I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining. Soon, so will the fans of King's Quest. After the hopeful news I could report this morning, Phoenix Online have revealed their new website. Not only does it look great, it also comes with great news! Read more
Nearly 4 months ago, it was announced that Activision had shut down the fan-made game based on Sierra's King's Quest series, The Silver Lining, reneging on a deal made by the developers with then-copyright-owners Vivendi Univeral. A lot of fans, including myself, were outraged at this decision. The TSL team had already named itself Phoenix Online Studios and that name may yet be appropriate. The mythical bird would die in flame, but then be reborn from its own ashes. A commenter alerted me to something stirring on the official TSL site. Read more
Earlier this month, I expressed my frustration at Activision pulling the plug on fan-made The Silver Lining, a previously officially sanctioned sequel to Sierra's famous King's Quest games. I'm not the only one outraged by this, and several efforts are underway by the fan community to get Activision to change their mind. There is an online petition that can use your help and a letter- and e-mail writing campaign is also in progress. I've taken part and hope you will join in too. Read more
I always figured that Electronic Arts were the worst company in the gaming industry. I've been proven wrong. Activision Blizzard, the company that was created when Vivendi acquired Activision in 2008 have just shut down The Silver Lining, previously known as King's Quest IX, a fan-made game that was 8 years in the making. Read more
There are some online games that I enjoy playing. What many of those appear to have in common nowadays is that there are profanity filters in them. Personally I think that is a monumentally stupid idea. There are two reasons for that. The first is that it is a very ineffective and hypocritical form of censorship. I've never understood why people, especially Americans, (at least in public) condemn the use of certain simple words and go positively ballistic at the sight of even mild nudity, yet live in a society that glorifies violence to the point where the "right to bear arms" is a part of the country's constitution and many people make use of that right. I can sort of understand that parents don't want their kids to be bombarded with expletives, but can those same parents honestly say that they never swear themselves? I doubt it very much. Many are indeed terrible hypocrits and say they "won't swear in front of the children". As if no child hearing a curse suddenly makes it better. The parents learnt those words, the kids will too. Filtering them in a game isn't going to prevent that. If you really think swearing is that bad, then it won't do to keep your children ignorant, but you need to set the right example for them and explain to them what it is they shouldn't be doing and why they shouldn't be doing it. Read more
