Activision Drops the Hammer on Sierra Fan Site

[Andy Chalk]

Activision Drops the Hammer on Sierra Fan Site

It took awhile but Activision has finally shut down Sarien.net [http://www.sarien.net], a website that let gamers play classic Sierra adventures through their browser.

We first heard about Sarien.net back in Activision-Blizzard [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91151-Play-Classic-Sierra-Adventures-in-Your-Browser] would be cool with it (get it?) because it was a non-profit fan effort.

His hope held for a surprisingly long time but the inevitable has finally happened. "While we appreciate your dedication to the Sierra classic library and understand that you are a fan of these games, Activision has not authorized the development or distribution of these games via your Website," Activision wrote in a cease-and-desist letter that has since been removed from the site's front page. "Accordingly, we must demand that you immediately cease any further distribution or exploitation of the Sierra Games on your Website."

After getting away with it for as long as he did, Kool may have gone a little too far when he rolled out iPhone and iPad support for the AGI-powered games on his site, which is to say, all the Sierra stuff. After all, it's one thing to let people futz around with occasionally glitchy old-school games on a relatively unknown website, but it's something else entirely to make them available on the most popular mobile platform on the face of the planet. Anything's possible and maybe it really is just some oddly coincidental timing. But I really don't think so.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/27/unauthorized-sierra-adventure-games-portal-sarien-net-ceases-upo/]


Permalink

 

[BoogieManFL]

Maybe he should have been happy with what he had and quit while he was ahead. Still though.. So long as people aren't making money off of it, where is the harm?

 

[josemlopes]

Maybe he should have been happy with what he had and quit while he was ahead. Still though.. So long as people aren't making money off of it, where is the harm?

I guess that the harm here is that Activision isnt making any money out of it

 

[Desworks]

After getting away with it for as long as he did, Kool may have gone a little too far when he rolled out iPhone and iPad support for the AGI-powered games on his site, which is to say, all the Sierra stuff. After all, it's one thing to let people futz around with occasionally glitchy old-school games on a relatively unknown website, but it's something else entirely to make them available on the most popular mobile platform on the face of the planet.

Aye, it seems that while the sleeping bear wasn't waking up when poked, sharpening the stick was a bad tactical decision.

 

[Defective_Detective]

So, I am guessing Activision will soon be re-releasing all these awesome old-school titles for us to play on our mobile devices? No?

Well, surely they must, otherwise this exercise has been a complete waste of time.

 

[Nurb]

Activision isn't making money on games people can't find nor play on modern machines, so it had to go. I doubt they'll dedicate resources to releasing a windows-compatable collection of these games when there's so few who'd buy it, those people most likely being late 20's-mid 30's.

I keep hoping the pirates would have some effect on Activision and make them go bankrupt, but sadly it doesn't.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Why on earth could they not let him continue? he did not make money from it, and these games are so old that Activision ain't gonna make any money on em either..

Though i am never amazed anylonger by the forces behind Activision, their ideal seems to be that as long as your not stuffing their wallets, you can go eat proper cow manure..

 

[Whispering Death]

I'm going to guess that the cost of paying lawyers to write up that cease-and-desist order are higher than all the revenue generated by all these old games over the last 10 years.

 

[BioHazardMan]

Again ratifies that Activision are a bunch of greedy cunts. Like really, who the hell is still buying these 1980's games?

 

[killamanhunter]

How come when I find out about these sites it's usually because they're getting taken down?

 

[Veldel]

more reason to want activision dead

 

[Snotnarok]

That's some bullshit. As far as I'm aware, you can't buy games this old ANYWHERE. And even if you could, good luck getting them to run on anything other than a pre-established program/platform.

GoG.com sells all/most of these games and they've been modified to run properly on all windows up to 7.

 

[UnravThreads]

Activision isn't making money on games people can't find nor play on modern machines, so it had to go. I doubt they'll dedicate resources to releasing a windows-compatable collection of these games when there's so few who'd buy it, those people most likely being late 20's-mid 30's.

You've not heard of Gog.com, have you?

Most of the titles in question, or at least a good number, have been appearing on Gog over the past year or two.

 

[Something Amyss]

And here we see the difference between "can" and "should."

 

[Nurb]

Activision isn't making money on games people can't find nor play on modern machines, so it had to go. I doubt they'll dedicate resources to releasing a windows-compatable collection of these games when there's so few who'd buy it, those people most likely being late 20's-mid 30's.

You've not heard of Gog.com, have you?

Most of the titles in question, or at least a good number, have been appearing on Gog over the past year or two.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention

 

[Ldude893]

Activision, you are a douchebag. That's right, a douchebag.