SgtMuhammed Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Hey! Lord British is on the International Space Station. Neat. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 That might be cool if I had any idea what you are going on about. Probably not though. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Old computer RPG. One of the first to really make it big. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Here's the story. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6056926.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_the_wino Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Richard Garriot is the guy behind Ultima Online? I wast...er, enjoyed many, make that far too many, hours with that back in the day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeman Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Once upon a time, Lord British (Richard Garriot), the famed creator of the Ultima line of games, was a godsend to the RPG community. A few of us who came into contact with the series remember fondly the many hours that were consumed on a nightly basis in front of a PC. Then the tides shifted with the parent company's (Electronic Arts) tightening of the purse strings and demands for strict adherence to production schedules. Without the time or budget that the game's developers were so accustomed to having, many features of the upcoming Ultima 8 were axed and the result resembled something in what became known as Mario the Avatar. Needless to say, Ultima 8 was a tremendous flop. Ultima 9 was a mess. With EA shifting nearly all resources to the development of Ultima Online, the U9 team was understaffed and underfunded. Worse yet, it's lead developer, whose visions of the gameplay were of stark contrast to the tradition of earlier Ultima games, was fired and a new team scraped up in the middle of the development cycle. Though the game fared somewhat better than Ultima 8, it was a PR nightmare to the extent that the official forums were closed thanks to numerous game breaking bugs. Origin's greatest financial achievement came with the introduction of what is arguably the world's first graphical MMO, Ultima Online ( though some claim Meridian 59 holds that title). In the end, however, its very success not only set a precedent for a new breed of online games to come, it also proved to be the undoing of Origin's (and Lord British's) legacy. EA announced the cancellation of all future projects under development by Origin and relegated the company to being little more than a hosting farm for Ultima Online. The new model was now service and support. This effectively devoured whatever ambitions Origin's game developers had, including those of Richard Garriot's. As the bitter disagreement between Richard Garriot and EA reached it's zenith, Garriot was eventually sacked. Garriot found new employment with NCsoft, where he assisted the company's transition to the North American market with Lineage and Lineage II. Unfortunately, Richard Garriot was never really able to repeat the tremendous success he had with Ultimas 1-7 and Ultima Online. His latest attempt with Tabula Rasa was nothing short of disastrous. It would appear now, that Lord British's efforts at immortality will no longer be directed in the game industry entertainment, but through (if you'll permit the metaphor) pooling his immense fortune to otherworldly endeavors. His deep sea exploration of the Titanic was the first step; and now, his voyage to the International Space Station being his second. Oddly enough though, what the article link doesn't say is that he brought with him a hard drive containing his DNA and that of a few other celebrities, including that of Stephen Colbert (huh?) for storage on the International Space Station. Supposedly, these samples will be used to repopulate the planet in the event that humanity is wiped out on Earth through whatever cataclysm. I, for one, would love to know how exactly they plan to do just that. Just a little FYI. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JP Jones Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 *cue John Kettler* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Nice post there Boeman. I think I quit playing after Ultima 3. I prefered the D&D campaign worlds to that of Ultima and I just never got into MMOGs, way too many *******s for me to enjoy the games. I put Garriot right up there with Sid and Charles on my Mt. Rushmoore of the computer gaming world. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winston smith Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 one of his associated firms has just laid off a mate of mine still he had a good time with them, ..., including fliying on some kind of hi-spec lear jet fingy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Ross Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Ultiima IV was my fave. Learning that Pride was a sin and not a virtue was something arrogant teenagers like me didn't get from most computer games. I gave up on the series after the one where frequent feeding of party members was required, V or VI maybe. Stopping, opening a backpack and handing out carrots or somesuch was a micromanagement role too far. I did play UO for a while though, it was fun and annoying in equal parts IIRC. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subvet Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 UO was the only game addiction I've ever had. I finally quit when I lost my castle, with all my belongings in it, due to a stupid server crash (it erased my building refresh). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ssiissuu Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I still play Ultima VII on my modern rigs, thanks to Exult. VII has always been my personal fav as everything which was not nailed down went into my backpack, at some point. And the music is still tops, in my books, along with the story. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Lord British successfully returned to Earth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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