Ultima Underworld PocketPC Poster!

Underworld PosterI thought you might enjoy seeing this great poster. It’s approximately 44″ wide and 39″ tall. I assume it was used at trade shows for the PocketPC version. It’s printed on heavy gauge material and it has a velcro edge on the back.

Quote from the Ultima Underworld Wikipedia Page:

“In the early 2000s, Paul Neurath approached EA to discuss a port of Ultima Underworld to the Pocket PC. EA rejected the suggestion, but allowed him to look for possible developers; Neurath found that ZIO Interactive enthusiastically supported the idea, and EA eventually licensed the rights to the company. Doug Church and Floodgate Entertainment assisted with portions of its Pocket PC development, and the port was released in 2002.”

It is interesting how EA used the opportunity to promote Ultima Online. That was another great game.

Ultima Underworld III? Underworld Ascendant on Kickstarter

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The original Ultima Underworld is still one of my all time favorite games. Underworld Ascendant is being produced by the same folks that made the first 2 games. They are also the genius behind other amazing titles such as Thief and Thief II (which I just completed). While the Ultima name will not be used it is definitely being marketed as the 3rd game in that series. They have already raised enough money that the game will be built. Any new contributions at this point will only make the game better.

I couldn’t be more excited for this newest installment in the series and I have already made my pledge. With less than 3 days left I hope you will too! Here is a preview video they put together:

More information at:

http://www.underworldascendant.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/description

Ultima V Lazarus Maps of Townes, Villages & More.

These maps are not intended to reveal too many game secrets. They are mostly just to help aid in finding characters and locations. I spent quite a bit of time putting these together and while they are not perfect I am quite proud of the results. I hope you find these useful in your travels. Let me know if you see anything that needs updating or correcting.

They have more great maps at http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Ultima_V:_Lazarus_Maps. I used 3 maps of Britain, Britannys, and Skara Brae found there as a starting point. Thank you to the creator of those original maps.

Townes:
T1 BritainT2 JhelomT3 MinocT4 MoonglowT5 New MaginciaT6 Skara BraeT7 TrinsicT8 Yew
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Villages:
V1 BrittanysV2 Buccaneers DenV3 CoveV4 Paws

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World Map with Spoilers-Open at your own risk & Sky Chart of the Moons!
WorldMap FinalMoons Map

I just completed Ultima V Lazarus and you should too!

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Ultima V Lazarus by Team Lazarus is a 2005-2006 remake of the classic game Ultima V Warriors of Destiny from 1988. The game was created as a Siegelet MOD for the game Dungeon Siege, released in 2002 by Gas Powered Games.

What an incredible adventure Lazarus is! I highly recommend this title to fans of Ultima or anyone looking for a great story. I’ve spent more time with this game over the last two months than with any other modern RPG. The world map is breathtakingly large. It took me two real-world weeks to finally get a handle on some prominent locations. Once I became adjusted to navigating the map I started meeting a few characters. Then a few dozen more. Eventually I filled an entire hand written notebook with all the people, their stories and or quests. The lack of an in-game Journal is arguably the most difficult part of the game. While at first I was skeptical of keeping my own notes, in the end I feel it helped me get drawn into the story further and made me enjoy the game even more. I also created maps of all the townes and villages by combining 100s of screenshots with Paint. In fact I took 642 screenshots (2.58GB) and saved my game over 2800 times (26GB).
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I have never played the original Ultima V Warriors of Destiny so I have no frame of reference to make a comparison. However, Lazarus did bring back great memories of Ultima VII on my 486DX 33mhz. It also reminded me of playing the early days of Ultima Online with some friends. There is an incredible amount of work that went into making this huge version of Britannia. Every detail has been thought of from beautiful castletop views overlooking villages to the menacing depths of the deepest dungeons. Thank you so much to Team Lazarus for giving me 60 days (and really late nights) of pure entertainment!
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You will need an original version of Dungeon Siege so either dust off your old copy or head over to eBay for an easy $5-$10. It takes a little work to get this running on Windows 7 and or 64-bit systems. There are also a number of MODs to the MOD itself which can further enhance the gameplay. Here are a couple of great places to help get your started.

Official Ultima V Lazarus Page
Infinitrons U5 Lazarus Recommended MODS
http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Ultima_V:_Lazarus
http://lazarus.thehawkonline.com/downloads.html
http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Moongate_Destinations_in_Ultima_V:_Lazarus
http://ultimacodex.com/ – My new favorite site!

Help Identify Action Figure Weapons, Equipment & Missiles

missiles
If you can identify any of these items please comment on this post with the letter of the picture, and the number of the item. Picture-A, First Row has several G.I. Joe Missiles but I’m not sure which vehicles they match up with. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
weaponsparts1parts2
Even Larger Versions of these photos:
A-Missiles B-Weapons C-Parts 1 D-Parts 2

A06 Construx Military Missile (I should have noticed this since I have the Construx Archive)
B08 Masters of the Universe (He-Man) 1987 Ninjor Nunchucks (Came with 2 originally)
B23 : GIjoe, sold with Backblast (v2) (1993), Heavy Duty (v2) (1993), Countdown (v3) (1994)

B27 GI Joe Sgt. Savage – A couple of different figures have this weapon I think.

B28: GI shotgun (broken, the pistol grip is missing. Sold in variant colours with too many joes to list.
B29: GI Joe Sgt Savage line, sold with various “good” characters.
B43 Power Rangers ?
B44 Power Rangers ?
B46 X-Men X-Force 1992 Shatterstar Sword (Came with 2 originally)
B50 The Other World – Raidy
B54 GI Joe Sigma 6 – Ninja B.A.T. 2005
C21 April O’Neil Camera TMNT

C23 GI joe Beach head’s pouch

C36 The Corps! Shotgun

C38 The Corps ?

C46 GI Joe Sgt Savage ammo box.
D23 Star Wars Episode I 1999 Boss Nass Staff
D26 Masters of the Universe (He-Man) 1987 Ninjor Black Cloak
D27 Star Wars Revenge of the Sith 2005 Yoda Rocket for Cannon

Q & A with Toy Designer / Inventor Tim Harris


Back in 2011 I put up a post (Seen Here) to help me identify 2 Hot Wheels Sized cars with a sort of Road Warrior meets D&D theme. In 2013 a visitor to the site told me they were called “Road Wars” so I added the proper name to my blog. The post was then found and commented on by the creator of the series himself Tim Harris! What follows are his original comments and then a series of questions he was kind enough to answer for us all.

Tim’s original comment to Retro Rescue>
Hello- I was a free lance designer/inventor of toys and games 1982-2008. I was working in association with David Wyman (Granta Design) when I conceived and developed the “Road Wars” and “Road Maniax” products. They sold well for about 8 months then Mattel developed the “Liberty Base”. America hated it and returned the cars to the toy stores. Mattell dropped the concept world wide.

Retro Rescue> Thank you for stopping by my site Tim and leaving a comment about the cars. After reading your message I went and looked at the whole line. It doesn’t surprise me that the Road Wars were initially popular. I think they are amazing little Mad Max machines which is why I created the post to find out more. I also looked at the Liberty Base. It reminds me of Planet of the Apes and the M.A.S.K. playsets from the 80s. It’s disappointing that was the end of the line. May I ask you a few questions and post your responses to my blog? I’d like to know more about your experiences and I’m confident others would too.

Tim> Thank you for your appreciation of the Road Wars product. I thoroughly enjoyed developing the product all those years ago and now seeing the web sites associated with the product. Of course I don’t mind answering your questions.

Retro Rescue> Toy Designer / Inventor sounds like a fascinating career. How did you get started? During your long career you designed “Road Wars”, tell us about other projects you have worked on?

Tim> Toy designer – not a real one is my usual response. I started at Matchbox Toys/ Lesley Products in 1976. First job was in the model shop assisting designers realises their visions. After about a year I moved to the design department as matchbox was moving into preschool products. I remained there until matchbox closed in 1984/5ish. During that time I designed and conceived things like “Activity bear”, “Diver Dan”, “Tubby Tooters” “Shufflies” and was responsible for the design and sculpting of the “Matchbox Disney Range”. I have some of those pieces for sale on eBay.

After Matchbox closed I went as an independent designer and worked with inventing group Dixon Manning designing the “Corgi Carry Case”. I remained there for a year and went to work with the inventing group Granta Design/ Wyman Associates. Also worked for Roger Ford of NPD Partnership. At NPD I assisted in the development of the game “Dark World”. I have also designed toys for Fisher Price, Kiddicraft, Wadding tons games, & Schmidt Spiele, to name but a few. I think the last product count was around 43 in total.

Retro Rescue> [With Road Wars] which phases of the design process were you involved with?

Tim> Dungeons and Dragons had been around for a few years and that led me to conceive the ideas for “Road Wars”. One or two illustrations later and I committed to making 6 models. That process involved me purchasing a few die cast cars and chopping them about, adding bits and bobs with a splattering of weaponry also added. The main problem was the painting. Not for the models but for the production pieces as the whole idea was based around the imagery of Dungeons and Dragons.

Retro Rescue> How do you get from an idea to production?

Tim> Idea to production is sometimes a long slog. I mainly worked on conceptualisation. At that stage it was basically illustrations and a breadboard model. Today it is closer to presenting a fully working prototype and a cost breakdown perhaps with a whole marketing package. Toy companies these days are not really prepared to take a risk nor invest in an illustrated idea.

Retro Rescue> What types of things did you use for inspiration?

Tim> Inspiration comes from all quarters but you have to know what is currently out there and have a potted history of the industry. Inspiration for the toy industry is very different as a mind of a child really does help. Silly me!

Retro Rescue> Which idea got left on the cutting room floor but you wish had made it?

Tim> My biggest regret is the total farce that surrounded a product called “Luggers”. Produced by Corgi toys. It should still be on the market. It had such potential. Another that never got past the starters gun was an idea called “The Components”.

RetroRescue> What are your favorite toys from other designers both as a child and adult?

Tim> Lego. Lego and Lego. Sorry to be boring there but it is fantastic in every respect from design to child development and beyond. As I child I had great fun for hours and hours making roller coasters from Hornby rail track, yards and yards of the stuff, then rolling billiard balls on the construction.

RetroRescue> 1982-2008… Have you been yachting in the South Pacific since then?

Tim> Yachting in the South Pacific – sadly no but I have had a terrific career and life style.

RetroRescue> I’d like to thank you for taking time to share a little information Tim.

Tim> I hope that I’ve answered your questions to help you.
Cheers Tim. Harris.

Here are a few photographs of some of the things Tim worked on. The Dark World board game looks incredible!
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