Maybe from your youth you can remember when interactive movies were popular, games such as Dragon Lair, Space Ace, Mad Dog McCree… Well I’m a massive fan of them so I took it upon myself to track down the company responsible for the re-releasing of them and get the latest information.

Thus in our continuing coverage of the casual gaming world we decided to take a temporary step in a kinda different direction, the interactive DVD market. Digital Leisure is the biggest in that field so we thought it best to do a quick catch up and see what’s on the horizon.

Casualty Gamer: What started Digital Leisure and where do you see it going?

Paul Gold: Digital Leisure Inc. was formed in 1997 with a vision of acquiring, re-mastering and publishing existing video-intensive games that would benefit from the superior video and audio quality of DVD and bringing these interactive titles to DVD movie players, PC DVD-ROM and PC CD-ROM systems. As we move forward we plan to continue this vision with the release of exciting Blu-ray based games as well as some new interactive gaming content in the near future. The best is yet to come.

CG: What other American Laser Games titles can we expect to see on Blu-ray in the future?

Well, we have yet to release an ALG title on Blu-ray actually. Our most recent Blu-ray releases have been the arcade classics “Dragon’s Lair” and the follow up “Space Ace”. Both have been given the royal treatment and have been completely remastered for the HD releases. The video for Dragon’s Lair had a frame-by-frame digital restoration and both titles had there audio remixed in to 5.1 surround sound. Also, as Special Features on the disc we taped all new full 1080p HD interviews with creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer. Overall, the releases have been very well received by fans.

CG: How long on average does it take for you to make one of these DVD/ Blu-ray versions?

Given the care and remastering process that went in to Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace it took on average 8 months from start of production to final disc release. Our team worked very closely with the original creators and even fans to ensure the releases would have exact arcade authentic gameplay, something that has never truly been achieve on a home version until now.

CG: How long until we can expect Dragons Lair II & III to appear on Blu-ray?

We are planning for a Spring/Summer 2009 release of Dragon’s Lair II Time Warp for Blu-ray. The special features have yet to be finalized, but I can assure you fans of the game will be excited by the transfer and overall look for the title. Final details should be announced in January at our website www.digitalleisure.com

CG: Why did your company decide to revive all these classic games to DVD & Blu-ray?

The revival of classic games is something Digital Leisure has been involved with since our founding in 1997. We’ve released classics like the Dragon’s Lair series, American Laser Games classics like Mad Dog McCree and The Last Bounty Hunter and even 3D Hologram Time Traveler! Classic gaming is a big part of gaming culture, and newer technologies are allowing gamers of the past and even new gamers to see these titles in a whole new way. One of my favourite games of all time was released 20 years ago this month!

CG: Are there many new interactive games expected on the horizon for Digital Leisure in the future other than American Laser Game titles?

There certainly are! Unfortunately, I’m unable to discuss those details today — But you should see some exciting announcements from Digital Leisure in the coming weeks.

CG: Thank you the Interview Paul, and we wish you all the best with the continuing success of digitial leasure.