The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
That's the problem with him, if you make a mistake in this industry no one will give you a second chance.
The few exceptions to this rule have been developers who were within a bigger company and the company took the blow for them, but he turned against NCSoft, he has no one who will back him anymore.
The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
Screwing NCSoft out of huge money? Try the other way around. NCSoft fired him while he was in space and then marked on the papers that he left voluntarily, thus screwing him out of his stock options. NCSoft is a very shady company.
You're just making shit up at this point.
The Tabula Rasa that was released doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. Two years into development, disagreements between developers caused a massive change in the design. Look at this pre-2003 re-design video:
I wish his version of the game had released. I was very excited about it at the time as I was a huge fan of UO and UO2 had been canceled. When I saw the changes go through, I lost all interest. I knew it was no longer Garriotts baby. To be honest, if I were making a game and it was changed as drastically as this, I would lose interest in the overall project too. I don't blame Garriott for what happened, I blame NCSoft for not allowing Garriott to see his vision through to completion.
Wish I would hit the lottery when it is like 350M, id get the UO band back together, along with some other talent and make a real UO2, or a Forgotten Realms heavily sandboxed mmo (quests would be in, but not railed, and would be more adventerous/random, since old dungeon/player modules were often based around quests).
No free reign though...Can't end up on the won the lottery and now he is more broke than he was before he hit it!
Last i heard Mr.Garriot was all into browser based content,something that is a guarantee fail for quality.He may have run into some cash or decided to go bigger,i doubt it.I think so many still see the millions Farmville makes and think anyone can do it with any idea.It is sheer luck/timing nothing more.
I think where Mr.British misses the boat is that you can no longer realize a game on your own,you need a large team,that thinks alike.This would mean he has to be there hands on to make sure the vision is what he wants.This is why FFXI was such a great game,Tanaka made every single vision in the game his own,no otuside input,well aside from sounds/music of course.
Someone showed Mr.british using a robot to monitor his workers,if he is too lazy to show up to work,then i highly doubt he woudl be there to ensure the game he envisions is made.It's not like he can have someone cart a robot around to all the stations to monitor the work being done.
So i'm going to have to call bs on his whole life long story.His dreams are circa 1980-1990,he has been left behind and i doubt will ever catch up again.I say all of this as a one time HUGE Ultima fan,it was perhaps the first RPG to really catch my eye,before EQ.
If i thought Mr,British was serious and could deliver,he would have never sold TR out to Ncsoft,that told me right there that even he had little confidence in his own product.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I have been giving this some additional thought. In spite of my previous replies here not being particularly excited about the fact that this will be a Facebook game...
If it actually uses a new engine that emulates the environment in such ways as it is possible for a standard game this could actually bring in to the genre many other people and that could herald a new era for the genre.
Immagine having 30-50 more million people being added to the MMORPG pool of players who's first MMO was Ultima Online!
Wouldn't that cause new MMORPG's to take that under account and be designed allongthe same lines for a peice of the action too? This could be the event that changes the direction of the genre, assuming of cource LB (Richard), holds on to the tenants and pillars that made Ultima Online a revered MMORPG by those that played it 14 years ago to this day.
It does not have to be as ruthless in some of its gameplay features as UO was of cource, yet, as long as it is not a mind numbing Themepark based only on Progression...this can actually be an overall great thing!
I would sure like to see some of my facebook friends get in to Online gaming heheh.
I agree with you. I just have my doubts as to the capability of creating an 'ultimate' MMORPG on FB. In this case its a clear 'show me'
Is this really a FB game?
I am not sure its even possible to play a MMO on FB. I seen some Co-op type games, but thats it.
Garriotts new game is going to be absolutely nothing like facebook games such as animal farm, etc. Its going to be a real MMORPG persistent world with many features resembling that from UO such as virtues and legitimate game mechanics. He has even mentioned he will open up a game mechanic blog soon so that he can get input from people on how the game mechanics should be for New Britannia (or whatever he decides to call it) so all you guys saying what the game shouldn't be like or should be like should go to his blog once he opens it and let him know..
The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
Screwing NCSoft out of huge money? Try the other way around. NCSoft fired him while he was in space and then marked on the papers that he left voluntarily, thus screwing him out of his stock options. NCSoft is a very shady company.
You're just making shit up at this point.
The Tabula Rasa that was released doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. Two years into development, disagreements between developers caused a massive change in the design. Look at this pre-2003 re-design video:
I wish his version of the game had released. I was very excited about it at the time as I was a huge fan of UO and UO2 had been canceled. When I saw the changes go through, I lost all interest. I knew it was no longer Garriotts baby. To be honest, if I were making a game and it was changed as drastically as this, I would lose interest in the overall project too. I don't blame Garriott for what happened, I blame NCSoft for not allowing Garriott to see his vision through to completion.
Nothing you mentioned has anything positively meaningful he did with MMORPGs or SPRPGs in general. NOTHING.
So what if the direction of development for Tabula Rasa changed during development? It was done on HIS watch. What does the box say? Oh that's riiiiight, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." Good enough for him to plaster his name on the box cover that it's his game.
He's a damn has been that's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs and SPRPGs since the 1990s.
HAS... BEEN
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Richard Garriot is Steve Jobs of RPG world...he sells VISION(tm) and if the game fails, it's just because the actual developers werent adequate enough to invent his vision(tm)
Reason why UO was a great game was that it had awesome dev team, Garriot himself gets too much occupied with things like how to properly present vowels in 12 mark language of the lizardmen to take part in actual gameplay concepts.
Nothing you mentioned has anything positively meaningful he did with MMORPGs or SPRPGs in general. NOTHING.
So what if the direction of development for Tabula Rasa changed during development? It was done on HIS watch. What does the box say? Oh that's riiiiight, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." Good enough for him to plaster his name on the box cover that it's his game.
He's a damn has been that's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs and SPRPGs since the 1990s.
HAS... BEEN
Maybe, but naming someone a hasbeen for making 1 bad game and producing a few more seems rather unfair to me.
The man have done a lot for both P&P and computer RPGs, he did in fact invent computer RPGs so I think he still deserves some slack.
TR had some great ideas but never could deliver on them, 'nuff said about that. But Garriot is a lot more than UO even I can't say I particularly enjoy his current direction myself.
Richard Ultima VIII Pagan, was the the first RPG i played on a PC, to this date its also the best. Baldurs Gate, Neverwinters Night, Elder Scroll, you name it, has (IMO) never ever been as good. It was a blast RPG.
Ultima Online is beyond old now, yet it offers more than most mmo does today. Ultima Online is the single best MMO in history (IMO again)
I dunno if he makes anything good, but I will be looking out for it. Clinging to hope that finally after soooo many years my UO is back
a browser or facebook based ultima online is the next logical step
if garriot pulls it off we might be onto something
imo, he's a great visionary but as such people oft are, he's not very good with huge projects involving a lot of money and interests. It's a smart move of his to f***k off the corp and strike out on his own. This way he can toy with his ideas and "visions" and who knows....
The best games of his were made on a shoestring budget and a few accomplices. Bloated productions are not his thing, obviously and personally I sympathise. For a certain kind of creative person high-concept high-risk high-return projects work best and it's quite obvious that working with a behemoth such as NCSoft didn't really go well. I'm glad he's learned his lesson and is taking a more realistic approach to things. Many others would keep banging at that brick wall which is not made for them to pass through. He might yet make a sleeper super-hit such as angry birds or minecraft because he's that kind of a guy.
Nothing you mentioned has anything positively meaningful he did with MMORPGs or SPRPGs in general. NOTHING.
So what if the direction of development for Tabula Rasa changed during development? It was done on HIS watch. What does the box say? Oh that's riiiiight, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." Good enough for him to plaster his name on the box cover that it's his game.
He's a damn has been that's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs and SPRPGs since the 1990s.
HAS... BEEN
Maybe, but naming someone a hasbeen for making 1 bad game and producing a few more seems rather unfair to me.
The man have done a lot for both P&P and computer RPGs, he did in fact invent computer RPGs so I think he still deserves some slack.
TR had some great ideas but never could deliver on them, 'nuff said about that. But Garriot is a lot more than UO even I can't say I particularly enjoy his current direction myself.
I have never, ever denied the achievements the man did in the past. He did alot for RPGs.
Sorry Locke, but again, his last positive achievements that anyone ever cares about is from the 1990s. Ultima Online. More than 11-12, years ago. We were still doing 56k dial-up connections, Bill Clinton was still the US president, Lucasarts was still a respected game company, and computers barely were hitting 366mhz. His achievements since then? Well, we've tread that road already on these boards many times, and the points I listed above are indicators on what good he's done since his glory days.
And then we have this link about him posting stuff about RPGs and MMORPGs in light of his terrible history of the last 11-12 years? Think about that... what exactly has he done in more than a decade in the name of RPGs and/or MMORPGs. He's got no credibility in them anymore. He's removed himself from them.
He may have only 1 failure in the 2000's, but it is a colossal failure, and a failure that he positively felt good enough to have plastered on the boxes, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." When you put your good name on the line for a product, you better have your sh*t together with that product. Remember some people do buy a product because of a name. Sid Meier has never had any qualms putting his name on with his vaunted Civ series of games.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
He may have only 1 failure in the 2000's, but it is a colossal failure, and a failure that he positively felt good enough to have plastered on the boxes, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." When you put your good name on the line for a product, you better have your sh*t together with that product. Remember some people do buy a product because of a name. Sid Meier has never had any qualms putting his name on with his vaunted Civ series of games.
Obviously Tabula Rasa was a failure. It simply wasn't a very good game. While it was initially fun, it became old fast. That having been said, I don't understand the animosity towards the guy. He made a bad game, after years of successful products. Write it off as a mistep, and if he makes another then maybe it's time to write him off. The level of hate he's received lately baffles me.
The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
Screwing NCSoft out of huge money? Try the other way around. NCSoft fired him while he was in space and then marked on the papers that he left voluntarily, thus screwing him out of his stock options. NCSoft is a very shady company.
You're just making shit up at this point.
The Tabula Rasa that was released doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. Two years into development, disagreements between developers caused a massive change in the design. Look at this pre-2003 re-design video:
I wish his version of the game had released. I was very excited about it at the time as I was a huge fan of UO and UO2 had been canceled. When I saw the changes go through, I lost all interest. I knew it was no longer Garriotts baby. To be honest, if I were making a game and it was changed as drastically as this, I would lose interest in the overall project too. I don't blame Garriott for what happened, I blame NCSoft for not allowing Garriott to see his vision through to completion.
Nothing you mentioned has anything positively meaningful he did with MMORPGs or SPRPGs in general. NOTHING.
So what if the direction of development for Tabula Rasa changed during development? It was done on HIS watch. What does the box say? Oh that's riiiiight, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." Good enough for him to plaster his name on the box cover that it's his game.
He's a damn has been that's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs and SPRPGs since the 1990s.
HAS... BEEN
He was executive producer for Lineage 2, City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa. To say he's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs since the 1990's is a flat out fallacy... but don't let facts get in the way of hating on his very successful carreer.
I could sit here all day and extol all he has done for RPGs and how his accomplishments still have an effect on RPG's released today. For instance, modern moral choice systems in western RPGs started with Ultima IV... but it just seems that you have an irrational hate for the man who pretty much started it all. This website itself likely wouldn't exist if it were not for Lord British.
Mr. Garriott's decline began with Ultima 8, IMO. Other than UO he simply hasn't done anything worthwhile since the masterpiece that was Ultima 7 (parts 1 and 2). That being said, I'm willing to give him a chance simply because the games he's made in the past were just... awesome. I still consider U7 to be the best CRPG ever made, and have very fond memories of my time spent playing Ultima Underworld (considered revolutionary at the time for it's use of 3D environments), and I did have fun in Tabula Rasa for a bit (fantastic combat).
So color me interested, but wary. Especially since Facebook is involved. If the only way to play the game is to make a Facebook account, then he can shove it.
Comments
The man did great things, all of which are now long ago in the past. Nothing but big failures and a bit of controversy since 2000 hit. To top it off, he has done nothing meaningful for RPGs in general (yes, includes SPRPGs and MMORPGs).
The last 3, most recent things I can recall about the man we used to call Lord British:
1. Tabula Rasa. 'Nuff said.
2. Screwing NCSoft out of some huge $$$.
3. Going to space.
And that's it. The man is a Has-Been.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
That's the problem with him, if you make a mistake in this industry no one will give you a second chance.
The few exceptions to this rule have been developers who were within a bigger company and the company took the blow for them, but he turned against NCSoft, he has no one who will back him anymore.
Tabula Rasa will reinvent the mmorpg genre.
should add "revolutionary, next-gen and tripple AAA"
Screwing NCSoft out of huge money? Try the other way around. NCSoft fired him while he was in space and then marked on the papers that he left voluntarily, thus screwing him out of his stock options. NCSoft is a very shady company.
You're just making shit up at this point.
The Tabula Rasa that was released doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. Two years into development, disagreements between developers caused a massive change in the design. Look at this pre-2003 re-design video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVkPNUyrW9A
I wish his version of the game had released. I was very excited about it at the time as I was a huge fan of UO and UO2 had been canceled. When I saw the changes go through, I lost all interest. I knew it was no longer Garriotts baby. To be honest, if I were making a game and it was changed as drastically as this, I would lose interest in the overall project too. I don't blame Garriott for what happened, I blame NCSoft for not allowing Garriott to see his vision through to completion.
Wish I would hit the lottery when it is like 350M, id get the UO band back together, along with some other talent and make a real UO2, or a Forgotten Realms heavily sandboxed mmo (quests would be in, but not railed, and would be more adventerous/random, since old dungeon/player modules were often based around quests).
No free reign though...Can't end up on the won the lottery and now he is more broke than he was before he hit it!
Last i heard Mr.Garriot was all into browser based content,something that is a guarantee fail for quality.He may have run into some cash or decided to go bigger,i doubt it.I think so many still see the millions Farmville makes and think anyone can do it with any idea.It is sheer luck/timing nothing more.
I think where Mr.British misses the boat is that you can no longer realize a game on your own,you need a large team,that thinks alike.This would mean he has to be there hands on to make sure the vision is what he wants.This is why FFXI was such a great game,Tanaka made every single vision in the game his own,no otuside input,well aside from sounds/music of course.
Someone showed Mr.british using a robot to monitor his workers,if he is too lazy to show up to work,then i highly doubt he woudl be there to ensure the game he envisions is made.It's not like he can have someone cart a robot around to all the stations to monitor the work being done.
So i'm going to have to call bs on his whole life long story.His dreams are circa 1980-1990,he has been left behind and i doubt will ever catch up again.I say all of this as a one time HUGE Ultima fan,it was perhaps the first RPG to really catch my eye,before EQ.
If i thought Mr,British was serious and could deliver,he would have never sold TR out to Ncsoft,that told me right there that even he had little confidence in his own product.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Is this really a FB game?
I am not sure its even possible to play a MMO on FB. I seen some Co-op type games, but thats it.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Garriotts new game is going to be absolutely nothing like facebook games such as animal farm, etc. Its going to be a real MMORPG persistent world with many features resembling that from UO such as virtues and legitimate game mechanics. He has even mentioned he will open up a game mechanic blog soon so that he can get input from people on how the game mechanics should be for New Britannia (or whatever he decides to call it) so all you guys saying what the game shouldn't be like or should be like should go to his blog once he opens it and let him know..
he's probably just looking for another way to steal money from people so he can go to space again :P
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Are you saying that he needs to make MARS the MMO... and go do some firsthand research beforehand?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Nothing you mentioned has anything positively meaningful he did with MMORPGs or SPRPGs in general. NOTHING.
So what if the direction of development for Tabula Rasa changed during development? It was done on HIS watch. What does the box say? Oh that's riiiiight, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." Good enough for him to plaster his name on the box cover that it's his game.
He's a damn has been that's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs and SPRPGs since the 1990s.
HAS... BEEN
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Richard Garriot is Steve Jobs of RPG world...he sells VISION(tm) and if the game fails, it's just because the actual developers werent adequate enough to invent his vision(tm)
Reason why UO was a great game was that it had awesome dev team, Garriot himself gets too much occupied with things like how to properly present vowels in 12 mark language of the lizardmen to take part in actual gameplay concepts.
Skyrim is ultimate RPG and I after his blowup with Tabula Rasa I couldnt care less what Garriot is working on
Maybe, but naming someone a hasbeen for making 1 bad game and producing a few more seems rather unfair to me.
The man have done a lot for both P&P and computer RPGs, he did in fact invent computer RPGs so I think he still deserves some slack.
TR had some great ideas but never could deliver on them, 'nuff said about that. But Garriot is a lot more than UO even I can't say I particularly enjoy his current direction myself.
Richard Ultima VIII Pagan, was the the first RPG i played on a PC, to this date its also the best. Baldurs Gate, Neverwinters Night, Elder Scroll, you name it, has (IMO) never ever been as good. It was a blast RPG.
Ultima Online is beyond old now, yet it offers more than most mmo does today. Ultima Online is the single best MMO in history (IMO again)
I dunno if he makes anything good, but I will be looking out for it. Clinging to hope that finally after soooo many years my UO is back
well since we already have
www.realmofthemadgod.com
a browser or facebook based ultima online is the next logical step
if garriot pulls it off we might be onto something
imo, he's a great visionary but as such people oft are, he's not very good with huge projects involving a lot of money and interests. It's a smart move of his to f***k off the corp and strike out on his own. This way he can toy with his ideas and "visions" and who knows....
The best games of his were made on a shoestring budget and a few accomplices. Bloated productions are not his thing, obviously and personally I sympathise. For a certain kind of creative person high-concept high-risk high-return projects work best and it's quite obvious that working with a behemoth such as NCSoft didn't really go well. I'm glad he's learned his lesson and is taking a more realistic approach to things. Many others would keep banging at that brick wall which is not made for them to pass through. He might yet make a sleeper super-hit such as angry birds or minecraft because he's that kind of a guy.
I have never, ever denied the achievements the man did in the past. He did alot for RPGs.
Sorry Locke, but again, his last positive achievements that anyone ever cares about is from the 1990s. Ultima Online. More than 11-12, years ago. We were still doing 56k dial-up connections, Bill Clinton was still the US president, Lucasarts was still a respected game company, and computers barely were hitting 366mhz. His achievements since then? Well, we've tread that road already on these boards many times, and the points I listed above are indicators on what good he's done since his glory days.
And then we have this link about him posting stuff about RPGs and MMORPGs in light of his terrible history of the last 11-12 years? Think about that... what exactly has he done in more than a decade in the name of RPGs and/or MMORPGs. He's got no credibility in them anymore. He's removed himself from them.
He may have only 1 failure in the 2000's, but it is a colossal failure, and a failure that he positively felt good enough to have plastered on the boxes, "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa." When you put your good name on the line for a product, you better have your sh*t together with that product. Remember some people do buy a product because of a name. Sid Meier has never had any qualms putting his name on with his vaunted Civ series of games.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Obviously Tabula Rasa was a failure. It simply wasn't a very good game. While it was initially fun, it became old fast. That having been said, I don't understand the animosity towards the guy. He made a bad game, after years of successful products. Write it off as a mistep, and if he makes another then maybe it's time to write him off. The level of hate he's received lately baffles me.
https://www.therepopulation.com - Sci Fi Sandbox.
from what i heard in an interview his new project is a social game and quite possibly more like second life than ultima.
there are 2 types of mmo, imitators and innovaters.
He was executive producer for Lineage 2, City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa. To say he's done nothing positive at all for MMORPGs since the 1990's is a flat out fallacy... but don't let facts get in the way of hating on his very successful carreer.
I could sit here all day and extol all he has done for RPGs and how his accomplishments still have an effect on RPG's released today. For instance, modern moral choice systems in western RPGs started with Ultima IV... but it just seems that you have an irrational hate for the man who pretty much started it all. This website itself likely wouldn't exist if it were not for Lord British.
HAS BEEN AND WILL BE AGAIN (haters gon' hate)
Mr. Garriott's decline began with Ultima 8, IMO. Other than UO he simply hasn't done anything worthwhile since the masterpiece that was Ultima 7 (parts 1 and 2). That being said, I'm willing to give him a chance simply because the games he's made in the past were just... awesome. I still consider U7 to be the best CRPG ever made, and have very fond memories of my time spent playing Ultima Underworld (considered revolutionary at the time for it's use of 3D environments), and I did have fun in Tabula Rasa for a bit (fantastic combat).
So color me interested, but wary. Especially since Facebook is involved. If the only way to play the game is to make a Facebook account, then he can shove it.