08-01-2003, 01:59 AM
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
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