Talk:Sierra Entertainment

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[edit] Formatting

This is pretty much the most poorly formatted wiki article I've ever read (well, tried to read). As a general rule "The fantastic history of Sierra Entertainment[...]" is not the best way to start off of an epic tale of wiki wonder. 210.237.151.1 06:39, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wha... ?

Successful games such as 50 cent: Bulletproof ? It was a total failure. Matt714 05:06, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Arcanum?

Didn't Sierra also publish Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura? And I'm pretty sure other games were published.That list of published games is far from complete.Crimson Shadow 19:17, 10 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Move from Oak Hurst

ken williams has his own web page about what went on at sierra. the move from oak hurst was a huge deal, because the town was tiny when sierra started and grew enormously mainly due to the several hundred people who worked there.

Sounds like a worthy addition. Please add it. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 17:59, Sep 27, 2004 (UTC)


I think that the Companies under the Sierra Umbrella section is badly done. Fos? Pub? This is an encyclopaedia, not a text-file database. I've decided to reorganise it neatly. --Scott Nash 13:45, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Depends on what the definition of the word was is

Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher.

Although my preference would be not to confuse the current insidious incarnation of Sierra with that of its glorious past, shouldn’t this be is, since Sierra currently is developing and publishing games? --Plicease 03:53, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I added 'The name survives as a brand of Vivendi Universal.' to it: the info was already in the article, but should be in the intro. Jordi·✆ 08:26, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Wasn't Willy Beamish a Dynamix game? I didn't notice any of the others mentioned. --Plicease 04:01, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

This game was developed by Dynamix, released by Sierra. Dynamix was by this time a fully owned dependancy of Sierra. Jordi·✆ 08:26, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
My point was that I didn't notice any of the other Dynamix games released by Sierra, but looking more carefully I see Red Baron and Aces over the Pacific. I think a better organization would be to put games developed by Dynamix in a list on the Dynamix page, and have a link from this page saying something to that effect. --plicease 15:10, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Okay, while Cendant Corporation is not, technically, Cendant Software, Cendant Software is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, and in 1998 Sierra was linked from the Cendant Corporation website (along with Blizzard, also owned by the mammoth). If you think there's somewhere better for it to link to, change it, but for now this is a good connection.siafu 15:37, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sierra Bug

Does anyone have any information on a bug that was in Sierra products in the late 90s, where if you uninstall a game from that era, it ends up messing up windows? I don't have a lot of information on it, I know it exists for it happen to me twice, and I read an editorial (after the fact, of course) by T. Liam MacDonald in Maximum PC on it.--198.7.245.93 17:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

This page is aching for some mention of Sierra's early arcade games / conversions on the Apple II + its contemporaries. A cross-section: Threshold, Crossfire, Apple Cider Spider, Oil's Well .. Frogger, anyone? Pseudo Intellectual 00:30, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hardware division

Maybe it would be an idea to add something about the Screamin'3D video chipset marketed under the Sierra name. Found an old board, with a "Rendition V1000-E" chipset, and a copyright date of 1996. I even remember seeing some ads for it in an Interaction magazine back in the day. WillMcC 21:45, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sierra Breakthroughs

How exactly does Kings Quest 1 qualify as a 3D game? 130.225.54.2 09:45, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

You can go behind things. – Torsten Bronger 10:45, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
I hardly think having multiple layers makes it a 3D game - by that reasoning I am a 3D graphics artist, since I use layers when I doodle in Photoshop. Also, what about Akalabeth? It was released in 1980 and actually had *real* 3D graphics, albeit in wireframe.130.225.54.2 17:54, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
Well, then you could say that on a 2D screen no 3D game is possible. It's all a matter of definition. However, I agree that the section in the article should point out that it is about adventure games. It stongly suggests that but maybe not clearly enough. – Torsten Bronger 09:14, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

¿Day Night cycle? And ¿Ultima V?

Kings Quest 1 was orginally credited as being a 3D game. While by todays standards it is NOT 3D at the time it was because rather than the earlier games (look at Myster House where new images were drawn when new rooms were created) KQ allowed the player to move around the location, behind things, move into the distance, etc. While some may not consider it to be a truely 3D game - it was considered by everyone at the time to be one. Infact the box art (availible here) clearly shows it being called a 3D game.

[edit] Latest changes by Guywelch2000 and early dates

Though nicely written, the latest changes by Guywelch2000 (possibly this Guy Welch, Sierra/VU Games employee) are somewhat dubious. They removed some interesting information (the date of the first name change of the company, for instance). Worse, suddenly The Wizard and the Princess is presented as the first game, what happened to Mystery House? There is also an unsourced quote from Roberta Williams. Where does that come from?

Also I think some of the dates are wrong. First, the company was founded in 1980, not 1979 (even though that date pops up everywhere, including Sierra's official site). Read Ken Williams' The Birth of an Industry where he says that he and Roberta got the Apple II on which they developed Mystery House for Christmas 1979. Going from playing around on the Apple to founding a company in less than 7 days? I don't think so. On-Line's first newsletter, published in mid-1981, mentions On-Line's first anniversary, which would put that in 1980.

Next, the name change: according to Vintage Sierra, the last title with the On-Line Systems name was Time Zone, released in 1982, so the name change can't have happened earlier (the date is seen on this screenshot).

The move to Oakhurst is the next interesting question. I suppose the move prompted the name change, Oakhurst being near the Sierra Nevada and all. This is speculation, but if true, the move probably didn't happen until 1982 as well. The best way to confirm this would probably be to check old boxes and manuals for the addresses.

So, anyone (including Guy himself) want to help clean this up? TerokNor 15:43, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sierra didn't just make games (apparently)

I remember reading somewhere that when Sierra first began it was writing software rather than games but I never had heard of anything...until now.

I just found this site which includes images of "Screenwriter ][" a word prosessing program.

Images are here you have to scroll down a little though.

Anyone know any more info, and care to add it?

[edit] Softporn NOT a Leisure Suit Larry Game.

I noticed that Softporn was included under the LSL section, however I feel that it should not be. While LSL 1 was based off of softporn (infact it is basically Softporn with pictures and a few new jokes) it was created by a completely different person and originally had no link to LSL. Al Lowe was not involved in it's creation at all.

The reason it should be seperate is because it was a unique game for sierra as it is the only "all text" game the ever released.

Anyone else agree it should be broken from the LSL section? :: ehmjay 23:01, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Yep, it should be removed. Next time, sign your comments (~~~ or ~~~~). — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:10, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry about that - done, and done (edited and signed) :: ehmjay 02:42, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I think the article exploded...

yeah...it exploded....

[edit] What does this mean?

I'm not sure what this sentence is trying to say - "However in 2006, Sierra was rebuilt with a new management team headed by Mark Tremblay and four development studios, and is, along with Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi's top studio." I deleted the last part, but can someone clarify what it was supposed to mean and add it back in?

[edit] SierrAbandonware

I restored the link to the Abandonware site. As of today, per the recent changes to the DMCA, USA Abandonware is legal:

Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace. [1]

Since the old Sierra games cannot be played on modern PCs without the use of emulation, and the original media is no longer manufactured or available, they are now no longer protected by copyright laws and therefore free of DMCA or other US copyright act restrictions. -- Jordi·✆ 09:40, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

No. The recent changes to the DMCA have nothing to do with copyrights, but everything to to with copy protection, DRM and such. They state that you may break and reverse-engineer protections on older software, but that doesn't mean that the old software is freely distributable, it is still protected by copyright. TerokNor 10:24, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
I also noticed that Jor's quotation omits the phrase "when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive", without so much as indicating that these critical words have been omitted. - furrykef (Talk at me) 11:30, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for implying a sinister agenda! For my next trick, I will take over the world.
If you will look, you'll find I have linked the US government page I quoted from. IANAL (thank god), and may have interpreted it wrong. -- Jordi·✆ 11:39, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
I didn't mean to imply that you do have such an agenda, merely that you might. That omission was suspicious, so I felt I should point that out. But it's still merely suspicious, and my suspicions aren't meant to be taken personally. Sorry for not being clear. - furrykef (Talk at me) 12:21, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Collaboration

Sierra announced last September that they will be working with Double Fine (creator of the critically acclaimed Psychonauts in 2005) to make a new game.

The Double Fine website confirms that "Double Fine is currently hard at work on a new game, which is awesome, and will be announced just as soon as the law will allow." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Marshmello (talk • contribs) 00:29, 15 February 2007 (UTC).

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