I'd love to get this, and especially the sequel Ravenloft - The Stone Prophet

I've heard good things about it. It was made with the same engine as Dragonsphere, which was quite good. And also already on GOG, so why isn't this one?

Does this have a PC version? Kind of a mini classic.

Peter Pan is a special copyright case. It isn't out of copyright in the UK, and may never be. It was given a special exemption in the late 80s to allow the copyright to extend indefinitely. That poses problems for worldwide online release, such as GOG is committed to.

If you're saying Phantasie III was "easily the best" as a personal opinion, then I respect that. But it's far from generally agreed. Aside from the smaller world, many people (myself included) think the implementation of body part injury was so ridiculous that it was a backward step. Early on, characters lost limbs with such Monty Pythonesque rapidity that you had to dump and replace any injured party members or face crippling healing costs. Later in the game, regrowing your party's limbs after every third battle felt like the very opposite of realism, even in a world with magic. A thief with no legs and no left arm could still do fast sneak attacks! Most irritating, low-tier weakling monsters might be incapable of beating you but if they randomly hit the same body part a couple of times, you could end the battle with, say, 90% hit points but two amputated arms. :-/ Infuriating!

To me, Phantasie II is the best in the trilogy. It was basically just Phantasie I with improvements - it's a bit of a joke how little was changed, but it made a massive gameplay difference to combat. Sadly, I don't believe it was released for either PC or Amiga, so the trilogy is incomplete on both those platforms.

Moving away from my favourite SSI series to something better known...I'm mystified why no one's brought out a D&D Gold Box bundle for modern PCs. I think it'd sell its socks off, even to people who will never complete even one. They command massive nostalgia for those who played them, and equal amounts of curiosity for those who didn't.

This one would be an insta-buy for me... Still remember the demo and I was really curiosus about the game, but hever ended up playing it.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of the country-of-origin special case. From what I read it sounds to be a more charitable instance than the perpetual extensions that Disney agitates for in the US copyright system.

Having not played any of them, I was largely going from what I remembered from the press in my Amiga days. Obviously that was of limited scope, since only the third title even made it to the Amiga. I'm sorry I didn't have the first title on my C64, as it looks like it would have been fun to play back in the day. Anyway, it's good to know the earlier titles have merits, though obviously they would need to be released in emulator format if GOG picked them up.

As for the latest list...

Pushover - Opinion previously stated. :)

Railroad Tycoon Deluxe - Seems like just about any Sid Meier game is a safe bet for management game fans, and this doesn't look like an exception.

Rampart - An entertaining game, ported to tons of systems and with an easy to pick up style of play.

Ravenloft - Good D&D titles to have, with a nice thematic variant on the usual fantasy setting.

Rick Dangerous - A serviceable platformer, I didn't get into on the Amiga like some folks, but it popped up a lot in the mags. Core Design in general did decent games, and this remains playable, if to me unremarkable.

Rise of the Dragon - "He say you blade runner." This game wears its inspiration on its sleeve (hell, over its whole body), but that doesn't make it necessarily bad. I like the idea of bringing more story-driven adventures to GOG, so this is a potential candidate, but I'd really have to play it afresh before saying it's worth the effort.

Risky Woods - A pretty but shallow platformer, coming at the time when these were all the rage on the Amiga. I'm sure it's still playable today, but the lack of depth may make it seem more of slog than an adventure to modern gamers. When it comes to combat platformers, I'd much prefer to see First Samurai get a release here. It's beautiful, clever, and deeper than if first appears.

My LinkedIn request to Van Collins (Siege of Avalon) was accepted, so I've contacted him to see if he knows who holds the remaining rights to the game, or if he himself has them.

Haven't heard anything further back from Nigel Kershaw (Daemonsgate) since his initial (but positive) email, so I can follow up with him in a few days. He may have just forgotten about my reply, since it was sent near the weekend.

Received this email back from Van Collins regarding Siege of Avalon:

I do currently control the rights to the game. Can I ask what your interest is?

Can I ask some of the experienced researchers for advice at this point? How do I let him know that I am researching the game with the hopes of bringing it to GOG, who in turn may bring it back to market, without me making any promises or speaking for GOG?

I'd say ask him if he would be interested in a re-release on GOG, and if so, could you give GOG his email address, or would he be willing to contact them at welovedevs@gog.com or the contact form. If contact is made, it will be up to GOG to bring it back to market if they are interested.

Thanks mate, great advice. Here's what I sent:

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Hello Van,

Certainly! I am one of a number of fans of classic games who look for older titles that we loved and see if the people currently holding them are interested in bringing those games back. Please note that this is a labour of love for me, and that I do not represent any game publishing or distribution company, nor derive any payment from one.

Right now there are a number of companies out there selling classic games as digital downloads and bringing these titles to a new audience. The site with which I have the most experience is GOG.com, and I recommend that you check them out if you haven't seen how the new wave of game distribution works. You can get in touch with them about Siege of Avalon if you are interested in potentially bringing it back to market, either via email at welovedevs@gog.com or through their web form at http://www.gog.com/support/contact/business . I can also send your email information to them if you would prefer for them to take the initiative.

Again, I am simply facilitating this communication because of my passion for games. Neither you nor GOG are bound or obligated by any of this, financially or otherwise, and it is at both of your discrections as to whether Siege of Avalon is ultimately re-released. But as a gamer who would like to see more people enjoy the fruits of the SoA team's work, I do hope your communication with them goes well.

I will of course respect your wishes, so if you are not interested, this will go no further. Whatever the case, thank you for taking the time to listen.

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Hope both side are interested in bringing the game back!

Got another email from Van:

I would love to see Siege brought back to life. I will look into GOG.com and anything that you can do to help would be greatly appreciated.

So I'm going to write him back and advise him to contact GOG directly. I will also let him know that I've been in touch with the programmer and writer. If anyone can suggest a GOG bluetext that would be a good person to bring this to, I will contact them as well and forward Van's email address.

Take Two has the rights to this series. Currently, the original game is freeware:
http://www.2kgames.com/railroads/downloads.html

********************************************

For the past few days I've sent some more e-mails, no responses yet:
- Ugur Atabek about Mindcraft Software's games.

- Nick Pettinella about Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri

- Gavin Cheshire about Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer

- William Buterman about Tsunami Media's games.

- Andrew Benedict Spencer about Ecstatica 1 + 2 (though I'm afraid those rights lie with Sony, who appear disinterested in doing anything with their Psygnosis library)

- Igor Karev about Chasm: The Rift. I'm confident he has the rights to the game, but I hope to persuade him and GOG to bring it aboard.

- Mondo Media about Critical Path and The Daedalus Encounter.

- I've also found The 3DO Company's Chapter 11 trustees and have written to them as well.

Great investigative work!

I really hope something comes of this. The game looks like a perfect fit for GOG - I know it'd be a definite purchase for me.

Thank you, I hope so as well. I can see this game so easily in the GOG catalogue, too.

I have Facebook and can do that, if you like.

Neither of those links work for me.
Melvut does have an active Twitter account though:
https://twitter.com/MevDinc
and a LinkedIn account:
http://tr.linkedin.com/in/mevdinc

According to Wikipedia, he relocated the company that developed First Samurai to Turkey. This company was then later bought by a telecom company, at present this is the addresss:
http://www.sobee.com.tr/index.html
But I would try contacting Mr. Dinc first.

Additionally, the game was officially ported to iPhone about 2 years ago, so the developers of the port, Elite Systems, ought to know for sure who has the rights.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/first-samurai/id461736230?mt=8