Have the GOG crew tried or even considered reviving the old Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons games (Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures, etc.)?

Given their obvious devotion to D&D-related games, which I have enjoyed and benefited from, I was just wondering if these games were unavailable (due to issues legal or otherwise) or just overlooked...

Legal issues. They'd probably be here in a heart-beat if GOG could pull it off.

And they would sell very well...

Yeah they would, especially the first Pool of Radiance.

Loads of people want to see those re-released here, but the legal issues seem to be complicated. The main thing holding back a GOG release is the D&D license. SSI was bought by Ubisoft, who we have here fortunately, but the license to use the D&D trademark expired. So my understanding is GOG, Ubisoft, and Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of Hasbro, apparently) would have to come together and work something out.

On the plus side, since these are DOS games (afaik, they all are), they'd be easy as pie to get working for modern machines thanks to DOSBox. Oh yes. Be sure to vote on the wishlist, too.

I have the masterpiece collection at home. Everything works fine but Menzoberranzan was quite a nightmare to get working. I had to try (and miss) several solutions. The installer is obsolete and the game needs the cd. You'd have to copy the cd files manually, modify info.dat and mount the "cd" folder in the dosbox config profile. Done already for quite a few months

And the second.

I wish licensors would get it through their thick skulls that distribution rights for already created and released products should not expire with licenses. Only the right to create new games. IMHO we need an international anti legal hell, game, movie, book, etc preservation treaty.

It should be called the "If you don't wanna sell it, don't bitch when we pirate it" treaty :P

Unfortunately, the whole corpus of intellectual property law pushes us the other way, ensuring that IP owners "can reap the pecuniary reward of their creative efforts in works such as music, films,media, software,
performances and broadcasts,thus promoting culture, information and innovation" ( it's not from me, but from one of schyzophrenic organisations that manages our lives ) . The universal right of access to our common cultural heritage doesn't exist

I'd be a tad worried about something like that, depending on what the guidelines are, like forcing companies to do certain things the entire world over. If certain countries want to pass laws that require companies to renew trademarks every so often, and if those trademarks aren't renewed the content becomes public domain, I might be able to support that.

I think a better option is to encourage people to create their own content based on games that might still be in "legal limbo".

(Interestingly and hypocritically, on GOG I prefer to actually see the original classics here and not stuff based them. I'm just cautious about "forcing" companies to try to preserve stuff that may not need preservation. We could encourage more museums.)

Everybody forgets about the two Buck Rogers Gold Box games. Those were the best ones! Or at least the first one was. I never played the second. The first was even 'ported' to the SEGA Genesis. That version has much prettier graphics and sounds, real combat animations, and way cooler solar system travel. Unfortunately it got rid of the first person dungeon crawling, and instead remains in an isometric view, with much smaller areas. The skill system is also simplified quite a bit. All of that makes the PC version better, so long as you don't mind the Gold Box engine.

Because the AD&D games kept being edited in various collections until the end of the 90's.

Matrix Cubed would certainly deserve its place on GOG. But who's the IP owner in this case . The familly trust that still owns the BR name ? http://www.inthe25thcentury.com/

I want to make these awesome characters again :D

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mkke0PreVZk/TeH1BiKgrII/AAAAAAAAEAA/KRLn5s7Z4pQ/s400/start_005.png