Video: Origin – New Releases (1990)
Here’s another video from the University of Texas at Austin’s “Warren Spector Papers” archive at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. This one is a showcase of games released by Origin Systems in 1990, and includes (among other titles) Ultima 6:
The video starts by giving us a look at Ultima 6’s game world, and then focuses on some of the larger enemies that can be encountered in the game…cyclopses, dragons, and suchlike. Bad Blood’s setting and communication system are also examined, as are the plots of Space Rogue and Wind Walker. Character development and the world design of Knights of Legend are featured next, and the video ends by throwing some attention on Omega, a “cybertank” simulation game.
And yes, once again, the original format for the video was a VHS recording. Hence the quality.
They just spoiled ultima 6 completely O_O
Who thought it was a good idea to have heads walk around the map for Wind Walker?
Just out of curiosity, who got these videos anyway? Did you have to call Origin back then and they’d send you a VHS? Or like from a magazine or were these like free promos like demo disks?
I don’t think they were meant for the eyes of ordinary consumers. This was promotional material for publishers, retailers and other people in the business.
I think the idea with the walking heads was that you could get more character in the low resolution by just showing the face. It did look bizarre though, the prequel Moebius was exactly the same. They weren’t bad games but if I was going to pick an early Origin game I wanted to get a sequel, Moebius would have been last on the list.
Most of these games were released in 1989 which doesn’t seem to match the description on the video.
I used a similar strategy and am glad to see that at least one game shared it. Moving head icons do look crazy; scaling the face while showing the body would be an ideal presentation.
My sequel or reboot choice would be Ultima Underworld. Once the core systems and mechanics were solidified (olddata, wasd+mouse, opengl) they could add multiplayer, including playing as a lurker or other beasts. Imagine if you could hide underwater and still move, looking up waiting for a player before creeping up and attacking him!
Creepy narration. Reminds me of the Sierra tape they mailed out with the Ad-lib/MT-32 comparisons.