Origin Closure Official [Feb 26, 2004, 5:59 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Electronic
Arts to close Austin studio (thanks
HomeLAN Fed) has the
official confirmation of reports (story) that the Austin,
Texas-based offices of Origin Systems will be closed:
EA, the world's largest game publisher, has been consolidating its development operations around major "hubs" like its Redwood City, California headquarters, its studio in Vancouver and a new facility being established in Los Angeles.
A spokeswoman said development would continue on "Ultima Online" and "Ultima X: Odyssey" at the headquarters studio.
Many of the 100 or so employees in Austin were being offered the chance to move to California, while those who do not move will receive severance packages.
Autoduel, Times of Lore, Ultima 4 - 7, cloth maps, ankhs, Wing Commander, Privateer... a great era in gaming history.
I think every computer upgrade I made up until about 4 years ago was to accomodate a new Origin game. Ultima 6, which took me from the Commodore 64 to the PC. Wing Commander, the first reason to buy a real soundcard (instead of just a midi card). Ultima 7 made me bump up to a 386 from an XT; a Pentium for Ultima 8; a better GeForce card for Ultima 9.
Thanks Origin, for pushing the envelope back then, and giving me some of the best gaming ever.
"Poor Avatar... Poor, poor Avatar!"
I think every computer upgrade I made up until about 4 years ago was to accomodate a new Origin game. Ultima 6, which took me from the Commodore 64 to the PC. Wing Commander, the first reason to buy a real soundcard (instead of just a midi card). Ultima 7 made me bump up to a 386 from an XT; a Pentium for Ultima 8; a better GeForce card for Ultima 9.
Thanks Origin, for pushing the envelope back then, and giving me some of the best gaming ever.
"Poor Avatar... Poor, poor Avatar!"
Good old origin, fond memories of:
Autoduel
Space Rogue
Moebius
Wing Commander
and more...
http://www.davidcsimon.com
Autoduel
Space Rogue
Moebius
Wing Commander
and more...
http://www.davidcsimon.com
I too remember having to use different boot disks to play the Wing Commander games. Though the worst was Ultima 7. I remember spending about 4 hours trying to put the boot disk together. The game would only run with Expanded Memory (not Extended Memory), but also required so much Base Conventional Memory that if you didn't load your TSR drivers (memory, mouse, etc.) properly, you wouldn't have enough of that for the game to start either. The game came with a boot disk maker, but it didn't work right on half the machines out there. The disk I made was a work of art by the time it was finished. 
Thank God for QEMM386!
Parallax Abstraction
Thank God for QEMM386!Parallax Abstraction
Booo...
They created worlds
and EA bought them and kindly destroyed them!
They created worlds
and EA bought them and kindly destroyed them!
EA - How could they go from M.U.L.E to something that drops out of a Mule ?
"No Ludomancer I mean that you directly are responsible for Origin's failure!"
Considering how many Origin games I own, I conclude you to be completely insane.
Good day...
Considering how many Origin games I own, I conclude you to be completely insane.
Good day...
Who cares if it was rushed out the door
Yeah, but to this day Origin is still the only company that basically said "yeah, we fucked up" and sent me new game discs once they finished all the patch work, along with a free month of UO. That's class.
Maybe EA can make a crappy RTS game with the Ultima license, with no cutscenes and broken networking. Then the addon will have cutscenes and they'll harp it as a feature! Just imagine, a guy in $12 ren faire garp telling you that you have to kill the orks. Pure gold.
God I hope that the suits don't read this and think it's a good idea....
This comment was edited on Feb 27, 00:18.
No Ludomancer I mean that you directly are responsible for Origin's failure!
Farewell Origin. We said our goodbyes years ago, but I'll always remember that you produced the best games ever.
I anticipate that Ultima 7 & add-ons will be my favorite game for a long time to come judging by the state of the game industry these days. Ultima 5 rocked, too.
"He's dead, Avatar!"
I anticipate that Ultima 7 & add-ons will be my favorite game for a long time to come judging by the state of the game industry these days. Ultima 5 rocked, too.
"He's dead, Avatar!"
nin
..yeah i still have my old WC boot disc! MAn the Good old days, out numbered out gunned.... with only one gun left and after burners fighting of 15 Kilrathi ships in an asteroid field just to get back to the concordia thinking the mission was over and face a surprise kilrathi attack! THat's the only game i've played for 12 hours straight without even realizing it... used to stop when the sun came up.. ah the good old days!
wc
..yeah i still have my old WC boot disc! MAn the Good old days, out numbered out gunned.... with only one gun left and after burners fighting of 15 Kilrathi ships in an asteroid field just to get back to the concordia thinking the mission was over and face a surprise kilrathi attack! THat's the only game i've played for 12 hours straight without even realizing it... used to stop when the sun came up.. ah the good old days!
wc
Hopefully Irational will be aloud to do another system shock.
Yeah, System Shock III, using the Doom III engine!
Did you mean Ultima 8:pagan?
Ultima 6 was one of my favorites, along with WC2 and 3. Ultima 7 part 1 and 2 i think were the hight of RPGs. They had full interaction with players and environments. My friend BUILT A HOUSE out of crap lying around in the game so he could store his gold.
Ultima 9 fell too much into that Town, Fight, battle, repeat crap. Who cares if it was rushed out the door, it was way too linear.
Gariot was smart to leave. At least he took the better programmers with him.
Wait..Origin is not dead! They just moved! Oh wait.. yea, they are dead
Ultima 6 was one of my favorites, along with WC2 and 3. Ultima 7 part 1 and 2 i think were the hight of RPGs. They had full interaction with players and environments. My friend BUILT A HOUSE out of crap lying around in the game so he could store his gold.
Ultima 9 fell too much into that Town, Fight, battle, repeat crap. Who cares if it was rushed out the door, it was way too linear.
Gariot was smart to leave. At least he took the better programmers with him.
Wait..Origin is not dead! They just moved! Oh wait.. yea, they are dead
richard garriott should give me his money
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
The Former Leader and Victor of the rebel movement against the dark Lord Surewood and his fiendish cohorts(bunko)
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
The Former Leader and Victor of the rebel movement against the dark Lord Surewood and his fiendish cohorts(bunko)
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
Booo...
They created worlds
They created worlds
Savage and ultima 7:pagan are the game from them im most fond of...
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
The Former Leader and Victor of the rebel movement against the dark Lord Surewood and his fiendish cohorts(bunko)
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
The Former Leader and Victor of the rebel movement against the dark Lord Surewood and his fiendish cohorts(bunko)
Supporter of "The Only Good fredster Is A Dead fredster" fan club
Truly a sad day for old school gamers everywhere...
A "Thank You" to everyone who worked there over the years. I loved your games. I hope those that were currently employed can find work outside EA, the sooner the better..
I used to have a special boot disc, just so I could get enough of my 640k of ram free to run the first Wing Commander (at a whopping 12mhz).
http://www.depechemode.com/
A "Thank You" to everyone who worked there over the years. I loved your games. I hope those that were currently employed can find work outside EA, the sooner the better..
I used to have a special boot disc, just so I could get enough of my 640k of ram free to run the first Wing Commander (at a whopping 12mhz).
http://www.depechemode.com/
I guess we wont see any sequels to Moebius anytime soon, huh?
You are right about that. But Origin has been a big part of my "gaming life" and the history of the gaming industry and so while this isn't real news, it's still sad it's happening.
And now I'm wondering if I'm a little to fanatic about video games.
And now I'm wondering if I'm a little to fanatic about video games.
"Pay for your games and maybe this wouldn't happen. "
You certainly can't mean to pin their closure on piracy, of all things... People who don't buy games definitely aren't responsible for developers churning out crap. Not to mention that Origin's primary source of income for the last several years has been UO, and subscription based games are definitely difficult to pirate.
Bad management is he only thing you could possibly blame this on, and coming from EA this is no surprise.
Just for the record: Origin died in 2001 and has just been an empty hust since then.
You certainly can't mean to pin their closure on piracy, of all things... People who don't buy games definitely aren't responsible for developers churning out crap. Not to mention that Origin's primary source of income for the last several years has been UO, and subscription based games are definitely difficult to pirate.
Bad management is he only thing you could possibly blame this on, and coming from EA this is no surprise.
Just for the record: Origin died in 2001 and has just been an empty hust since then.
There was foreshadowing of this in the Ultima series. 3 of the Guardian's blackrock shrines in Ultima 7 were based on the EOA Logo.
If the CRPG Guardian used the same tactics as his real-life counterpart, he would've won. Don't try to kill the Avatar, just buy him out and run his company into the ground before hoofing his sorry ass out the door.
If the CRPG Guardian used the same tactics as his real-life counterpart, he would've won. Don't try to kill the Avatar, just buy him out and run his company into the ground before hoofing his sorry ass out the door.
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