Month: February 2011

The “Official” Launch of the Ultima Online Journal

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Update (Feb 26): Quite a few stories are offline, namely stories that have screenshots that we took, or other images that were hosted on the test server – we need to move those over and are working on it this weekend.

Today marks the official launch of the Ultima Online Journal.

Yesterday, the domain was officially registered, and our hosting provider set things up. This morning, we migrated the database of four months worth of posts and stories over from the private test site (our own Test Center!) As far as we know, there are no problems – we apologize in advance though for anything that may seem odd, especially with the RSS feeds. When we set things up, the RSS feeds were in reverse! That was due to the migration resetting some dates/article numbers, and you should not have seen it, but if you notice anything weird, please contact us. Those dates have been properly fixed and should display properly in an RSS reader. I believe we only have the last 10 stories set for RSS anyways, so any problematic past articles will quickly be out of that buffer.

Unofficially, as mentioned on the About page, UOJournal has existed since November of 2010. It ran on a test center of sorts, while we added stories, worked out formats, and generally decided what we were going to do. One thing I’m personally happy about – what we talked about in November and into December as far as what the site would cover has survived up through today. I take that as an indication that we had a good idea. We did remove some things, either because they were duplicated by other sites, or just really didn’t fit, but the core of what we laid out last year survived.

For those who had been invited to comment/critique what is now UOJournal.com before it went live at UOJournal.com this morning, you may notice some stories that are missing – that is due to stories containing videos and screenshots that we ourselves took. Those will be added back into UOJournal.com once we finish uploading the related media to our public YouTube and flickr accounts. Other stories that reference third party videos and screenshots are still intact and available.

What Can You Do?
Spread UOJournal.com around, contact us with UO news and commentary. Just because we have officially launched UOJournal.com today does not mean many players are going to automatically visit it – it will take some time to find its way through the computers of Google and the other search engines. If you have thoughts on the website, positive or negative, please let us know, we love any and all criticism.

Cal Talks About Classic Shard, UO Developer Video Diary, Announces Video House of Commons for March 1st, 2011

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If you are curious about the long-desired Ultima Online developer video diary that was first mentioned back in December, the one that was originally planned to be shown back in January, we have a lot more information. We have a long-delayed answer to the question of a so-called “Classic Shard”, and the answer is, not right now. We also have a reference to some major thing or things that happened between January 3rd and late February. Cal also mentions that the video is still coming.

To see these comments in their full context, as well as all of Cal’s comments, please read the the full UO.Stratics thread.

Here are the comments from Cal Crowner, the UO Producer, to start the thread off:

Yes, it’s done. So why isn’t it out? The answer to a “Why” question at the Academy is “No Excuse.” So let’s just go with that.

The intent was to frame several subjects about what we are doing for the remainder of the year in a few short minutes. Between editing and all the things that have happened between January 3rd and now, the answers have not changed, but the method in which we broadcast has many times.

Anyway, you are only waiting for one answer so here I am with flame-retardant mutant suit to field questions and avoid pitchforks.

The answer is: not right now.

In constant review of the threads and other fansites that cater to Ultima Online, we realized that the classic shard comes down to a checklist. It becomes about if you have X rules then this is what a classic shard is. The problem with this is, when working inside this constraint it’s impossible to please everyone.

Also, we DID look into the possibilities of different rulesets and took a look at what had been done in the past, and there was no viable answer that works for everyone.

Finally, it’s about opportunity cost. The more resources and time we spend on developing a classic shard… that is ONE single shard, that means other things get neglected. It would be many months of work at the expense of the wider game.

We are planning a Video House of Commons for next Tuesday, March 1st to field any questions about the coming months, Magincia as a player-driven town, Spring Cleaning, faster/simpler story arcs, arenas, UOgamecode store, shard hardware, and other topics of note.

The reason I did not want to put this in writing is because it doesn’t allow you to “see” how we feel about the game, and this answer is only part of what we want to do with Ultima Online.

Well, there you go. Have at it.

Read more

Second Star Interactive – New MMO Studio with UO, DAoC Roots

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Update: Second Star Interactive appears to no longer be affiliated with Idea Fabrik, according to their website.

There is a new MMO studio and it’s going to get a lot of interest and attention from Ultima Online players, first and foremost because it has among its founders, Tim “Draconi” Cotten, the Lead Designer on Stygian Abyss for UO.

It’s called Second Star Interactive, and it’s based out of northern Virginia. It will be led by Darrin Hyrup, who helped found Mythic Entertainment. They are scheduled to release an MMO by the end of 2011 which is incredibly ambitious if you ask me. It will be based on the HeroEngine. Second Star Interactive is owned by Idea Fabrik, a German company that also owns HeroEngine and HeroCloud, so it’s sort of an in-house MMO.

If HeroEngine sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the engine that is powering EA BioWare’s upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO.

Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online Alumni
* Tim “Draconi” Cotten – Lead Designer on Stygian Abyss/UO
* Eric Piccione – Ultima Online and Dark AGe of Camelot
* Darrin & Lory Hyrup – Dark Age of Camelot
* Cooper Buckingham – Dark Age of CAmelot and Warhammer: Age of Reckoning

Read:
* Massively Multiplayer Fallout
* The Escapist

2011 UO Valentine’s Day Publish 69.6

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The community relations team has posted the following update, for Publish 69.6 that is going to be pushed out to all shards during the normal shard maintenance windows. This publish went live on Origin yesterday.

Greetings,

Tomorrow, during regularly scheduled maintenance, Publish 69.6 will be released on all shards. Share the love and in the meantime we wanted to share the notes for your reading pleasure, thanks!

Publish 69.6
* Happy Valentine’s Day! Please make sure you check your picnic basket for your Valentines gift. (Note: The gift does not have any properties so please do not buy anything that might state otherwise). Please make sure you sign in before March 9th to get your gift.
* Gypsy camps have been disabled temporarily while we investigate their relation to an issue causing items to be destroyed.

Enhanced Client
* Cliloc updates
* Snow Removal

Classic Client
* Cliloc updates
* Snow Removal

Love it or hate it, the snow is going to finally be gone.

The Cliloc updates are most likely related to the Valentine’s gifts.

Read: UO Herald

UO Journal Note: If that Valentine’s Heart/UO icon looks familiar to you, you’ve been around – it’s from the old Ultima Online website, UO.com, from at least February of 2000.