Ultima Forever! A new Ultima site incoming from EA

[Magnus]

I was doing some scourging around on a twitter account that was recently found.

In April @UltimaForever was registered.

Doing some research I found a domain whois for UltimaForever.com (Currently it doesn't point anywhere) but I found this information:

 Domain Name: ultimaforever.com

      Created on..............: Wed, Mar 17, 2010
      Expires on..............: Sat, Mar 17, 2012
      Record last updated on..: Tue, Mar 15, 2011

Registrant: 
      Electronic Arts
      Domain Hostmaster
      209 Redwood Shores Parkway 
      Redwood City, CA 94065
      US
      Email: [email protected]

With some further research I found this site

Overall, it doesn't tell us much except that perhaps EA is going to be willing to put out the older Ultima titles out for grabs somehow soon or at least show some interest in them. (I am hoping that the upcoming Good Old Games (GOG) announcement has EA in it and they'll be coming there.

As for the site, it is obviously at least a bit unfinished, you cannot download Ultima IV. (Which is free to distribute from a few select sites - if you're interested please go here

---

I am actually quite excited about this, Ultima needs some love and we seem to perhaps be getting it. There are rumours of a new, perhaps web based Ultima or perhaps a remake of Ultima IV. We don't know.

Hopefully this is getting the ball rolling onto good things.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

BALLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Woodsman]

Some of the Ultima fansites and game websites had people flown out to Virginia to meet with BioWare over the "secret" Ultima IV project:

BioWare Mythic Is Giving A Sneak Peek Of Its Secret Project To Some People | Ultima Aiera

Unfortunately there seems to be nothing UO-specific outside of a link back to UO Herald

Probably GOG.com like people suspect, and maybe iPhone versions like other companies are doing with their old RPG games.

Oh and the Facebook Ultima game that that guy wanted to do.

 

[LiquidSolidity]

A new Ultima game without Lord British. No thanks.

 

[Aran]

With some further research I found this site

Heh... Another forum I've been banned from for years...

 

[PASmountaindew]

Heh... Another forum I've been banned from for years...

you say that like you are proud of that fact. lol

 

[Woodsman]

A new Ultima game without Lord British. No thanks.

It's not exactly new if it's a remake of an existing game.

 

[Aran]

Heh... Another forum I've been banned from for years...

you say that like you are proud of that fact. lol

I'm going to compile a list of all the forums I'm banned from one day. It'll take forever.

 

[Woodsman]

If they at least got some of the graphics updates out by the time the Ultima Forever thing launches, they might be able to draw in some new players.

That would require the left hand talking to the right hand.

Can you imagine somebody going from the Ultima Forever website to the UO Herald.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

the game on that site is only 400k 'ish, that right? Will it actually run in a window, or do I need something like dosbox?

 

[Woodsman]

the game on that site is only 400k 'ish, that right? Will it actually run in a window, or do I need something like dosbox?

You can still legally download Ultima IV from the EA-approved websites:

Ultima 4 v1.01 | Ultima Aiera

I get 517 KB for the file size.

DOSBox entry has some details, but personally I would use xu4 to play it as you don't need DOSBox to run it on Windows or Mac, and it's a little more interesting.

The latest downloads are fairly recent.

I wish they could incorporate Ultima IV as a pseudo-quest system into UO.

 

[Aran]

If they at least got some of the graphics updates out by the time the Ultima Forever thing launches, they might be able to draw in some new players.

That would require the left hand talking to the right hand.

Can you imagine somebody going from the Ultima Forever website to the UO Herald.

The Ultima games, Online included, all have exactly the right graphics. There's no "update" needed.

 

[Crysta]

I guess this is why EA was asking those various sites that were allowed to have it before to take it down. It makes sense, but at the same time it means it doesn't really matter if they have it or not.

 

[Woodsman]

The Ultima games, Online included, all have exactly the right graphics. There's no "update" needed.

I used to think that until I played the high resolution updates to the Monkey Island games, which had the effect of introducing new players to the Monkey Island franchise. This is a big deal to companies that want to judge the viability of future games in a franchise.

Now I wouldn't want the Ultima games to switch to something like what Ubisoft did with the original Prince of Persia games, remaking them into 3D FPS games.

 

[Woodsman]

I guess this is why EA was asking those various sites that were allowed to have it before to take it down. It makes sense, but at the same time it means it doesn't really matter if they have it or not.

I don't know why this keeps getting repeated, but it's false.

The websites that had obtained official permission from EA to host the Ultima IV files are still allowed to. I linked to the page listing the remaining websites earlier (Ultima 4 v1.01 | Ultima Aiera). You can still download from those sites, I did it yesterday as a matter of fact. Unfortunately most of the websites that had official permission have long since vanished or haven't been updated in years.

There were websites that either did not receive official permission or thought that there was some kind of blanket permission given, or they went and made direct online versions of the games that looked exactly like Ultima IV. Those sites were asked to take down the files. One or two of the websites who were asked to take down the files claimed it wasn't fair because they weren't around when you could obtain permission to host the files, but that means nothing.

Websites that were using other games to do remakes of Ultima IV such as using the NeverWinter Nights engine were not affected, neither were projects like xu4 that require the original Ultima IV game files.

 

[Flutter]

With some further research I found this site

That's not new. Those used to be the "private beta forums".
I have been registered there since March 7, 2007.
The UO section hasn't been updated since 2010, and even then it's just user posts, no dev or community reps for UO post there anymore.
There are other forums I cannot see devoted to other Mythic games.

 

[Woodsman]

Flutter, you missed it. What you see right now is not what was there earlier this week. Look for the huge image posted earlier in the thread, that is what was hosted on that betaforums subdomain before the Ultima graphics were removed and it went back to the betaforums login.

As for forums, except for some "top secret" beta stuff, all EA/BioWare/Mythic games except UO and DAoC have their official forums now hosted on BioWare's main site or on the main EA forums site.

Camelot and Ultima's forums are non-existent because they aren't worthy of forums, unlike Warhammer. Instead, they get Facebook pages.

I'm going to laugh (cry) if the Ultima Forever project gets their own official forums while UO and Camelot are not.

 

[Madrid]

A new Ultima game without Lord British. No thanks.

I don't need Richard Garriot around but UO Nostaligia is not the same without the original cast of characters. Lord British, Dupre, Shamina, Gwenno, Spark, Geoffrey, Jaana, Mariah, et al.

Dawn, Ricardo, Zhah....bleh. Bring back the original cast of characters!

The Ultima games, Online included, all have exactly the right graphics. There's no "update" needed.

The right graphics 15 years ago. They may be right for you but they're certaintly not right for me. Neither the 2D nor the current EC graphics are up to par. What we need is high resolution or UOKR Option + graphics.

And I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say they aren't right for new players who've never experienced UO before. We certaintly don't have an influx of new players coming to this game the way it looks visually.

New kids trying this game will get laughed at by their friends for playing it.

I agree with Woodsman. The site is a good thing hopefully some progress in terms of high resolution are made available to the Ultimaforever site so it has the chance to bring in new players or get older players to return to check it out.

Seeing the UOKR graphics on wiki after playing Exult:Ultima VII for nostaligia purposes is what got me to come back to UO after a long hiatus.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

I don't need Richard Garriot around but UO Nostaligia is not the same without the original cast of characters. Lord British, Dupre, Shamina, Gwenno, Spark, Geoffrey, Jaana, Mariah, et al.

Dawn, Ricardo, Zhah....bleh. Bring back the original cast of characters!


The right graphics 15 years ago. They may be right for you but they're certaintly not right for me. Neither the 2D nor the current EC graphics are up to par. What we need is high resolution or UOKR Option + graphics.

And I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say they aren't right for new players who've never experienced UO before. We certaintly don't have an influx of new players coming to this game the way it looks visually.

New kids trying this game will get laughed at by their friends for playing it.

I agree with Woodsman. The site is a good thing hopefully some progress in terms of high resolution are made available to the Ultimaforever site so it has the chance to bring in new players or get older players to return to check it out.

Seeing the UOKR graphics on wiki after playing Exult:Ultima VII for nostaligia purposes is what got me to come back to UO after a long hiatus.

I'm with aran on the graphics aspect

the Ultima series >are classics< and would suffer from "re-writes/re-drawings"

then again ... I realize we have past into an age where fiddeling with original art (colorizing classic movies)
and (with a sensitive eye) rewriting classics like huckleberry finn ...

I've archived the actual "issues", and left notes that Richard Garriot >did not< pilot the russian spacecraft(that he built in his austin garage)
on the rescue mission to the space station, after the kilrathi surprise attack, left it on a collision course with the dimming sun ///

*shrugs*
I know the true history of things, how they looked and were played.

I am content with truth.

 

[Madrid]

I'm with aran on the graphics aspect

That's fine and this is where things get really nutty.

You have your 2d Jurassic Client and your happy with it. Great...good for you! Go be happy!

Myself and many others want to see the game actually progress forward and gain some contemporary looking graphics. Were not happy with it! We know it can be better...better than it was before. It was better before when we had UOKR!

What I don't understand and what I find rather nutty is when players are 'happy' with the current state of the graphics ala 2D Jurassic Client and still feel the need to chime in on the topic of high resolution graphics. Your already happy...just go be happy and let those of us who aren't happy talk about the what if's and what UO could look like if it was done well.

When I was happy with UOKR I certaintly wasn't joining threads about the 2d Client. And if there are any threads regarding the 2d Client in the future (not relating increased high resolution graphics) I certaintly won't be partipicating in them!

I do not get it!

 

[Woodsman]

I do not get it!

In the past, CC users had a clear reason to jump into the discussions and make it known that they were happy with the CC and take potshots at new clients.

The reason was because EA put the CC on a timer a couple of times, once with the Third Dawn client, once with the KR client. They told players that if the new clients reached a certain percentage of players, then they would discontinue the CC. At times they made certain content available only to people using the new clients. This understandably upset CC players.

That is not the case anymore. CC players have no reason to fear EA discontinuing the CC or making certain content off limits. CC users should be happy EA is trying to reach out to new players, because new players benefit everybody.

 

[Woodsman]

Good article summing everything that is known:

Wing Commander CIC - The Case for GOG

It also mentions the countdown that GOG is doing:

GOG.com

Releasing all of the Ultima games and possibly Wing Commander games through GOG would be a huge coup for GOG.

I'm surprised at how much is known/verified, even before the slip up this week.

 

[Madrid]

Good article summing everything that is known:

Wing Commander CIC - The Case for GOG

It also mentions the countdown that GOG is doing:

GOG.com

Releasing all of the Ultima games and possibly Wing Commander games through GOG would be a huge coup for GOG.

I'm surprised at how much is known/verified, even before the slip up this week.

Good Old Games....that was a walk down memory lane. I'm half tempted to put in my HOMM III CD and play it after looking at that site.

They did a real good job on that site with the screenshots. How a computer company like 3DO (Heroes of Might and Magic) and Iron Lore (Titan Quest) end up vansihing to dust after putting out such awesome games is besides me.

I still wish UO looked like Titan Quest. I must have said that to myself a dozen times when playing that game. "If only UO looked like this then it would truly be something".

I'm not sure what all this means really pertaining to UO. You seem to be able to decipher some of the ongoings better than most.

 

[Woodsman]

Good Old Games....that was a walk down memory lane. I'm half tempted to put in my HOMM III CD and play it after looking at that site.

All of their 4-5 star games should take people back down memory lane.

I'm not sure what all this means really pertaining to UO. You seem to be able to decipher some of the ongoings better than most.

Not much for UO in its current state, but it's good for Ultima in general. A few months ago one of the EA heads said they wanted to do something with their old games. If they put them on GOG, it's really good exposure and also helps them determine interest in future games. It's probably about the best exposure Ultima could get, since GOG has such a huge following. If it goes through, it's a shame that UO doesn't have its graphics update yet, since there will be people taking a look at UO.

The advantage of GOG is that the games are pre-packaged so that non-technical people don't have to mess with DOSBox or settings or anything, they just download the games and go.

If they make the Ultima and Wing Commander games available through GOG, I'll be buying them, much easier than digging out CDs and patching or screwing with floppies. If people don't have the Ultima Collection on CD or didn't want to mess with older versions, it's cheaper through GOG than buying the Ultima Collection on CD. The cheapest I see the Ultima Collection is usually around $40+.

 

[Aran]

That's not new. Those used to be the "private beta forums".
I have been registered there since March 7, 2007.
The UO section hasn't been updated since 2010, and even then it's just user posts, no dev or community reps for UO post there anymore.
There are other forums I cannot see devoted to other Mythic games.

Oh hey, it's the person I got banned for making cry.

 

[Lorax_Pacific]

the game on that site is only 400k 'ish, that right? Will it actually run in a window, or do I need something like dosbox?

You can still legally download Ultima IV from the EA-approved websites:

Ultima 4 v1.01 | Ultima Aiera

I get 517 KB for the file size.

DOSBox entry has some details, but personally I would use xu4 to play it as you don't need DOSBox to run it on Windows or Mac, and it's a little more interesting.

The latest downloads are fairly recent.

I wish they could incorporate Ultima IV as a pseudo-quest system into UO.

I first installed fedora as my sons linux box a couple years ago and installed all the extra games and educational programs. He was looking through the games and found Ultima IV and started it up. It really brought back memories.

-Lorax

 

[Lady Michelle]

UOKR failed, and the EC fails, because of the lousy way they were, put out there with all there bugs, glitches, etc etc etc...
New players have the choice to use the 2d or EC. No one is twisting any ones arms to use the 2d client. The only reason EC fails *repeats* bugs, glitches, etc etc etc... and the EC client will keep failing and not bring in new players til they decided to be serious, and fix everything in the EC, and make a better player guide.

 

[Aran]

Classic client, only client.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

Classic client, only client.

there are actually two clients right now.
Both of them have potential and are currently terrible.

The server code is great though!

 

[Woodsman]

Two hours until the GOG.com countdown finishes.

My money is on the Origin catalog, which means my money will soon be spent on the Origin catalog.

 

[olduofan]

Two hours until the GOG.com countdown finishes.

My money is on the Origin catalog, which means my money will soon be spent on the Origin catalog.

Kinda lost here what does this mean?

 

[Woodsman]

Kinda lost here what does this mean?

I think GOG is going to make a lot of the old Origin games available, including Ultima games, which will be massive publicity for the Ultima franchise. It would be a huge deal for GOG and the timing coincides with the leak of the UltimaForever page and the Ultima fans and bloggers flying out to Virginia to meet up with BioWare people last week. It also follows what EA said earlier this year about making their old IP available.

What this means personally, is that you will be able to cheaply buy all of the Ultima games, and they'll be properly patched and the DOS games will be properly packaged to run under Windows. Even if you already own them, it may be worth it to get the GOG versions since they'll be nicely packaged for Windows.

I'm not sure about Ultima IX. I will be curious to see what patches are included and how it's handled and whether it will work well with Beautiful Britannia and other mods/patches made by the Ultima community.

Just think of it as an easy way to get Ultima games out to the masses without a lot of hassle.

 

[olduofan]

I seen Stone Keep on there site that game was very fun as well as Baldur's Gate

I still have both those games I think I will down load them from the site Stone Keep is very hard to get to work on newer comps ha

thanks for the info...

 

[Woodsman]

Judging by the Stonekeep forum it's still pretty popular/respected.

I've had problems in the past with Ultima IX so I'm hoping they make it easier to work with.

This might be a bump for UO since the UltimaForever page that was leaked had a link to UO, but it's such an awkward time for UO.

 

[olduofan]

this is good news lets hope it helps rekindle some old flames as well as new ones

thanks for the links

 

[Woodsman]

Ultima Forever

GOG countdown has almost reached 0.

 

[Woodsman]

Whoa, Ultima Online is mentioned.

 

[Woodsman]

Ultima Aiera (one of the websites/bloggers that got to visit BioWare last week) says this will be the main point of contact for Ultima-related stuff with EA...

And we are at 5 minutes and counting on GOG.com

 

[Woodsman]

We broke GOG

Might be able to follow the conversation in this thread since the video stream crashed or something.

 

[Woodsman]

Video Stream starting:

CDP Summer Days on USTREAM: This is the channel for the CDP Summer Conference that will broadcast live on June 2nd, 2011. Tune in for great info from CDP R...

 

[Woodsman]

On a side note, GOG now has over 325 DRM-free classic games (DOS and Windows) and more than 40 developers/publishers selling through them.

But the big news.

Electronic Arts

Wing Commander games and Ultima

Only Wing Commander Privateer and Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 are available right now, but it's a good start.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

I just hope i don't get a cease and desist too....

 

[olduofan]

Privateer is the best space game I have ever played the second Privateer was ok

once again out dated graphics but very in depth and entertaining game

 

[Woodsman]

Ultima Underworld forums

Wing Commander: Privateer forums

Wing Commander Privateer is based on the CD version with the full speech pack but not the expansion pack due to legal reasons (which could always change).

I'll be downloading both here in a little while, but looking good so far.

If somebody wants to know whether they should buy these or not - if you already have them and are comfortable with downloading DOSBox and configuring it, maybe not. I have them and have used DOSBox a lot, but I like that they are packaged to run under Windows and you can re-download them at any time, as many times as needed. They also should have the latest patches that are up on OWO.com.

These don't have copy protection if I recall so it's not an issue, but future Ultima games made available through GOG that have copy protection will have it removed, that's one of the selling points of GOG in addition to the packaging and patches.

If you have never played them, especially the Ultima Underworlds, definitely do it. The UW games were pretty revolutionary. Ultima Underworld: Stygian Abyss is definitely a must. This is the first FPS RPG ever made and it was a sandbox.

 

[Aran]

there are actually two clients right now.

Not in my world.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

there are actually two clients right now.

Not in my world.

Oh dude my bad.