Los Angeles E3 UO Lunch

May 15, 1999

I was only planning to attend E3 for the first day. But it wasn't all about seeing the latest games, it was also about meeting people. I had to wait until the last day of the show for a special opportunity to have lunch with an industry celebrity.

Yes! The one and only Richard Garriott, aka Lord British, creator of the Ultima series of computer games. Not to mention ruler of Britannia ;-).

First off, LB bought us all pizza B-). Then he held forth about various topics, including the hush-hush UO2 project. A team specifically put together for this project has been working for a year already. UO2 doesn't mean the end of the original UO. In fact, LB stated that he had no idea UO would end up being so big. He thought maybe 100,000 units tops would be sold...never that it would become the best-selling game ever sold by Electronic Arts/Origin. It was after all, an "experiment"...
I wish I had a voice recorder as I'm terrible at remembering things that were said. LB talked extensively about his vision for the future of UO. It may use a variant of the Ascension engine, meaning 3D graphics, and could allow for further character personalization than already exists. Even voice could be used. Meanwhile, he stated that Ascension would definitely be the last standalone Ultima game, and that the Wing Commander standalone series is also a thing of the past. Online gaming is clearly the way to go.

[More photos] More photos!

[Dragon Page] Back to Dragon Page
[Home] Back to Seinentai's Home Page

seishun@mindspring.com

tatakamoto@csupomona.edu (Preferred)

Revised: April 19, 2001