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Ultima Online X Rumored In Development?

Posted by simoniker on from the more-secret-than-secret dept.

According to Ultima Online Stratics, the new issue of GMR Magazine (as found in EB stores) has a column leaking details about "Ultima-X", which is apparently Origin/EA's new MMORPG. A quote from the article goes as follows: "It's going to surprise you. I can't say anything just yet except maybe three quick words: Unreal Warfare engine." The writer of the column has since turned up on online forums indicating that he was told to hold the news, but the magazine had already gone to press. This is a fascinating rumor that initially seems to pass the smell test - stay tuned for more details.

24 comments

  1. I liked Ultima IX by eggstasy · · Score: 1

    In anticipation of a thousand threads bashing Ultima IX, I would like to be the first (and possibly only) person to clearly state that I liked it, and played it, and even paid for it, unlike 99% of all games I've ever played.
    Thank you for your time.

    1. Re:I liked Ultima IX by maunleon · · Score: 1

      I like it too, but it had performance and stability problems. And no, I was not using a crappy machine.. it was fairly decent.

    2. Re:I liked Ultima IX by toddhunter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I also enjoyed it. However I bought it a few years after it was released. As such it was patched to hell and actually ran well on my upgraded machine. I know a lot of gamers have a soft spot for the series, mainly because they were done so well, with such a high level of interaction with the game world. A shame that developers couldn't keep that trend going. Hopefully this new release will have some of the old bread making just for the hell of it

  2. Ultima Online by Wheaty18 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I loved UO. It was the best MMORPG I have ever played (that is, before they implemented the Tram/Fel split. It all went downhill after that).

    If a new MMORPG based on the Ultima universe is indeed being developed, it will have one hell of a time living up to, let alone surpassing, the great game that UO used to be. Although my interest in MMOG's has faded since the UO days, I still remember eagerly awaiting UO2 when those first few screenshots were released.

    Best of luck to the devs.

    1. Re:Ultima Online by rastachops · · Score: 1

      UO was great... its a pity that development teams feel that a 3D engine is *needed* to make a great MMORPG. If only they would make a higher resolution / more detailed UO type engine then personally that'll make a great game.

    2. Re:Ultima Online by _ph1ux_ · · Score: 1

      I cannot agree more. I played UO from beta through for almost 2 years.

      At the time my good friend ran Intels game lab - so we had access to a full T1 just for gaming (this was in late '96 and through '97) - which was unheard of for gaming at that time. We had a lab of 20+ machines all with 21 inch monitors. and 2 UO accounts each...

      We used to have a whole row of machines open to our world there - and we played CONSTANTLY. It was the best game I have ever played. period.

      The fun only lasted so long of course - as they patched and ruined what was a gameworld where the fittest survived. Where the Great Lords and Dread Lords battled it out and the best, most cunning and wittiest player won.

      We used to play and battle the 2 of us against 20 others, and we would win. We had GMs that used to follow us around just to see how we played - to ensure that we werent cheating because we were so good. They would watch our battles and see how we were able to fight against that many people - then ask us questions about our strategy.

      Man that was a fun time... I still think back at many of the battles we had.

      DreadLord Phlux
      DreadLord Mym
      DreadLord Draygor

      Hellfire Guild

      FUN FUN FUN.

      I really wish that they would do something with as much freedom as that game had in the first year and a half - and I hope that they can make a game that solely relies on the thinking of the player. For there is no better opponent in a computer game than an actual human on the other end.

  3. UO... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    UO was great... and yeah... after Tram/Fel split the game went to shit. AoS is a damned nightmare. Can't even wrestle a mongbat to death anymore... (I guess this is what happens when you try to mix EQ and Shadowbane into a game not designed for it.)

    Thank whatever diety for UOX3 and other shard emulators! :)

    LONG LIVES T2A IN THE HEART OF A PK!

    1. Re:UO... by prisonernumber7 · · Score: 1

      There are quite a few free UO servers out there, if you liked the game you indeed might want to give it a try - playing is free after all:

      The Panultima Endeffect
      World of Honor
      The Forgotten Realm

      --
      && aemula C. ab stirpe interiit
  4. Is UWE Scalable? by Kelerain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How are they dealing with the scaling of MMOG games? I wasn't aware that the UWE engine was particularly good at very large environments, but perhaps they are overhauling it, or have built in some untaped functionality. They are using it for Tribes: Vengance after all, a traditionally 'huge outdoor' environment game series. Looks quite promising..

    1. Re:Is UWE Scalable? by Soulslayer · · Score: 3, Informative

      It works great.

      Lineage 2 from NC Soft is using the same engine and is absolutely stunning.

      I've been very impressed at how well that particular FPS engine has translated into the MMPOG environment.

      --


      Once more unto the breach dear friends...
  5. Why switch engines? by Fritzy · · Score: 2, Informative

    I doubt the rumor is true. Doesn't anyone remember how they squashed UO2? Why would they remake the game from scratch instead of just using what they already had? I don't understand why they would use an Unreal engine.

    1. Re:Why switch engines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reason is because when UO2 was cancelled they fired the entire development team. It is easier to just start from scratch rather than attempt to build off ancient code written by a completely different dev team.

      And on that note, EA can go to hell for cancelling the original UO2 and destroying OSI.

    2. Re:Why switch engines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      UO2 and Privateer Online were both scrapped when EA restructured the Origin division and ended up firing most of the Origin teams. They wanted Origin to focus on UO at the time and not worry about other projects(including UO's sequel)

      Interesting note... SWG contains several team members from UO2 and has many of the features that UO2 was intended to have.

      UO is suffering now more than ever with all the new competition and it's aging engine, so I wouldn't be surprised if EA finaly gave the go ahead for a new UO sequel, though after EA's lackluster performance of it's last 3 MMO attempts(Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond, and The Sims Online) I do wonder if they may have decided to give up on the genre for awhile.

    3. Re:Why switch engines? by jafuser · · Score: 1

      though after EA's lackluster performance of it's last 3 MMO attempts(Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond, and The Sims Online)

      The only reason these have failed is becuase they are cheap ass bastards. I get the impression that E&B has probably a total of maybe four developers based on how much content they can crank out between patches.

      Not only that, but the loot tables (table of items to drop when you kill something) are still stored in thousands of individual text files instead of a database. They supposedly just spent *two months* updating the loot tables, and even then they had serious problems that required a week to correct when they could have been corrected in minutes if it were properly done with a database.

      The game had so much potential too... =(

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  6. all i can say is by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

    Please let this be true. I loved UO, and was really looking forward to UO2. If this is released I will be all over it like white on rice.

    --
    Why not fork?
  7. gotta love ultima by entrails_770 · · Score: 0

    Id have to admit i loved ultima9 and still run it up every now and again..Runs fine on modern hardware.I plyed uo early on for about 5 yrs but recently got bored but any game with the ultima name would have to have that special magic which i doubt ea can do without richard garriot.Butr heres hoping:)

  8. no richard? by funkmastermike · · Score: 1

    I find it almost sad that an Ultima game isn't coming out without the man Richard Garriot. It's almost as if a Zelda game being developed by Namco.
    http://www.gamespy.com/interviews/february03/briti sh/

    1. Re:no richard? by lowmagnet · · Score: 1

      Except your analogy fails because Namco makes better games than Nintendo. Top-Down Zelda or death!

      --
      Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
  9. No Lord British, No Ultima... by pcx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    EA has totally squandered the great Origin Legacy. They had rights to the name Privateer, one of the best space-based trading games in the history of video games and released "Earth and Beyond" which capitalized neither on a great brand name nor the experience of Origin so that the game wouldn't suck.

    Richard Gariot, the creator of the origin franchise saw the handwriting on the EA wall long ago and bolted. He's now working on Liniage 2.

    As far as I'm concerned EA doesn't have the tallent to produce a true successor to the ultima universe. They let a widely popular MMORPG rot on the vine, they failed to captialize on the incredible brandnames of "Wing Commander", "Privateer", and "Ultima" and have let them all die.

    Ultima *IS* Lord British, he's the soul of the game and the talent that makes it worthwhile. So don't hold your breath on this one.

    1. Re:No Lord British, No Ultima... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Garriot is just a figurehead for lineage 2. His name is attached to it so that it can get recognition. His real pet project at the moment is Tabula Rasa

  10. It's true. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I've seen and played it on site in Austin. The game plays like a hybrid of Diablo in 3d and EQ. That is to say the interface is kept simple and the gameplay is 3d. The build I saw was interesting. And you can play as an orc.

    Take it for what it's worth.

  11. Does EA have the patience? by laddhebert · · Score: 1
    Does EA have the patience to wait this out? Will the developers in Austin have to give an immature date just to keep the suits happy at EARS ? EA likes to release early and often, and from what I hear, this release is not going to be early. It is going to be a lot of work and the developers are trying to do it right. UO is pretty much a cash cow for EA , continuing to pull new users from Asia and Europe (mostly Asia).

    If they do this right, they can get those users and an entire slew of users from North and South America that have been waiting and waiting for another UO-like game to come around. After the horrible turn around of game play in PSW/MMORPGs that resulted from EQ (level based, 6 months to lvl 50 for average gamers) , I for one would welcome this release.

    --
    Don't Panic.
  12. They already canned ultima online 2 once by Mordain · · Score: 1

    So, what makes them so eager to try again? The UO2 team had millions of lines of code already written and were well on the way to release a sequel. Then they canned it, to the chagrin of the developement team, who as i remember had a nice 'funeral pyre' for it, pictures were well distrobuted on the web.

    Wonder if any of that code has been resurected?

    --

    Teamwork is a bunch of people doing what I tell them.
  13. mmm Tabula Rasa by pythian · · Score: 1

    Here's to hoping for any info on Tabula Rasa before too long, and here's another to hoping it will turn out well, and be the next in the line of Ultima games (style, not name here people).