What was arguably the first browser-based Ultima spinoff (take that, Lord of Ultima!) is once again available for download here at Aiera, and I have also updated the project entry with some notes and considerations for getting the game running on modern systems. Downloads to compatible Internet browsers (The Dark Core’s requirements are, sadly, very specific) have also been added.

I rather doubt that the collection of files was ever all that complete; the demo was available in English, German, and French, while the update patches were available in English, Italian, and French (so I’m missing, at minimum, one demo version and one patch). Be that as it may: what files I did have are once again available for download.

You know how badass you are when you can summon two more demons to rip a demon apart!

Yeah, I know, there’s nothing particularly Ultima-related about BioWare‘s Dragon Age series of games. At the same time, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Dragon Age toolset is ludicrously powerful and would, I think, be well-suited to developing an Ultima adventure in.

And hence, I’m reporting this, because as I previously noted, my goal was — and continues to be — to expand Aiera‘s scope somewhat to serve as a kind of developer connection for people wanting to tell an Ultima tale. Keeping abreast of available engines and toolsets is a big part of that.

And who honestly doesn’t think that Dragon Age 2 won’t have a wicked toolset? Update: I have been informed by JasonNH that Dragon Age 2 will not have a toolset. Which, frankly, sucks.

(via Joystiq)

This is, admittedly, mostly just a test post to see how it handles things, but I figured some of you might be interested to know, in case you had your own WordPress blog and Facebook profile, and wanted some means of echoing every blog entry onto your Wall.

You know, because you’re awesome like that. You’re a fan of this site, after all.

One such blog is The Spearhead, and I was struck by a post there recently in which the author spoke about his desire to cater to his international visitors by blogging not only in English going forward, but in other languages as well.

Now, I’ve tried before to learn other languages (Ukrainian & French, specifically) and the result has always been the same: I get praise from my teachers for my ability to properly inflect the words I’m reciting, but I’m never able to actually internalize the language in my memory so as to be able to draw upon it outside of the classroom context. In short: I can mimic a language well enough if I have something to read in front of me, but I seem to be completely unable to learn new languages.

Now, in looking at my site reports in StatCounter, I observe that traffic to Aiera comes from many countries. The United States ranks highest, not surprisingly, and is followed immediately by Canada (my home country)…but the remaining eight countries in the top ten are all European:

1. 32.60% United States
2. 12.40% Canada
3. 11.60% Germany
4. 8.40% United Kingdom
5. 4.00% Finland
6. 3.40% Portugal
7. 3.20% Italy
8. 3.00% France
9. 2.80% Ireland
10. 2.80% Australia

Some of these countries are also English-speaking countries…indeed, running the blog in just English, I cater to the national language of 59% of my visitors.

However, I’m thinking it might be nice if I could bring on board two or three (or more) additional editors who would be willing to transcribe — occasionally, if not frequently/consistently — site news from English into German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, or maybe even Finnish. I realize that this would technically result it some duplication of posts and content (given Aiera’s integration with e.g. Twitter, I don’t want to go the route of using the translation plugin that Team Return uses)…but I think it would be a nice feature to offer, even if only on occasion, to some of my visitors from countries not situated on the North American continent.

If you’d be interested in assisting with this endeavour, good reader, either drop a comment below or drop me a line privately.

That oversight has been rectified.

Now, let me reiterate that this is only going to be a test. I will be deploying a new template (‘Milano’, by this guy) in place of the current one (‘Aspire’, by these guys); no site content will be changed or removed. And come Tuesday (or possibly late Monday) I’ll put the ‘Aspire’ theme back in place while I review comments that I hope — and I’m stating this now to get your attention — visitors will leave.

Truth be told, I’m not 100% satisfied with the ‘Millano’ theme, though it has a few nice features (such as a jQuery-driven rotating featured content pane, dropdown menus, and other stuff) that are the primary focus of my test. ‘Milano’ likely won’t be the actual new theme I select for Aiera, but I want to see how people react to different interface elements that the new theme, whatever it ends up looking like, will probably feature.

So come back on Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, and leave your thoughts!

It’s not really the sort of thing that would merit a standalone entry here at Aiera, but I’ve uploaded the mp3s to the site and present them here for your listening pleasure, good reader.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Still, in the hope that they’ll push something out the door in the next little while, I’ve added Team Exalted Crown’s offering to Aiera; check thou it out!

(hat tip)

Team Archon is currently working on a patch (1.0.1) to address some problems with the 1.0 release, one of which will prevent you from winning the game. This patch will be compatible with your saved games from 1.0, and therefore all players should download and apply it immediately once it is released. We need your help to make sure that all players get this patch, as they will eventually get blocked and be unable to proceed without it. The patch is nearing completion and should be available before too long.

If you are already blocked, we may be able to distribute an early, “experimental” build of the patch to those who would like to try it (at their own risk). Make sure you save your game before applying the patch. If you have questions about this, we recommend that you post them in our forum. We will be making an announcement here and on Project Britannia when the patch is publicly available.

Aiera will be hosting the patch when it releases; if you need/want it before then, follow the link above to the Project Britannia forum and let then know.