Still haven't received any replies to any of my other requests. Like I said, I'll try by different means by month's end if I don't (or if anyone else doesn't) hear back from any of them.
I've e-mailed Brett Sperry about the rights to
Legend of Kyrandia. I have reason to believe he still retains them.
Edit: Digging deeper, Michael Legg, now president of Petroglyph, may be holding the rights.
Edit 2: Deeper still, and it looks like EA still has the distribution rights. Basing this on an old Neowin thread where they contacted the Kyrandia developers and EA to re-release the games:
www.neowin.net/forum/topic/65246-classics-for-free/
Also, here's an interesting article on game rights, and how they can revert back to their creators:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanRogers/20130813/198132/Hitting_the_Reset_Button_on_Video_Game_Copyrights.php Essentially, as long as the game wasn't a work-for-hire (i.e. Legend of Kyrandia Book 1, which was first made by the devs then shipped around to publishers like Sierra), about 35 years(!) need to pass before the devs or their heirs can try to reclaim the games, and even then it might be tricky.
I've also been skimming through the issues of Computer Gaming World I've downloaded from the CGW museum. Some great stuff in there, and very informative interviews. If there's a game from a specific time period you're looking for, I highly recommend browsing through the issues from those years:
museum.org/
I've been looking into
Powerslave/Exhumed, and it appears that the global publisher, BMG Interactive, was acquired by Take-Two, so they would have the rights to the game. Which would also mean other stuff published by BMG Int., like Mass Destruction and Bermuda Syndrome, are also with Take Two
http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/bmg-interactive-entertainment/published-by/
Never heard back from Talin, but I found this about the rights to
Faery Tale Adventure 1 + 2:
"Although Faery Tale Adventure was developed by David "Talin" Joiner, the original publisher Microillusions owned the rights initially. When that company when belly-up, allegedly the rights were purchased by Hollyware or its owner David Boyles. Hollyware has been out-of-business for over a decade, and I have lost contact with Mr. Boyles.
I tried to buy the rights to FTA from Mr. Boyles at one time, but nothing came of that.
The rights to Halls of the Dead (FTA 2) are not clear to me. although Wyrmkeep Entertainment does own some rights related to the game engine (as it is a successor to the Inherit the Earth game engine)."
http://www.wyrmkeep.com/forums/index.php?topic=174.msg2218#msg2218