Ultima Lives On

Word from the Origin team had been on the quiet side as of late, ever since the last expansion pack, Age of Shadows, was released for the ever popular Ultima Online. News is this expansion pack has helped propell UO into more homes than ever, with more than 250 000 subscribers. Origin attributes this success to the expansion's extended character customization options and to the general stability and far-reaching community support that the game enjoys as a result of its five-year history.

The current main focus for the Ultima team is a new , shorter cycle for making free updates to the game. Updates including features and fixes are now scheduled for every month and a half to be more reactive to the player community and introduce more content to the game on a regular basis. On the subject of content, there's a new series of in-game events coming soon. Castoro hinted that upcoming live events may feature appearances from the major characters in the Ultima fiction, including Lord British and Blackthorn. The focus on the current game service for the rest of the year means that there aren't any specific plans for a new expansion pack yet. Which is good news for most as i dont know about you, but with already paying a monthly subscription its annoying being bombarded with updates at the same time, unless of course they're free :-D (I'm sure you're beginning to know what a tight bastard i am with these things)

As far as a sequel is concerned, with the continued success of the current model, there seems to be no call for a replacement to the game, so the team plan to simply continue to build on the current game.

Rumours are floating about an Ultima X. Only recently have i actually got acquainted with the Ultima series, so personally i would of course welcome another sequel having only really played Ascension. These rumours were started with a 'leaked' Title Screen from Ultima X : Odyssey . But you really have to wonder if after IX they would make a further one. So far all the Origin team have had to say on the subject is 'no comment' , but thats to be expected.

Well at least the UO series lives on, if the original Ultima series does not. I dont expect UO to die out any time soon, it was the first MMORPG and with the Origin team giving their all, theres a lot of life in it yet