I mentioned Richard Garriott a few times here and there on my blog, partly because I’m a big fan of his old Ultima games, and partly because he’s sort of an interesting character.  I always think that if I had the money he does, that I hope I would be as creative as he is in spending it.

Well, he sold his company, Origin Systems Inc., to EA in 1992, and left the company in 2000.  EA went on to do absolutelt nothing with all that fabulous IP.  Well, unless you count keeping Ultima Online running, and releasing the horrid Wing Commander Arena for Xbox Live.  He started a company called Destination Games, who merged with NCsoft to bring the MMO Lineage to North America and release the MMO Tabula Rasa.

Just a few weeks since his highly publicized space flight, Garriott has announced that he is leaving NCsoft to pursue new interests.  Like buying back the rights to Ultima and developing a new game??  Sigh.  One can only dream…

Interestingly, Tabula Rasa is offically called “Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa.”  I wonder if it’ll get a name change.