Lord British's New Britannia Announced

Gamasutra brings us a report from the South by Southwest conference in Austin, TX, during which Richard "Lord British" Garriott announced plans for his new company, Portalarium, to develop a virtual world game tentatively called "Lord British's New Britannia". There's no way of knowing if it will be even remotely comparable to Ultima at this point, but it might be worth keeping an eye on for now:
Garriott's company Portalarium is competing in this year's SXSW Accelerator competition, one of the show's most prestigious events and biggest launching pads.

Previous entrants include Foursquare and Foodspotting. The company unveiled a pair of new titles at the event including one featuring the return of Ultima's Lord British.

Lord British's New Britannia (working title) will be a social networking game built around Garriott's famous alter ego, which he wholly owns - as opposed to the Ultima universe, which Electronic Arts has the rights to.

The title is set to come out after the second quarter release of Ultimate Collector, the company's first original game, which will take the form of a social network game paired with a television show hosted by Garriott, the pilot for which has already been shot.

Further details were light for both titles, since Garriott's presentation was primarily an appeal to investors for the $3.8 million in financing the company is seeking. However, Garriott did note "the virtual world game is not just an ultra-light MMO shopped on social media. I think that would be a failure."