This week saw Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar enter Early Access over on Steam (read Leif's first impressions of it here), which to my mind is the second best reason to talk about the Ultima series today. The first is that it's a day of the week ending in the letter 'y'. Ultima is a series very close to my heart, and for many reasons. It wasn't the first RPG series I played, but very few before or since have been as meaningful. When I think of 'my favourite RPG', Ultima VII: The Black Gate snaps instantly into my head, albeit with a couple of others like Planescape Torment hot on its heels. To put this in context, Ultima VII came out in 1992. There's not many games that can even be in contention for holding the crown twenty years after they came out. A couple of adventures spring to mind. That's about it. Oh, and Qix, of course; the game of kings.