And if not: have you been living under a rock, and/or what colour is the sky on your planet, and also…welcome to Earth.

Okay, somewhat more seriously, Portalarium is “an online ecosystem of shared relationships, connecting endless gaming experiences, via seamless portals,” a social-networking gaming platform and development company co-founded by several people whose names should be familiar to Ultima fans, including none other than Richard Garriott.

You can read their founding press release…here.

There’s really not a lot more that can be said about this initiative for the moment, apart from the fact that it certainly represents a very new gaming frontier for Garriott. Social networking games — think FarmVille — are inherently browser-based games, dependent as they are on social networking frameworks like Facebook or Twitter.

At the same time, there’s a fair bit of potential for some truly interesting games to emerge from this. One notes that the company’s first title is using a web-based version of the Torque 2D engine; their information page about the “Portalarium Player” also mentions Unity 3D and a couple of other frameworks. Those are pretty powerful development toolsets; one could craft a web-playable RPG of Garriott’s caliber using Unity, for example.

Is that the direction that the company is going to go? Who knows at this early stage. With that many former Origin guys at the helm, though, there might just be a glimmer of hope.

(hat tip)

Every good thing comes in chunks, like bits of brownie in the DQ Blizzard.

Sergorn Dragon has posted the latest monthly update for his “sequel to Serpent Isle” project, and the biggest thing to take away from it is that unlike previous Ultima titles or fan projects, Return to the Serpent Isle is going to be broken up into chapters:

…we have decided to release the game in an Episodic format. Now this might come as a surprise for an Ultima game – but after careful consideration it appeared to be a good decision when taking into account both the scope and the amateurish nature of this Mod. Return is a big and ambitious project – and crafting the game as a whole will probably take years – so we felt (and the NWN2 Engine offers us this possibility) it would be a good idea to take a more Episodic approach in developing the project, by crafting and releasing one Chapter at a time.

Exciting! The project has also reached an initial milestone of developing NPCs for its first chapter.

In other news: I really need to get back into a rhythm of checking all the project sites on some kind of regular basis. Time to unearth that list of bookmarks!

Just got this via email:

Went to Microsoft web site and got to the down load area. they have several downloads. I can download everything except the one for 1.0 to 1.1 dungeon seige. For some reason it will not work. I know this is going to be probably useless to ask but has anybody know any other location you can down load it from there may be more people who would look at what you have done but cant get the 1.0 to 1.1 download.

Any help in solving this gentleman’s problem would be appreciated. I was able to find a few download locations for what was ostensibly the Dungeon Siege v1.0 to v1.11.blahblahblah updater, but they all seemed to require registration (e.g. FilePlanet), and I didn’t have time to waste on going through that process.

Drop ‘em in the comments if you have suggestions.

First, it was Ultima 7. Then, it was Lazarus.

Now, the “Let’s Play Ultima” craze, which has slowly been making its way across YouTube and across the series, has reached my personal favourite amongst the Ultima titles. That’s right, Dragons…a young lady who goes by the handle enirya is playing — and broadcasting — her way through Ultima 6.

And what’s more, she’s playing the FM Towns version.

She’s only three episodes in at this point in time, but expect that number to grow.

Attention, reader Park Soon Keun!

You are really cool. Thank you so much.

Update: Reader Toltec Dragon, you are also really cool. Thank you kindly.

P.S. that’s a hard question you pose, Toltec…harder than any of the Virtue questions the gypsy has ever put forth. I mean, maybe if you lived in Canada, it wouldn’t be so hard…the beer here is often good, though some of the domestic brands give one pause.

But you live in Germany…

Work proceeds apace on Ultima IX: Redemption — the team has been working on NPCs in places like Vesper, on dungeons like Covetous and Hythloth, and on the in-game tutorials (among many other things).

They’re also in need of a 2D artist…so, if drawing is your thing, drop them a line.

Sergorn Dragon has just re-launched a project idea he’s had for a few years now: Return to the Serpent Isle.

Using the Neverwinter Nights 2 engine, this project is not a remake, but rather a continuation — a brand new Ultima adventure set in a familiar world: the Serpent Isle.

The site just “went live” on the ‘tubes this morning, Dragons. Although, in the interests of full disclosure, I know that because I helped design the thing, and will be involved with the project in a production and world-building role.

Which reminds me: we’re looking for people! Be sure to check out the Recruitment page for details!