Evony was one of the worst offenders in that regard, certainly…and I for one do hope that this game doesn’t go that route. Having said as much, we are all pretty aware of Evony (and other such games)…whether or not we want to be. The advertising has been effective in at least getting the name out there.

And I can’t help but wonder if this is maybe a prelude to something. In the forum, it was pointed out that the Ultima brand name isn’t as well known these days as it maybe once was. So this could be an attempt to revitalize awareness of the Ultima name, as a prelude to another Ultima release that…er…isn’t an online, browser-based MMO.

For better or worse, EA owns the Ultima brand name, and they will do with it what they will. Personally, I’m thinking this one should at least be checked out before we completely consign it to the “crap” pile.

@Odkin admittedly, what I took away from your comment first was: there’s a Zork MMO?

Point taken, though.

@Stephan not to sound like a corporate stooge, but doesn’t it make sense for a business to build a game for the widest audience possible?

Niche products, especially in the computer gaming world, have a way of dying out.

@Natreg I’m finding it difficult to get a sense of who the game is targeted toward. The point that the Ultima name doesn’t mean as much has been made, and is well-taken here…but equally, anyone with a quarter of a brain at EA has to know that hardcore Ultima fans are going to steer clear of a web-based strategy game bearing the Ultima name.

I can’t see it appealing to UO players either; they already have an Ultima MMO to play, after all.

Which I guess probably does mean this game is targeted outward, at casual web surfers and not-specifically-Ultima-fan-type gamers.

Though a part of me still thinks they might just be setting themselves up a means to virally re-assert the Ultima brand, ahead of some new development in the series.

If this is all EA does with the Ultima brand name in the next couple-a years, apart from keeping UO limping along, I too will be quite vexed.

But as for right now, I’m not at the point of outrate: I’m darn curious.

A good friend of mine, who has a number of connections to the gaming industry (and, indeed, who regularly takes coffee with any number of folks at BioWare, lucky barsted), opined that this might be a move on EA’s part to re-assert the Ultima name, and to set themselves up the opportunity to virally market that name around a bit…in advance of a more mainstream Ultima project announcement.

Which jived with my own suspicions, as noted above.

It seems kind of a silly way for them to go about it…but then, I ask you: who hasn’t heard of Evony these days?

That is the general tenor of the few reports I’ve been getting concerning the game’s content.