THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM [Author: lum]
Thanks to (a) reformatting my hard drive last week and (b) losing my old UO T2A CD, I made Origin very happy by going and buying another copy. I picked it up from Best Buy for $18.50, coincidentally, exactly as much as I paid at the same time for Nine Inch Nails’ “The Fragile” CD. So what value did I get for my money?
| ULTIMA ONLINE |
NINE INCH NAILS: THE FRAGILE |
| A massively-multiplayer online game | A massively popular music CD |
| Live a virtual life in Britannia, adventuring with your companions, baking bread, or making your mark in one of many online communities | Live a virtual life in Trent Reznor’s head, watching and waving as you pass the various key points in his life such as “he was depressed”, “he got laid” and “he discovered life isn’t really all bad when you’re a millionaire rock star” |
| You can be killed (“PK’d”) at any point while playing, unless you remain in one of the designated safe guard zones. | No one has yet to be reported killed while listening to this CD. |
| Bugs have plagued Ultima Online since its release. | CD played flawlessly the first time |
| Large community of fans obsessively discuss every possible permutation of game mechanics | Large community of fans obsessively discuss every possible permutation of Trent Reznor’s mechanics |
| Hundreds of volunteer “counselors” are on hand at all hours, day or night, to help you should the game perplex you | No volunteers exist to help you should the CD perplex you |
| After the first month, your credit card will be billed $10.00 a month should you wish to continue playing. | After the first month, you can still play the CD as much as you want |
| Now that Everquest and Asheron’s Call have arrived to market, many wonder if Ultima Online’s time has passed | “The Fragile” is pretty cool, but Art of Noise’s “The Seduction of Claude Debussy” just owns |