Tabula Rasa - exclusive interview with Richard Garriott

Richard Garriott – or ‘Lord British’ as he’s known in gaming circles - is the master of the MMO, the phenomenon that’s swept the gaming world in recent years. He’s back with a new project, Tabula Rasa, a near-future sci-fi MMO RPG. PCGZine has talked exclusively to Richard Garriott this month, and asked him all about this new venture. He tells us all about the world of Tabula Rasa and how it plays. How will Tabula Rasa move on the concept of the MMO, and what will be the key developments? Find the answers to these and many more questions in our exclusive Richard Garriott interview now!
Click here to read the full Tabula Rasa interview with Richard Garriott now!

Tabula Rasa - interview with Richard Garriott
He created the MMO genre with Ultima Online, now he’s decided it’s time he reinvented it. Richard Garriott, aka ‘Lord British’, has been cast as an oddball – his wicked sense of humour, dreams of space travel and outspoken creativity would be the stuff of tabloid front pages in a world where games were cool. Thankfully they’re not, and this Britishborn gaming demigod is free to make engaging, rewarding and brilliant videogames…
That’s enough of the ass-kissing. What’s Tabula Rasa all about?
It’s a near-future, sci-fi MMO RPG (a NFSFMMORPG, then?). A big part of the team are the same members who built the first ever MMO, Ultima Online. Our team is uniquely experienced in pushing the threshold of gaming. We wanted to embark on a journey away from the derivative, fictionally and in terms of gameplay. The name is Latin for ‘blank slate’ – it was chosen as it reflects our design philosophy. We wanted to move away from medieval fantasy, and felt space had had become quite stagnant. Every MMO since Ultima and Everquest is the same, only with better art. Tabula Rasa sets out to shake that up.

PCGZine is a full, free to download magazine dedicated to PC gaming packed with previews, reviews and interviews about PC games, all written by UK games journalists. In this month’s action-packed PCGZine, you’ll find massive previews of Crysis and Bioshock, two of the biggest games about to hit your PC. We’ve talked exclusively to MMO supremo Richard Garriott about his new project, the breathlessly-awaited Tabula Rasa. MMO fans should also check out our Reviews section, where we’ve reviewed brand new MMO Dawnspire. Colin McRae: DIRT gets an exclusive review in this issue, plus we’ve played Shadowrun, Monster Madness, Defcon and many more – find out how we rate them all when you download the magazine. All this, plus your questions answered, technical issues addressed, news from the PC gaming community and more. Simply click to download and you will get the complete magazine with all the PC games previews and reviews included.