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Garriott talks riding rockets, Man on a Mission movie
Richard Garriott may not be making the MMO sequel that many of his fans crave, but he is the subject of a new documentary film called Man on a Mission. VentureBeat.com recently corralled the elusive creator of the famous Ultima franchise for an extensive interview. The piece is mainly focused on the film, which is currently playing in select cities as well as various on-demand internet outlets. The documentary presents Garriott's career as an underdog triumph, and highlights the fact that he was rejected for NASA's astronaut program due to his poor eyesight. Garriott had the last laugh, however, as he bought his way to the international space station in 2008 and became the first second-generation astronaut in American history (and a noted supporter of private-sector space flight). While there's precious little info regarding Garriott's current and future gaming pursuits, the interview does offer up some geeky nuggets for those interested in rockets and rocketmen. "For example, launch you think of as this loud, shaky, scary moment," Garriott explains. "In fact, on a liquid-fueled rocket like the Soyuz, it's almost perfectly silent and smooth on the inside. It's much more cerebral, it feels much more like a ballet move, lifting you ever faster into the sky, than it does a sports car dropping the clutch at a green light."
Documentary on Richard Garriott to premiere in 2012
He's the man credited with Tabula Rasa and Ultima Online. He blames other companies for ignoring the social gaming space. He runs his own company via robot, and he likes to remind everyone that he is a key element of the ultimate RPG. Oh, and he's been to space, and that's what the upcoming documentary about Richard Garriott is going to focus on. The documentary, Man on a Mission, will be chiefly focusing Garriott's efforts to be the first son of an astronaut to go into space. As the documentary explains, due to Garriott's nearsightedness, a career in NASA was always out of the question, but he never stopped wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. The documentary will premiere on January 13th nationwide, tracing his path to fortune through video games followed by his trip aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. If you're interested in seeing what you can expect from the documentary, you can check out the trailer just past the cut.
'Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission' premiering at SXSW Film Festival
Richard Garriott spent years as the ruler of a fictional kingdom before he became a second-generation astronaut. Sounds like the kind of guy you'd want to make a movie about! That's exactly what filmmaker Mike Woolf and his production company, Beef & Pie, has done, and it sounds like it's going to be a treat not only for old-school PC game-types who remember "Lord British," but also anyone interested in the process of going into space. Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission, a film about the preparation and execution of Garriott's 2008 trip to the International Space Station, will premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, with showings on Sunday, March 14 and Thursday, March 18. The film includes "never-before-seen training footage in Star City, Russia's secretive cosmonaut training facility," as well as footage of the launch and video taken from space by Garriott. Check out a trailer after the break.
Garriott's Mission trailer offers a sneak peek before SXSW
You may love him, or you may hate him; but nobody can deny the influence Lord British has had on the MMO industry. Many feel that Ultima Online was a shining example of MMO mechanics, not since repeated in quite the right combination. Later, Richard Garriott went on to create Tabula Rasa for NCsoft -- a game beloved by some, reviled by others. As part of his own trip to space, he launched Operation Immortality, in an attempt to draw more interest to Tabula Rasa. He went up in space, he came back down, NCsoft released him. We all know the story by now. But what you may not know is that Garriott had a crew filming the entire time he was involved with the space program. They've compiled the footage into a documentary called Man on a Mission, which is slated to be released later this year at South by Southwest. However, for those who would like a little taste what life was like for Garriott during those hectic days juggling public appearances and training in Russia, you can check out the trailer on his Facebook page now. [via GameSetWatch]
