Two quick things an Facebook post by Lord British and is UO forgotten?

[Woodsman]

Yeah they are gone. A friend of mine called the president of EA games last week and gave him an ear full over this billing system they got. The president of EA games didn't even know what Ultima was.

I have to call shenanigans on this for two reasons

EA Games is no longer over UO and hasn't been for a while since the reorganization that turned BioWare into a label. EA Games is a sister organization to BioWare, which is over UO, and EA Games is not over UO. EA Labels is over UO.

The head of EA Games is the guy who gave a speech where he said that Ultima Online was widely profitable. I doubt that he forgot what UO was.

You're friend is not just going to call the head of a group that is not over UO to get them to fix his problems, not unless he's a moron and the head of EA Games is a moron.

 

[A Thought Elemental]

Yeah I suspect that UO is a tiny little thing within the depths of EA and, as long as it keeps pushing some profit in, they won't scoop it out of the fish tank and throw it out.

I have been thinking about what RG had written for some time, now.

The thing is... if he was talking about actually working on present-day UO, which I don't feel convinced of, I don't know how to judge it. I think he is an extremely creative guy and his handiwork continues to exist in piecemeal throughout UO today - - BUT. It seems possible that much of what is here today, stuff which we like, he wouldn't have let happen. And also, it's the case that big chunks of what is here today, he did not have a hand in at all.

One cannot say for sure that RG + the modern day UO we log into today would mix well.

I for one would need to hear a whole lot more specifics, and get a sense of the changes and/or direction the thing might take, before I'd begin to get a sense of yes/hell-no, in the context of today's UO.

When he was involved with this thing, MMOs were in their infancy. There was much about player interaction which was being seen for the first time (for example, the rampant PKing the original, open sort of environment produced). There isn't much I can pull from the time he was with UO to determine how he would be likely to impact it today, it was too long ago in this context.

 

[Ox AO]

I have to call shenanigans on this for two reasons

EA Games is no longer over UO and hasn't been for a while since the reorganization that turned BioWare into a label. EA Games is a sister organization to BioWare, which is over UO, and EA Games is not over UO. EA Labels is over UO.

The head of EA Games is the guy who gave a speech where he said that Ultima Online was widely profitable. I doubt that he forgot what UO was.

You're friend is not just going to call the head of a group that is not over UO to get them to fix his problems, not unless he's a moron and the head of EA Games is a moron.

Call him and myself what you want. Do not care. what I said was done

 

[Rand Althor]

It was in Apple's darkest moments that Steve Job's returned and brought it back to life and turned a bankrupt company into the most valuable company on earth...
It was Steve's passion and vision of the product(s) and company he helped developed that made it a success...

So too, would be the return of Richard to the floundering and directionless UltimaOnline...

EA... there is money to be made... think about it...

 

[Woodsman]

It was in Apple's darkest moments that Steve Job's returned and brought it back to life and turned a bankrupt company into the most valuable company on earth...
It was Steve's passion and vision of the product(s) and company he helped developed that made it a success...

So too, would be the return of Richard to the floundering and directionless UltimaOnline...

EA... there is money to be made... think about it...

You do realize that Jobs rebuilt Apple by canceling all of the products that weren't doing too well and putting efforts into making fewer, but new products.

Garriott sees MMORPGs as a thing of the past.

 

[Zosimus]

You do realize that Jobs rebuilt Apple by canceling all of the products that weren't doing too well and putting efforts into making fewer, but new products.

Garriott sees MMORPGs as a thing of the past.

It really pays to listen to Woodsman when it comes to these details. He is exactly right. When you hear the news or read something just like the Steve Jobs saving Apple it's not all what you think. Jobs cut alot of stuff that wasn't making money like Woodsman said. Then Jobs invested huge amounts of money to get the company going again.

Now lets put that perspective back into UO and RG. He would eliminate stuff that already exists in the game. Is EA going to invest millions to fix UO? Hell no they are not. They wanted to shut down UO a few years ago and Mark Jacobs saved it.

RG makes these comments about UO because thats what he is most famous for by fans of his. He is also famous for costing millions on a failed game called Tabula Rasa. He is famous for scrapping the same game 3 times in wasted 7 years in it. RG is famous for suing NcSoft for millions in stock shares he was cut off from.

So when he mentions Ultima fans if his jump and get excited. You dont see him mentioning about his fails (TR) do you? He is promoting his version of a new "Ultimate" game. Which most know this is a social game and mostly heading into facebook. In his own words and as Woodsman already said, "MMORPG's are a thing of the past." Why would EA want to bring him back if he feels this way and has said it publicly to the press.

He has control of his own company atm and full say in how he wants to do a game. Nobody looking over his shoulder and telling him to do it. He knows how expensive a game can cost. He also knows how expensive the cost was on his failure. I blame both RG and NcSoft for that fiasco. RG has never taken responsabilty on his behalf. EA would be smart to stay away from that.

NCsoft Pulls Plug on Garriotts Tabula Rasa

 

[Viquire]

He has control of his own company atm and full say in how he wants to do a game. Nobody looking over his shoulder and telling him to do it. He knows how expensive a game can cost. He also knows how expensive the cost was on his failure. I blame both RG and NcSoft for that fiasco. RG has never taken responsabilty on his behalf. EA would be smart to stay away from that.

NCsoft Pulls Plug on Garriotts Tabula Rasa

I don't doubt that he has vision. I am not sure he has vision, for us, now. Lets see his version and whether or not that vision has a place in "our" UO before we make resounding calls to put him back at the helm, "Our" Ultima may not be the only Ultima, online, for very much longer. Then maybe there will be choices with a good fit for RG and building his Ult 10 again.

I really want to see our world fully fleshed out and balanced. It has grown on me. I would like to see more Ultima injected into it.

 

[old gypsy]

He is promoting his version of a new "Ultimate" game. Which most know this is a social game and mostly heading into facebook. In his own words and as Woodsman already said, "MMORPG's are a thing of the past." Why would EA want to bring him back if he feels this way and has said it publicly to the press.

If that's his focus and he no longer cares about our little world, I guess I wouldn't want the King to return after all. Not without a UO Magna Carta.

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

If you hadn't noticed... RG is saying he got kicked off EA by "some people".

How can you say it dosen't care if he was forced to sign something that prevents him too.

Please pay attention...

Tabula Rasa didn't fail because of RG... if you guys knew what they forced him to do... you'd probably cry just for having been manipulated into beleiving a lie for so long.

you guys have a very insane tendancy to take the first article you read as truth...

:whip:

 

[Zosimus]

If you hadn't noticed... RG is saying he got kicked off EA by "some people".

How can you say it dosen't care if he was forced to sign something that prevents him too.

Please pay attention...

Tabula Rasa didn't fail because of RG... if you guys knew what they forced him to do... you'd probably cry just for having been manipulated into beleiving a lie for so long.

you guys have a very insane tendancy to take the first article you read as truth...

:whip:

Sorry but I read many articles about TR. Not just one. 100 million dollars lost and at that time that was a huge huge loss in a development of a game. It made the whole industry take a step back and take a hard look on how to do MMO"s.

Here is one that pretty well is plain and simple....

Tabula Rasa to close already - Wonderland

Richard Garriott, meanwhile, has left the company AND flogged all his shares in NCSoft, making himself another small fortune.

Garriott unloaded all of his remaining 390,000 plus shares in NCsoft between February and August this year, earning him more than 17.8 billion won
​

Plus my Momma always told me there are "TWO" sides to a story. He may say one thing and EA may say another. Both versions would not match. So who knows if he cares or not. Which story is true? One fact is he sold Origin to EA and did he do it for $$$$$$$ or for the love of the game?

Garriott sold Origin to Electronic Arts in September 1992. In 1997, he coined the term Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, MMORPG, giving a new identity to the nascent genre previously known as graphical MUDs.[9] In 1999 and 2000, EA canceled all of Origin's new development projects, including Privateer Online, and Harry Potter Online.[10][11] In the midst of these events, Garriott resigned from the company and returned to the industry by forming Destination Games in April 2000 with his brother and Starr Long (the producer of Ultima Online). Once Garriott's non-compete agreement with EA expired a year later, Destination partnered with NCsoft where he acted as a producer and designer of MMORPGs. After that, he became the CEO of NCsoft Austin, also known as NC Interactive.
Tabula Rasa failed to be a commercial success despite its seven-year development period. In an open letter on the Tabula Rasa Web site that was posted on November 11, 2008, Garriott announced his plans to leave NCsoft to pursue new interests sparked by his spaceflight experiences. Later, however, Garriott claimed that the letter was forged as a means of forcing him out of his position and that he had had no intention of leaving.[12] On November 24th, NCsoft announced that it planned to end the live service of Tabula Rasa. The servers shut down on February 28, 2009, after a period of free play from January 10 onward for existing account holders.[13]
In July 2010, an Austin District Court awarded Garriott USD$28 million in his lawsuit against NCsoft, finding that the company did not appropriately handle his departure in 2008.[14] In October 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment.[15]

I can debate this stuff forever but the pure fact remains that he publicly stated that MMO"s are in the past. I will also post this link and see how RG contradicts himself. He said above in the OP's post that he was forced out....

WoW Team Must Contend With 'Zyngas of the World,' says Richard Garriott - IndustryGamers

Garriott explained: "The only reason I left EA is because EA didn’t want to make MMOs. I started again with a company called Destination Games, and we sold it to NCsoft. The only reason I left NCsoft - or, more complexly, the only reason a whole group of us left NCsoft- was because we started a casual gaming portal called PlayNC. We had built a whole suite of products for it and NCsoft said, 'You know. We’re making so much money on MMOs, we don’t really believe in this casual stuff.' So we all split off to form Portalarium. That’s the only reason that I’ve switched, and more importantly, the people who are at the big companies of a previous era very commonly miss these shifts

Im not criticizing him about making more money or wanting to make more money but he is all about what he feels is the new market. He also has a pattern...

1) Start a company
2) Sells it but helps run and design things
3) Forced out or leaves for his own reason/vision ( since he makes many contradictary statements which is the truth or is both hold some truth)
4) Starts all over and rinse and repeat. ( Just waiting for him to do this to his new company)

So which is the true RG....... is he a forced out and misunderstood by the companies he deals with type of guy...or...is he a guy that leaves on his own but points the finger at the boss and put the blame because the boss didn't want to do what he wanted to do type of fellow.

If he feels he knows the market so well then I would suggest to RG to just keep his company, not sell it, be the boss, fund his own dreams and ideas, and take responsabilty for his own choices.


Ultima Online and RG has both grown and went on seperate paths. I dont think in todays world both would mesh well. He makes UO fans hearts flutter when he mentions UO and that is his rise to fame.

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

you've made your point clear enough... now that you are trying to drive it into the ground kinda broke its charm.

Did you know that professionally, to blame the studio is called defamatory and unless you really are truthful its something you definately shouldn't attempt. RG would not blame studios if he knew they could sue him, he knows he can defend himself so he does it.

You don't need to turn this into a Judge Judy tele-romance to understand what is going on...as it stands, EA is not denying anything...

 

[Woodsman]

If he feels he knows the market so well then I would suggest to RG to just keep his company, not sell it, be the boss, fund his own dreams and ideas, and take responsabilty for his own choices.

This.

He's just been awarded over $25 million, no telling how long it will take him to collect, but he now has the money to do what he keeps talking about doing - social and mobile gaming. Both of those platforms do not require the kind of costs and infrastructure that a traditional MMORPG used to require - once he gets his money, he can fund several different games across several platforms.

The first version of Angry Birds cost around $125,000 to develop, with a half a dozen or so people working on it off and on for less than a year. It's made hundreds of millions of dollars. Of course, Rovio (around 10-12 employees at the time) looked at several ideas before picking Angry Birds, and it sounds like Garriott has been tossing around ideas and has a similar amount of staff.

When Portalarium was being created, money was an issue and he did get outside funding, but now Garriott has the money to put his speeches into practice, and I think he is doing that from his Facebook posting. He's floating a trial balloon of sorts to see what kind of interest there is. My guess is he's got a small development, they've told people that the game will be lightweight at first, but they are designing it to "go big" if the interest is there.

In a way, it's kind of like the early days when he was selling games in Ziploc bags directly to people.

 

[CovenantX]

Yeah I suspect that UO is a tiny little thing within the depths of EA and, as long as it keeps pushing some profit in, they won't scoop it out of the fish tank and throw it out.

I have been thinking about what RG had written for some time, now.

The thing is... if he was talking about actually working on present-day UO, which I don't feel convinced of, I don't know how to judge it. I think he is an extremely creative guy and his handiwork continues to exist in piecemeal throughout UO today - - BUT. It seems possible that much of what is here today, stuff which we like, he wouldn't have let happen. And also, it's the case that big chunks of what is here today, he did not have a hand in at all.

One cannot say for sure that RG + the modern day UO we log into today would mix well.

I for one would need to hear a whole lot more specifics, and get a sense of the changes and/or direction the thing might take, before I'd begin to get a sense of yes/hell-no, in the context of today's UO.

When he was involved with this thing, MMOs were in their infancy. There was much about player interaction which was being seen for the first time (for example, the rampant PKing the original, open sort of environment produced). There isn't much I can pull from the time he was with UO to determine how he would be likely to impact it today, it was too long ago in this context.

I agree with your post 100%, UO was good back then because it was New, and pretty much the Only MMO. It's still good today, but there are things that need to be fixed/balanced, and improved graphics/resolution in EC/CC
and UO might beable to get back on the top of the list.

 

[Zosimus]

This.

He's just been awarded over $25 million, no telling how long it will take him to collect, but he now has the money to do what he keeps talking about doing - social and mobile gaming. Both of those platforms do not require the kind of costs and infrastructure that a traditional MMORPG used to require - once he gets his money, he can fund several different games across several platforms.

The first version of Angry Birds cost around $125,000 to develop, with a half a dozen or so people working on it off and on for less than a year. It's made hundreds of millions of dollars. Of course, Rovio (around 10-12 employees at the time) looked at several ideas before picking Angry Birds, and it sounds like Garriott has been tossing around ideas and has a similar amount of staff.

When Portalarium was being created, money was an issue and he did get outside funding, but now Garriott has the money to put his speeches into practice, and I think he is doing that from his Facebook posting. He's floating a trial balloon of sorts to see what kind of interest there is. My guess is he's got a small development, they've told people that the game will be lightweight at first, but they are designing it to "go big" if the interest is there.

In a way, it's kind of like the early days when he was selling games in Ziploc bags directly to people.

He just won again with interest on his stock options. 31 mil now

 

[Woodsman]

He just won again with interest on his stock options. 31 mil now

Well that extra $3-5 million or so will easily fund a dozen or more people for a few years

He is in probably the best position any independent mobile/social gaming developer can be in and the only way he loses is if he screws up.

He's got $31 million or so coming to him.

He seems to understand the trends.

He's got a fanbase that is devoted and he has some intellectual property with a long history. Not much IP - Akalabeth, "Lord British" and he even says that, but it's there. I think that's why he went to EA looking to get access to the actual Ultima IP, but EA seems intent on their own social/mobile Ultima gaming experience.

There are people who made millions working at night on their own in social and mobile gaming, and who didn't have a staff of developers and artists at their disposal, who didn't have a fanbase, and who were creating IP out of thin air.

Outside of about 4-5 years or so in the '70s - early '80s, he's never been in a better position than he is right now - low development/startup costs and a wide open market. Only this time around he's not marketing to local customers, his reach is world-wide.

 

[Zosimus]

Well that extra $3-5 million or so will easily fund a dozen or more people for a few years

He is in probably the best position any independent mobile/social gaming developer can be in and the only way he loses is if he screws up.

He's got $31 million or so coming to him.

He seems to understand the trends.

He's got a fanbase that is devoted and he has some intellectual property with a long history. Not much IP - Akalabeth, "Lord British" and he even says that, but it's there. I think that's why he went to EA looking to get access to the actual Ultima IP, but EA seems intent on their own social/mobile Ultima gaming experience.

There are people who made millions working at night on their own in social and mobile gaming, and who didn't have a staff of developers and artists at their disposal, who didn't have a fanbase, and who were creating IP out of thin air.

Outside of about 4-5 years or so in the '70s - early '80s, he's never been in a better position than he is right now - low development/startup costs and a wide open market. Only this time around he's not marketing to local customers, his reach is world-wide.

Hehe. I do have to say that Angry Birds is addicting. I usually play it when I'm at family functions to kill the boredom and ignore the drama.

He was awarded the interest with the original lawsuit but atm I still think Ncsoft hasn't paid him since this was the second court that he has won in. Im to tired to find the article but he will get paid eventually .

 

[Woodsman]

He's got 4 million or so from outside investors, that's a dozen developers and infrastructure for two years at least. Who knows what he contributed personally. He's good to go right now and he's obviously started on something.

I think he will do something interesting. He's been thinking about this stuff for a few years and has been studying what others are doing. If there were any job openings at Portalarium that I would be happy in, and I was available, I'd definitely apply.

He's trying to bring everything to bear that he's learned over the past 30 years, but it sounds like he's starting off small and can respond to the players rather than some massive project that is hard to salvage if things go wrong.

 

[Coldren]

One word, Garriott: Bobbits.
Ultima incorporated Martians, space shuttles, laser pistols, a sentient computer as a villain, elves, "bobbits" (hobbit clone with one letter changed), "balrons" (balrog clone with one letter changed); time travel; donating blood; dimensional wormholes between Sosaria and Earth; etc.

One of the key things you overlook that RG repeated, on several levels, was INTERNAL consistency.

The world of UO was severed from UO canon from the single player games by the shattering. It was it's own world, with selective elements brought into it from the single player games that fit the tapestry of that world better. Even RG says that time travel and all these other elements were dropped from VII on because he realized the previous games had issues due to this inconsistency.

Sure, there were Orcs, Dragons, etc., and other Tolkien-esque elements, but you'll notice one thing - These were things you were APPOSED to. There was no orc race to play, you couldn't BE a dragon. Everyone was the same, fighting something that did not belong in that world, and fighting each other, generating internal conflict despite external pressures.

Now SE and ML come along - it completely changed that dynamic. We can go all on about how in "reality" these things existed simultaneously, but not in the reality of UO.

That consistency was broken because, I believe, those in charge of UO didn't know where to go next, so they brought in more generic fantasy fodder and buzz elements to fill that void, and take it from there, hoping to spark an interest in a world that was stale. And to be clear, it wasn't stale because of the setting at the time, it was stale because they just didn't have the vision to keep that framework alive and vibrant without going to extremes that quite simply, didn't belong.

You can make an argument that Paladins and Necromancers could easily have been worked into this world, and it would have blended into the tapestry just fine. You'll notice he doesn't object to that. But a Ninja or Samurai? The theory of these things could have been played out differently and fit the framework better, I think.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. I'd look forward to Ultima V2. I agree, even if they brought RG back, the existing world simply couldn't be changed - It's too engrained for too many.

 

[Vallend]

Follow up by Lord Brit:

Richard Garriott de Cayeux
Some additional thoughts: I am loving all the feedback to my "Ultimate RPG commentary here on FB. While it will take me a bit, I think a game mechanics blog should be my next focus. Many have rightly pointed out that while I have focused a huge amount on fictional backdrop and story, which I feel is so often lacking in games, the core play mechanic is at least as important and unaddressed by my treatise. It is also worth noting here that while I am often critical of other games in the areas of story, there are companies who completely rock game mechanics from whom I know I could learn much. On the subject of humility... In my treatise I noted that I thought I was an essential ingredient to the "URPG". This was meant less as a personal boast of "me being better than others", but rather that just as Chris Robert's was the vision holder for Wing Commander (which has not been followed up in his absence), neither has Ultima in the years it has been since we parted ways. Most great story series are written by one author. There are examples of lines being successfully picked up by a new author, but it is not very common.

 

[Viquire]

And Al Lowe is back working on LSL games, so we shall see just how much water that theory holds. I remain hopeful.

 

[Woodsman]

And Al Lowe is back working on LSL games, so we shall see just how much water that theory holds. I remain hopeful.

And don't forget that Chris Roberts has been quietly pushing a Wing Commander game and building up a studio.

 

[Ned888]

From my perspective, RG's problem has always been his focus on his game worlds and his mythology. It's his greatest strength, but he gets so embroiled in it that he seems to have no interest in business controls (i.e. - Financials; Marketing; etc.) This has driven him to partner with/sell to companys that already have this infrastructure, but then he loses control of the relationship shortly thereafter.... He's got his head in the clouds.


That being said, I'd probably buy his new product and play UO at the same time. I am reluctant to play any game via social networks for the simple fact that they are too intrusive. I had to defriend some folks on facebook for their stupid farmville game updating me on how many cabbages they grew or how much milk they got from their cow (figure 30 updates a day x 3 to 5 friends).

Social Networking: It's not social if you don't actually talk to someone face to face; it's communication, but it's not social....

As a side note, for everyone saying that he would undo Mondains Legacy and Samurai Empire; I think this is a flawed argument. He might not have created those expansions, but he would have made some other sort of expansion that would have been in a different direction. Also, I think having Ninja and Samurai; Elves and Gargoyles is a huge mistake. At the very least think of calling the Asian classes something else like Night Blades or something and the Samurai could have been Sword Saints. I mean there was obviously very little thought put into the SE expansion other than 'Ooo! Ninjas are cool!'

Elves are weak, both mechanically and creatively. Period. Gargoyles are at least somewhat creative and have an established game presence from years back.

End rant...

 

[Fridgster]

You know, with the press UO has gotten lately, as much as I'm not a fan of it, maybe they should do a come back to brit campaign again. Alot of shards out there really could use some new faces!

 

[Adrianas]

Garriott is in with the Illuminati.

lol. "I see them! I see the fnords!"

(It's a reference to an ancient Steve Jackson game.)

And I believe that Steve Jackson Games is still based in Austin, Texas, where Richard Garriott still lives (even though Richard did place one of his two homes on the market).

I still remember going to an Austin Science Fiction convention and Richard Garriott being there - in his full plate SCA armor. . . .

At the time, my then-hubby and I were in pursuit of writing careers (which did eventually happen for both of us) and we thought "Lord British" was a little weird, so we didn't spend any time with him. Then, years later, as I was running with Bob Asprin, I heard a lot more about Garriott because Bob's ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, had lived in Austin for a time while she was working with Garriott on the Ultima *books* (remember those anyone?).

It's a very small world. . . But the Illuminati comment made me laugh!

- (my rl name is Darlene Bolesny - only one book out for me, but you can still find it on Amazon, B&N, etc. There is supposed to be a second one, but I'm still waiting for the publisher. In the meantime, there's UO, thank God!!)

 

[Coldren]

lol. "I see them! I see the fnords!"

(It's a reference to an ancient Steve Jackson game.)

And I believe that Steve Jackson Games is still based in Austin, Texas, where Richard Garriott still lives (even though Richard did place one of his two homes on the market).

I still remember going to an Austin Science Fiction convention and Richard Garriott being there - in his full plate SCA armor. . . .

At the time, my then-hubby and I were in pursuit of writing careers (which did eventually happen for both of us) and we thought "Lord British" was a little weird, so we didn't spend any time with him. Then, years later, as I was running with Bob Asprin, I heard a lot more about Garriott because Bob's ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, had lived in Austin for a time while she was working with Garriott on the Ultima *books* (remember those anyone?).

It's a very small world. . . But the Illuminati comment made me laugh!

- (my rl name is Darlene Bolesny - only one book out for me, but you can still find it on Amazon, B&N, etc. There is supposed to be a second one, but I'm still waiting for the publisher. In the meantime, there's UO, thank God!!)

Very cool!

Two books are up on Amazon.. Are they both yours?

Morticai's Luck (Duanor) by Darlene Bolesny
Trail of Darkness by Darlene Bolesny

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

Oh yes I remember the books... I tought I was the only one to have read them.

To me they are a very important part of what UO is...

 

[Adrianas]

Very cool!

Two books are up on Amazon.. Are they both yours?

Morticai's Luck (Duanor) by Darlene Bolesny
Trail of Darkness by Darlene Bolesny

Yeah - "Trail of Darkness" came out first - had the dubious distinction of being the last book ever published by TSR (not related to any of their games). Long story, won't go into it here. Ask me if you see me at a convention.

After many years, another publisher approached me and wanted to relaunch the series - that never got off the ground in the first place! So we went through the first book and added a few scenes, took an additional editorial pass through it, and then republished it as "Morticai's Luck."

So basically, same book, but Morticai's Luck is an updated version with a few more scenes in it. And I am now waiting for the contract from said publisher for book #2, Sagril's Tower. But no contract yet and I think the publisher might be struggling.

lol - I've always joked that my luck matches that of the main character of the book - either very, very good or very, very bad - and I guess that still holds! What a terrible time to try to relaunch a series, eh? In the middle of our current economic mess!

All of that being said, that first book is also a 'standalone' - i.e., the book has a solid ending and doesn't leave you hanging. You know that the main character is *bound* to find more trouble, just ahead, but at least for the moment, all is well.

 

[hen]

lol. "I see them! I see the fnords!"

(It's a reference to an ancient Steve Jackson game.)

And I believe that Steve Jackson Games is still based in Austin, Texas, where Richard Garriott still lives (even though Richard did place one of his two homes on the market).

I still remember going to an Austin Science Fiction convention and Richard Garriott being there - in his full plate SCA armor. . . .

At the time, my then-hubby and I were in pursuit of writing careers (which did eventually happen for both of us) and we thought "Lord British" was a little weird, so we didn't spend any time with him. Then, years later, as I was running with Bob Asprin, I heard a lot more about Garriott because Bob's ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, had lived in Austin for a time while she was working with Garriott on the Ultima *books* (remember those anyone?).

It's a very small world. . . But the Illuminati comment made me laugh!

- (my rl name is Darlene Bolesny - only one book out for me, but you can still find it on Amazon, B&N, etc. There is supposed to be a second one, but I'm still waiting for the publisher. In the meantime, there's UO, thank God!!)

Garriott rented out his Lake Austin home to a masons get-together last year.

He has all the hallmarks of the Illuminati- rich daddy, space travel, madness, baby in a jar, egostatistical.

 

[Subliminator]

UO players, or at least the ones who post here, are a weird almost depressive lot. This game is still getting new content and still has a live events team, while entire generations of would-be replacements lie in their graves.

Star Wars Galaxies, Raph Koster's second MMO after UO? Dead.

Tabula Rasa, Lord British's second MMO? History.

Shadowbane, remember "Shadowbane is gonna kill UO" and all that? Gone.

Warhammer! EA's last "big new MMO" remember? Millions and millions spent on it? People on their boards complain about how good UO has it by comparison.

But if UO isn't up for a People's Choice award or the turkey event uses some old rewards, that's somehow newsworthy to people here.

 

[MrWilliams]

Bring back Lord British and allow him to An Corp Brittania!!!

If he returns so will I and countless others too!!

 

[Woodsman]

This is as close as you're going to get:

Ultima 7: The Complete Edition (Gog.com) for $5.99

Ultima 7 The Complete Edition includes:
Ultima 7: The Black Gate,
Ultima 7: Forge of Virtue,
Ultima 7 Part Two: Serpent Isle,
Ultima 7 Part Two: The Silver Seed.

Timeless classic with hundreds of hours of a top-notch gaming experience.

Created by Richard Garriott (Lord British) who stated that this part "was the most masterfully executed of the Ultima series."

Came out today.

Packaged to download and run on: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)

EA is really starting to ramp up the Ultima love heading into 2012....

If you have Ultima 7 and can setup DOSBox, ignore this.

If you don't have Ultima 7, grab the GOG package now. Worth the $6.