ultima
Latest
Koster, Vogel, Long headline GDC Online Ultima panel
The 2012 edition of GDC Online is filling out its schedule, and one of the more interesting dev panels is a "classic game postmortem" concerning Ultima Online. While the term postmortem is a bit of a misnomer since the game is still very much alive, the panel features an eclectic mix of dev personalities who helped shape both UO and the industry itself. Original UO team members Starr Long, Rich Vogel, and Raph Koster will discuss how a "combination of insane ambition and idealistic cluelessness can sometimes result in creating something that changes people's lives and the course of an industry," according to the GDC website. If you'll be in Austin, Texas, from October 9th through the 11th, stop by and learn a thing or two about MMOs and the folks who make them.
EA shares more about upcoming Ultima Forever for iOS
Bioware and EA recently announced plans to revive the Ultima brand as a free-to-play online title that will premiere on iOS. In a recent interview, executive producer Jeff Skalski shared more information about the game. First, the game's microtransactions will mostly focus on cosmetic features and extras, rather than energy required to play the game, so players won't have to wait for hours inbetween playtimes (like a lot of Facebook titles). The game will also feature cross-platform play, though only an iOS version is planned to start, and it will be designed with touchscreen controls in mind at first. The gameplay itself will consist of quests and moral choices. Skalski described the combat as "Legend of the Zelda: Link to the Past, but you have 4-5 abilities instead of just swing. Our combat is positional based, and by flanking or hitting an enemy from behind you increase your chance to crit." It all sounds very interesting, and a lot of fun. Ultima Forever is just one of several free-to-play titles EA plans to release over the next few months, so we'll keep an eye out for it. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Ultima Forever opens the doors to Druids
While it might not be a full-fledged MMO, Ultima Forever remains on our radar due to its heritage and studio backing. Executive Producer Jeff Skalski revealed a few more details about the title, including the third class to join the character roster. The as-of-yet unrevealed class is a Druid, who will take her place alongside the Mage and Fighter. "She's an interesting one," Skalski said, "but unfortunately at this time we like to hold back on the details behind her for a little longer. I will however say there will be five additional classes beyond these three that we plan to launch every few months following launch." Skalski said that Ultima Forever takes place 21 years after Ultima IV and has a Lady British on the throne of Britannia ("We wanted to be respectful to Richard and his rights," he explained). BioWare's skill as a spinner of yarns will be on full display as well: "At its core is a story of a journey with choice. The eight virtues are threaded throughout the game and your actions will dictate how you progress those virtues."
MMO Blender: Larry's old-school 16-bit MMO
In August of 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America, kick-starting what would eventually be the biggest boom in console roleplaying games. Granted, some of us had been playing RPGs on consoles like the original NES, but RPGs didn't see as big a console boom as they did on the SNES. In fact, console RPGs haven't seen the same level of popularity since the SNES. A quick jump over to VGChartz shows us that out of the top 50 games sold world-wide on any individual console, RPGs on the SNES dominated the NES, the Playstation, and even the Nintendo DS, boasting titles like Dragon Quest VI, Final Fantasy III, and Super Mario RPG. If you take into account some adventure games that should be considered RPGs, like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, then you have arguably the best platform of all time for the genre. Nowadays, with online gaming and indie companies sprouting up all over the place, a 16-bit online RPG would probably sell really well, especially if it took some of the best elements from the classic console RPGs of the NES/SNES era. Isn't that right, Cthulhu Saves the World? Let's see what I can throw together from some of my favorite 8- and 16-bit games.
ULTIMAte hack: Nexus 7 hooks up with external USB storage, floppy drive for retro-gaming
There's only so much kit you can cram into a sub-$200 tablet without pushing past the price ceiling. And for Google's Jelly Bean-blessed Nexus 7, corners were definitely cut, leaving users without a handy microSD slot for expansion and rear-facing camera. But where there's a will, there's the XDA and its community of developers to remedy the situation. As you can glimpse from the photo above, an enterprising forum member by the handle of c0m47053 devised an interesting workaround for the slate's lack of expandable storage and then some. Using the StickMount app available on the Play store, which allows users to mount/dismount mass storage devices, he was able to connect the ASUS-made tab to a USB hub and hook it up to a keyboard, mouse and, most amusingly of all, a floppy drive -- to play Ultima on DOSbox, of course. It goes without saying that a feat of this kind requires root access, but thankfully that's what Mountain View made the Nexuses for.
The Daily Grind: Do you have a fallback MMO?
My first fallback MMO, though I'd not have called it that at the time, was Ultima Online. Whenever I got sick of EverQuest or Dark Age of Camelot, I found myself wandering back to my houses in Britannia. World of Warcraft took over for a while, and then Star Wars Galaxies (yes, post-post-NGE) became my safe MMO -- the world to which I could retreat after a particularly nasty break-up with the latest and greatest themepark shiny, something that seemed to happen with increasing frequency as post-WoW games rushed to launch and left me wanting more. More recently, I've set up camp in City of Heroes. I don't play it every day, but since it went free-to-play, it's always there when I need to tool around in something happily familiar that hits all the right nostalgia notes. What about you folks? Do you have a fallback MMO, a game you return to when you're in between games? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Free for All: Why the unlimited trials of RIFT, WoW, and Ryzom are perfect for me
I think there are some pretty basic but complicated concepts going on behind MMO gaming. There always have been. There's some sort of driving force that makes many of us want to reach that max level or grab every last achievement or (in my case) get to a comfortable level and stay there. I did it in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: I reached level 32, cast a spell to stop my character from gaining anymore experience, and continued playing and exploring the game. Not only was I tired of leveling, but I knew that if I continued to level, I would probably continue to try to level. Like I said, it's a basic driving force. We all have them inspiring us to play in different ways. I don't want to reach max level. Not really, anyway. I want to have a unique character, one who is fragile in some ways and strong in others. When I do reach higher levels, I start to feel generic and a bit too powerful. I want to have some force stop my character, to give him his own maximum level while others reach the true maximum level. Unlimited free trials have shown me just how fun it is to have a sort-of-max-level character within a game filled with other max levels. It's like playing a different race or class, something unique.
EA's Paul Barnett: Ultima Forever reboot is not an MMO
So about this Ultima Forever thing. It's a new game from EA and BioWare, and it's currently in alpha testing. We spoke with BioWare creative director Paul Barnett by phone last night to get a heads-up on this morning's official announcement and press release. The game is coming to both PC and iPad platforms courtesy of a thin-client download. The full title is Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, and gameplay consists primarily of four-person parties and various dungeon crawls set in the world of Britannia. "We're doing what BioWare does well, and we're doing it on an iPad, and the PC, for a more casual player," Barnett said. Did we mention that the game is free? Barnett told us that EA-BioWare is committed to thoroughly exploring the industry's new business model darling. "Here we are: We're going to give you all this stuff, it costs a lot of money to make, and it's really beautiful, so how the hell do we make any money out of it?"
Ultima Online taps Armstrong for producer position
Another day, another Ultima Online producer. OK, maybe the changes at the top aren't that frequent, but it seems like the granddaddy of MMOs has served as something of a training ground for genre producers over the last several years. The newest commander and chief is Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong. The UO website says that her "drive, dedication and knowledge of UO, together with her motivation to kill players (in-game) are well known in the office and among players." Armstrong hasn't revealed her plans for the game just yet, but the post says to expect news on that front in the near future.
Richard Garriott says his new social game is the 'spiritual successor' of his previous work
Every so often, Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott takes a break from his social gaming endeavors to grant an interview to a fan site. The latest such is on display at Gather Your Party, and Garriott has plenty to say about his current company, Portalarium, and how its new Ultimate Collector title might appeal to UO fans. "For us it's a stepping stone. It's an MMO-lite in my mind. Very lite, with more what I will call classical leveraging of casual game mechanics than you will probably see in the RPG, but compared to most casual games, to most social games, it is far deeper," Garriott explains. He's also aware of the amount of skepticism that his turn toward social gaming generates among Ultima fans and MMORPG enthusiasts, but he thinks that's par for the course. "Newness is fraught with a certain kind of risk, distrust and lack of understanding," Garriott says. "I think what I'm building now is the spiritual successor of my previous work."
The Daily Grind: Should games bother innovating guild systems?
In-game support for MMO guilds has come a long way in the last 15 years. Ultima Online launched without guilds at all, let alone chat, so we tacked our guild abbreviations onto our character names. EverQuest's early months required guild leaders to petition GMs to form guilds. In fact, it wasn't until Asheron's Call that an MMO tried to break away from the "unofficial online shooter clan" mold and provide something different: a monarchy system that encouraged players to form official but dynamic allegiances, which provided an in-game benefit to patrons and vassals alike. But the genre didn't iterate on Asheron's Call's invention, instead preferring to bolster in-game guilds with perks like guild vaults and achievements -- cool stuff, but layered over a static, military style of guild structure with generic ranks. Most MMOs don't allow you to join multiple groups, either (Guild Wars 2 being a notable exception). So today I'm wondering whether you think there's room for innovation in MMO guild mechanics. Should studios design unique and flexible guild systems, or should they just get out of the way and let players decide how to organize themselves like we had to Back In The Day? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Ultima Online publishes comprehensive player guide
Older MMOs can often present a substantial barrier to entry with their complexity, foreign gameplay mechanics, and cumbersome UIs. However, the team at Ultima Online is looking to knock down the largest obstacle of all, lack of comprehensive information, with its brand-new play guide. The 19-section, 102-page guide is dedicated to walking new players through the first few days of the game as well as providing detailed resources for experienced players curious about a point or two. Topics covered include getting started, travel, pets, guilds, housing, and game terminology. The guide is available in three parts as a downloadable pdf document on the UO Herald website.
The Daily Grind: Do you stay loyal to your MMO guild?
When I joined a guild in Ultima Online in 1997, I had no idea I was going to still be in a version of that guild almost 15 years later. Heck, I doubt I even realized that MMOs would still be a thing 15 years later! But from chatting with my fellow Massively staffers and you lovely readers, I've realized that my experience isn't shared by most people. Guilds implode. New games emerge. People move on. Drama develops. Real life happens. That sense of loyalty just isn't always worth the trouble. Guilds often exist to help members meet their goals in a single game, and when those goals are met, that's it -- it's over. But I'll move to (and stay in) games past their expiration dates just to hang out with guildies. What about you guys? Are you loyal to a single guild or group of gaming friends, or do you drop from a guild when you drop out of a game, knowing you'll find new mates in the next big thing? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Game Archaeologist: Richard Garriott's haunted cache
Whenever you get really into a new hobby, it's natural to want to blab about it to anyone who drifts into your gravitational field. That's why we all talk about MMOs, right? It's also why any friends, family members, and coworkers have had to put up with excited rambling about my discovered love for Geocaching. Some of you probably know Geocaching, as it's been around for over a decade now. For those of you who haven't, it's a worldwide treasure hunt that involves over a million and a half "caches" of various sizes that are hidden and then marked with GPS coordinates. Players head to the official site or one of the open-source projects to get the coordinates and go hunting for them. There's a useful two-minute introduction to this hobby on YouTube if you're curious. I noted on our Massively Speaking podcast that Geocaching has a lot in common with MMOs: Both encourage questing and exploration, both have treasure to be found, and both plug you into a community of adventurers. Listener Terrence heard this and send in an email with an interesting revelation that ties these two hobbies even closer together, as a game developer brought his online world to a real-world location. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Richard Garriott's haunted cache.
Ultima Online rolling out a new installment of the Awakening
Ultima Online is preparing a continuation of the game's latest global arc with tomorrow's patch. Act VI of The Awakening asks players to assist in crafting a number of alchemical preparations, with a number of rewards available for players who actively try to crack the puzzle of the correct ingredients. More information will be available from the official site as well as an in-game NPC. If you need more time to prepare, don't worry -- the quest is going active in July and lasting until mid-August. If you're not willing to wait, the new patch also sees a revamp of the Covetous Dungeon. The first floor remains largely unchanged, but levels two and three both feature a new system for the game in which players accumulate points for defeating monsters that can later be turned in for new rewards. Last but not least, vanilla plants have been added to the game's gardening system, giving players another new thing to explore when not fighting monsters or preparing for the next part of The Awakening.
Why I play Star Wars: The Old Republic
I believe I'm like most people when I say that I cling to nostalgia. I love it when parts of my adolescence are made into movies or video games. Yes, despite it being an explode-y Michael Bay movie, I loved Transformers, and I can't tell you how many times I watched Lord of the Rings when Peter Jackson adapted J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece into a blockbuster. But despite Ghostbusters' status as my favorite single movie of all time, the original Star Wars trilogy had more impact on my childhood than anything else in my life. I still get childhood chills when I think about it. From the music to the action figures, I loved them all. I still have a picture of me at six years old riding an AT-AT. Yes, even at six, I knew exactly what an AT-AT was. And although I called a lightsaber a light-saver, I grew up with Star Wars entrenched in my psyche. It was only natural that when the video games revolving around the series came out, I would take up that cause. You guys remember the crazy wireframe Death Star trench arcade? You'd better believe I was there playing that. When Star Wars entered the MMO space, I was there with bells on. But it's not just this longing to recapture my childhood that propels me to that galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The spice addiction runs quite a bit deeper.
The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle?
"I'd play this game again if the graphics were updated." "If they re-released this game with modern graphics, it would be way more popular." "The Game Archaeologist is my hero, and I will name my progeny in his honor." How many times have we heard the above statements? From my perspective as someone who tries to keep tabs on classic MMOs, I see these claims quite a lot. Such sentiments pop up in nearly every other post Massively does about older games: "This title is rock-solid except for its aging visuals. Update those, and it would recapture its former glory and then some." This has gotten me thinking whether such logic would pan out or not. With Anarchy Online's much-hyped graphics overhaul on the way, this discussion seems to crop up more often. Is the power of a graphics conversion or overhaul strong enough to pull back in previous players and fresh blood? Or is it merely slathering on new paint over a rusting hulk?
The Perfect Ten: Free-to-play holdouts
In the increasingly diminishing field of subscription-only MMOs, two distinct camps have formed. There is the Old Guard that has its established playerbase and is simply not interested in jumping on board the F2P train, and then there are the New Kids on the Block (which would make an excellent band name, by the way), who argue that their premium features and AAA content warrant a subscription in the F2P age. A few years ago, doing a list of the final few F2P holdouts would have been a ridiculous proposition, but now it's actually difficult to get to 10 of these. Each company has a different reason that it hasn't given these games more flexible payment options (FPO should replace F2P; pass it on!), and while some have addressed this publicly, others say nothing and leave us to speculate on it. For today's Perfect Ten, we're going to look at the 10 biggest current F2P holdouts in the industry and muse about what's going on behind the scenes. Will this list be impossible to do in a few years or will subscription-only titles come back in a big way? Hey, I don't predict things; I just make lists.
The Daily Grind: Would you ever pay to beta test?
You might have read the title of today's Daily Grind and found yourself laughing uproariously, startling any small children or cats in the area. "Me? Pay for beta?" you chortle. "Why, that's the most ludicrous thing I've heard all day, and I've already been to The Onion!" But I'd like you to stop and actually consider it for a moment. Historically, people have paid for beta access; back in the late '90s, players shelled out a few bucks to get a copy of the Ultima Online beta CD. Even today, many pre-purchases and pre-orders involve exchanges of funds so that a beta key might be reserved. But what if MMO studios today came right out and blatantly started charging you to be a part of the beta process? Would you do it? What game would need to be involved, and for what price would you capitulate? Let us know in the comments, and please leave all "I'm already paying for a beta; it's called [Name of Launched Game]" snark at the door! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Beamdog interested in Icewind Dale, pending Baldur's Gate success
Beamdog hasn't even released Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, and you're already clamoring for Icewind Dale? Slow down there, pardner! It turns out that Beamdog is just as keen on tackling Black Isle's other Dungeons & Dragons RPG, which runs on the same engine as Baldur's Gate. Beamdog head Trent Oster noted on Twitter that the subject of Icewind Dale "has come up a number of times" and the company is "interested" in pursuing the project.That said, the possibility depends on the success of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. Though the project isn't officially in the works yet, Oster told a Twitter user that Icewind Dale would likely run on Beamdog's existing codebase, and thus would support all classes and kits available in the Baldur's Gate 2 "Throne of Bhaal" expansion.Finally, when asked if Beamdog would consider trying its hand at taking on the Ultima series, another old-school favorite, Oster said the company approached EA about the idea. "They told us no thanks."
