One of the few things I liked about the Ultima IX marketing strategy is that they released the full version of Ultima IV for free to the public to market the game. I was more than willing to pay the $30 (now $20) for the Archives, but I'm wondering if something like this might be done with Proving Grounds before (if again) the Wizardry 8 release.

Just curious,

John

ps. does anyone from Sir-Tech read this board?

• Some generic answers - and a question,Llevram, 12:01 PM, Mar-02-00
  • Hmm...,L'Montes, 03:23 PM, Jan-10-01

Do you really think re-releasing Wiz 1 would generate interest in Wiz 8? I don't - they are worlds apart ... I am eagerly awaiting Wiz 8, but can't stand to play Wiz 1 anymore. It still holds a lot of nostalgic value for me, but that is about it.

Even if they were to re-release Wiz 7 (for today's 500 Mhz machines), without redoing at least all of the graphics (read spend a lot of time and money), I still think that would be a waste of time. The only interest that would generate (on any scale) is a resurgence of interest in that product, not the future one (IMHO).

As to whether or not Sir-tech reads this board, I can't say for sure, but I can say:

1) they know it exists
2) no one from there was spending work time surfing my site last week (I don't look at that stat every week)

If they do visit this site, I doubt it would be to the Wiz 1 board. Maybe you should post this under the Wiz 8 board as a possible question to them.

Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit

I don't know about a free Ultima 4, but I do seem to recall something about re-doing the first 3 Ultimas with the Ultima9/UO2 engine. Of course.... since Garriot left (was fired?) I haven't heard anything about this.

Point being... a redo of Bane with 3D acceleration would be neat. I'd say Wiz1, but that's a bit much to ask.