Ultima Online GDC Hall of Fame video

Apparently, Ultima Online received the first ever Hall of Fame award at GDC, the Game Developers Conference. To celebrate, Mythic (who are now in charge of UO) produced a celebratory little video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-r5M6QYXCA&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Thanks, Origin. And thanks, Mythic.

Now, granted, the last couple of minutes (from about 1:02 onward) are a bit more the vein of an advertisement, although some of the player stories are interesting (others sound more frustrating than anything else).

But that first minute…just…wow.

I know that Ultima Online has been a point of controversy for many Ultima fans, and in many cases rightly so. It began as an interesting expansion on the Ultima concept, but very quickly strayed into all manner of odd departures therefrom. That said, in Mythic’s hands, it’s starting to really return to its roots, to the Britannia that we know and love.

And I think, in no small part, that’s due to Mythic’s readily evident love for the old Ultima games, which the first minute or so of the above video alludes to. It’s nothing overstated, just a few seconds of graphics and gameplay from each canonical Ultima game (and also Ultima Underworld) set to a pretty score…but it’s touching even so. It doesn’t scream “Ultima!” at top volume, and it doesn’t have to; the games speak for themselves. It just presents them, with an obvious, deep-seated respect.

(Thanks to the guys at UOGuide for the video link.)

5 Responses

  1. Cear Dragon says:

    Loved being there. Even though they spelled my name wrong.
    The other guy with the beard is my buddy too. EA Mythic’s studio was amazing.
    Meeting the developers of the game alone gave me more than enough hope for that games future.

  2. Dungy says:

    Nice video. I’ve only played Ultima Online and Everquest, and that was a decade ago when I used to have the free time, but still, Ultima Online will always have a special place in my heart. An open world, a greater ability to explore, and I made some great friendships.

  3. Sergorn says:

    I wish there had been more MMOs like UO. The fact that all MMOs since 1998 have basically been Everquuest clones is the reason I stopped playing them.

  4. Dominus says:

    Ultima Online only ruined my game for three months, after that I had to go cold turkey 🙂
    And it’s the reason why I’ll never touch an online MMO again… I know how addictive they can be and I need a game to be over at some time…

  5. Cear Dragon says:

    Every morning i wake up to a small town on fire island / isle of the avatar with a group of guild mates bent on casting Armageddon, and am reminded how awesome Ultima Online is.