Could be contractual. I doubt GOG gets everything they want. They have to get Activision's permission to distribute and then pay a certain amount from each copy sold. Could be that adding the remake significantly increases how much gets paid out.

All the talk about the PCjr version of Kq1 brings back memories. That was the family's first computer. 128K, 360K floppy. We also got the parallel port add on so we could print. The cartridges on the front (had a few games and needed the BASIC cartridge to run it). 16 colors and pretty good sound for the day. The PC speaker on our second machine, a 286 (12MHZ!), sounded so horrible compared to the sweet sound of the PCjr. Remember the wireless keyboard too. Used to play KQ1 (and 2 and 3) on it, leaning back with the keyboard in my lap due to it's infrared abilities.

Can't say I miss being that age, but I do miss the simplicity of the time in computing.

Those were the days. You're taking me back to the Tandy days. Being young had its advantages, like playing 16 color games all day. Those were the days when game developers had to get creative to make their game stand out among the others. Nowadays its really nice graphics and throwing some dumb bird around (Angry Birds if someone didn't catch that). Now that I'm older and have programming experience, I'm working on my own "retro-style" game.

Back to Activision, it would be nice to see more of the older games released. It's pretty much nothing but profit for them. So I hope something gets worked out.

Gaming has gone downhill for the most part. I was very sad when adventure games began to disappear. The fewer turn based strategy games also have been a downer. I think adventure games suffered because people didn't want to have to think as much about solving puzzles. We first saw them shift into first person with Myst and the like, but then fade away altogether.

But those old games left their mark on me. I still "hunt and peck" even though I know how to touch type. I'm so much faster just looking at the screen and typing with two fingers because of the early Sierra AGI games. I had to learn to type fast or perish in many cases because the parser wasn't going to pause the game for me. Over a decade ago when I had to take a typing test for a temp agency I drew a crowd in the office as they saw me typing with two fingers and scoring much better than some of their best touch typists. I gave Sierra a lot of credit for that. My typing teacher in high school challenged my assertion that I could type faster and more accurately with two fingers - and I ended up correct on that one. Later Sierra players may not have had the same experience, but KQ1, 2, 3, SQ1&2 all required some fast typing at times.

I'd love to see some higher end graphics games that bring back the adventure genre similar to how those legendary Sierra games were. It would be a more niche market, but online distribution can cut down on so many costs including the massive production overhead that Sierra faced. I also think that the point and click interfaces could work well on tablets (phones might be too small) with an interface bar. I'm not the programming type though; far more interested in design elements & story than coding. Nowadays you could launch on Windows 8 in the Modern environment, Android tablets, and iPad - so a massive market is out there with built in Stores.

I couldn't agree more. Gaming in not what it use to be. I find no entertainment in how much you can blow something up. I loved the old adventure and arcade style games.

As for graphics. I don't mind nice high res graphics for some games but I really like the older 256 colors or less graphics of the earlier years. They left something to the imagination and a game actually looked like a game. Some games have that "realistic" look and feel that I just don't care for.

My game that I'm working on is a platformer that only uses 32 colors that I hand picked. While it isn't true 4bit or 8bit it still has the look of a retro style game. Maybe I'll be able to sell a Windows version here on GOG when I'm done with it? Will see. ;)

Has anyone tried to contact the new Sierra asking them kindly about adding the various wanted remakes and alternate releases put into their GOG, and Steam sets? Maybe through their new face book page?

I think the new Sierra is merely a studio or some kind of front, it's still Activision that deals with these kind of matter. But yeah, it's pretty disappointing to see that nothing has been done in regard to that in the last four years.

That's right, nowadays Sierra is just a a name or trademark, used by Activision for some new products. No one of the original crew is still on board.

Well yes and no. Yes its no one involved with the original Sierra, is at the present Sierra.

As for the no, its kinda iffy, is that they do have a feedback methods, and those feedback methods go back directly to Activision. For example I've contacted them through facebook, and they discussed how they would pass along the information back to activision, and also look into the bug and compatilibility issues in some of the games like the ones that are currently sold on steam.

And yet, many of us now cannot imagine Graham without Josh Mandel's voice

Eh, I don't have a problem with Josh Mandel's voice... but a lot of the other characters. Also, I can hear the room on the recordings! Characters who are supposed to be standing outside sound like they're in a small room. Of course, that might just be because I'm a sound engineer.

Well now that the Vivendi collection has been removed from Steam, there is no digital method to getting King's Quest 1 SCI. Now is the time more than ever that it should be added to GOG's release, and perhaps GOG's versions added onto Steam.

I'm crossing my fingers that, with the release of the new King's Quest game, should it ever get added on GOG, they will use that opportunity to slip Activision a word regarding the King's Quest and Space Quest remakes, and quite possibly more good old Sierra games.

Just learned there's a new King's Quest game out, and it's not on GOG? How odd...

I find it disconcerting that the old games have been removed from Steam though, I hope that doesn't mean they'll suffer the same fate here. What's the reasoning behind it anyway, so people won't confuse them with the new game?

Fixed that for you. ;)

Personally, I think this is one of those situations where, if you own the rest of the collection, you should feel no qualms about acquiring it through "alternative" means. It's quite easily found with a little searching.

I've had a few issues where I've had to resort to "alternative" means after purchasing games here and on Steam that didn't work properly because of GoG and Steam's updates to the games. Sometimes modding the original versions produces better results.