Microsoft’s announcement to buy Activision for $70 billion comes with an added surprise: They will also own classic Sierra On-Line game franchises! King’s Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, Phantasmagoria, Tribes, Willy Beamish, & hundreds more. Here are my thoughts on the epic merger and what it may mean for the future of Sierra games we all love.
Tag Archives: Sierra
Behind the Scenes w/ SIERRA On-Line’s Al Lowe (Leisure Suit Larry, King’s Quest, etc)
Bonus video: over 28 minutes of behind the scenes w/ Al Lowe developer from Sierra Online. Leisure Suit Larry, King’s Quest, Freddie Pharkas & more! WATCH >> https://youtu.be/C9DZ3LWWsRE
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
When Jane Jensen first said that she would like to make a dark-tinged, adult-oriented mystery of a Sierra adventure game, revolving around an antihero of a paranormal detective named Gabriel Knight, her boss Ken Williams wasn’t overly excited about the idea. “Okay, I’ll let you do it,” he grumbled. “But I wish you’d come up with something happier!”
What a difference a year and a half can make. At the end of that period of time, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was a hit, garnering vive la différence! reviews and solid sales from gamers who appreciated its more sophisticated approach to interactive storytelling. Rather than remaining an outlier in the company’s catalog, it bent Sierra’s whole trajectory in its direction, as Ken Williams retooled and refocused on games that could appeal to a different — and larger — demographic of players.
There was no question whatsoever about a sequel. In January of 1994, just six weeks after the first Gabriel Knight game had shipped, Jane Jensen was told to get busy writing the second one.
Breaking: Ken & Roberta Williams (Sierra On-Line) are making a new game!
Space Quest Historian – It’s not often I get to break a news story, but here’s one: Ken & Roberta Williams, the retired founders of Sierra On-Line, have been secretly working on a new game for the past 6 months.
King’s Quest VI – Girl in the Tower (Epic Metal Cover feat. Alina Lesnik)
Skar Productions – My cover of “Girl in the Tower” from the game King’s Quest VI. Original song by Mark Seibert.
SIERRA On-Line Documentary
It’s a Pixel THING – The history of Sierra On-Line from the beginning to the bitter end.
How Homeworld Almost Got Lost in 3D Space | War Stories | Ars Technica
On this episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sits down with Rob Cunningham to revisit the groundbreaking 1999 3D real-time strategy game, Homeworld. When Rob and a group of friends founded Relic Entertainment, they set out to marry the gameplay of Command & Conquer with the feel of Battlestar Galactica – all in a full 3D environment. On top of the everpresent memory limitations of the day, the team needed to get creative in figuring out how to orient players when, in space, no direction is up.
Space Quest 6: The Spinal Frontier | Friday Night Arcade
Exploring the Sierra On-Line “Super-Junior” Computer
Download an archive of the HDD contents here: https://archive.org/details/sierra-super-junior