EA - Lord of Ultima Released

We've mentioned this once before but this will probably be the last…EA's online city-builder Ultima-flavoured cash-in has been released. It's completely un-RPG related but the use of Ultima and Phenomic (Spellforce) as the developer gets our attention long enough for the release announcement:

EA'S PHENOMIC INTRODUCES STRATEGY GAME 'LORD OF ULTIMA'
Free-To-Play Web-Based Game Transports Players to Legendary Ultima Universe
Guildford, UK – April 20, 2010 – Phenomic™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, announced today Lord of Ultima™, a new browser-based online strategy game is available worldwide for free* starting today. Lord of Ultima immerses players in a brand-new, deeply-rich strategy game set within the Ultima universe. The game introduces innovative social features, such as advanced trading, alliance creation, online chat and community forums, which make for an endlessly entertaining experience.

“Lord of Ultima was designed to ensure that everyone, from strategy newcomers to diehard fans, can make it to the top of the leader board,” said Volker Wertich, Creative Director at Phenomic. "Phenomic is committed to building dynamic communities that delight players as they interact with the game, each other and the legendary world of Ultima.”

To become the Lord of Ultima, players will master the arts of diplomacy and trade, as well as the military activities of spying, plundering, and the takeover of enemy cities. Set in the new world of Caledonia, players start the game as eager conquerors in the early stages of raising an empire, and then move from developing a humble village and evolving it into a prosperous, highly customized capital. Players can flourish as peaceful merchants by trading resources over land or sea and using diplomacy. They can also become feared conquerors, by creating mighty armies of knights and mages to crush enemies.

Lord of Ultima is a free-to-play MTX browser-based game. No download or installation is needed and players do not need to register to play. Lord of Ultima is available in English and German and is playable now by visiting www.lordofultima.com.

More information.

"EA's online city-builder Ultima-flavoured cash-in has been released."

Cash in?? Isn't that more than a little biased?

(Zloth reads the blurb)

Hmmmm, you're right. It is a cash-in.

Hooray for this non-event.

They should have called it "Lord of Caledonia" rather since this has no relation to Ultima.

Mortal Kombat Unlimited released
Explore the world of Mortal Kombat in this brand-new and deeply-rich farming simulation. Players will experience the joy of planting seeds, letting them grow and then sell them on the market. Money gained can be used to upgrade your farming equipment which improve gameplay in numerous exciting and innovative ways that produce an endlessly entertaining game.

Have no fear! Mortal Kombat Unlimited have been optimized to be accessible for players who never played Mortal Kombat games before. Whether you are an old fan or a new player you will always have a chance to be able to rule the Mortal Kombat universe. Will you rule as a crop master? Maybe expand your technology to be the arch wizard of farming equipment? Or will you take the role of the exterminator who always have deep and thrilling ways of getting rid of parasites that threatens the harvest. Explore the true meaning of Friendship! as you throw a grand harvest festival for you and your friends. Engage in a wonderful community with friends from all over the world.

Get excited, get ready for a flawless victory, get ready for Mortal Kombat Unlimited!

Lol @ jemy

Though I agree with your general feelings - how can a free game be a cash-in?

oops wrong thread

Originally Posted by bkrueger
Though I agree with your general feelings - how can a free game be a cash-in?

From it's wiki:
"We, the developers, make our money, by selling a variety of convenience items, which e.g. enable you to accelerate building construction and army recruitment times or increase your build queue.
We have also taken great care in designing the game to ensure everyone, from beginner to strategy game expert, can make it to the top of the leader board without ever paying us a dime."

You sure noone will pay for some additional features?

Ask the people who earned billions on farmville ?

There are a lot of ways to earn money…. for example there are people out there willing to pay real money for a new pig in the game…. yeah don't ask me who these people are but they are many…..

In another part of the world children are starving to death… and other people are spending money on virtual pigs……. sick world…

I really liked the feature on facebook that let you buy an icon of a cake and send it to a friend on their birthday for 1 dollar… come on… a new low for social media and world stupidity.

I like the Mortal Kombat thing… if someone made it that would be totally awesome - as long as they somehow worked fatalities into it as well of course.

Isn't EA joking with Ultima fans by putting the word Ultima in this game's title?
It's almost insulting! Shame on you EA for what you have done to this legendary RPG series.

What does the abbreviation "MTX" mean ?

I'm guessing micro-transactions. Am I right? Am I right?

Gave it a quick play, horrible graphics.

Also, what the hell I'm totally playing. Yeesh on World 3. Life's too short not to finally try Evony without the booby ads.

Originally Posted by joxer
From it's wiki:
"We, the developers, make our money, by selling a variety of convenience items, which e.g. enable you to accelerate building construction and army recruitment times or increase your build queue.
We have also taken great care in designing the game to ensure everyone, from beginner to strategy game expert, can make it to the top of the leader board without ever paying us a dime."

You sure noone will pay for some additional features?

I assume I was just not wanting to believe that Phenomic, one of my favourite developers (Spellforce) could sink that deep

This sounds a bit like Palpatine corrupted the Old Galactic Republic …

I've played this quite a bit in open beta the last few weeks, and I have to say it's a bizarre application of the talent at Phenomic. For a studio that showed such fresh ideas and excellent execution in combining RTS and RPG throughout the Spellforce series, this new game is very, very simple and far beneath their abilities. Weird…