This is about as far as confirmed as you can get but I’m just going to toss this out here. Maybe Jeff can shed some light on the situation. Found this on UO Stratics:
"According to several reports on our U.Hall Forum from the players, the latest issue of GMR Magazine (found at your local Electronics Boutique) has the following quote in their June 2003 Issue on Page 21, written by Jeff Green of Computer Gaming World:
“The really exciting news this month should be going public as you read this. For over a year now, Origin has been quietly woodshedding Ultima-X its new MMORPG. And it’s going to surprise you. I can’t say anything just yet except maybe three quick words: Unreal Warfare engine. Watch this one. EA surprised everyone when Battlefield 1942 showed up out of nowhere last year. They may do it again.”
No official comment from anyone at OSI or EA at this time, but if we hear anything more you can trust that you’ll read about it in our news. A special note of thanks to BORED for bringing this to everyone’s attention."
Guess it shouldn’t be too surprising. While the current UO has continued to do well and they killed UO2 I would assume they are working on some sort of eventual replacement for it.
Gets a big fat “meh” from me… it’s a MMOG and of course Garriott will be in no wise involved. Seems to me odd that they are calling it “Ultima X” (if they are) since I figured that particular series of roman numerals was for the single player series.
Still, if true, this may mollify some of the angry hordes who felt betrayed by the cancellation of Ultima Online Worlds Online Origins of Worlds: Origin Online Ultima. (better known as UO2)
Good Lord man, strong opinions based on complete absence of data is what the internet is all about! I myself am sure I will loathe it, as I loathe all FPS games and games built on FPS engines.
Huh. Did I write that? I guess I did. I guess that’s why I’m in trouble now. :D
I did see a game at Origin in Texas, and it is pretty much what I described in that GMR column. It was going to also appear in CGW shortly thereafter, but their dates changed for the game, so I was told to hold off. Unfortunately, I had already written and subsequently forgotten about the GMR column until it showed up on my desk in print, at which point I found myself in the proverbial Maison de Merde.
So now I need to be quiet and let Origin/EA do the talking.
Origin’s web site had advertisements for Unreal engine worldbuilders over a year ago.
If they can get it to work as a client for the current game (similar to what they did with the last pseudo-3D client, Third Dawn) that would be extremely cool. UO’s server technology is still some of the most advanced out there – drop a sword in the forest, come back a week later and it’s still there.
shouldn’t it be called ultima online 2? Ultima X is reserved for solo play… at least it should be. Friggin bastards. Why did they waste time with that EnB and MotoCity shit… could have just spent time on UO2 and UX… whatever@!
Andy Hollis, the veteran designer responsible for many MicroProse and Jane’s flight sims, is recruited to head EA’s Austin studio and oversee the Ultima franchise’s next steps.
Wow. Andy’s taking a break from the autocross circuit to get back into games, eh? Very cool.
With Andy in charge, we can at least be assured that very cool stuff will be in development. (Alas, we can’t be assured that EA won’t can the very cool stuff before it ships…)
BRAVO! I expect a NEW solo Ultima to come out in the next two or three years… well at least it SHOULD be made! Remember the times when Ultima used good gargoyles in the game? And a murder mystery? Damn bring back the good ole Ultima’s Andy!
