GameBanshee is the latest site with an Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A, asking Origin lead designer Jon Hanna about this Unreal engine powered MMORPG.

There is a new Ultima X: Oddyssey development diary on GameSpot. Origin's Jon Hanna writes about trying to limit downtime (when it comes to gameplay, not server stability) in this new MMORPG.

Part two of RPG Vault's Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A is now available. Producer Rick Hall gets to answer questions about the different player characters, individual abilities, creating a Disciple character, the game's combat, monsters and their AI, NPCs and plenty of other things.

GameSpot has posted a new Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A, asking senior producer Rick Hall a few questions about this Unreal engine powered MMORPG. Eight new screenshots are included.

The latest Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A can be found at ToTheGame. Senior producer Rick Hall answers questions about supporting both Ultima Online and this game, using shards, gameplay, virtues, the private spawn system, and features that stand out.

HomeLAN Fed is the latest site with an Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A. Rick Hall is asked about the reaction to the game so far, gameplay features, graphical features, the current beta and release schedule and plans for additional content after release.

There is an Ultima X Q&A on Telefragged, asking Origin's Andy Dombroski about the new Unreal engine powered MMORPG. The level designer is asked to describe a typical day, recent areas of the game that have been worked on, the visual style, and a few other things.

Over at the Adrenaline Vault you can find an Ultima X: Odyssey Q&A with producer Rick Hall. He is asked about the lack of involvement from Richard Garriott, lessons learned from Ultima Online, connection to previous Ultima games, the amount of races and classes, the combat system, PvP combat, and plenty more. In related news the official site has been relaunched with a new look.

RPGDot and RPG Vault are the latest sites to offer their impressions of Ultima X: Odessey, the Origin MMORPG which was announced last week.

PC.IGN's Ultima X: Odyssey preview has finally been posted, offering more impressions of the new Origin Systems MMORPG. You can check out a trailer from the game here.

Both HomeLAN Fed and GameSpy are now offering their previews of Ultima X: Odessey, the new Unreal engine powered MMORPG from Origin and EA. Both previews are based on playtime with a build on display at the game's recent press event. There are also two video interview clips on UXO Stratics (thanks Blues News).

By far the best part of the Quest system is that it can be private. Many quests will spawn a private area for just you and your companions. So, if you're told to go to the underground hall of the dreaded mountain king, you won't reach his terrible throne room only to discover a crowd of other players waiting for him to respawn. A private copy of his dungeon will open up just for your and your friends, to live or die by your own means without interruption. Because of the dynamic difficulty and the choices you can make on each quest, no two missions will turn out the same for different groups of people.

Your latest MMORPG has been announced. Today Origin has come forward with word that they are working on Ultima X based on Epic's latest engine technology. What, you wanna see what it looks like? Ok well here is some footage to check out on FileShack to accompany the PR:

UXO's proprietary and innovative Odyssey Adventure System delivers customized quests to players automatically and enables private adventure zones, providing adventures on demand as players journey through the world. An added bonus in offering players private areas is that they can't be interrupted by "griefers" and other uninvited guests. [snip]

GameSpot has a really interesting feature to read this morning looking back at the Ultima sequel that never was. Electronic Arts pulled the plug on the project and about 80 people got canned at Origin. This was the official line back then:

Electronic Arts and Origin Systems have announced a plan that will increase their focus on Ultima Online and halt production of OWO: ORIGIN (UO2). The reason is simple, rather than creating OWO: ORIGIN (UO2) as a parallel world competing with UO, we've decided to put those resources into growing and improving the core offering for Ultima Online's 230,000 loyal subscribers.

You can also skip ahead to an interview with Starr Long. Here's a quote from the guys running the $10/month IRC server (heehee)

The social side is at least as important as, if not more important than, the adventuring portion of the game.

The big story the other day about UltimaOnline 2 being canned by EA was pretty shocking. GameSpy caught up with Richard Garriot to get his reactions which also includes word that the cancellation comes within 8 days of his own non-compete agreement ending. He may just have a bunch of new employees!

On the other hand, personally, it could be an opportunity in the sense that my non-compete [agreement with EA] runs out here in about 8 days, and I was debating how to hire a team to get back into the business and I know a lot of the best people, a lot of my best friends who were at Origin, were very committed to their team and to their project and to the leadership around them within that company. [...] its going to be interesting for me to go back to Austin and start up discussions with the large stable of close friends who are now looking for something to do...

PC.IGN has an interview with David Swofford of Origin who was on the front lines of the big nasty UO2 project being canned. David mentions that they are looking at merging UO2 technology into the existing UO universe.

Ultima Online: Third Dawn recently went gold and a lot of details on the overhauled MMORPG. The guys at Strategyplanet have probably the biggest recent article.

The folks at Origin have released just shy of a dozen new screenshots of the 3D evolution of Ultima Online being cleverly referred to as UO2. Honestly the first set of shots were a little less than impressive. This time around they have improved a bit more.

.. more screenshots (note: thumbnails are old)