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Garriot is Gone from Origin

© Sean Weiser

Leaves because of disagreement

Industry-shaking news was made just recently. Origin Systems co-founder Richard Garriot has left Origin. It is not certain whether it was by his freewill or if he was forced out. His departure is only a small part of a shakeup occurring at Origin. At least 20 others have been laid off, with a possibility of an additional 30 later this month. All projects, except "Ultima Online 2" and "UOLive," have been cancelled. Through an internal memo at Origin, it has been discovered Garriot and Origin System's CEO Jack Heistand had disagreements over the direction Origin would take in the future. It seems Garriot wanted to develop new, unproven products, while the company wanted to continue with its veteran franchises. The future of both sides looks cloudy as of this moment.

In multiplayer news, two big names have made impressive strides to corner their share of the market. Havas Interactive acquired Price Central Networks. It then merged the newly acquired company with its online multiplayer portal, Won.net, into Flipside.com. This gives Havas the second largest online gaming community currently. Eventually, Flipside.com will feature more than 50 games, ranging from traditional board games to first-person shooters. They're hoping to lure some of the expected 28 million online gamers by 2004 to their site... And in direct competition with Flipside.com is the Microsoft Gaming Network. They are now host to the most recently released Microsoft game, "Allegiance." It is described as a massively multiplayer game that combines the frantic action of World War II dog fighting and a science fiction space setting.

For those wishing for a bit of nostalgia, here's some good news. Hasbro Interactive has released a compilation of classic Atari games from the 1970s and '80s. Entitled "Atari Greatest Hits," it features games such as Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command. It will retail for about $20US.

And speaking of classics, Disney's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" may not be one, but it sure is selling like it. After five months, it is still the top selling game in the United States. Also doing well this month was "The Sims" from Electronic Arts. The top 10 list, from Gamespot:

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire / Disney
2. The Sims / Electronic Arts
3. Tiberian Sun Firestorm / Electronic Arts
4. MP Roller Coaster Tycoon / Hasbro Interactive
5. Microsoft Age of Empires II / Microsoft
6. Lego Island / Mattel Interactive
7. Corkscrew Follies / Hasbro Interactive