It's not actually called "Ladies of Ultima", as EA obviously own the rights to the brand. So it's called "Mystik" instead. But it does depict characters and events from the series, and even has the blessing of Ultima's creator, Richard Garriott.

We've posted a selection of shots here, but to see all of them, as well as read up on just who/what they're depicting, visit the calendar's site below.

Mystick [Enrico Ricciardi, via GameSetWatch]

The Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator brought some of his prized automata and rat tail to the Martha Stewart set, talking about his massive collection of antique and modern day self-operating machines, some of which were previously featured on Kotaku.

Of course, that post didn't feature the lovely and talented Martha Stewart, nor did it offer video of Garriott holding a tiny fully-functioning crossbow. But, like that post, there's very little video game discussion here. Instead, expect more than 11 minutes worth of talking about Richard's expensive toy lot and lust for outer space.

Thanks, Tamiko!

Automata Robot Collection [Martha Stewart Show]
Richard Garriott on Martha Stewart - Automatons [YouTube]

The New York couple Noah Fulmore, 31, and Erin Finnegan, 30, are paying a small fortune to throw their wedding on a Zero G Corporation flight. Zero G is the only federally-approved tourist flight service that simulates spaceflight by flying in parabolic arcs between 36,000 and 24,000 feet. (That's flying them up and then dropping them and then going back up to do it all again). Zero G charges $5,200 a person per flight.

Daily News reports that the couple is the first to exchange wedding vows in freefall.

The pair met at an NYU science fiction club in 2000 and began dating in 2002. They went to so many "conventional" weddings they decided to do something out of this world.

"Since this is the one time in our lives that we were going to do this [get married], we thought we should make it a once-in-a-lifetime event," Fulmore said.

"My mom thinks I'm absolutely nuts."

The wedding is set for later this month. I hope nobody gets cold feet. I guess you don't need your feet in zero-g, but still...

So in love they could float away [Daily News]

As part of KotakuRoboto, we asked Garriott if he would send over some pictures of his personal collection of automata. His assortment, we're told, may be the largest private collection of automata in the world.

Here's a very, very small glimpse.

Poisoned Milk by famed contemporary automaton creator Paul Spooner.

According to the lawsuit filed by Garriott yesterday in the Austin, Texas, division of the U.S. District Court, the events surrounding his departure from NCsoft last year are a great deal more complicated than a simple change of interest on his part. In fact, the suit claims that the pleasant farewell letter posted on the Tabula Rasa forums in Garriott's name was in fact written by NCsoft, attempting to make Garriott's departure seem like a voluntary one.

The filing explains that the whole situation started while Garriott was in quarantine after his historic space flight, when NCsoft North American studio head called to inform him that his time at NCsoft was over.

In the face of Garriott's protest over his termination, Chung reportedly informed him that NCsoft's upper management had already considered the matter and his time with the company was at an end.

Soon after said phone call, NCsoft posted a farewell letter in Garriott's name on the Tabula Rasa website, indicating that the gaming pioneer was leaving to pursue other interests, hinting that his space flight had opened his eyes to new opportunities. Garriott didn't protest. After all, he still had stock options good until the year 2011...or did he?

Garriott's contract with NCsoft began in 2001, granting him stock options through to 2011. These stock options were to remain in place in the event of his termination by the company, but in the case of his voluntary leaving the options would expire within 90 days of his departure. Garriott alleges that NCsoft purposefully categorized his termination as voluntary, forcing him to sell off his stock options during one of the greatest financial downturns since the Great Depression.

The lawsuit indicates that Garriott made repeated attempts to assure that his departure be categorized as involuntary, only to have the executives at NCsoft refuse to make the change.

Thus has Richard Garriott filed a lawsuit against NCsoft for fraud, breach of contract, and negligent misrepresentation, seeking $24 million in damages.

You can read the full text of the lawsuit by following the link below. We've once again reached out to NCsoft for comment, and will let our readers know as soon as we have their side of the story.

Garriott's Lawsuit Against NCsoft [Official Document via GamePolitics]

While at the time it sounded like Garriott had - fresh from his trip into space - simply walked away for a new challenge outside of games development, court documents have surfaced today showing that Garriott is suing NCsoft for a whopping $24 million.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court earlier today, with Garriott, the plaintiff, accusing NCsoft of fraud. We've contacted both NCsoft and the court for further information, and will update when we hear more.

"I took saliva, urine and blood samples, kept logs of my sleep and used special instruments to measure my inner eye pressure," Garriott said. "The data I collected was combined with similar samples from other astronauts to study how space suppresses the immune system, makes sleeping difficult, affects balance, weakens bones and causes muscle and back pain."

That's not all, he also snapped 2,600 digital pictures of Earth, which are being compared to photos his father took 35 years ago from the Skylab space station to see how our spinning blue planet has changed. There's more! His research on the effects of microgravity on human bodies can be used in studying osteoporosis. He also grew crystalline proteins, which can be studied back on Earth to better understand the protein building blocks.

In October 2008, Garriott flew to the International Space Station as the sixth space tourist and the first offspring of an astronaut to go to space. It's reported that Garriott paid US$30 million for the trip.

Experiments in Space: Richard and Owen Garriott on How Private Space Flights Can Advance Important Science [Popular Mechanics]

Be there tomorrow to witness the end of a particularly short era, as the chief baddies in massively multiplayer sci-fi shooter Tabula Rasa mount a full-scale invasion of just about everything. Tomorrow marks the last day of the game's operation, and if the more recent updates are any indication, the development team isn't going to go out quietly.

We request that all military personnel begin fortifying defenses at every AFS base in preparation for a massive Bane assault. If enemy troop movements are as large as we fear, and the Neph are truly prepared to lead all out war against us, this may be our last stand. Penumbra has been informed of the situation and is standing by on the use of their last resort weapon. 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.

The end begins at 8PM, either GMT or CST depending on your server, coming to a close at midnight, when the servers shut down forever.

Even if you haven't played much since launch, it might be worthwhile logging in to watch the game die, if only to say you were there.

Tabula Rasa's Final Feedback Friday [PlayTR]

We've cherry picked three of our favorites Mohr told about the gaming industry:

Directed at LittleBigPlanet's Alex Evans about the DIY hit: "It's like buying CD, plugging it in, and then having to go buy all the instruments."

Directed at gaming-legend-turned-astronaut Richard Garriott: "That guy used 30 million to launch himself into space. Maybe he should have used that to launch Tabula Rasa."

Directed at Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski for dropping the "y" from his first name to seem more adult: "That worked well for Rick Schroder."

A couple more yuck-yucks in the link below.

DICE 2009: Jokes That Mock Top Game Developers [MTV Multiplayer]

GameDaily writer and occasional Kotaku contributer N. Evan Van Zelfden (possible robot) got a chance to speak with Garriott about his future gaming plans during The Game Business Law summit founder's dinner.

Do I have a plan that I can tell you now? No. I'm still finishing my space flight. I am literally still in the middle of NASA and ESA medical experiments. I am literally still in the middle of my earth observation analysis, as well as the particle crystal growth stuff we're wrapping up. And that's going to take me some weeks and months to wrap up. But, some day in the future, it's hard not to assume I will get back into gaming. I still personally believe I have lots of great ideas and desire to build games. It's just today, it's space.

Hit up the link below for the rest of the interview, in which Garriott bemoans the early closure of Tabula Rasa and expresses interest in returning to the Ultima property somewhere down the line.

Richard Garriott Talks Games After Space [GameDaily]

Fresh from his historic trip to the International Space Station, Richard Garriott is making a slightly less historic trip to the Zach Theater in Austin, Texas, on the 24th of January in order to tell everybody willing to pay $65 for a ticket about the experience. Shows will run at 2:30 PM and 8:00 PM, during which the gaming pioneer will discuss what it was like following in the footsteps of his astronaut father.

While I doubt he'll touch much on gaming issues, such as his recent departure from NCsoft, there is a Q&A session after each lecture, which I feel should needs to be positively brimming with questions about the utter failure of his latest MMORPG, Tabula Rasa. If you're going to be in the Austin area on the 24th, pony up the $65 and go make us proud.

Extreme Voyage: Richard Garriott's 12 Days on the International Space Station [Zach Theatre via Massively]

Reader Shane sends these pics of a dumpster behind his local outlet. Those aren't display copies. They're sealed, retail ones. Guess "free to a good home" doesn't mean much when no good home wants it.

Despite the game's closing on February 28th, NCsoft have still updated the title with promised new features, including a first-person view, sniper scopes, and enhanced cockpit views in mechs, just to give players a taste of what might have been had the whole project not been scrapped following the departure of legendary creator Richard Garriott, who left NCsoft to pursue more interstellar pursuits.

New players can head over to the Tabula Rasa website to sign up, while returning players can simply log in and join in the festive, death bed atmosphere.

Tabula Rasa: now with more free play! [Thanks David!]

I am very grateful to you loyal players for sticking around through what I think we can all honestly say was a rough launch. I thank the development team for pushing hard to get polish, updates and new content out every month since launch...a feat that I think is unusual in MMO development. They have a lot to be proud of.

Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space. Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.

We'll be following up with NCsoft and Garriott, but in the meantime we wish Lord British and his glorious rat tails the best of luck in his future endeavors.

An Open Letter from General British [Tabula Rasa - Thanks Seth]

Not sure if there's any experimenting on the "immortality drive" to be done or not, but that was the keystone of his pre-flight hype. The drive contains the digitized DNA sequences of a bunch of earth types — our editor included, along with Stephen Colbert and Stephen Hawking. It'll stay aboard the space station in case life on earth is wiped out or something.

Garriott reportedly paid $30 million for his flight but said he was able to recoup "a significant slice" of that beforehand. He gets back to earth Oct. 24.

US Game Designer Blasts Into Space with DNA Cargo [Associated Press via Wired, AP Photo]

So while we don't get to see Stephen's reaction to Garriott's majestic rattail, at least we did get to hear him chat with Richard about his testicles, and that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Be sure to set your favorite TV recording device to see if Colbert can possibly resist saying something about Garriott's magnificent hair.

It's one thing to adjust to life in Star City—but quite another to endure the confounding, confining, and sometimes just plain goofy training regimen. The first challenge is the language. Garriott is an autodidact wunderkind who persuaded his high school teachers that learning Basic code counted as fulfilling his foreign-language requirement. He won't be as fortunate at Star City. All of the instructions, instrumentation, and communications in space will be in Russian. So, for four hours a day, Garriott and Halik slave over fat, dusty language books in class, then tote them back to the Prophy to study more at night.

Great stuff. Click below to check out the full piece.

Going to Space? [Wired]

Consider any game you've played recently. At least some information was conveyed to you in a symbolic manner. What makes this information intuitive? What makes it counterintuitive? Studying these languages, even to a limited degree, made me more conscious of exactly what the difference is.

What is particularly fascinating is the fact that games have already formulated parts of a learned symbolic language for games. Consider the life bar. A life bar is completely alien and counterintuitive, but we'd all recognize and assimilate one instantly. By agreeing on a symbolic notation for health, game developers have acclimated players to it and taught them to recognize it whenever they encounter it. Developers have expanded their toolbox of symbols and added to what can be instantly expressed!

I'm far from arguing that the common video game conceits should be codified into a common symbolic language, but it's interesting to note that, without trying, we've done exactly that to a limited degree.

It's a quick read, but interesting. I can't say I ever pay much attention to in-game languages, other than when I'm more or less forced to, but that's probably one mark of a good one — something that adds color and 'authenticity' without being in your face.

In Tongues: Richard Garriott on In-Game Languages [GameCareerGuide]

”Mankind is at its best whenever we set our vision to the stars,” Hickman said. “One of my first memories was of watching Alan Shepard fly his Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket. I have lived my entire life dreaming of space. ’Operation Immortality’ is essentially a celebration of that same adventuring spirit and an offering of hope for the future. I am deeply honored to participate.”

Not only will a swab of his DNA be included in the "Immortality Drive" but samples of his work as well, so the aliens will have something to read on the space toilet while waiting for our impending doom to propagate in their labs.

Best-Selling Author to Send DNA Into Space
Tracy Hickman, Famed Author of the Best-Selling Fantasy Fiction Series Dragonlance Plans to Send His DNA into Space as Part of NCsoft’s Operation Immortality

AUSTIN, Texas—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Operation Immortality™, the project to create a digital time capsule of the human race, has joined forces with famed author and game designer Tracy Hickman. Hickman is best known for his work on the Dragonlance novels and the innovative Ravenloft module of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game system. As part of Operation Immortality’s mission to preserve the most talented and influential people of our time, Tracy Hickman will be sending his digitized DNA into space with video gaming luminary Richard Garriott as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12, 2008.

Hickman will not only be adding his digitized DNA to the “Immortality Drive,” excerpts of his writings will also be included on the storage device Garriott will store on the ISS as part of Operation Immortality. The Immortality Drive is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Hickman will be talking about the project as he addresses crowds at the Gen Con gaming convention today in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Visitors to the website can submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, leave their immortalized message for future generations, and may even have their DNA selected to join Garriott and other luminaries on an out-of-this-world trip to possibly become the future of mankind.

Garriott is a game developer at NCsoft® and creator of the Ultima series of games and the recently released Tabula Rasa®. The goal of Operation Immortality is to have a space-borne record of human DNA and a record of humanity’s achievements in the event a global calamity dooms the human species, similar to what happens in the Tabula Rasa video game.

”Mankind is at its best whenever we set our vision to the stars,” Hickman said. “One of my first memories was of watching Alan Shepard fly his Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket. I have lived my entire life dreaming of space. ’Operation Immortality’ is essentially a celebration of that same adventuring spirit and an offering of hope for the future. I am deeply honored to participate.”

The Tabula Rasa team is thrilled by Hickman’s participation in Operation Immortality. “Looking back to the influences that impacted my career, Tracy Hickman’s Chronicles series left a lasting impression on me,” said Tom Potter, Tabula Rasa’s lead designer. “His novels were my first exposure to epic fantasy, and even though I read them at an early age, the setting and characters he created still continue to influence me all these years later.”