Lord British Presents... A Countdown!

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Lord British Presents... A Countdown!


What could the man behind the famous Ultima RPG franchise be up to?

"What waits beyond for Lord British?" Lord British tweeted [https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott/status/307563306095357952] earlier this afternoon. "Lord British," if you don't know - and shame on you, sir! - is the alter ego of Richard Garriott, the man who created Ultima, one of the preeminent RPG series of the 1980s and 90s. Tiring of the adventures of the Avatar, he became "General British" at the head of the disastrous Tabula Rasa MMO, and then he went into space. His return to gaming saw him move into the casual realm with Portalarium, which teamed up with Zynga to release Ultimate Collector late last year and then promptly laid off staff.

Now he appears to be moving on to something more in line with what gamers really want from him. With a simple message on Twitter, Garriott revealed the "Lord British Presents" website, which, I hate to say, sports an option to sign up for "breaking emails" and a countdown, which thankfully has less than seven days on the clock.

There's nothing revelatory in the page source, which means it's up to us to speculate. I'm pulling hard for a new Ultima Underworld [http://www.amazon.com/Ultima-Underworld-The-Stygian-Abyss/dp/B000RJ4PO6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362169744&sr=8-2&keywords=Ultima+Underworld], which by the dictates of the laws of the universe means it cannot possibly be a new Ultima Underworld; a new Ultima Online, perhaps? A brand-new, full-on Ultima RPG? Or - and I hate to say this, too, for fear of making it come true - an Ultima Facebook game?

The great likelihood is that it will be the big reveal of the Ultimate RPG Garriott talked about in December 2011 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114695-Richard-Garriotts-New-Project-Might-Be-Ultima-Online-2], which he said could become Ultima Online 2 if Electronic Arts signs on. Discussions about EA's participation were underway at the time and while nothing about it has been said since, it's probably worth noting that the text on the website is written in the old Ultima font.

We'll keep you posted.

Source: Lord British Presents [http://www.lordbritishpresents.com/#.UTEHpqhmiww.twitter]


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MrPeanut

New member
Jun 18, 2011
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The only way any of his projects could gather my actual interest is if he went back in time and undid all the ultima fuckups.

But that's not happening is it.
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
1,739
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So his lawsuit money is dwindling, time to get back into the industry to mess some more stuff up.
 

revjay

Everybody's dead, Dave.
Nov 19, 2007
510
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I remember waaaaay back when there was a semi-reveal of what UO2 was going to be and I was stoked. Since this isn't going to be anything nearly that cool I'll just wait until they reveal Ultimaville so I can bug total strangers to tend the crops in my own little Skara Brae. /sigh
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
2,246
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I love Ultima. But not this much. Under EA it is a total impossibility. If he goes independent then yes.
 

Solo-Wing

Wanna have a bad time?
Dec 15, 2010
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DVS BSTrD said:
A countdown to... BETRAYAL!
Nobody wants more Ultima if EA is involved.
[HEADING=2]BETRAYED ME![/HEADING]
"Whats a Paladin?"
[HEADING=1]BETRAYAL!!![/HEADING]

I take it you are also a Spoony fan?

OT: Eh. Never really got into the Ultima series.
 

Jorec

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Jul 7, 2010
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Man if this does somehow end up being a new entry into the Ultima Series that would be so freaking odd cause I was just talking about the possibility of that happening with my friends a few days ago.
 

teh_Canape

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May 18, 2010
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l3o2828 said:
So how about a Ultima 9.5.

Without Betrayals
that makes me think
a lot of the Ultima 9 writing shit could be fixed without the need for removal
like say, Dupre's "resurrection" could just be said to be a sort of hologram, so to speak, made by the Guardian to break the Avatar's will
or that Blackthorne being bad again was because he was possessed again, and explain it that if a person was possessed once, it could be possessed again
or "your knowledge of the land shall be great" and then put in a Mass Effect type codex to avoid the stupid pointless questions

of course, that doesn't change the ass gameplay though
 

Darks63

New member
Mar 8, 2010
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with the words countdown and beyond you have to wonder if its not a ultima game at all, but instead maybe another space based rpg.
 

Quellist

Migratory coconut
Oct 7, 2010
1,443
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After the debacle of Ultima 9 what should be next for Lord British is to be forced to play his shitty game through a few times so he can really appreciate how let down fans were.

He can go stuff his countdown up his butt for all i care.
 

Newtonyd

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Apr 30, 2011
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I loved Ultima Online, until it was destroyed over and over again, before my eyes. I watched as each enjoyable facet of gameplay was squandered, spoiled, or simply cast aside.

The dude is basically the M. Night Shyamalan of video games.