The history of Sierra is a long and very successful story and meanwhile they're one of the major publishers worldwide. Founded in the late '70s as On-Line Systems by Ken Williams, Sierra has started with publishing games like "Ultima 2", which was programmed by a "nobody" called Richard Garriot! Ken's wife, Roberta Williams, is one of the best-selling game designers in the industry. She has created the first graphic-text adventure, which the world has ever seen - Mystery House. Also she is the mastermind behind Sierra's most popular King's Quest series, which has seen it's eight part in 1998 (the mask of eternity). Roberta has also designed the two thrilling interactive horror movie adventures Phantasmagoria.
The entire "Quest" adventure series are some of Sierra's most famous and popular titles. The Space Quest series were created by Marc Crowe and Scott Murphy, who were also known as "The two guys from Andromeda". Jim Walls - an ex-police officer - was the person behind the Police Quest parts. The Murry Brothers and their own company Evryware created both Manhunter parts and Championship Boxing for Sierra. Lori Ann Cole created the Quest for Glory series (the first part is also known as Hero's Quest). And who could forget Larry? Larry Laffer! The sexiest man on earth! His adventures were designed by Al Lowe and Larry is still searching for the right woman, so hopefully we will see him back on the screen in future. Al Lowe also worked on various other titles from Sierra (e.g. King's Quest IV) and he's one of the reasons, why Sierra is that successful now.
Many other famous software companies are part of the Sierra family too. Dynamix is one of the world's leading (flight) simulation creators (Red Baron, Aces of the Pacific, Earthsiege) and they also made the great adventure games Heart of China, Willy Beamish and Rise of the Dragon.
With Papyrus Design Group, Sierra acquired a company, which is well known for their ultra-realistic racing simulations (Indianapolis 500, Nascar Racing, Grand Prix Legends). Impressions and their mastermind David Lester are making excellent strategy games (Caesar 3, Lords of the Realm or Pharaoh, which has just been released). The Paris-based developer Coktel Vision is also part of the Sierra universe. This company has made the excellent Gobliins games and is now one of the leading publishers of education and entertainment titles like the Adi series.
Other software companies like Bright Star Technologies (Berlitz Live! Spanish), Green Thumb Software (home gardening and landscape products), Arion Software (Master Cook culinary series) or Sublogic, who develops flight simulation software within Dynamix are helping Sierra, to create interesting products for everyone.
Half Life, the 3D Shooter which revolutionized the entire gaming industry and went the game of the year in 1998/99 was also published by Sierra. The designer of this game - Gabe Newell and his team Valve will release more masterpieces like Half Life: Opposing Force, Team Fortress 2 or Half Life 2 during the next years. Yes - Valve is another diamond for Sierra. Relic Entertainment has just finished the work on their amazing real-time strategy space war opus Homeworld. Space never looked that good in a strategy game.
Quest for Glory V - Dragon Fire, Return to Krondor or Amerzone were just released. Also the last released title from Dynamix is already available - Starsiege: Tribes, a multiplayer only 3D Action shooter. Brand new is also Edgar Torronteras Extreme Biker, a moto cross racing game with a cool graphic engine. Designer Jane Jensen is working at the moment on the third part of Gabriel Knight, a great adventure series with various horror elements. The SWAT series started as an inofficial sequel to the old Police Quest games. Meanwhile SWAT 3 is nearly finished, but it won't be an adventure game! It will be a tactical combat simulation which could be compared to Redstorm Entertainment's Rogue Spear.
There's still much more to say about Sierra, but of course it's impossible to write down each single release here. They made so many exciting games and are still producing one hit after the other, so please have a look at the Sierra homepage for the latest news and infos. | 
Roberta Williams
King's Quest VIII
Police Quest II
Space Quest III
Larry I Remake
Colonel's Bequest
Starsiege: Tribes
Quest for Glory V
Gabriel Knight 3
Homeworld
Half Life |