UltimaCodex Is Killing Me Today - An Ultima VII BOARD GAME!?

UltimaCodex is so much good stuff in one place, but my heart drops when I find a project on there I've never read about, only to find out it never happened.  THERE WERE PLANS FOR AN ULTIMA VII BOARD GAME!  This should have happened.  It still should happen.  Richard Garriott, please make it happen.  Here's a snapshot of the prototype board :( I am now thoroughly depressed.

• http://ultima7.ultimacodex.com/the-black-gate-board-game/

I Get Excited About Ultima Stuff

VisElEchNon Dragon of the Ultima Dragons made this pretty awesome composite map from the Ultima IV-VI maps.  I really wish I could find any of my cloth Ultima maps so I could frame them...check it out.

Ultima Inspired CRPG - Akaruuk

I'm always excited to see a new Ultima-inspired game, even though many never see the light of the monitor.  This one has had a page up on Steam Greenlight since February, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Reading the comments on Steam brings up an interesting topic for me: in-game journals and tutorials. Most thinks it's a killing blow to not include an in-game quest tracker or journal.  Personally, I think it's great.  Somewhere, I have dozens of pages of notes from playing older RPGs, because it was absolutely necessary.  Hand drawn maps and other outlines and recipe books were the norm.  Games that hand feed you every detail and point you in every right direction are really taking away from your immersion and depth of play.

Will be watching this one and am ready to play as soon as it comes out.

http://happyponyland.net/akaruuk/

Ultima VIII...for free...why are you still here...

While it definitely had it's share of criticism and troubles when it came out, I actually enjoyed Ultima VIII very much.  It was completely different from every other Ultima before it (yet still had that Avatar-y feel), but I thought it had some really good ideas, a great story, and a damn good soundtrack.  Origin is offering it free right now through it's game download client.  The Origin client isn't Steam quality, but they do give out some great free games every month or two, and the account is free.