Bolty Sells Out

[Bolty]

EA (Electronic Arts) has, for some reason (no really, I have no idea why), invited me to an exclusive preview event of Ultima X: Odyssey at San Francisco on August 21-22. I'll be going there on their dime to get schmoozed and toy with their new MMORPG along with fellow fansite webmasters and gaming media types.

I'm a total sellout. EA is the most evil game company in the world. But I can't resist (another) free trip out west, this time with the added fun of meeting a bunch of other fansite webmasters and gaming geeks.

Anyhow, I know very little of the history of the Ultima series, which I know makes me only half a gamer in some people's eyes. I mean, I've been playing computer games since, well, PONG, and yet I've never played an Ultima game. I played the Bard's Tale on an old Apple in the 80's. But no Ultima. I think it's because I missed the first few of them and then figured, when Ultima 20,000 was being released, that there was little point getting into it when I've never played its prequels.

So in summary, Ultima has really passed me by. I know of tidbits, such as the famed Lord British Getting Whacked, and that Richard Garriot is no longer with EA (but apparently they own the rights to the Ultima name, so they can tell him to take a flying leap, eh)? Work on this new game has supposedly been *very* secretive - there is only one known screenshot released to date.

Are there any Lurkers out there who are Ultima fans? Anything you'd like me to look for in the game, or people/programmers I should meet/ask questions of?

-Bolty

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

You're only a "sellout" if you come back here touting the virtues of something you don't care for or believe in. ;) Somehow, I don't see that becoming an issue.

Enjoy the trip! Abuse the buffet! Schmooze! Use the phrase "that's nice" (or your personal equivalent) often. More contacts in the industry and interest can never hurt, regardless of their corporate loyalties; you never know what could come of it down the road.

I wouldn't bat an eye, were I in your place. Post a report when you get back?

*tips helm*

[Bun-Bun]

I know not too much about the Ultima series (not many were ported to Mac), but I know many of the team personally. As far as I know nobody from the Ultima team of yore remains with EA. Origin is a gutted remnant. I don't know anyone there anymore, alas.

I can't imagine Ultima without Richard, or Mr. Mike, or Brian Martin. Which is not to say Ultima X isn't a good game; I don't know that. I'd bet money it doesn't have the Ultima soul, though.

Richard's got his own new thing going, Destination Games. It got bought out by NCSoft (of the Lineage MMORPG). I seriously doubt he'd have anything to do with any EA product - there's no love lost between him and Trip Hawkins. I was a bit surprised he allowed EA to "merge" with Origin, but I speculate his brother beat some business sense into him when the deal got too good.

I recall a haunted house we did on Richard's property some years ago. The guests/victims had to retrieve the three symbols of Ultimate Evil - the sphere, cube and tetrahedron. For those who don't get the reference, EA's logo is just that, a sphere, a cube, and a tetrahedron. There was a tombstone on the path marked "Pirt Snikwah". One guide/storyteller came up with the spiel that it was the grave of a dread pirate, and if said backwards it is a curse in many languages. :D

[WarLocke]

Seriously, Bolt, do you realize how jealous I am of you right now?

Man. You get to hobnob with Blizz, and now EA... Sheesh. Your makin' industry contacts, man. B)

Then again, considering all the work you've put in here over the years, you deserve it.

Just watch out for the Evil Konami Ninjas. :ph34r:

[Selby]

Basically, Ultima is\was one of the oldest RPGs (back before all that Square crap that gets passed off as "Role Playing"). Richard Garriot and maybe one or two other people essentially started Origin Systems to sell Lord British's games... Ultima! Dating back to 1981... the first few are rather dated (CGA) and pitted the lone hero against various monsters. They were more "adventure and eventually beat the game if you really know what to do." About the time 4 came out, Richard Garriot decided to put ethics into the game. Your character class was chosen based on your answers to moral questions. There were virtues that you subscribed to and tried to live up to. As far as I know this game series is one of the only ones to ever attempt a moral compass, and Ultima 4 did it quite successfully. 5 and 6 came along and were successful as well. 7 came out and is regarded as one of the best, if not the best game in the series. 8 came out and was... different. It featured an isometric 2D view with a rather radical control scheme. And it had the dreaded jumping puzzles. Many years passed and Origin was bought by EA as Richard Garriot was working on an online version of the OSI flagship series. It became Ultima Online and is the only reason Origin is even around with EA anymore. EA eventually released the 9th and final Ultima game... Ultima IX: Ascension (Descension by the loving fans). It was the worst and buggiest piece of junk ever made. I couldn't get it to run for more than 5-10 minutes without crashes and memory leaking like a hole in the Titanic. Thus ended one of the older series of computer games... with a fizzle.

That's just off the top of my head. There are lots more in depth sites out there with the OSI\Ultima series history.

Selby

[TheDragoon]

Abuse the buffet!

Abuse it twice for me and the rest of the Husky Marching Band! :) I'm sure you'll have a good time and you'll get to meet a lot of people. Sounds like a winning situation to me!

[channel1]

Ultima had a special meaning for me. Ultima 4 came out the same time that I sold off most of my coin-op business. Suddenly, I had a "vacation" after seven years, the last couple of years being almost steady 12 hour days, seven days a week. I was ready for a break.

I parked myself in front of my Atari 800XL, and played Ultima 4 straight through, with only breaks for food, beer and sleep. After that, I had no interest in the Ultima series at all.

Ultima 2 was unusual, in that it was the only one in the series to get licensed to Sierra. They ported it to just about every 'puter of the time, and was the only episode to run on the Atari ST on the high-res Mono display.

-rcv-

[DaveO]

I did play Ultima 2-6. The 1st 3 Ultima games were in regard to the Triad of Evil(Mondain, Minax, and Exodus). I enjoyed #3, 4, and 6. I never got around to playing #7, though I did play the Ultima Underworld games(nice dungeon crawling games) and the two special Ultima oriented games with the Savage Empire and the Martian Dreams games.

[TPJ]

Guess that makes two of us, Bolty. Perhaps you and I can console each other over a drink or 4 in the hotel bar?

[NiteFox]

Free trips are good. Enjoy yourself Bolty, I'll try to be happy for you while stuck here in this dead-end existence :)

[Bolty]

Guess that makes two of us, Bolty. Perhaps you and I can console each other over a drink or 4 in the hotel bar?

Ah! Excellent, TPJ! See you at the hotel.

Note: Diabloii.Net was not invited.

-Bolty

[[wcip]Angel]

Ah!  Excellent, TPJ!  See you at the hotel.

Note: Diabloii.Net was not invited.

-Bolty

Ahahahaha!

I didn't expect that level of pettiness from you, Bolty :)

I like! I more than like. It shows you're shallow, like us. Gloating-priveliges all around!

:P

[Wiccan]

Note: Diabloii.Net was not invited.
-Bolty

roflmao!!...... Cant you just taste the hate for diabloii.net
lol enjoy the trip bolty, your not sell out just as long as you dont come back with EA games and things, also remeber to steal the towels and anything not nailed down in the hotel room!!

note: We all love can care for diabloii.net ,but sometimes it fun to see bolty get his props..

Enjoy it bolty

[ak404]

Guess that makes two of us, Bolty. Perhaps you and I can console each other over a drink or 4 in the hotel bar?

Dang, Broome, you were invited too? Nice. ;)

[TPJ]

Yeah. Us big-shots get all the perks.

[Wapptor]

Heh, congratulations guys, have fun!

*points at diabloii.net :lol:*

-Wapptor

[whyBish]

EA (Electronic Arts) has, for some reason (no really, I have no idea why

:P ...eer because you are the webmaster of the best D2 website (oh wait I'm an A.B. member :P ), and D2 is in many ways a MMORPG of sorts, and one of the first to have such a big online presence.

P.S. if you want questions to ask, how about my usual MMORPG bone, how will continuing payments be handled for countries outside of the U.S. (e.g. NZ)

PPS Have fun :)

[Bolty]

Just an update: a report of my time at the event is now up here for your perusal! Feel free to ask me questions if you're interested in finding out anything else about it that I might remember.

-Bolty

[concre+e]

Awesome report Bolty, a great read!

And kudos to the marketing person at EA who came up with that idea. At first I wasn't so sure if something as expensive as that can pay off, but after reading your report, I'm sure it was worth every penny plus some.

Even more so, if this comes true:

Who knows, this could be the Lounge's third covered game.

Even if not, I trust this will turn out as a success for them.
I mean how does this sound on a Diablo site:

just like Diablo II's (but better)

You got me interested in any case ;)

But then I don't play enough any more for a pay-per-month to make any sense for me.

Anyways, great report!
c+

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Sounds like you had a hoot, Bolty. I'm glad it turned out to be such a great time.

(You should have opted for the sushi, btw. Keep that in mind for the "next time".) ;)

Excellent write-up as well; thank YOU very much for that. An excellent viewpoint from someone with the same general gaming experiences which mirror most of us, so that the observations were all the more applicable to all of us. Pre-alpha or no, it showed sufficient promise, obviously.

Lastly, I feel that you DEFINITELY showed us proudly in the PvP tournament. Well done, sir! :D

*tips helm*