Richard Garriott sat down for a chat with IGN executive editor Ryan McCaffrey recently, to discuss the history of Ultima Online and the troubles that Origin Systems had getting the project approved.

Much of the story is already known to those of us who’ve been following the history of Ultima for a while; EA rejected the project several times — three, in fact — before finally allowing a limited trial run of the game. It was this trial run — in which Origin asked players interested in testing the game to send $5 to the studio, to cover the cost of making an installation CD and mailing it back — that ultimately convinced EA to allow the project to proceed…after 50,000 CDs were sent out.

But in case you weren’t all that familiar with the story, IGN has an article about it that you can read.

The First Age of Update: Additionally, as part of their interview with Garriott, IGN has articles (and video) up of Lord British discussing the mechanics of going to the bathroom in space, and the time he pointed an Uzi at an intruder.

(Hat tip: Houston Dragon, Infinitron Dragon)