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Vivendi Shuts Down Indie King's Quest Title
edwardmolasses writes "An ambitious King's Quest fan game, in development since 2000 and nearing completion, has been shut down after a cease and desist letter from Vivendi Universal Games (formerly known as Sierra Entertainment). King's Quest IX: "Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining" was to be an alternative ending to the popular King's Quest series. The first chapter was to be released this winter. Some project stats: 40+ volunteer staff spread over five continents, 2000+ page script, 9 chapters, 450 characters, original theme music, and voice acting. Some screenshots can be seen here."
Remakes of both KQ1 and KQ2 (plus music and voice packs for both games) can be downloaded from http://www.agdinteractive.com/ (the group that did the remakes.) No poking around on IRC required and for what ever reason, Vivendi seems to not care about this group's work as much as the KQ9 group's not even finished game.
You wouldn't have had to buy the indy game. It was going to be a free download. The thing I don't get is why there is any debate at all about what to do now that Vivendi has contacted them. Their FAQ already said that should these kind of issues arise they would consider changing all the names of people and places and keep moving forward.