Well, they appear to still have a website. Although I don't know what rights they have to the old games anymore, they do have some contact information.
http://www.mindscape.nl/en/company_profile/
And it appears that Gores Group sold the entertainment division of The Learning Company to Ubisoft, so Ubisoft ought to have everything from Softkey, Broderbund, and possibly the older Mindscape titles:
http://www.gores.com/pressreleases/the-learning-company-is-profitable-75-days-after-purchase-from-mattel-agrees-to-sell-its-non-core-entertainment-division-to-ubi-soft-entertainment/

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlock:_Planetary_Conquest]Deadlock : Planetary Conquest [/url]
Deadlock 2

Developped by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accolade_(game_company)] Accolade [/url] -- bought by -> Infogrames -- bought by -> Atari ....

You do realize Virgin Interactive went under quite a while ago. Not sure whether or not EA has the rights to the franchise, but it's a definite possibility since they gobbled up Westwood Studios a few years later. After all, the original LoL was published by Virgin too, and EA owns the latter nowadays.

Unlikely to make it here due to potential difficulties in DOSBoxing the lot, but personally I'd love to get the full James Pond series playable on the PC.

Hell, if you're going to bundle Amiga titles, then the Shadow of the Beast series would be another I'd bank on. Or a Psygnosis Pshmups set with Menace/Blood Money/Agony.

Yah, I'm off in my own little world now.

You guys think there'd be any interest in Thexder, as part of the Sierra back catalogue?

I'm not entirely sure what's up with Psygnosis' rights. It became SCE Studio Liverpool/part of Sony about a decade ago, then in 2012 it became defunct. The "successor(s)" include Evolution Studios, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCE_Worldwide_Studios is still alive, so perhaps the rights were kept by Sony.

Only 50 votes on the wishlist, but if the gameplay holds up, GOG should bring it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HYiM4DpwE

It looks interesting and somewhat original, but I think 5.99 would be asking too much. Maybe if GOG could get Thexder 95 working along with it, or create some sort of bundle.

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Here's an interesting case:

I found this cute platformer called Lollypop; it looks decent. It was published by Rainbow Arts, who were eaten by THQ. But now that THQ is gone, I wonder where the rights could be. (I'm not sure it's necessarily trying to track down this game, but I could try at some point.)

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I can't seem to track down David Lindsley or Steve Marshall of Magnetic Images, who made Lost Dutchman Mine.

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Some more games I think GOG could bring. (page 73 onward on Abandonia) Opinions?

Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes - The Case of Serrated Scalpel, from EA
Lost Mind of Dr. Brain, from Sierra (I guess this one isn't DOS; compatibility might be tough)
Lost Vikings, from Interplay (although Blizzard produced it, so they might have taken back the rights. Somebody said Blackthorne was in a similar situation)

tfishell, while you're doing such a great job investigating the rights, maybe you can look into old horror games, like, say Elvira series (adventure\rpg) or Harvester (FMV adventure)?
Those would be insta-buys for me, and - I guess - many other GOGers :)

Well, at least the first Metaltech (Earthsiege) and the first A-10 were directly published by Dynamix (according to wikipedia). Both their respective sequels (ES2 and Silent Thunder) were released under Sierra.

It concers me though that in the wikipedia page for Earthsiege, FASA Corp. is listed as co-developer. Could there be a license problem we're not aware of?

Hexplore!

Also, this thread rocks so hard. I know nothing of the rights other than the publisher was I-Motion, whomever they were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvester_%28video_game%29
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/harvester
http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=5634&tab=credits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutechnyx#as_Merit_Studios_Europe
http://www.allgame.com/company.php?id=894
http://www.mobygames.com/company/merit-software

I think I made a mistake in contacting Eutechnyx (I sent them a message and tweeted them), as I'm not sure they actually got any rights from Merit Studios, Inc., but it was worth a shot.

Apparently, a guy named Michael John was the head of Merit Studios, Inc. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/entertainment-directtv-announces-exclusive-licensing-agreement-with-merit-studios-inc-75871867.html http://free.salesfuel.com/companies/Merit-Studios-Incorporated-1862907.html

EDIT: Err, maybe it was Jack Irons: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Merit+Studios+Ships+Long-Awaited+%22HARVESTER,%22+its+controversial,...-a018723359

But there is some really old contact info there. :)

Maybe some fresher contact info? http://www.bizapedia.com/tx/MERIT-STUDIOS-INC.html

These people may be able to help a lot, though: https://www.facebook.com/lodge.level.4 It seems like many that worked on Harvester are actually fans on that page!

Wow! Just... wow! You are the King of GOG, sir.
And I can see they published review from polish magazine Secret Service on their facebook page :) I own this issue :)

Thanks man. :)

Not really that tough, just time-consuming. (SCPM is even better at this than I. :) I do generally have a limit as to how long I will take to try to find a game, because I can't spend forever just trying to hunt down. I've put Pixel Painters, Quantum Quality Productions, Magnetic Images, and a few other companies on hold for now, but I am creating a list to keep track of them, so I can come back.

Good news if this really goes I-Motion -> Infogrames -> Atari! (unless the rights got lost during the latest auction)
http://www.mobygames.com/company/imotion-inc

Now, I automatically see the word Infogrames, I assume we're pretty good, but it may be much more complicated than that. Plus, this game may have tech problems, since it's a Windows game (though I guess it used "voxel graphics" like Outcast? https://www.mobygames.com/game/hexplore Perhaps that will help with modern machines.)

I remember magic Candle. They were definitely old-fashioned even when they came out, but they had a strong cult following. I always wanted to try them out.

Legend Entertainment would be a great addition to GOG. They did Gateway, Eric the Unready, Death Gate (set in the Dragonlance universe I think), Shannara (by Lori and Cori Cole!), Mission Critical and lots of others. Not teribly well-known, but very high quality.

Thanks for that. GoT isn't trivial to get working right now so a freeware version is a small comfort.

God of Thunder was a very good puzzle/action adventure, and being more about the gameplay rather than graphics, I believe it could have stood the test of time well. It was well reviewed too back then, and it was included in a lot of those freeware compilations so I think there are many who remember this game fondly.

No, thank you : )
Looking through that facebook page I've found this:
http://www.trademarkia.com/harvester-74459690.html
So, it looks like the trademark is registered on a no longer existing company...
And, it looks like the administrator of that (fan?)page encourages sharing the game for free...