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Spector, Garriott on Games

Posted by michael on from the invisible-hand-of-the-ion-illuminati dept.

Warrior-GS writes "GameSpy has two interesting interviews up. Richard Garriott of Ultima fame talks about leaving Origin, getting bought out by NCSoft and becoming a pitchman for a popular Korean MMORPG trying to make it in the states. He also mentions his new game, Tabula Rasa. The other interview is with Warren Spector, who opened up a bit on the Deus Ex sequel Invisible War, while also commenting on linear games, anime style games and what the future holds."

16 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Tabula Rasa by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Funny

    that was the way my teachers described my mind, especially during exams.

    1. Re:Tabula Rasa by $$$$$exyGal · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Here's what Garriott says about the name "Tabula Risa":

      There's a number of ways to interpret "clean slate." We originally picked that name less because of subject matter than the need to start over again. Interestingly, if you go into the way the game is designed, we didn't actively choose to have the fiction behind the game support that title, but the background tale we selected actually wound up fitting the name quite well.

      Interesting that the name didn't necessarily have anything to do with the actual product.

      --sex

      --
      Very popular slashdot journal for adul
  2. WHAT?!?!? by Sheepdot · · Score: 4, Funny
    Hold on a dag gum minute...

    You mean to tell me that the Deus Ex Sequel is going to come out BEFORE Half-Life 2 and Duke Nukem Forever?

  3. Name the Game by creative_name · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is naming games after the lives of the developers, per Tabula Rasa going to become a trend? Can we look forward to seeing Still No Date and Damn Soda on my Keyboard on store shelves soon?!?

    --
    Posting as directed.
    1. Re:Name the Game by Ryan+Amos · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dude, we've had that for years. Quake (as in what developers did when they saw a real, breathing female,) Unreal (the prospect of sex in their lives) and Final Fantasy (the realization that, 50 years from now, the developer would die in his semen-soaked underwear, dreaming of a real woman..)

      Actually, ironically, according to Hironobu Sakaguchi (producer of Final Fantasy,) the game was named such because if it didn't succeed, it really WAS Square's final fantasy. :) But the game was popular, Square recovered, and all is well with the cosmos.

  4. Re:80'sthemesong.mp3 by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

    "nana nana NA na NAAaa Na Spector Garriot. NananaNA NA NAAAAAAA!"

    That has got to be the worst spelling of the Inspector Gadget theme song I've ever seen.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  5. The silence continues... by briggsb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure they'll talk about MMORPGs but will they ever address the long term effects of potions of healing? I heard theycause liver damage.

  6. Classic Ultima vs Online by aridhol · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've been a fan of Ultima ever since I got Ultima IV on my Commodore; I've since gone back and played the entire central series.

    I look at what they're marketing as Ultima these days, and have to wonder what the heck happened. Why did Blackthorne go from being a corrupted nobleman to being a cyborg? When did Britannia get all ultra-high-tech?

    I don't play online games. I like to go through at my own pace, on my own schedule, and complete a game. I don't want some 31337 kiddie to come along and screw up the game by being completely out of character or by cheating. And I don't want to pay extra to play a game that I've already bought.

    So my Ultima experience is limited to the "real" Ultimas. I'll never know what accident of history changed Britannia to a sci-fi nightmare. And I won't lose any sleep over it.

    --
    I can't say that I don't give a fuck. I've just run out of fuck to give.
    1. Re:Classic Ultima vs Online by Gaijin42 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Britannia started out all high tech. It wasn't till 4 that it went fantasy all the way. In the early ultimas, there were space ships, lasers, etc.

      Blackthorn is a cyborg because of a plot line invoving Exedus. Which kinda makes sense, but only if you started with the early Ultimas.

    2. Re:Classic Ultima vs Online by DrCode · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I agree, and also have another reason for playing single-person games: I like being the hero. In single-person games, you get to save the world, solve the mystery, or defeat the evil pirate LeChuck.

      One game designer (forgot who) suggested that the ideal multi-player game would have far more NPC's than real players. That way, each human player could still be the center of attention, and get involved in complex plots, only occasionally running into other humans.

  7. hey kids! by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 4, Funny

    "becoming a pitchman for a popular Korean MMORPG trying to make it in the states."

    Would you like to live in the shadow of nuclear war? Haven't you always fascinated about frolicking in a demilitarized zone? Well, have we got a game for you!

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  8. Re:Cool. by All+Names+Have+Been · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think that this game, Tabula Rasa, is going to be a best seller. Look at it. It's made by a guy with a solid reputation (He brought us Ultima!), and by combining that with today's cutting-edge graphics technologies, It's bound to be good. I don't play any games like this, but I know people who do, and I'd bet they'ed sink thier money into this. Rock on, Richard!

    I think that this game, Daikatana, Is going to be a best seller. Look at it. It's made by a guy with a solid reputation (He brought us Quake!), and by combining that with today's cutting-edge graphics technologies, it's bound to be good. I don't play any games like this, but I know people who do, and I'd bet they'ed sink thier money into this. Rock on, John Romero!

    I know, I know, you were joking.

  9. Re:Cool. by Reedo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I honestly can't tell if that's sarcasm of not.

    If not, then you must not have heard about Ultima 9? Made by a guy with a solid reputation (Ultima!) and was heralded by Origin/EA for it's cutting-edge graphics technology. It released and was one of the biggest disasters in recent memory. It was so buggy that Origin remastered the game with all the patches and sent them out to registered users who bought Ultima 9. They also shut down the message boards shortly after release because of the massive amount of complaints.

  10. Deus Ex by T-Kir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I started playing Deus Ex again this past week, and apart from it crashing constantly (either my 9500 Pro/Catalyst 3 drivers/DirectX 9) the other thing that struck me was how more real the game felt with all the political stuff going on now, just swop the Liberty statue with the Twin Towers, the extra laws being brought in to combat terrorism, et al.

    Very scary indeed :(

    --
    Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
  11. Re:I hated his Ultima 1, first release, it had bug by SoftwareJanitor · · Score: 4, Informative

    His second major product, was Ultima 1 for the Apple II.

    Correct, I remember it well. Spent many too many hours playing it back in the early 80's.

    It was written in Pascal P-Code I think, As was Wizardry 1 by another author.

    Wizardry was indeed written in Apple Pascal (UCSD), but Ultima 1 was mostly written in Applesoft BASIC, as anyone who has perused the cracked copies that floated around the 'warez' circles back in those days could tell you.

    Chances are Ultima 1 would have been less buggy had it been written in Pascal than in BASIC.

  12. Deus Ex by Teckla · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you're a gamer, and you haven't played Deus Ex yet, do yourself a favor and GO BUY IT. RIGHT NOW.

    I've seen it as cheap as $10 in the bargain bin (jewel case and CD only). The boxed version is only $20.

    Deus Ex rocks. So much so, that I'm basing my next PC purchase on when Deus Ex: Invisible War is released.

    -Teckla