Origin Systems Coming Attractions Brochure
Courtesy of Joe Garrity — he who maintains the Origin Museum — the Ultima Codex is pleased to present these eight images of a Coming Attractions brochure produced by Origin Systems, which were found in a box of materials sent to Joe by none other than Bob White. Although no date is specified, it was probably produced in either late 1991 or early 1992, presumably for a trade show (CES, perhaps).
The first four pages of the document are all about Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle. The brochure begins by re-telling the events of Ultima 1, introduces the history of Shamino, chronicles the history of the Ophidians, and even goes so far as to address the events of Ultima 7 and explain the actions of Batlin before and during Serpent Isle. (Recall that the Chaos Banes are freed during the course of the game, though the brochure here treats that event not only as something which happens prior to the game, but also as Lord British’s motivation for dispatching the Avatar to the Serpent Isle.)
There’s also a short interview with Warren Spector, and an explanation of the Ophidian Virtues which takes up a goodly portion of the fourth page. As well, on the third page of the brochure, a short timeline of events in Britannian (and Sosarian) history can be found. I know that over the years, the Ultima fandom has put together a timeline of events based on in-game references and a few other sources, but I can’t ever recall there being an official, Origin-published timeline of this nature.
The next three pages, after the Serpent Isle section, introduce us to a game called Trade Commander, a trading-focused spinoff of the Wing Commander universe. Of course, we all know Trade Commander by a much different name: Privateer. Much as was the case for Serpent Isle, this part of the document delves into the game in significant detail, introducing its universe, ships, and concepts.
The last page of the brochure returns to Ultima: it announces the Forge of Virtue add-on for Ultima 7: The Black Gate, and gives some information about the plot thereof.
Thus: pull up the images, pore over and read through them, and enjoy. The images are scans, in JPEG format, and average about 4 MB each in size (and as such may take a few seconds to load). As always, the Ultima Codex is very grateful to Joe Garrity (and Bob White) for sharing this piece of Origin Systems’ history.
