It's time for '25th Anniversary' and 'Judgment Rites' to come to iPad

[Destructor]

With the release of other point-and-click games like Swords and Sworcery and Monkey Island 1+2 on the iPad (and even Baldur's Gate has been announced!), it seems that the point-and-click adventure game it a natural fit to the touchscreen of the iPad.

So it seems like a no brainer to release two of the greatest Star Trek games of all time, '25th Anniversary' and 'Judgment Rites', on the iPad.

If you are not familiar with these games, I highly recommend seeking them out on Abandonia. Each game contains multiple 'episodes' of the Original Series, with all voices done by the original series stars. They are wonderfully scripted and a lot of fun. I would love to see these games get reworked into apps.

Who holds the license for these, and why aren't they capitalizing on it?

[22 Stars]

The rights would be held by Paramount, and presumably whomever owns the intellectual property once belonging to Interplay. Similar issues surround materials for Secret of Vulcan Fury, the abandoned game written by TOS scribe DC Fontana.

[USS Intrepid]

I would totally buy these for the iPad. Loved both games back in the day.

[Deks]

Question:
Do iPad owners who play games have the attention span and patience, not to mention intelligence necessary to play these 2 games?
Given the overall prevailing trends in the gaming industry alone, would there be any interest?

I don't own an iPad, but having these 2 games along with ST: AFU on my Android smartphone however (in native support) would be really nice.
:-)

[Destructor]

Deks wrote:

---

Question:
Do iPad owners who play games have the attention span and patience, not to mention intelligence necessary to play these 2 games?

Well, as I mentioned, there are many other similar games already on the iPad, so there's no reason to think these games wouldn't also be successful on the platform.

Developing these games for Android is, obviously, the worst idea ever and no-one will ever do it ever x10.

[doubleohfive]

I had and loved the 25th Anniversary game... but hot damn, if you lost the manual, you were screwed because that was where the map was! Without it, if you didn't know where whatever star system you were supposed to go to was located, you'd wind up in a firefight with the Klingons or Romulans or the "Elasi" ... and usually got your ass kicked. (which, now that I think about it, was a nifty aspect of the game.)

Still.

If they were produced for iPad, I would definitely get them.

[Gary Mitchell]

Destructor wrote:

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Developing these games for Android is, obviously, the worst idea ever and no-one will ever do it ever x10.

Why is that?

[Destructor]

I was riffing on Deks comment that iPads sucked. Do not take that comment seriously. It was a joke. I just forgot to use the 'JOKE' tag. Whoops!

[Deks]

I hadn't said the iPad 'sucked' (although its 'usability' is definitely up for discussion - as is with any other tablet based device - all of which ultimately come down to personal perception) I stated if there would be a point to making an iPad version of these games seeing how majority of the iPad owners seem to 'trend' towards games such as Angry Birds and similar others that don't really involve too much thinking.

Of course, I'm not saying that all Android users are necessarily any better... however, a lot of them seem to show a bit more inclination towards games that involve a bit more thinking.

Then again, it's also possible that the entire mobile-gaming market is to blame because they push simplistic games that involve little to no thinking on people in the first place.

Ultimately, if it comes to iPad, Android could follow suit. Though, it would be nice to see things developed for Android first and then for iPad (this perception that Apple products have to come first seems to stem from the problem of market being overwhelmed with Apple marketing though).

[StalwartUK]

I wouldn't be suprised if there's a ton of red tape preventing re-releases of ANY Star Trek game.

[22 Stars]

StalwartUK wrote:

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I wouldn't be suprised if there's a ton of red tape preventing re-releases of ANY Star Trek game.

Yep. Added to that is the fact that the franchise is in effect SPLIT with Paramount having the films and CBS the TV properties.

[Deks]

I certainly wouldn't mind ST: A final Unity being remade for current systems. Lol... imagine those back in the day graphics upscaled and then the ship-ship combat could be revamped by using a lot better models and lighting - or just replace it with BC style combat.

And then of course a sequel to that game would be nice.

[Danlav05]

StalwartUK wrote:

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I wouldn't be suprised if there's a ton of red tape preventing re-releases of ANY Star Trek game.

My God I hope not - but saying that none have been reissues - but that is the gaming industry - its about new technology.

The thing is these and most other Trek games are full-length storylines featuring members of the TV casts back in their roles. Klingon and Borg would have been great as interactive DVD features -- they were filmed on the Paramount lot using the official costumes/sets.

As for these two games, the rights would now be with whoever bought Interplay, and anything would have to go through CBS

Like I said in the SOVF thread, even if they took the audio and created new animated episodes, then that would be cool! The old gang back together.

This German guy is remaking A Final Unity as a 100min feature film - he'as recreating the CGI exteriors, and have a look at what he's doing for the character shots:

http://st-afu.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10...-question.html

He's restarted in HD, but if it can be pulled off technically it will be amazing.

[StalwartUK]

For one thing if they wanted to re-release a game they (presumably CBS or Paramount or whoever currently owns the video game licence) would have to deal with whoever originaly created/published them, including I believe Atari (who I believe inherited everything Microprose/Hasbro Interactive made), Interplay (who seem to be just barely existing at this point) and Activision, who considering they rather abruptly cut their ties with Star Trek would probably have little interest.

Borg/Klingon could probably be made into DVDs quite easily, as they were essentialy movies with branching paths at certain points. In fact they would be better than the original games were, having better quality footage instead of heavily compressed 90s QuickTime video.

They really should do something with 25th Anniversary/Judgement Rites/A Final Unity though considering that that the adventure/point and click game seems to have come back into fashion in recent years.

That guy's work is quite impressive and I hope he gets it done some day.

[Borjis]

I made a thread awhile back about running these on an android phone:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=146286

there is a version of dosbox .74 for the ipad (which is what android one is based)
someone should try it out.
http://litchie.com/blog/?page_id=123