Lord British’s Ultimate Role Playing Game, which may be called “Akalabeth” or may be called “New Britannia” or may be called “a name I cannot yet say as it describes the setting I am considering and think I should keep secret at least until I know if it’s likely true,” will be an Ultimate RPG.
Dr. Richard A. Garriott de Cayeux on The Ultimate RPG
I don’t think we’re out of the woods quite yet when it comes to the Madness of Lord British, but at least we have some more details.
In an interview over at EuroGamer, Garriott de Cayeux gushes about Portalarium’s first non-casino related game, Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale, a Facebook game expected to be available some time in 2012 and which seems to be somewhat inspired by Garriott de Cayeux’s own collecting mania. The game boasts the following bullet points:
- A collecting and shopping social media game
- From hall of fame designer Richard Garriott
- Decorate your own house and show off your collections
- Shop and collect from garage sales, markets and auctions
- Go shopping in-game at nationally known retailers
- Playable on a PC and available on Facebook in first quarter of 2012
This, as with the previous casino games, is Portalarium’s way of financing the development of the technology they will need to create the Ultimate RPG. We will have to wait to see how it fares.
This all comes with a serious, professional upgrade to the Portalarium web site, including a new logo and motto.
We Take You There
And, thankfully, they removed that 20+ year old picture of Garriott de Cayeux. That was influencing how seriously anybody could take this venture.
The Ultimate RPG is still out in the distant future, but Garriott de Cayeux offers these inspirational words.
So when traditional gamers look at all the “Ville” clones out there in the world, take heart! See not what is popular now, but rather what is happening in this new era that also would benefit them! A great game, like a great movie, need not be inaccessible to the masses. Great story and depth need not come at the cost of up front effort, pain and cost. Free to play does not mean the game has to be riddled with advertising and calls to spam your friends.
But, for those unwilling or unable to pay fairly for what they now play, asking them to work for the developer and find us players is not unfair. Great games can and will be made in this new era, to the benefit of all, traditional and new players. We intend to be a leading maker of such games.
Dr. Richard A. Garriott de Cayeux, again on The Ultimate RPG
There, does that make everybody feel better?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
Ok, now I understand what the collecting game is about. These are the pertinent points:
— Decorate your own house and show off your collections
— Go shopping in-game at nationally known retailers
It’s a way for poor people who can’t afford trips into space to buy things they can’t have in real life and show them off to all their online friends in their fake home. Fake shopping for the new version of e-peens!
Also, Mr. Garriott, adding a “te” to the end of Ultima doesn’t make it a new game. Sorry.
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I see his wife is on the list of investors.
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You sure that’s not his daughter? :P
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Well, his daughter might have “Garriott” in her last name, since he just got married again this year. Plus I saw her name on the wedding cake in the picture.
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W, admit it: You love the crazy!
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Now, part of it is that I played a bunch of the Ultima games in my youth, and I have many fond memories of those times. (Though the picture I have of my Apple II shows Wizardry on the screen… whose authors Lord British mocked in Ultima III.)
And with that there is some hope that he has something amazing left for us, something that has required him to wait until computer technology reach its current stage of development.
But also, yes, I do love me some crazy.
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I already played Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale. It was one of the best features of Everquest and we called it Vendor Diving.
All MMOs should have it.
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It’s not just the crazy he’s at least half-right. Great games shouldn’t be inaccessible, it will be great for gaming if he delivers on his promises. It will be great for gaming if he makes something as playable as SWTOR looks to be without spending $200m+
Even if he doesn’t it’s great that someone’s trying.
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All the great inventors are crazy, so this can only mean good things for the genre… right?
And I don’t care how long or odd he makes his name, give me a real Ultima game (online or off), and I’ll call him whatever he wants.
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@Bhagpuss – I think I did a post about that, back in the days when stuff you sold to vendors became part of their inventory.
@Stabs – Indeed, and I wouldn’t be posting anything about him if he were just crazy. There are plenty of crazy people out there to follow. I am keen to see if something comes of this Ultimate RPG. I just worry that having tons of money and years of adulation about being a genius might have worn down his edge. There is a long history of people accomplishing great things in their youth and then spending their later years looking a bit foolish trying to recapture that.
We shall see.
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