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Old 12-09-2005, 10:00 AM   #1
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Default King's Quest IX - Saved.

Can't believe nobody brought this up yet. Apparently, there's more to VU than meets the eye.

Quote:
Originally Posted by http://www.kqix.com/home.php
On November 29th, 2005, Vivendi Universal Games (hereafter VUG) granted a fan license to Phoenix Online Studios to continue work on the KQIX project. As part of the negotiations between the two companies, VUG required a change of name of the project.

As a result, "King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining" will now adopt a new name: "The Silver Lining". We chose such a name because in many ways it represents the spirit that has always represented our project.

This is the press release from VUG:

"After extensive evaluation, Vivendi Universal Games is pleased to announce that the fan developed trilogy project 'The Silver Lining' (previously known as King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining), based on characters from Sierra Entertainment's 'Kings Quest' series, has been given approval to continue development. We look forward to seeing the first of its three upcoming chapters, 'Shadows', completed soon."

- VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES

However, because of the nature of the negotiations with VUG, and the fact that we had to stop development during the past three months, we are forced to push the release of the first part "Shadows" further down the line. We are still unsure of our new release date, but we can say that it will happen somewhere during 2006.

Our website will also undergo changes in the near future due to legal claims we must comply with. We are preparing a couple of surprises for next year, so keep visiting and checking the Forum for further news.

On behalf of The Silver Lining Development Team, we would like to thank the thousands of fans that made this possible by emailing VUG and spreading the news; we would also like to give a special thanks to Matt Compton and Cat Tyson, organizers of SaveKQIX.org for such unconditional and wonderful support, as well as everyone who helped them in this kind effort. Also, special thanks to Rod Rigole 'Vice-President of Legal Affairs' and Marcus Beer 'Senior Public Relations Manager', both from VUG, for their great help during the negotiation. Without any of the aforementioned, none of this would have happened.

The cloak has dropped and the silver lining appeared. You, the fans, made it happen.



Thank you,

Directive Staff
PHOENIX ONLINE STUDIOS
This makes me very, very happy.
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Old 12-09-2005, 10:03 AM   #2
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But aren't Sierra the spawn of the devil?

Haven't they single-handedly destroyed all that we hold dear in this genre?

And aren't they trying to murder our children and burn down our homes through their evil corporate practices and senseless cancelling of harmless fan projects?

And will those who have moaned about the cancellation of KQIX now decide that Sierra are in fact a perfectly decent company who were acting entirely within their rights as the legal holders of the rights to the King's Quest series?

Anyway, welcome back The Silver Lining. I'm sure you're going to be very good. And at least people will stop moaning now .
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Old 12-09-2005, 10:11 AM   #3
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Amazing, I'm so glad, I got a strange feeling that SQ7 has something similar to this agreement. They woulden't say yes or no weather they have negociated with VU. (Whats with ''VUG'' anyway?)
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Old 12-09-2005, 10:55 AM   #4
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VUG = Vivendi Universal Games

This is great news. I honestly didn't expect it. If anyone from Vivendi happens to be reading this thread -- thanks.

EDIT: So it seems they can't call it King's Quest IX, but they can keep the KQ characters? Interesting indeed.
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Old 12-09-2005, 10:56 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RLacey
But aren't Sierra the spawn of the devil?
Guess there's some truth to that Yin-Yang nonsense after all...

Doesn't affect my opinion of Vivendi any though.
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Old 12-09-2005, 11:08 AM   #6
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Hey all. This is mcomp72 from the Save King's Quest IX campaign. I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone here that supported the cause. I'm so happy that we were able to help save the game!
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Old 12-09-2005, 11:42 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gonchi
Guess there's some truth to that Yin-Yang nonsense after all...

Doesn't affect my opinion of Vivendi any though.
Ya, I hear you.

I'm still wondering if is going to be a freeware thought!
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Old 12-09-2005, 11:52 AM   #8
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YES! YEEESSSSS!!! YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!

...That just made MY Christmas.
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Old 12-09-2005, 12:19 PM   #9
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Yes, great news!
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:21 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fov
VUG = Vivendi Universal Games

This is great news. I honestly didn't expect it. If anyone from Vivendi happens to be reading this thread -- thanks.

EDIT: So it seems they can't call it King's Quest IX, but they can keep the KQ characters? Interesting indeed.
Maybe they don't want people to get it confused with a commercial King's Quest IX, if VU ever makes one.
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:48 PM   #11
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Well blow me down with a feather.

Unexpected but fantastic news.
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Old 12-09-2005, 04:00 PM   #12
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I don't believe it!
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Old 12-09-2005, 04:05 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RLacey
And will those who have moaned about the cancellation of KQIX now decide that Sierra are in fact a perfectly decent company who were acting entirely within their rights as the legal holders of the rights to the King's Quest series?
You might plausibly be referring to me (among others), so I'll answer that.

No.

It's great that Vivendi eventually agreed to make a deal with the KQ9 team. That doesn't mean their initial action wasn't callously belligerent. If you take a charitable view, you might speculate that the c&d was just a shot over the bow to get the team's attention, or establish a negotiating position. Even under that interpretation their initial contact was boorish at best, but I don't buy it. If Vivendi had been open to a deal at first, they could just have opened a dialogue in reasonable fashion. As the stronger party, they were in a position to pretty much dictate the terms of an agreement anyway.

Probably, the petition and campaign to save the game got the matter to the attention of someone responsible enough and decent enough not to be acting on corporate auto-pilot. Someone who realized (like those of us moaning argued all along) that the game offered no serious threat to the value of Vivendi's properties, and that the minor issues (like calling the game "King's Quest IX") could be easily rectified.

To sum up: This is what Vivendi should have done in the first place.

Let me just repost something I wrote when the game was cancelled:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snarky
Instead of a petition, I think we should propose a deal to Vivendi. We'll license the KQ property, for some small sum like $5,000 or $10,000. I think we could raise that much. I'd certainly be willing to pledge ten bucks to revive this game, and I hope a few hundred other people would, too. Since the game is not going to be commercial, I don't think Vivendi ought to demand more. The game will include some statement on startup about how it's not an official game, not "canon", and how the only official KQ games are the ones released by Sierra. The title can be changed to something like "Every Cloak Has a Silver Lining: An unofficial King's Quest game". Vivendi can veto specific elements of the game if they like. The game can only be distributed for free on the website, not sold or physically distributed. Phoenix Entertainment can not make any other games (so that they can't use KQIX to publicize their other efforts).

I think that would be a fair deal. The terms are severe enough to discourage other fan-game makers (probably a concern for Vivendi), but not so hard that they can't be met. We get our game, Vivendi confirm their ownership of KQ, everyone is happy, no one boycotts anybody. Sounds good?
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Old 12-09-2005, 04:06 PM   #14
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O, by the way. This is great news. Yay!
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Old 12-10-2005, 12:29 AM   #15
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Quote:
But aren't Sierra the spawn of the devil?

Haven't they single-handedly destroyed all that we hold dear in this genre?

And aren't they trying to murder our children and burn down our homes through their evil corporate practices and senseless cancelling of harmless fan projects?

And will those who have moaned about the cancellation of KQIX now decide that Sierra are in fact a perfectly decent company who were acting entirely within their rights as the legal holders of the rights to the King's Quest series?

Anyway, welcome back The Silver Lining. I'm sure you're going to be very good. And at least people will stop moaning now .
Get over yourself.
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Old 12-10-2005, 03:42 AM   #16
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Default KQIX BACK - check the news, folks!

http://www.adventuregamers.com/under...em.php?id=1107

Yeah! Kickass!
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Old 12-10-2005, 04:07 AM   #17
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You could also check the amateur adventure forum from yesterday

http://forums.adventuregamers.com/sh...ad.php?t=12233
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Old 12-10-2005, 04:11 AM   #18
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Or not, seeing as 98% of this forum don't have a clue what that is!

Lucien
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Old 12-10-2005, 04:17 AM   #19
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That is very good news.
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Old 12-10-2005, 04:35 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fov
EDIT: So it seems they can't call it King's Quest IX, but they can keep the KQ characters? Interesting indeed.
This is probably because you can't copyright a person's name or an identity, but you can the title of a product. Or maybe not. I'm no copyright lawyer
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