Something cool for hardcore Ultima fans June 18th?

Jeff Skalski, the Ultima Franchise Producer with Bioware Mythic, posted the following cryptic piece of news to his Twitter account on June 11th.

Write a note on your calendar, folks.  Something interesting is happening next Monday.  Wish I knew what!

26 Responses

  1. The Lost Vale? *grin*

  2. Thepal says:

    Worlds of Ultima on GoG. My guess.

    • Sergorn says:

      That would be my hope as well. It could also be Ultima IX on GoG I guess, but I’m not sure this would count as something “cool” for hardcore fans 😛

  3. kobrakai says:

    By “hardcore”, he might mean something related to Ultima IV, VI and VII.

    And I see nothing special with the date, except that 18 = –∞ + 90°.

    Well… I beg your pardon for this stupid joke… but I’m posting it anyway, since it has already consumed some picograms of grey matter from my brain.

  4. Sanctimonia says:

    He had some tweet about just having looked at some ASCII dungeons. Maybe that was an attempt to get hard core players looking at his eventual target, or just banter. Maybe he’s exploring Rogue-like mockups of gameplay from a still-in-development Ultima game?

    A smart, modern single-player Ultima would do well to take lessons from Ultima Online and make everything persistent and irreversible. If you kill a person essential to a quest, then TOO BAD.

    • LoneStranger says:

      In my first play-through of U5, I killed everyone in Paws.

      • Sanctimonia says:

        Heh, no doubt exhilarating to realize the game let you do whatever you wanted. I always respected Ultima for that. I’d rather a game let me create an unwinnable state than to condescend to or second guess my gameplay choices.

        One goal when I played Ultima V was to get a cannon from British’s castle onto the overworld somehow. I wanted to push it around and blast people without having to enter the combat screen. To great effect I could blast the guards on the castletop, but not rain fire below or elsewhere.

  5. Zygon Dragon says:

    Really don’t hope they are talking about more GOG releases. That for me is not news nor is it interesting. Most of the hardcore fans like myself have boxed original copies of the games and GOG releases really mean nothing to us.

    LostVale would be soooo cool 🙂

    • Infinitron says:

      Most of the hardcore fans like myself have boxed original copies of the games

      Speak for yourself. Kenneth and I had single-digit ages when these most of these games were released. 😛

      • Thepal says:

        Same. Worlds of Ultima would be cool.

        I also like having the digital backup of my games. The last few times I’ve installed some Ultimas and Quest for Glory games it took a little work. Now I have GoG versions which are tiny downloads and install easily. Not to mention I never bought WC4, and finally own that (just have to find time to play it)

      • WtF Dragon says:

        Kenneth and I had single-digit ages when these most of these games were released.

        Moreover, I was entirely dependent on my grandfather for the supply of games that came through the house; my parents weren’t interested in fostering that particular habit. I think the first game I purchased for myself might have been Might & Magic 4, but by then my grandfather had already introduced us to various Ultima and Zork titles, plus some old-timey Sierra goodness.

        Curiously, he never picked up the Worlds of Ultima games. And as such, I never got to try them, nor see them up close and in person. Indeed, the first time I ever put eyes on a Savage Empire box was when I visited Joe Garrity’s place a little over a year ago.

  6. Zygon Dragon says:

    God I feel old now… haha

  7. Mageguru says:

    Its just the giveaway promotion that EA is doing for PLAY4FREE where they are giving away free in game items, which includes LORD OF ULTIMA. See http://www.play4free.com/en/summer?utm_source=p4f-portal&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=p4f_summer-2012-homepage-promo

  8. Zygon Dragon says:

    Darn.. I really would of liked to see something new or some unearthed Ultima relic. Oh well. Our last hope is with Richard Garriot and New Britannia..

    • Infinitron says:

      Our last hope is with Richard Garriot and New Britannia..

      Our last hope for what?

      • Zygon Dragon says:

        Anything new and Ultima related! Don’t really see EA releasing Ultima X and even if they did they don’t have the old team so it would never be the same.

      • Infinitron says:

        Anything new and Ultima related? Well, we’re told that Paul Barnett of Mythic will eventually come out with some kind of Ultima-related online game(?)
        Kenneth knows more, but he’s not allowed to say.

        Not sure if that’s what you had in mind, though.

      • Dungy says:

        You might be surprised by what’s in the works, Zygon

      • WtF Dragon says:

        Hey Dungy…did you notice Paul Barnett’s invitation to Tibby to come see what’s up?

      • Dungy says:

        No I didn’t notice, but that’s awesome. Knowing the awesome work Tibby has done in the past, and Tibby’s unsurpassed love for the Ultima series, I couldn’t imagine anything more awesome than him working for Mythic. 😛

  9. Heyiaiaia says:

    My friend made a great video for SotA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP1jl3wj9_w&feature=youtu.be