My attention was brought today by a reader of my blog to this interesting piece of news. The King Quest games were huge popular adventure games during the 80's and 90's. Being a fan of King's Quest games since I was a little kid, I had to write an article about this.I use the words exactly as they were used by the reader who emailed me the story because he outlined it so well and I will let his words do the talking.
" Are you familiar with the King's Quest games? They were very popular adventure games made by Sierra in the 80's & 90's.
In 1999, Vivendi purchased Sierra, and almost immediately decided to stop making adventure games. They didn't feel the market was strong enough to support the genre any longer.
So, in 2002, a group of fans decided to make their own King's Quest game. They were doing it to pay homage to the series they loved, NOT to make any money. When finished, the game was going to be made available to anyone who wanted it, for free, via their web site (www.kqix.com).
Over the course of the next four years, over 40 people worked on the game. Programmers, writers, artists, animators, actors -- all because they loved King's Quest.
It was due to be released this December, but just a few weeks ago, Vivendi issued a cease & desist letter to the fans making the game. They were forced to shut down.
Some King's Quest fans, including myself, have joined forces in an effort to save the game. We've just recently launched a website.
http://www.savekqix.org
We're asking everyone to send an email to Vivendi, and we've made it very easy to do so via our website. There's an email link there -- you click it, and up pops a new email all ready to go. All the user have to do is hit send. It literally only takes 10 seconds.
We understand Vivendi's right to stop infringement on their intellectual property, and hold no anger or resentment towards them for doing so. We understand that they were only doing what any responsible corporation would do. All we want is for them to consider the possibility of making an agreement with the game makers, so the game can be released legally. "
There have been other fan remakes of King's Quest games like the ones made by www.agdinteractive.com. I have played both the remakes that agdinteractive made and both are fun and wonderful games that brought back old memories of the King's Quest games. I am betting that King's Quest IX will be as wonderful. Many people have put in lots of hours on this game and worked day and night for it, just because they are die hard fans of the game. Vivendi should let this game be released on that point alone. We King's Quest fans, and Adventure genre fans in general, have gone long enough without a good game, let alone a King's Quest game. I ask any other supporters of the King's Quest games to please lend your voice to the cause and convince Vivendi that it should allow King's Quest IX to be released as a free download so that we can once again visit the long forgotten days of King's Quest. More power to your guys at kqix.com.
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