Having been terminated in quarantine by NCSoft and then floating around in space, Richard Garriott, one of the major forces in the history of video games is back... with Facebook games with a startup callled Portalarium.
The man who brought us Ultima (and Ultima Underworld, a massively underrated and influential title) spoke recently about why he's diving back down to earth with social networking. Apparently it's got nothing to do with any contractual nonsense with his previous employers.
“This is a most interesting moment in time", Garriott told VentureBeat.
"I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been born at the right time to start the wave of game development in the 1970s. I felt I had a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a significant figure in the emergence of massively multiplayer gaming. It was the fastest growing piece of the game industry in the last 10 years. I think that I am fortunate for a third once-in-a lifetime opportunity in social media.”
According the VB, "Portalarium’s first product won’t actually be a game; it is a game platform in the form of a browser plug-in that lets games run seamlessly inside social networks. Beyond games, Portalarium will create social media around open learning, open health, open science/environment, open government and more. All of the media will be connected via a virtual space that resembles a virtual world."
Sadly, however, it's first game won't be an epic adventure, it'll be something more prosaic, a poker game called Sweet @$! poker.
The man who brought us Ultima (and Ultima Underworld, a massively underrated and influential title) spoke recently about why he's diving back down to earth with social networking. Apparently it's got nothing to do with any contractual nonsense with his previous employers.
“This is a most interesting moment in time", Garriott told VentureBeat.
"I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been born at the right time to start the wave of game development in the 1970s. I felt I had a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a significant figure in the emergence of massively multiplayer gaming. It was the fastest growing piece of the game industry in the last 10 years. I think that I am fortunate for a third once-in-a lifetime opportunity in social media.”
According the VB, "Portalarium’s first product won’t actually be a game; it is a game platform in the form of a browser plug-in that lets games run seamlessly inside social networks. Beyond games, Portalarium will create social media around open learning, open health, open science/environment, open government and more. All of the media will be connected via a virtual space that resembles a virtual world."
Sadly, however, it's first game won't be an epic adventure, it'll be something more prosaic, a poker game called Sweet @$! poker.
People:
Richard Garriott
Read More Like This
Comments
DrkStr 17 Feb 2010 14:28
1/1
a third once-in-a lifetime opportunity
Tit!