[crawfishphase]

I signed up for beta testing of UO and beta of roadrunner cable modem and I still have the Beta cd and cable modem. I bet you can narrow down what city I was in from that but oh well. I might still even have that old acer pentium 75 in the attic that was delivered damaged to my employer and was comped by ups insurance and taken to my personal dumpster and fixed by yours truly. my first very own computer. I learned to program on that thing and got a bank job just a few months later. gradually this has taken me around the world in 8 different countries for long on-site implementations. I even have dual citizenship now and live by the sea in a nice hot place. I was 19 years old when it kicked off. I blame the video games for all this. Btw did you know Time Bandits movie was a heavy influence on Ultima? And is Marvel's multiverse concept inspired by Ultima sharding also? I would bet a dollar. Well everytime I think about portability and scalability problems I am sure UO is back there somewhere influencing my work.

[BryantD]

Marvel's multiverse goes way further back -- in 1970, Avengers #85 introduced the alternate universe Squadron Supreme, for example. There's a ton of classic SF along these lines as well. H. Beam Piper's Paratime stories come to mind.

[kagakuninja]

And it was probably heavily influenced by DC Comics alternate earths. Earth-2 was introduced in 1961.

[kagakuninja]

Maybe you are talking about Ultima Online, because the original Ultima games predate Time Bandits. Also, Marvel multiverse would have been mostly influenced by DC Comics alternate Earths, with Earth-2 introduced in 1961.

[crawfishphase]

Richard G was HEAVY into time bandits (1981) and Ultima 2 (1982) on were heavily influenced and easter eggs for the movie are spread all over. The airplane in New San Antonio for example...