On UO.com it has been announced that Mythic will work on Ultima Online (generally viewed as the first major MMO, now close to nine years old and still with over a hundred thousand subscribers) along with the Origin team. Or maybe Origin will work on WAR and DAoc with Mythic. The announcement doesn't really specify... It's on the front page of UO.com at this point, but in case it moves (I have no idea what the permanent link is - no points for UO.com's usability), here's the full text of the post:

These are exciting days for MMORPG fans here at EA. With the acquisition of Mythic, the UO team will be working with the creative folks who brought us Dark Age of Camelot and are hard at work on the spectacular-looking Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’m thrilled that the UO team and Mythic will work together to forge Britannia’s future.

There is much to talk about with our new partners, and it will take some time to review and finalize our plans. Because we need to take that time, we are postponing the announcement that we were going to make this week. The in-game fiction cycle will take a break for a bit and will return soon.

See you in Britannia,
Darkscribe

The patch notes archive has been updated for patches 1.77 to 1.84.

Gamespot has an interview with Mark Jacobs, CEO of Mythic Entertainment, and Owen Mahoney, EA "SVP of corporate development". Included are statements regarding both DAoC...

GS: Does Electronic Arts pick up Mythic's entire back catalog, including Dark Age of Camelot?

MJ: Absolutely. As part of the deal, obviously, EA looks at Camelot and goes 'this is a historically important franchise, one that is still a very popular one' and they are excited about the prospect of seeing what can be done with it going forward.

And WAR:

GS: Will Warhammer be one of the first MMO titles to test the waters of the online console space?

MJ: I can say this much: As you know, we showed a console version of Warhammer at E3, running the entire time while the PC version was running. We look forward to talking to the other guys at EA of course, with Microsoft and Sony, and any console maker, about doing a console-based version of Warhammer. We have those rights...they were acquired by Mythic and were acquired by EA. It's safe to say we are going to be looking at all possibilities for the Warhammer franchise. Whether we are going to be the first...first doesn't matter, best does.

Well, EA probably isn't really Satan, but you'd think so by the reactions on message boards... anyway: Electronic Arts (EA), probably best known at this point for their dominance in console sports games, is buying Mythic. The deal won't close until second fiscal quarter 2007 (which for EA is July 1 to September 30, 2006), if it closes at all (regulatory approval and so forth)... but Mythic will be EA Mythic.

This is not a rumor. It used to be - some brought it up on a Warhammer fansite board and Mark Jacobs (rather mockingly, really) denied it - but it's confirmed via official press releases by both EA and Mythic (EA's is here and Mythic's here) and by posts by Sanya and Mark Jacobs.

Now, a lot of players are rather... concerned... about this change, and understandably so. EA has a less than perfect record with MMOs, as fans of both UO (and fans of UO who hoped for UO2) and Earth & Beyond can attest. I share those concerns to a large degree.

Sanya has pointed out that Mythic did not need to make this deal, and so they have done it because they feel it will help their games (the main upside seems to be EA marketing's deep pockets). Another implication is that while other studios have had to go to EA in order to survive in any form and have thus had no room to negotiate terms, Mythic was able to get a better deal.

Chances are we'll never know exactly what the terms of the deal are, but I was curious about some specifics, and so I talked to Sanya...

1. DAoC2: I saw someone on the Vault mention this, and given EA's fondness for sequels and franchises, I thought it'd be worth asking Sanya about. Mythic won't make DAoC2, EA or no EA...
2. WAR: Games Workshop maintains control of the Warhammer license and is thus the one with ultimate control. If they don't like where EA Mythic takes the property, they can take it back - which hopefully will convince EA to leave it alone.
3. DAoC: Both Mythic and EA are businesses, and thus aren't interested in closing games they can make money off of. It's important to keep in mind that Mythic has never said DAoC won't be shut down - what they've said amounts to 'DAoC won't be shut down so long as it's worth keeping up'.

Will the direction of DAoC be dictated by EA? That's pretty much unknown. Sanya's talk about this deal being different hints that Mythic might retain control, to a degree, but it's unlikely that Mythic will simply be a fully autonymous division of EA that gets marketing money. Odds are, to some degree, EA will be in charge. Will EA use that control to promptly destroy the game? Again, unknown.

Personally, while I am concerned that Mythic will lose all control of their games and EA will repeat history, I see a huge potential upside to this... marketing means new players, which DAoC sorely needs.

With the recent announcement of the soon to be broken marriage of EA and Mythic Entertainment, I found myself choking up on memories of another EA acquisition.

Westwood Studios, deceased, was bought out by EA once upon a time, with promises to keep the team together and allow them creative control over a small game called Earth and Beyond.

My son got me involved in this pvp-less game and I loved it. It was the first MM of O's I'd played. Previously, I played text based hack'n'slash. Even the grind wasn't so bad afte awhile, when you found some people to have fun while getting stomped by Red Dragon's and Progen Centurions, or Bogeril. We had our drama, when a mid level player folded high level aggro mobs to a wormhole destination [like a portal] where lowbies waited for someone to wormhole them to other systems. He got banned. Another guy who ran the biggest guild on the server had his guildies farm parts from an epic encounter so he could build unique [very unique] weapons to be sold on eBay. I think one of them went for $150 real money. They got mad when he wouldn't make them for guildies and quit the guild.

In all that, these people I got to know virtually. We grumbled, and whined about things. We talked about current events. We died. We went on epic encounters. We waited for updates.

We mourned the sunset. Twilight for this game was painful. I lost contact with more than 100 virtual people. Even if I never saw them live, they were still vivid in my mind and really alive. The guy that builds engines for NASCAR who kept getting me killed. A New Yorker that delighted in me logging in my JE so that we could play together. The Ob-Gyn that I tried to keep up with in crafting. The guy that couldnt spell his character's name right. The people I crafted for, the people I wormholed around for jobs, the people I chatted with day in and day out, like a natural disaster that had me grieving for these people even though they were still alive. I still dont know where they are. I dont know what they are doing, if they are alright.

They have left the confines of the game and immigrated to other games, EvE and SW:G were the first, and I didnt follow. I came to DAoC. I have new friends.

The loss of these people will sadden me greatly. No more farming taurs and talking about kids, with my guildie. No more nodding to myself when listening to the other type 2 talks about his bad days. No more sharing the excitement of victorys and the pain of defeats with the virtual friends I have.

You do not need to be able to physically touch someone for them to make a mark on you. These people I count as being lucky for me and unfortunate for the rest of the world that they do not know these people as I do. I mourn the loss of these friends and future moments we will not share for this will happen and sooner than I like.

Sanya told us this was coming... and here it is: the poll allowing you to share your opinion on the third ML line addition. You can see the proposed new lines here, and the poll itself is below:

With Sanya's recent post on the Camelot Herald at (http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2426.shtml) we would like to gauge your opinion on the proposed 3rd master level line. Please choose one of the below choices:

• I do not wish to answer this poll.
• Please implement the 3rd master level line option as described on the Herald.
• Please do not implement the 3rd master level line option as described on the Herald. I do not like what is proposed for my class.
• Please do not implement the 3rd master level line option as described on the Herald. I do not like what is proposed for a class besides my own.
• I play on a classic server and it doesn't affect me
• I do not see my choice listed above.