sierra-entertainment posts

Earlier week we reported that Sarien.net, a web site that offered free browser-based versions of classic Sierra Online adventure games, was shut down after nearly two years after those game's current IP owners Activision sent a "cease and desist" order to the owner of the site, Martin Kool. Now Kool has posted up word that most of those games will be coming back to the site after a deal was arranged between Kool and Activision.

In short Sarien.net will be allowed to offer up HTML5-based versions of the Sierra Online games that Activision currently owns with links to purchase the downloadable PC games via Steam and other outlets provided on the site as well. The only games that won't be a part of the deal, at least at the moment, is the Leisure Suit Larry games as Activision sold the rights to that franchise to Codemasters. Kool has already sent a request to Codemasters to arrange for a similar deal but so far there's been no response. There's no word on when exactly the games will be back online at Sarien.net.

Earlier this week we reported that the newly merged Activision Blizzard would not be taking most of the upcoming games from Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment label, including the upcoming Ghostbusters game title which was hyped as coming out this fall and shown in playable form at the San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. Now Variety reports that this move has pushed the game's release date from fall to sometime in 2009.

However this new date might work to the game's advantage. According to the article, the movie's 25th anniversary also happens to be in 2009 and Ghostbusters' owners Sony Pictures might want to wait until then to release the game to tie in to any marketing they might generate for that anniversary. So far there's no word on who might pick up the game for publishing which is being developed by Terminal Reality.

Earlier this week Activision Blizzard announced that they would not be taking on a number of games from the now likely-to-be-former Sierra Entertainment brand. We have already heard that Massive Entertainment isn't worried about their future World in Conflict plans. Joystiq has also heard via an unnamed Sierra rep that the Ghostbusters game is "absolutely not cancelled" although it's likely to switch publishers.

And what of Brutal Legend, the long awaited next game from Tim Schafer's Double Fine team? A post on the developer's web site gives a clue inside a picture showing a bug. Putting a cursor over the bug's body brings up a message saying simply, "Brutal Legend is fine." Again look for the game to move to another publisher in the near future.

It's been expected ever since the merger was first announced but now it's official: The new Activision Blizzard (made up of the former Activision and Vivendi Games) has finally given some details on just what they plan to do with all of the game projects under Vivendi Games' Sierra Entertainment brand. Basically the company's Activision Publishing brand is keeping only a few franchises on Sierra's list; Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro and the upcoming Radical Entertainment open world action game Prototype. One other former Sierra game that Activision will publisher has not yet been revealed.

This means that a ton of previously announced games under Sierra Entertainment won't likely be published by the new Activision Blizzard including World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, WET, the Ghostbusters game (shown in playable form at San Diego Comic Con just this past weekend) and Brutal Legend. It's currently unknown if the games will be cancelled or sold to other publishers

The press release also says that the status of two of Vivendi Games' internal development studios, Swordfish and Massive, are being evaluated including the possibly of them being sold off. Two more Vivendi development studios, High Moon and Radical, will have some kind of staff adjustments although it's not clear exactly what that means yet. Two more former Vivendi brands, Sierra Online (which published downloadable games for the PC) and Vivendi Games Mobile, could also be put up for sale. We will likely get more info on this situation in the weeks ahead.

So you have just merged two of the biggest gaming publishers into one massive mega-company in Activision Blizzard. What do you do for an encore? Variety's gaming blog site has some info on what the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games will do in the future. One is that Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment brand will likely face some cuts in both upcoming games and in their many internal development studios. Some of those games and studios might be sold off to other game publishers. Decisions on those items are expected to be made in about 30 days.

While we have already reported on Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward getting a new contract, the Variety blog also reports that executives at Blizzard have also signed long term contracts with the new Activision Blizzard which should ensure their participation in upcoming projects. In fact Activision first wanted to buy Blizzard by itself before deciding on the merger with the entire Vivendi Games lineup.

Do you wake up every morning yearning for fast-paced, blistering, space shooting action? Instead of doing something stupid that might get you thrown into jail, download the Aces of the Galaxy demo from Big Download.

Developed by Artech Entertainment, Aces of the Galaxy is a visceral 3D shooter featuring "an impressive arsenal of upgradeable weapons including high powered missile launchers, devastating torpedoes, and the ever-reliant chain gun to annihilate the ships of the wretched Skurgian Empire."

Gamers who enjoy the Aces of the Galaxy demo can purchase the full version of the game online.

Download the Aces of the Galaxy demo from Big Download.

Publisher Sierra Entertainment has released a new trailer for the upcoming World in Conflict: Soviet Assault expansion pack for PC. Developed by Massive Entertainment, the expansion will feature a new campaign, new units, and the ability to call in reinforcements.

Look for the World in Conflict: Soviet Assault expansion pack this October.

Download the World in Conflict: Soviet Assault First Wave trailer from Big Download.

Radical Entertainment's Prototype is an intimidating and ambitious project, from a developer's perspective. That fact was arguably the theme of an almost-3,000-word interview Gamasutra conducted with Senior Producer Tim Bennison. Give it a read if you're interested in the game, which is due in 2008 2009.

In the interview, Bennison described and spun the game's incremental innovations -- a gradually transforming, open-world version of Manhattan, "adaptive parkour" movement mechanics, and alternation of direct combat and shape-shifting-based deception gameplay. The interview is laced with creative design buzzwords like "the metagame," "interacting ambient systems," and "deceive or destroy;" think of that what you will. Bennison also described his thematic vision for the game (it's about "finding out who you are and why you're here," presumably in some existential sense) and the challenge of getting approval for such an expensive game without a recognizable IP.

The most interesting feature discussed was "the web of intrigue." When players capture the DNA of foes, they are not only able to use their victims' appearances and abilities; they're also able to view some of their memories. Those memories form a web of clues that can be viewed in the quest for answers to the conspiracy at hand.