Tabula Rasa

I spoke with Richard Garriott, the creator of immortal games such as Ultima and Ultima Online, and the more recent Tabula Rasa, recently and he pointed me to the website of his new startup venture, Portalarium (www.portalarium.com). Along with four of his buddies from Origin and NCSoft he has started this new studio to bring "Premium Games to the Social Web". He stated that it will be as much as a year before we see the first solid product of this collaboration, although some parts of it are slated to be "out there" by the end of this year. Lord British has made his mark several times over by re-inventing gaming. I can only assume that this adventure will be no different. This is a company to keep an eye on.

The game may have closed its doors back in February, but until recently its website was still up and running. That's all changed now, with Tabula Rasa's website being shut down and instead redirecting people to NCsoft's main page.

As you may remember, Richard Garriott announced his departure from NCsoft in November 2008 following his flight to the International Space Station as part of Operation Immortality. Soon after, it was announced that Tabula Rasa was shutting down. Well, as Kotaku found out, Garriott is suing NCsoft for fraud to the tune of $27 million in damages.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court yesterday. GamePolitics has a copy of Garriott's actual complaint. Basically, as GamePolitics puts its, the complaint "alleges that he lost millions when NCsoft manipulated him into cashing out stock options earlier this year after firing him late in 2008."

Yes, Garriott is saying he was fired and didn't leave the company voluntarily after all. Here's the wording straight from the complaint: "In... November 2008, Chris Chung, President of NCSoft's North American operations, informed Mr. Garriott that NCSoft has decided to 'part company.' Although Mr. Garriott objected to his dismissal, Mr. Chung insisted that the decision was final - Mr. Garriott had to go."

Garriott claims to have suffered more than $27 million in damages and is accusing NCsoft of breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

The Tabula Rasa servers have shut down, but the game certainly went out with a bang. Friday's transmission on the official Web site announced that Special Intelligence units had intercepted and decoded Bane communications and discovered the enemy was planning a massive offensive attack. Players were advised to fortify defenses at every AFS base in preparation for the assult: "We can not afford to be complacent or uncertain, but if it is truly our destiny to be destroyed, we are taking them all with us."

It seems Tabula Rasa's destiny was indeed to be destroyed, but the team was able to sign off with one final message : "As we return to Earth, our battle comes to an end. Thank you to all the fans who have supported us for the last few years! We hope you have enjoyed your journey through the galaxy and that the next worlds you visit will be filled with excitement and fun."

The team thanked the game's community for its passion and noted that "with every end comes a new beginning." In the case of Tabula Rasa, that ending was an all-out war to bring closure for fans.

It's about that time again for another weekly recap. We have a ton of exclusives to share with you, so let's jump right in! Keep reading after the jump for even more links to some of our most noteworthy news stories of the week, as well as editorials on casual MMOs, professional gaming and machinima by members of the Allakhazam staff.

Allakhazam Features

Interview with Mia Rose : Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle got the chance to meet up with Mia Rose at the Consumer Electronics Show this month and she discussed all things WoW, including her thoughts on WotLK.

'Free Expansion' on the Horizon : Tamat talks with Vanguard's lead designer, Salim "Silius" Grant, about all of the new expansion-like content coming soon to the game.

Fasaria World Beta Giveaway : The Fasaria World team gave us 500 beta keys to give out to Allakhazam members. If you'd like to participate, we suggest you hurry before they're gone!

TwelveSky 2: Our First Look : Our friends at MAYN sent us 10 exclusive screenshots of this upcoming MMO set in ancient China. Check them out to see the style of the game.