We have even more interviews with Richard Garriott this week, featuring discussions with Gamasutra and The San Jose Mercury News about Tabula Rasa, MMOs, and more.
Here's an excerpt from the Gamasutra interview:
GS: Finally, what's the current ETA on your big comeback, Tabula Rasa?
RG: It will definitely be this year. We're already now in the beta process where we've been inviting outside testers in, we started that just before Christmas. We've invited a few hundred at a time every couple weeks.
We're now moving into the thousands at a time range with the next build in about a week in a half or so, and then by the summer we'll have tens of thousands in, and then we'll be set for release shortly after.
The San Jose Mercury News' article also featured Richard's brother, Robert Garriott (President and CEO of NCsoft North America):
Q: What do you notice about what people are doing in the game?
Richard: Fortunately we think that we are pretty happy in total with the way the game is being received. Especially for things that we think are quite different from previous MMOs. Like our combat system which is action oriented RPG where you’re as close to highlighting a target and playing a user interface. You are looking through a reticle but moving tactically, and still using RPG stats as the game mechanic. I’m very pleased with how that turned out and how players are receiving it. It’s funny to say the Ultima series is a hardcore gamer game. One of the things we are trying to do is make this a much more accessible to less hardcore gamers. I have an interesting touch stone on that which has to do with Robert.
Robert: Oh no.
Richard: Robert is not exactly what you call a hardcore gamer. He is pretty close to a non-gamer. Robert to my knowledge has really only played a few games extensively. Ultima III is one of the only games he has played to completion.
Robert: Choplifter. Don’t forget Choplifter. That was a great game.
Richard: In recent history, the only games he has played are “City of Heroes,” which was a very accessible (NCSoft) game. And he is one of the most advanced players in Tabula Rasa. He is among the top ten percent among the public beta users and he is No. 1 on our server for our team members. So we use it as a case study to say that I believe has the Lord British mark of game design in it yet also is accessible enough for Robert can play.
Robert: Richard takes the game servers down on weekends, which is the best time for me to play, so that I can’t get ahead of him. It slows me down.
Q: What kind of character do you have?
Robert: My character is named RoboCop. (laughs). Just for the test (laughs). I have two. One I enjoy the most is a combat soldier, a specialist. I like getting all the nifty types of equipment and doing as much damage as I can. It can be solo but it is so fun to play with people on teams. You level up quickly when you play with other people. There are a lot more missions you can go on. I enjoy the graphics and diversity. I don’t like shooters because they are too hard to play. I’m not good when you’re pushing buttons and someone gets you from behind. But I love watching shooters. Over the shoulder. If someone is playing a shooter, it’s cool to watch them play. But standard MMOs are boring if you watch someone play. There is not a whole lot going on. For me, Tabula Rasa brings that together. There is always stuff going on. Things blowing up. Whole teams of good guys and bad guys running across the map and doing stuff. It’s exciting to stand there watch what is happening. You get the feel of excitement that you do with a shooter but you also get the ease of game play that comes in a standard, big-scale MMO.
Richard: Well said. First time I’ve heard him describe the game.