James Hill of GameSpy interviews Lars Fuhrken-Batista, vice president of back-from-the-dead Cinemaware, and Jason Falcus of Atomic Planet Entertainment about re-releasing some of the company's old games for use on current platforms. An extensive interview, it covers a wide array of topics, including the rise and fall of Cinemaware, future plans for the re-formed company, and even the assertion that past piracy of their games has created a customer base for the company's reincarnation.

A major area of focus is the re-release of the classic Commodore-64 and Amiga title Defender of the Crown for PC and cellular telephones (WAP). When asked why the new Cinemaware chose Defender as its first release, Fuhrken-Batista had this to say:

From a personal standpoint, Defender of the Crown was one of our all-time favorite games. It's also the premier Cinemaware title, so for us it was a logical choice to restart Cinemaware with the title that made it famous. The decision to make a new Defender of the Crown came about because it was the game that really launched Cinemaware into the spotlight in 1986 — and has been played by over 1M gamers worldwide.

We are seriously considering Wings, It Came from the Desert, and Rocket Ranger. We would really like to see some other classics, such as Choplifter, resurrected!

Cinemaware (add to watch list)

GameSpy: Cinemaware Interview

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