Ultima Online Message Board

This week in his semi-weekly column in Weekly Famitsu, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn producer and director Naoki Yoshida recounted his earliest experiences with massively multiplayer online gaming.Read more...

There's been a lot of talk lately about new and bold MMOs, ones which feature angel-people, Jedi and pandas. But what about games that feature real-ass gaming industry visionaries operating under a pseudonym? More specifically: What about Lord British? His reign may not have come to an end quite yet: In an interview with Eurogamer, Richard Garriott explained that he's currently talking to EA about publishing a new entry in the Ultima Online franchise.

"I would love to have access to the Ultima property," Garriott explained. "We've had discussions at very high levels with Electronic Arts about access to the property." He explained that "counter-forces" at the company have been hesitant about such an undertaking, adding, "So far we've not put a deal together, but of course, yeah, I would be very open to it." Check out the full interview for what Garriott has in mind besides medieval real estate and spaceships.

It’s no secret that Richard ‘King English’ Garriott is working on a spiritual sequel to Ultima, having left the series’ rights locked in an EA basement somewhere. It’s no secret because he’s said so, repeatedly. But what’s more surprising is that he apparently isn’t resigned to never getting them back – and he’s even talking about working with EA again. The lion and the lamb! Cats sleeping with dogs! THE END TIMES.

More specifically, he told Eurogamer that “We’ve had discussions at very high levels with Electronic Arts about access to the property [and]…a possible marketing and distribution relationships and things of this nature.”

Which is rather promising, presuming he’s not just making wild public declarations in the hope of changing minds. More below.(more…)

#ultima What does one do after inventing one of the first virtual worlds ever to exist online? If you're Richard Garriott, you try to leave Earth behind altogether, for a little while anyway. Lots of gamers know about Garriott's quest to escape the bounds of Earth's gravity via private space travel. What some may not know is the reason the man known as Lord British wants to do it so badly. Turns out his dad was an astronaut and the younger Garriott sees following in his dad's footsteps—and becoming the first second-generation astronaut—as his destiny. You'll get to see exactly how he accomplishes that when Man on a Mission, a documentary that chronicles the training and eventual journey that takes Garriott beyond the stratosphere. The film comes out in theaters and on on-demand services on January 13th of next year. Among others things, audiences will get to see the inside of the International Space Station and watch Garriott's dramatic re-entry back to our fair planet's atmosphere. More »

This is by far the most egomaniacal RPS post I’ve ever written (and that’s even though I’ve found plenty of vague excuses to run pictures of my cat and my girlfriend here previously). But I can’t pass this one up. I can’t. Massively’s investigation into what the long-cancelled (OR IS IT?) (It is. That version of it, anyway). Ultima Online 2 would have been like turns up a key fact. The game would have contained just three playable races at launch, a step down from UO1. However! These races were to be bog-standard humans, the warrior-like Juka and the magical Meer. Man! That would have done so much good for RPS’ Google rank.

Now, you must call me The Magical Meer. The Magical Meer demands it.(more…)

#19972011 Ultima IV, an oldie-but-goodie role-playing game from one of the PC's most revered franchises, has been available for free since 1997. And nobody gave a hoot. Then, yesterday, EA suddenly gives a hoot. More »

#pc When the text-heavy fantasy worlds of multi-user dungeons first invaded the mainframes of Essex University and the dial-ups of Compuserve, there were few rules in place and even fewer ways to enforce them. More »

#pc When the text-heavy fantasy worlds of multi-user dungeons first invaded the mainframes of Essex University and the dial-ups of Compuserve, there were few rules in place and even fewer ways to enforce them. More »