries on very basic hardware. Some have responded to marketing pressures and diluted their creativity in the name of "shiny" graphics. While I wouldn't go back and buy any of the PSN or VC "arcade" classics, I'd readily fork out for a copy of Space Quest IV on PS3. The stories and humor is what really made games then, and I see very few games coming close to some of the early Sierra games in that respect.

I would dearly love to be able to associate names like Sierra to great games again. But I don't think that will ever happen while $$ is the #1 priority in creating a game. The greatest games are created by visionaries, not corporations.

Doshu

@justhesh: Oh, XBLA? I thought you meant actual physical arcade games, like in a cabinet.

@Snokie: Well she must have done something right to sell so many damn games. Not to mention The Colonel's Bequest is simply amazing. I also have fond memories of Mixed-Up Mother Goose when I was little.

@Rocci1212: Actually Sierra sold the license to Knowledge Adventure a long time ago. As bad as The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain was, all it takes is one look at the box art for KA's Dr. Brain games to realize they're not worth playing.
Dr. Brain: IQ Adventure
Dr. Brain: Action Reaction
Dr. Brain: Puzzle Madness

Jeff Paine

I cut my teeth on the Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry series. Sierra was my alternative to poorly made freeware XT arcade clones. But when they stopped making adventure games, they were already gone to me. The rest of what they did could be done by any large game company, where their games were unique, and while similar to LucasArts titles, had some significant design differences (you know, like killing you deader than dead every 5 minutes... in a new way every time, haha)

fuchikoma

The only time I've seen ANYTHING with their brand was when I bought HL1 GOTY and the logo showed up when the gate started.

Talleh

Sierra died long ago with the buyout. You don't rebury the dead.

proust

Wow, reading through the comments this really feels like a funeral service for Sierra.
I will never forget you Roger Wilco, you taught me many things, and your deaths were always spectacular. Hero from Quest for Glory, I think I will miss you most of all, but I promise to continue replaying the QFG1 remake every 2 or 3 years. RIP Childhood gaming.

polarenvy

Pff, I'll definitely remember Magna Cum Laude.

Americo

Sierra may die, but Roger Wilco shall live forever!

realyst2k

King's Quest was majestic if only for the fact that it revolutionized PC gaming with every new installment

"256 colors? NO WAY!!!" - me at 13

:)

BigChiefSmokem

A list of some of my favorite games of all time:
Phantasmagoria 1 and 2
Leisure Suit Larry 1, 6, and 7
Kings Quest VI
Gabriel Knight 1, 2, and 3

YOU CAN'T LET SIERRA DIE!!!!!!!
Please make a good sequel to one of these (fingers crossed on the announced Leisure Suit Larry). Sierra could make a sequel to any of these and it would be successful.

Gabriel Knight 4 please????

JayDiggler

Someone in the gaming industry should really convince Bethesda to get their hands on the Quest Series.

polarenvy

I love the King's Quest games, and think the puzzles have stood the test of time even if the graphics didn't (400x320 hurts my eyes!).

Shame they seemed to peak with the point-and-click adventures, and an even bigger shame that there's not enough of a market for them these days.

Dajmin

For anyone with fond memories of the music in Sierra adventure games, www.queststudios.com has about everything you could ever want.

BergeGuy

If it wasn't for Sierra and the works of Police Quest and Space Quest especially (also, their version of Robin Hood was fucking sweet), I would never have become a gamer. The entire reason I got into games was because we had just got our first color monitor, and Police Quest 2 was the first game I got to play on it. Sure, I had experiences with 3Demon and JumpJoe, but you don't become a gamer on quick distractions like that.

I hold Sierra very high on my influences in life, from my gaming habits to my desire to write and draw and be creative. The first homebrew designs I ever came up with were for parser-interface adventures just like theirs. I already made my peace with Sierra; they've been going downhill ever since. In the end, though, whatever happens to it won't take away the magic they did when I was a kid. Plain and simple.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

Aww man, this made me feel all nostalgic. I want that new QFG2 remake even more now. Thanks bundles, guys.

RStormgull

nooo tribes 2 lives on!

goatmale

I use to talk about King's Quest with my swimming instructors when I was in grade 8 and 9. It was good times.

gtr06

@freakout: You gotta wonder, do we REALLY need to bring them into the 3D world? I mean, who the fuck WOULDN'T want to play another Space Quest game? I say keep them, but have them make some really great 2D games.

PlayerX

@Calhoun: Hehe.. "Oh, and forget point n' click. if you weren't raised on text-parser adventure games, you ain't from my gamer generation, newbie."

Don't forget for every generation, there was one before it. I was raised on text *based* adventure games... in the lovely programming language Basic.

I'm sure someone will have a story about playing adventure games on punch-cards. heh.

Anyway, newbies or not, we all have our starting points and our memories.. and if that first memory is Zork, or if it's Fable 2, we're all gamers.

MrBionic

I know what Sierra is: it's the company that needs to get off its ass and start making more adventure games!

PlayerX

My first real PC (had one of those tape-readers earlier in life, but damned if I remember anything from it other than a Buck Rogers schmup rip-off) came with KQIV: The Perils of Rosella and a neat little platformer called Dark Castle. The sweetest sounds from my childhood were those harsh, shrieking bleeps and blurbs that passed for sound effects and music coming out of the PC's internal speaker. After KQIV I backtracked the first three games (III is still one of my favorites for letting the player be a sort of "wizard's apprentice") and soon got into Space Quest, Police Quest, and of course the moment Hero's Quest (original series title for Quest for Glory until some board game sued Sierra and it got rebranded) hit the shelf I was a lifer. It's unfortunate that QFGIV was riddled with bugs in an era before patching was easily achievable, as I believe they had to mail you a CD with the patch on it... and QFGV was such a farce compared to the rest of the franchise it pretty much killed the series for me.

Of course, I'd play anything with the Sierra logo on the box up until that point, so I remember Mixed-Up Mother Goose, The Black Cauldron, various Dynamix titles... Leisure Suit Larry of course. That game taught me a lot about "trial and error" when it came to bypassing the series' age-based quiz when you fired the game up.

That being said, the people at Sierra in the golden years were all gamers, humorists, programmers with a fair bit more good intentions than business sense, and I think they were pretty easy prey for the suits that moved in once games became something of a profit powerhouse. Each entry into the Quest series has a tangible and unpleasant turning point where you can sense that either their heart wasn't into cranking out another title for the sake of profit, or too many shitty suggestions were being forced down their throats. "Make it actiony", "tighten up the graphics", "more tits", etc. Sierra didn't die all at once, but rather one piece at a time like a terminal patient with a kink in their humor-glucose IV drip.

But yeah. The brand died, and now the corpse is just being paraded around because of recognition among older gamers. For myself however, that recognition brings a disdainful curl of the lip whenever I see it, and a game with the Sierra logo splashed on the intro that *is* worth playing is a violent surprise. Possibly not the intended effect the current marketing weasels intended.

Oh, and forget point n' click. If you weren't raised on text-parser adventure games, you ain't from my gamer generation, newbie.

Calhoun

I think Activision should take a page out of Capcom's book and resurrect their original brands as new 2D-HD DLC adventure games.

Give me Space Quest, Police Quest, Kings Quest of old & I will buy them.

Just don't make it shovelware; the original fans are loyal, but they're not stupid.

string_theory

@Pornosaur: I am not sure, I will have to turn it on again.

I wonder who owns the rights to the quest games and such. I am sure Sierra, but Vivendi could have sold them off years ago.

Talryyn

Sierra today is like when the whole town gets hit by a virus, and your most loved ones turn into zombies. It is a tough decision, but you should put them down and spare their miserable lives.

optimusprime

@Talryyn: Doesn't the Wii already run the Lucasarts point and clicks? I'm all for some of the old Sierra ones on xlba or psn. Maybe just release them all in packs.

Pornosaur

The KQ and SQ, and Swat would make awesome XBLA and PSN titles, heck I think even the Wii can handle them.. ;)

Talryyn

Ken Williams if you still have money, get Roberta cracking on a new game, find the Space Quest boys, and create a new studio.

I was sad when Ken sold the company, from that day forward Sierra was dead. Now the name is a joke, it should be shot in the head and left to rest.

Talryyn

As with a lot of people, Sierra was my introduction into PC gaming when I was young. I used to get so damn excited whenever a new Kings Quest or Space Quest was coming out.

They have been Sierra "by name only" for a long time - and unfortunately, that name hasn't meant what it used to for a very long time.

quadmonkey

@Cam_Ras: I'm so there. Will there be Sausage Rolls?

MrBionic

It's nice to see so many who hold Sierra adventure games in equal nostalgia.

After Sierra's funeral, I'd like to invite everyone to my place for coffee and refreshments, so we can talk about the good memories we hold.

Cam_Ras

If Activision is selling our clsoing the part of Vivendi that was Sierra where do we go for support for our games?
Ubisoft? or a fanplace ?

I'm only asking because like you I have some sierra games...

thurauh1

@Calhoun: Amen to that! Super high production values and to many suits have locked out many visionaries from making games. The truly great ones in the industry today are the ones with the "vision" and with enough clout or luck to get a game out there in the way they want to do it. But there are so many other creative people who can't get their stuff out there due to the business part of the game business.

Reminds me a lot of what was going on with the writer's strike. Take a look at this web page from Joss Whedon: [www.drhorrible.com]

If you want to view the results of that letter, you can download it from www.hulu.com by searching for "dr. horrible".

I think more and more game developers should do this type of thing. I know that many flash games out there are made in such a vein, but I think that the old Sierra visionaries could do some great things in the flash arena. The graphical style and such is a perfect fit for these games.

And you get a BIG agreement from me on QFGV. That game was so disappointing, it really has no soul behind it, not like the others. Sierra was the first studio I fell in love with, it taught me many things. Unfortunately it also taught me about what happens when making money starts mattering more than making something you love.

MistakenIdentity

@MrBionic:

Absolutely. Hell, I'll even make those deviled eggs that always get such positive feedback.

Cam_Ras

I was just looking through some of my old boxes. About 70% of them are Sierra games. The oldest one I still have in my possession is Space Quest II. Unfortunately I can't install it because I no longer have a machine that can read 5.25 floppy disk drives :(

MistakenIdentity

@Jeff Paine: Mark Crowe was a creative director at Atari and worked on their Godzilla series of games. Most recent thing I can find is that he was creative director on Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii.

Scott Murphy, on the other hand, nobody knows what he's doing. He's certainly bitter about the whole fall of Sierra, though.

oboreruhito

Sniff. All I can say, really. Sniff.

HikariOblivion

@MistakenIdentity: A friend had me watch Dr.Horrible a while back, it definitely had moments. That being said, Whedon's musicals tend to give me hives, heh.

Calhoun

@Jeff Paine: You're so wise...like a miniature Buddha covered in hair!

Rocci1212

Yah... that question was pretty well answered a loooong time ago. Considering there aren't that many people who can even say why Sierra USED to be a big deal, there's just no reason to keep it up; it's like going to thanksgiving dinner every year and finding they've dug up your former grand-dad, put a fresh suit on him and parked his degenerating husk at the head of the table.

cynopt

Sierra made one of the first games I actually purchased with my own money. I remember I had bought a new PC and It came with Win95. So I picked up this game called 3D Ultra Pinball aswell! Good memories

KEELr

I think the industry dropped the ball big time on adventures. I think they basically betrayed it and left it to die.

We had this genre that was essentially there for one thing and that was to tell stories, where the player could absorb and explore at his or her own pace, occasionally challenged by puzzles. When you pick up an item and use it for something, that action becomes part of the narrative. It's a powerful tool that some of the best Sierra and Lucasarts games used to fantastic effect.

Adventure games simply haven't been evolved in the same way other genres have. It's been ditched and forgotten, and even those doing adventures today have barely tried scraping the surface of what they can do with the kind of narrative structure adventures allow for.

Personally i think the games market is feedback loop driven, and i think the only reason action games have become so prolific is that the market was basically SWAMPED with them after Doom came out. I think consumers were basically conditioned and reeducated to want quicker feedback and less resistance, and it's just been growing since. Games today are much more like paced out roller coaster rides than something that feels like a true journey, and it's saddening to see new training wheels being added almost constantly.

Sigh. Sierra, thanks for the good times. RIP.

Sunjammer

I want every Sierra adventure game ever made... Time to hit eBay, I guess.

TheRealLameDuck

I wouldn't mind a new Homeworld. Oh well.

Jest

One game that isn't getting mention is FPS: Football. It's one of the few games that sucked me in for years. It was a crime how far that series went down the hill towards the end, but there was a time when it not only beat Madden for awards, but would win best Sports Game of the Year more than once.

matthean

Sierra adventure games were the shit, hands down. I'm always having arguments with LucasArts fanboys about it. The true Sierra has been dead for a while now though and they haven't shown any signs of trying to bring it back. I mean the only thing they've put out remotely connected to the old days is that bad Larry game, so it's not like them officially declaring the studio closed would be any sort of a big deal.

GusherKid

The only game I haven't seen represented yet is Eco Quest: Search for Cetus. It may have seemed kind of sappy from the outside but overall it's one of the greats from Sierra.

polarenvy

@dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased:
Woah, someone else played 3Demon? When I was 4 that game would whup me.
Some other firsts were Digger and Moon Bugs from Windmill Software, Sopwith, and Thexder... but Sierra adventures kind of blew them away for overall experience.

fuchikoma

Sierra can't die. It is one of milestones the quest genre of games stands on and will forever remain in history as such. What happens with $$$ games and hungry corps is shit, Sierra is Sierra that made elite quest games

Zorba

My favourite after SQ and PQ was Gold Rush - great graphics and story line - multiple routes *unusual for a Sierra*

I built an early Pentium just for playing Sierra's - as we affectionaly called them. A 14" monitor and a Roland MT32 sound module - the music from that rivals today's soundtracks - impressive stuff considering the age.

MacHarper

Blame the French (Vivendi) for destroying one of the greatest game companies ever. Those guys had no idea what they were doing.

swedishc

Sierra, Microprose and Accolade were my Youth...
I'm 31 now and still play games like crazy but somehow Gears and the JRPGS of the world today just don't seem to stand up those old games in my mind...Maybe it's the cloud of nostalgia, but I would rather play the Colonels Bequest or Conquests of Camelot (hamandspamandjamalot = best easter egg of all time)... Vivendi should make a box set of all the old classic Sierra adventure games... Anyone remember Manhunter NY and LA? What was up with those games??
Codename Iceman?? 1/2 typical sierra adventure game 1/2 submarine simulator...
I miss those days...

Gnarkiller44

Shit yeah, Quest for Glory. Though I could never quite get into the 5th one (felt too different for me), the series will always hold a special place in my heart.
I also loved how Thief was really the best class in the game, when modified correctly. :3

Eji

Sierra died when they became more of a publishing house than a game house. I like F.E.A.R. and some other Sierra games that have come out, but when I see the Sierra logo pop up, I'm usually thinking WTF.

Chef

if only they made a SWAT 5 for PC,

not for the crappy psp!

tenio

Sigh.

Sierra died when Vivendi bought it.

faeornran

They should do re-makes or re-release the old games with emulators for PCs and Macs. I would love to play Gold Rush again!

LVP

You do know that you can get Police Quest, King's Quest and Space Quest in a box now, don't you, one for each series.

It would ne bice to have a Quest for Glory 1-5 box, though.

thurauh1

it was inevitable... sierra put out some of the best point & clicks I ever played, but their golden age is over, so maybe it's best to lay it to rest, and leave the legacy behind

xberserkx

Yeah, I think Sierra is dead for a long time. Sierra from F.E.A.R. or World in Conflict has nothing to do with the real one: Sierra On-Line, The Empire of Adventure Games. When new genres (like FPS, TPS, RTS, action adventure) were developed and old improoved (like RPG) - adventure games were pushed to the niche. Sierra was sold out and the fall begun. MicroProse, Origin, Westwood, Looking Glass are gone. Atari, Sierra, even LucasArts are now meaningless. Really precious are only memories of the glory days.

Vojtas

Quest for Glory is still one of the greatest series ever, in this adventurer's humble opinion.

(makes the thief sign)

AU_Angelus

Sierra is in GRAVE danger. ...Just a little graveyard humor there.

(All hail Quest for Glory IV!)

AU_Angelus