The Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator brought some of his prized automata and rat tail to the Martha Stewart set, talking about his massive collection of antique and modern day self-operating machines, some of which were previously featured on Kotaku.

Of course, that post didn’t feature the lovely and talented Martha Stewart, nor did it offer video of Garriott holding a tiny fully-functioning crossbow. But, like that post, there’s very little video game discussion here. Instead, expect more than 11 minutes worth of talking about Richard’s expensive toy lot and lust for outer space.

Thanks, Tamiko!

Automata Robot Collection [Martha Stewart Show]

Here are the pictures from the blessed event. Note the lack of vomit and the lack of upskirt shots on the fabulous wedding dress.

The bride and groom, New York couple Noah Fulmore and Erin Finnegan, are huge sci-fi fans according to a June 2 press conference the couple held to discuss their extraordinary wedding plans. They wanted to do something sci-fi-ish and weird for the wedding — so who better to oblige them than the creator of Tabula Rasa?

The zero-g ceremony was facilitated by the Zero G Corporation, a federally-approved tourist flight service that simulates spaceflight by flying in parabolic arcs between 36,000 and 24,000 feet. (Flying up, then dropping down and then going back up again.) The flight costs $US5,200 per person.

Couple married in zero gravity [Reuters]

While at the time it sounded like Garriott had – fresh from his trip into space – simply walked away for a new challenge outside of games development, court documents have surfaced today showing that Garriott is suing NCsoft for a whopping $US24 million.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court earlier today, with Garriott, the plaintiff, accusing NCsoft of fraud. We’ve contacted both NCsoft and the court for further information, and will update when we hear more.

Last night NCSoft shut off Tabula Rasa’s servers. Early word had it that the Bane horde would either wipe out humanity, or humanity would do the job itself with a doomsday weapon.

I have never played this game (so have, like, not a lot of people, that’s the reason the servers were being turned off.) So I have no idea what exactly is going on here. But several final night videos show humanity winning without annihilating itself. Seems the final battle went down in New York City and mankind triumphed. And then everyone was notified they had been disconnected from the server. Whee.

Here is another video, set to the power-chord ministrations of Queen’s “We are the Champions” – that shows people breakdancing with glee once the disconnect comes. (Sorry about the obnoxious Halo Wars ads. I have no control over that, it’s someone else’s video.) You can also catch tons more screens of “The Last Stand” here.

Tabula Rasa: The Final Stand – Video Tribute [WarCry Network]

The forces of humanity make a final stand tomorrow night, as Richard Garriot’s Tabula Rasa celebrates its final day with an all-out alien invasion.

Be there tomorrow to witness the end of a particularly short era, as the chief baddies in massively multiplayer sci-fi shooter Tabula Rasa mount a full-scale invasion of just about everything. Tomorrow marks the last day of the game’s operation, and if the more recent updates are any indication, the development team isn’t going to go out quietly.

We request that all military personnel begin fortifying defenses at every AFS base in preparation for a massive Bane assault. If enemy troop movements are as large as we fear, and the Neph are truly prepared to lead all out war against us, this may be our last stand. Penumbra has been informed of the situation and is standing by on the use of their last resort weapon. We can not afford to be complacent or uncertain, but if it is truly our destiny to be destroyed, we are taking them all with us.

The end begins at 8PM, either GMT or CST depending on your server, coming to a close at midnight, when the servers shut down forever.

Even if you haven’t played much since launch, it might be worthwhile logging in to watch the game die, if only to say you were there.

Tabula Rasa’s Final Feedback Friday [PlayTR]

NCsoft’s doomed massively-multiplayer online science fiction game Tabula Rasa may only have weeks to live, but the developers are making those weeks count, with giant player-controlled mechs storming the title’s final moments.

Role-playing pioneer Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa might be dead come February 28th, but the team behind the title continue to show their dedication to the game’s dwindling fanbase by patching in the promised player-controlled mech robots at the last moment, perhaps delivering a taste of what might have been had the game not tanked so horribly.

Five new mechs have been added to the Edmund Range Training Grounds zone in the game, which has been newly enlarged in order to accommodate some heavy metal combat. While four of the mechs are class-themed, any class can take them for a spin, provided they have the Logos symbols necessary to activate the suits’ special abilities.

With the addition of the new mech suits, now would be the perfect time to login to the now free-to-play Tabula Rasa and give them a go. Well, I suppose now would be the only time to do so.

Deployment 16.4 – Patch Notes and Known Issues [Tabula Rasa via Eurogamer]

Sure his head is up in the clouds at the moment, but Ultima creator Richard Garriott hasn’t forgotten where he’s from. In an interview with GameDaily, Garriott discusses an eventual return to gaming.

GameDaily writer and occasional Kotaku contributor N. Evan Van Zelfden (possible robot) got a chance to speak with Garriott about his future gaming plans during The Game Business Law summit founder’s dinner.

Do I have a plan that I can tell you now? No. I’m still finishing my space flight. I am literally still in the middle of NASA and ESA medical experiments. I am literally still in the middle of my earth observation analysis, as well as the particle crystal growth stuff we’re wrapping up. And that’s going to take me some weeks and months to wrap up. But, some day in the future, it’s hard not to assume I will get back into gaming. I still personally believe I have lots of great ideas and desire to build games. It’s just today, it’s space.

Hit up the link below for the rest of the interview, in which Garriott bemoans the early closure of Tabula Rasa and expresses interest in returning to the Ultima property somewhere down the line.

Richard Garriott Talks Games After Space [GameDaily]

Hellforge posits that 2008 was the worst year on record for MMOs. But the “collapse” had nothing to do with the genre’s viability, and everything to do with hubris and poor decisions by game-makers.

The wreckage includes three titles whose names are either punchlines by now or dangerously close: Hellgate: London, Age of Conan, and the dumpstered Tabula Rasa, joined by the patched-too-late Pirates of the Burning Sea, as examples of how not to run an MMO railroad.

Hellgate cratered thanks to bad management, bad decisions and their reversals, and its bastard sibling Tabula Rasa was so awful Lord British decided to leave Earth rather than deal with the mess. Pirates of the Burning Sea patched its problems, but way too late to save itself. Age of Conan, as discussed before, stopped trying after you got past level 20. Bottom line, Hellgate and Tabula Rasa’s servers are shutting down entirely (or already have) and the other two have merged or closed many of theirs too.

The lessons? Listen to beta testers; get the launch right, because patches won’t save your asses, and if you’re innovating some new gameplay mechanic, do it like you mean it. A successful MMO depends on a huge investment of a gamer’s time. The investment on the development/publishing end should be total, too.

The MMO Crash of 2008 [Hellforge]

Upon their death, great men are afforded a sending off befitting of their stature. Pity Tabular Rasa, then, as EB Games in Canada seems more content to roll its lifeless corpse into the nearest ditch.

Reader Shane sends these pics of a dumpster behind his local outlet. Those aren’t display copies. They’re sealed, retail ones. Guess “free to a good home” doesn’t mean much when no good home wants it.

Previously scheduled to become free to play starting on January 10th, NCsoft’s has set sinking MMO Tabula Rasa free a month early, because really…what was the point of waiting?

Despite the game’s closing on February 28th, NCsoft have still updated the title with promised new features, including a first-person view, sniper scopes, and enhanced cockpit views in mechs, just to give players a taste of what might have been had the whole project not been scrapped following the departure of legendary creator Richard Garriott, who left NCsoft to pursue more interstellar pursuits.

New players can head over to the Tabula Rasa website to sign up, while returning players can simply log in and join in the festive, death bed atmosphere.

Tabula Rasa: now with more free play! [Thanks David!]