EA Takedown Orders Sent to Ultima IV Servers Preceding 2011 Reboot

[NuSair]

Sorry if this was already posted here, if it was, I missed it:

Are you familiar with the game Ultima? It’s one of the most insanely popular video game series of all time. It has several games in several different genres of gameplay, including a game by the name of Ultima Online – one of the longest running and most successful MMORPGs in the time MMORPGs have been in existence. There’ve been no new Ultima Games since 1994, but it appears that one of the earlier versions: Ultima IV (1985) is still available and running relatively strong (considering its a 26 year old game) on two dedicated servers – and EA has just now asked them to cease and desist.

Rest of the story here:
EA Takedown Orders Sent to Ultima IV Servers Preceding 2011 Reboot - SlashGear

 

[Ludes]

But Ultima IV is not an MMO.

I have all the Ultima games even Akalabeth, not sure why would have a problem with IV being distributed, its been abandonware for decades.

 

[NuSair]

But Ultima IV is not an MMO.

I have all the Ultima games even Akalabeth, not sure why would have a problem with IV being distributed, its been abandonware for decades.

It’s apparently widely known that everyone had assumed that a group by the name of Ultima Dragons had been allowed to distribute Ultima IV freely by the then-owners of the Ultima brand, Origin, way back in 1997. Everyone assumed wrong, EA is saying now, and this takedown is being asked so that a brand new REBOOT of the game Ultima IV by Bioware Mythic can occur unhindered.

Bolded.... EA is saying.....

Now, just waiting for the press release/news conference and screen shots.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

There’ve been no new Ultima Games since 1994

There hasn't?!?!?!?

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

...

There’ve been no new Ultima Games since 1994

There hasn't?!?!?!?

well ... Lord of Ultima - Free MMORTS - Play The Best Web Strategy MMO - Lord of Ultima ... errr ... tough call


must be a PvP thang ...

 

[Lord Raven]

...

There’ve been no new Ultima Games since 1994

There hasn't?!?!?!?

Am I missing something here or is this another example of an online gaming site that doesn't seem to know that UO is still up and running?

I realize that some of the earlier games were single player stand-alone versions... but doesn't Ultima Online count as one of the "Ultima Games?"

 

[Woodsman]

It was already posted, and not only that, but one or two websites got their stories wrong and everybody else copied them and many refused to update their stories once they were corrected. Read this story:

Ultima 4 & EA: Corrections and Clarifications | Ultima Aiera

Ultima Aiera has the details, and UA knows what's up and was even one of the websites/blogs that had people who flew out and hung out with BioWare in Virginia a week before the Ultima Forever and GOG Ultima Underworld news. If you were given permission by EA to host Ultima IV, you are still allowed to do so and a lot of websites would not mention that fact.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

It was already posted, and not only that, but one or two websites got their stories wrong and everybody else copied them and many refused to update their stories once they were corrected. Read this story:

Ultima 4 & EA: Corrections and Clarifications | Ultima Aiera

Ultima Aiera has the details, and UA knows what's up and was even one of the websites/blogs that had people who flew out and hung out with BioWare in Virginia a week before the Ultima Forever and GOG Ultima Underworld news. If you were given permission by EA to host Ultima IV, you are still allowed to do so and a lot of websites would not mention that fact.

Thank you sirrah!

:bowdown:

 

[Woodsman]

Am I missing something here or is this another example of an online gaming site that doesn't seem to know that UO is still up and running?

A lot of gaming and gear sites are ******** when it comes to this stuff, or they don't care. A 5 minute article with some wild rumors, tweet about it or put it on Facebook, and you get some instant traffic.

They did this with the recent Ultima Online 2 or Ultima IV MMO rumors. Some of these websites still thought UO was based out of Redwood City and were ignoring that the job postings that said the jobs were for an online web-based Sims game.

It was incredibly ********, because like Ultima Aiera or UO Journal said, a new online Sims game was probably bigger news than a new Ultima game, especially since it could have some Facebook integration.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The writer of the article seems to think Ultima stopped as a brand after U8 was released. Which of course ignores Ultima 9 and UO as well as Lords of Ultima (if you wish to count it), the continuing work on UO, and if you REALLY want to go further the work on the cancelled titles (UO2, UX, and at least 2 cancelled updates or re-versions of UO itself).

Seems like a decent amount of Ultima has been worked on since 1994 to me.