Stephen Emond is already working on the follow-up to his wildly successful book, Ultima: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide: Ultima Online: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide. And to promote and celebrate the book, he has launched a contest on Facebook challenging Ultima fans to “fill in the blanks” so to speak, and report any glaring omissions from Ultima: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide.

Here’s the details:

Participation is easy, just “fill in the blanks”. Compiling pictures and detailed information on more than 2000 items was a challenge (as you can imagine), particularly since most of them are quite rare. As such there is still a lot of information left to uncover, or items which fell through the cracks SI Completion Certificate …

Additions, updates, and corrections can be about any item listed (or not listed) in “Ultima: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide” – for either the main series or Ultima Online (including the media guide). All submissions will not only help to preserve the Ultima legacy, but also get your names listed as contributors in the next book.

All you need to do is send missing items, pictures and/or information (UPC/EAN codes, page counts, dimensions, etc) to me at: cmdrfalcon [at] hotmail.com

How to play:

Prizes:

1st Prize (x1) – Copies of “Ultima Online: TUCG 2013 Edition” AND “Ultima: TUCG 2013 Companion”
2nd Prize (x2) – A copy of “Ultima Online: TUCG 2013 Edition”
3rd Prize (x3) – A copy of “Ultima: TUCG 2013 Companion”

Rules & Regulations:

The contest will run from February 25th, 2012 until July 25th, 2012.

The 1st Prize will be awarded to the contributor with the most submissions. Subsequent prizes will be awarded to other submitters based on a random drawing. Winning a prize precludes the contributor from winning subsequent prizes (i.e. the recipient of the 1st Prize cannot also win a 2nd or 3rd prize).

Multiple submissions increases the odds of winning (i.e. 5 contributions = 5 entries into the random draw). That doesn’t require one email for each piece of information. Appropriate credit will be given based on the information provided.

Credit for information will only be given to the first person who submits said information and is subject to verification.

All entrants must provide their full name and email address. Shipping address will also be required if selected as a winner. Winners will be announced prior to pre-orders (approximately July 31, 2012). Prizes will be distributed after the pre-order phase, and before regular release (approximately September 13, 2012).

So if you want a chance to win a copy of the upcoming UO Collector’s Guide, Dragons and Dragonettes, haul out your copies of Ultima: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide and let Stephen Emond know if he missed anything (and send him a picture of it while you’re at it).

The First Age of Update: In a subsequent post at the UDIC Facebook page, Stephen Emond has made a further request:

Specific requests for the UO book… I’m looking for pictures of the following if any of you happen to have them. You will of course get credit and entry into the “Quest for Knowledge” contest to win a copy of the book:

UO The Second Age – Beta CD
UO Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge – Beta CD
UO Age of Shadows – Beta CD

So if, Dragons and Dragonettes, you have any of these things laying about, let him know!

Risen 2

The Sword Coast!

At the official Risen 2 website, there is now a profile of what I assume will be one of the game’s main settings, the mysterious Sword Coast.

On the south coast of Arborea lies the hardly explored Sword Coast.

The Shaganumbi tribe has been settled in the jungle not far from the beaches for generations. The great temple ruins that adorn the area are remnants of the culture and the ancestors of the clan and were built on the sources of the natives’ magic. The Shaganumbi experienced the Inquisition and founded the military base off the Sword Coast, “Puerto Isabella”, while their expanding further into the South Sea.

From this base, the Inquisition tried to monitor the fabled temples. Observations and expeditions of the temple lead to long awaited findings and draw conclusions about the appearance of the Titans.

Sergorn Dragon has often argued that there are some parallels between the Risen series and Ultima 8′s lore, with these Titans being a particular example thereof.

Risen 2 has a Steam page now.

So we know it will be available on Valve’s digital distribution portal, at least. At present, however, it does not seem to be available for pre-order; no price is listed, and no purchase link is given.

Behold…the Leviathan!

The Leviathan is a gigantic two-man-tall beast and was formed by dark powers. It was bred in the deepest abyss solely for the purpose of bringing evil titan storm from the sea to the land! A mixture of sand devils, huge crabs and other creatures, it crushes any intruder with his large claws or overruns his opponents with ease!

Click on through for a picture; the brute does not look like the sort of beasty you’d want to casually stumble into the path of.

Risen 2 previews!
And another one!
Yes indeed…more previews!
Oh…and one more. Why not?

The consensus seems to be that the combat system is, as was the case in Risen, a bit difficult to master and in some was resembles Fable’s timing-dependent fighting. Some reviewers have expressed doubts about the game’s performance on consoles, but most reports seem to suggest that the PC version works just fine, thank you.

One thing I did note was that the game makes you choose — at least initially — between two major offensive skills: spellcasting (Voodoo) and firearms. I’m kind of a fan of these sort of contrasts, so it’s nice to at least think (for now) that Risen 2 will make players pit magic against technology for at least some of its length. I’m sure that by the end of the game, though, proficiency can be acquired in both skills.

Don’t miss GameBanshee’s preview (the fourth link, above); it’s very lengthy and comprehensive.