Archeogaming: June 2012

Is your copy of Ultima II a First Edition?

According to Ultima Collectors and Museum of Computer Adventure Game websites, an actual first edition copy of Ultima II has to contain the apologies card or, in case the card is missing, the actual mistakes in the main manual.

Here's a better scan of the of card taken from Museum of Computer Adventure Game.

Again: Ultima II (Apple II), Ebay Auction.

Quite surprisingly here's another copy of Ultima II on Ebay just in few days.

Anyway this copy grabbed my attention because seems to be an interesting rarity.

According to the images provided from the seller (unfortunately very blurred) it's one of 1st edition copy, and as reported on the very accurate Ultima Collectors Guide here, it seems to correspond to the reality.

For the distribution of Ultima II Richard Garriott made a deal with Sierra On-Line as they were the only publisher that agreed to include a cloth map with each copy. The game was released under the 'Sierraventure' label and came in an over-sized box (about 9x11.5" / 23x29 cm) that contained the nicely printed game manual as well as the huge cloth map. The manual contained in the first editions was of slightly different design and of a more glossy, black & white print than those from later releases. It was accompanied by an error correction flyer indicating that this is indeed one of the first prints.

Source: Ultima Collectors Guide
The proof of the fact that copy is a real 1st edition is the small card that Origin contained in the box that the software house included due to the glitches suffered (apparently) in the documentation.

The image is really blurred and difficult to read but it's an interesting evidence of the real edition of the game.

Ultima II (Apple II), Ebay Auction.

Very scarce to find nowadays on Ebay, here's a copy of Ultima II.

It seems to be in very good conditions but the seller doesn't say if the game itself is working or not. This is definitely a key point when you approach a piece like that one and it can massively modify the price rating of the game.

However we should consider that working games, especially from early eighties, will be more rare due to the natural deterioration of supports. A common problem that unfortunately we will all have in at least 10 years.

Edit: Auction ended at US $338.33 (circa €271)

Acquisition #001: Telengard, Commodore 64,1983

With a main focus on CRPGs, I will post under acquisitions all the new pieces of my personal collection. Telengard is the first one and even if it's not really a rarity it was an important piece of the CRPG history I wanted to see sitting with all rest of my collection.

Telengard is a computer-based video game that provides an early example of the dungeon crawl genre. The game, written in 1978 by Daniel Lawrence (1958–2010), was purchased by Avalon Hill in 1982 and made available on multiple computer platforms. These included the Commodore C64, the Apple II+, TRS-80, Atari 400 and Atari 800, and various IBM machines such as the IBM PCjr, and the IBM PC.[1] Telengard is available on Windows and many ports and emulations are available for modern computers and operating systems.Telengard, written from only 8 kilobytes of memory, offers no final solution for players. It simply provides a gaming platform for players to explore dungeons in real time. It has been referred to as a predecessor to Diablo, and is an early example of a roguelike video game.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telengard