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Portalarium announces Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale as first title

Matt Daniel — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, News items, Miscellaneous

Richard Garriott's recent startup, Portalarium, had many people wondering what would be the first thing to come out of this mad scientist's new studio. Well, wonder no more. Now we know that Portalarium's first title will be a Facebook game known as Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale, which focuses on -- you guessed it -- collecting things that you buy at garage sales. We couldn't make this up if we tried.

Players can create an avatar and customize their houses, and then go shopping at estate sales, garage sales, pawn shops, and so forth in order to complete collections of items. These item collections can then be displayed in your house as a trophy of sorts, or you can sell them to make a quick buck. We'll just have to wait and see how this bizarre project shapes up in the coming months.

Portalarium announces Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale as first title originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott predicts the death of consoles as a gaming medium

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Miscellaneous

Considering his influence on the realm of MMOs, many gamers would argue that it's hard to dismiss Richard Garriott's thoughts on development out of hand. A recent interview with the man includes him predicting the fall of traditional console gaming in favor of portable devices, and the end of MMOs as a major market share compared to social and casual games. As Garriott puts it, the era of MMOs was chiefly between 2000 and 2010, and the explosion in social gaming is now a new part of the overall game development cycle.

Naturally, since Garriott's current company, Portalarium, is targeting specifically that demographic, he might be just a little bit biased. But he's hardly the first industry insider to claim that modern games need to be easily be picked up with little to no up-front cost. Take a look at the full interview for more, including Garriott's thoughts on how present designers are lazy and his self-comparison to Tolkien.

Richard Garriott predicts the death of consoles as a gaming medium originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott blames Blizzard for ignoring the social gaming field

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Richard Garriott, who heads up social games outfit Portalarium, publicly put the screws to Blizzard and other major MMO companies for overlooking the casual gaming space. In fact, he says that World of Warcraft's biggest challenger won't be from another AAA title, but from the "Zyngas of the world."

Talking to Industry Gamers, Garriott accused Blizzard and EA of dropping the ball when it came to social gaming, which Zynga has since explored and exploited. "The only reason Zynga exists is because people like EA, people like Blizzard, failed to step in," he said.

Garriott sees these small start-ups as having great potential in the near future. "I think within a few years, you'll see that's not really the case," he said. "I think you'll see that the quality level that comes up through the casual games will rival the quality of traditional massively multiplayer games and then, because it's not something you have to subscribe to, because it's something that virally spreads, and especially because, as people churn out of a big MMO they've got to go somewhere."

Garriott's Portalarium is currently working on an upcoming project that is "much more like Ultima Online than people might expect."

Richard Garriott blames Blizzard for ignoring the social gaming field originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott running Portalarium with robots

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

Have you ever wished that instead of having to go to your job, you could just turn on the computer, log in to an avatar in the same manner as an MMO, and take care of everything that way? Perhaps to the surprise of no one, Richard Garriott has begun doing precisely that at his company, Portalarium. Rather than commuting between New York and the studio in Austin, Garriott has a small robotic avatar to allow him a face-to-video-monitor presence in Austin even when he's away.

The robot itself is a $15,000 Anybot QB from the eponymous company Anybots, Inc, which Garriott claims was originally purchased so that his mother could virtually attend his wedding in France. He also stresses that it's not a means of keeping tabs on employees, merely a way to bridge the gap between two very distant locations. And really, if you had just won millions of dollars in a lawsuit, wouldn't you be attending all events via robot?

Richard Garriott running Portalarium with robots originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Europe 2011: Richard Garriott says mobile and social titles are 'the future of games'

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Tabula Rasa, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous

Delivering the final keynote address at this year's GDC Europe, Richard Garriott said that the industry is rapidly moving away from MMOs as we know them and toward mobile and social gaming -- and that companies need to hop on board, lest they be left behind.

Garriott used his iPhone as an example of this new direction: "I am now much more of a gamer than I ever been in my whole life, but the vast majority of the gaming I have played has been on this machine. I'm a devout believer that this is the current and near-term future of games."

He defines this "new era" of gaming by having cheap games that are simple to use and connect you with real-world friends. While he thinks earlier social games like FarmVille were too simple and unappealing, Garriott says that they're evolving quickly.

During the speech, Garriott expressed regret that his team didn't stick by the original vision for Tabula Rasa, and he urged fellow developers not to trade in their dreams in order to follow the company line. His new company Portalarium plans to "reinvent roleplaying yet again" by releasing a series of products that will capitalize on social gaming and retrain players to think beyond mere combat to a wider experience.

GDC Europe 2011: Richard Garriott says mobile and social titles are 'the future of games' originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott to deliver Game Developers Conference Europe keynote

Matt Daniel — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, News items, Miscellaneous

Are you planning to venture to the wilds of Europe for the upcoming Game Developers Conference Europe? If so, you're in for a treat, as the father of Ultima will be delivering the keynote speech. That's right, the one and only spacefaring game developer Richard Garriott will give a presentation at the conference discussing social gaming, its future, and what mark it may leave on the gaming industry as a whole.

Garriott is perhaps known best for being the creator of the Ultima series (and the victim of assassination in the early days of Ultima Online), but his most recent foray in the industry came in the form of Portalarium, a social gaming company. Frank Sliwka, event director of GDC Europe, notes that "there are few developers with Richard Garriott's history, pedigree and vantage point, having been a defining force in the realm of traditional hardcore games, birthing the RPG and MMORPG genres, to now helping lead the way within the world of social games," so the speech will almost certainly be enlightening for anyone with an interest in the subject. GDC Europe will be taking place from August 15-17, so if you're looking to make the journey to gaming mecca, go ahead and start making plans!

Richard Garriott to deliver Game Developers Conference Europe keynote originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott talks cross-game platforms and leaving MMOs behind

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

Even though Richard Garriott has moved on from the days of Ultima Online and the sadly defunct Tabula Rasa, it's hard not to pay some attention to the man behind what's frequently considered the first modern MMO. A recent interview with Gamasutra reveals that the man himself is no longer really invested in MMOs as a genre, however. According to him, "Even the kinds of games that you might think I would make, I don't generally play, because they're often just too much of a hassle to get into them."

The bulk of the interview is dedicated to discussing Garriott's social gaming company, Portalarium, and his plans to try to leverage games into a shared network similar to Steam rather than using Facebook's built-in integration. It's a look into the man's latest project, which should prove of interest to those still following him, even if he's no longer interested in MMOs as such.

Richard Garriott talks cross-game platforms and leaving MMOs behind originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott's Portalarium project gets more funding

Jef Reahard — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Browser, Casual, Miscellaneous

Portalarium, the social networking startup founded by Richard "Lord British" Garriott, is picking up a bit of momentum thanks to a round of new funding. London-based m8 has contributed an undisclosed amount of capital to Garriott's Austin, Texas studio, which thus far has published two Facebook gambling games (Port Casino Poker and Port Casino Blackjack).

Total funding for Portalarium stands at $3.6 million, and the company plans to release CenterPort sometime in 2012. CenterPort is a graphically advanced social networking app that "will be the virtual world social hub for the OpenLife ecosystem, a broad yet fully integrated meta-community," according to the studio's website.

Garriott, most famous for the seminal Ultima series (which for MMO gamers peaked with Ultima Online in 1997), launched Portalarium in September 2009.

Richard Garriott's Portalarium project gets more funding originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott discusses ongoing plans for Portalarium

Krystalle Voecks — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Events, real-world, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

As much as some may poke fun at Facebook and other social media based games, those games have an enormous market share that's still growing. Let's face it: These games attract not only all manner of gamers but also the most casual of non-gaming users, such as your Great-Aunt Martha or partners who generally dislike video games. With that in mind, Edge caught up with Richard Garriott at DICE Summit recently to catch up on how things are progressing with his foray into the social gaming world: Portalarium.

While we knew about Portalarium's initial offerings such as the card game, it appears that the company has much bigger plans in store. Garriott discusses the success of many of the titles in the social gaming space and how that relates to his own personal world-building experiences with Ultima Online. Further, he notes that Portalarium's current main title is "not a game about farming... operating a shop... [or] managing your pets." There is also some discussion of making in-game purchases tie to microlending sites like Kiva to benefit projects in other countries, which is certainly worth reading as well. If you're curious about where Portalarium is going or interested in reading some ideas from an industry vet, then pop over to Edge and check out the full interview with Garriott.

Richard Garriott discusses ongoing plans for Portalarium originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott on the state of social gaming

Jef Reahard — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Casual

Legendary game creator Richard Garriott raised a few eyebrows when he announced a foray into social gaming last fall. The MMORPG maestro and occasional astronaut seemed a rather unlikely candidate for the casual games space after spearheading the likes of Ultima Online and Tabula Rasa. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Garriott revealed that he's taking no prisoners when it comes to his new endeavor, offering his views on the large number of crapware titles cluttering the casual space as well as his company's plans to distribute its tools for free in order to help standardize the sector and raise the quality bar.

"There's tons of small start-ups who we are seeing take lots of investment and lots of activity and large acquisition costs -- who are creating, literally, junk. Stuff that people aren't playing that much and if you play it it's not much fun," Garriott opined.

Garriott's new company, Portalarium, has thus far produced Port Casino Poker and Port Casino Blackjack, both playable via Facebook, and is now shifting its focus to a new title that has more in common with UO. Details on the new game are slated to be revealed over the next two weeks.

Richard Garriott on the state of social gaming originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Garriott's Portalarium going the social media route

Jef Reahard — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual

Our friends at Joystiq tipped us off to the latest endeavor for MMO legend Richard Garriott (and no, it doesn't involve the intrepid developer orbiting the earth). While speaking at the Austin, Texas-based Fantastic Arcade event, Lord British dropped a few hints regarding the social media stylings that his latest company (and game), Portalarium, will feature.

"You play it by clicking on a link, nothing to pay for up front, no real installation and only if you decide you really want to play it will we decide how to eventually charge you money for it," Garriott enthused.

While we're not quite as excited as we would be if he'd announced an updated Ultima Online project, Portalarium bears watching, if only to see whether Garriott can still walk the walk. "Since everybody else is doing Flash and Java games, I can kick their ass pretty easy," he told attendees.

Garriott's Portalarium going the social media route originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott talks about Portalarium and the future

Rubi Bayer — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Interviews, MMO industry

Earlier this week we told you about Richard Garriott's latest venture, turning an eye to the social media trend with his new business venture Portalarium. Our sister site Joystiq spent some time with him discussing the company and its future.

Before delving into where Garriott is going, Joystiq explored a bit about where he's been. They talked about the infamous venture into space, and the even more infamous NCsoft lawsuit, then moved on to what Portalarium is all about and what Garriott hopes to accomplish with it.

Portalarium's aim is essentially to tap into the growing social network gaming genre and do it bigger and better. The interview covers the basics of how the business model will work as well as Garriott's views on what the market is lacking and how he plans to fill in those gaps. It's an interesting read, so head over to Joystiq and take a look at the full interview!

Richard Garriott talks about Portalarium and the future originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Garriott returns to gaming with Portalarium

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Launches, MMO industry, News items, Casual

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Richard Garriott isn't a man content to rest on his laurels. Just after we hear that the documentary about his space trip is coming out, we now hear that he's found a new niche in the multi-player gaming industry. Only this time, he's not developing a traditional MMO as one might suspect. Instead, Garriott has revealed his involvement in a start-up called Portalarium, which is setting out to get a chunk of that browser-based social game cash floating around on Facebook and other social media networks.

Currently, Portalarium isn't so much a games company as a games engine company. According to a great writeup about this new company by Dean Takahashi over on GamesBeat, their general feeling is that the current crop of Facebook games are "relatively primitive in terms of game play." The Portalarium team plans to make richer, more engaging games that will manage to give players a high-quality game while still remaining in a browser and not needing a separate download. In all, it's a fascinating article -- both in terms of technology, and in terms of what Garriott has been up to (there's a bit about Tabula Rasa in there too) -- so be sure to pop over there and give the full article a read.

Garriott returns to gaming with Portalarium originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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