Ultima Online turns 12 years old on Saturday, and we know there are some MMO veterans out there who played the game and would enjoy a nostalgic visit to their old stomping grounds. Well, now's your chance! The UO team has kicked off its Return to Britannia campaign by opening the accounts of all former players in good standing. All you need to do is log in using your old name and password.

The Return to Britannia program runs through Oct. 16, so be sure to take advantage of the offer if you're interested in trying out UO again. Stygian Abyss, the game's eighth expansion, just launched this month and introduced Gargoyles as a new playable race, which shows the MMO still has staying power 12 years after its release.

Did you play Ultima Online back in 1997? Feel free to share your UO memories with us in honor of the game's anniversary. Oh, and keep an eye on the UO Herald for news on the upcoming 11th and 12th year veteran rewards.

UPDATE: The Ultima Online Web site has been updated with a Stygian Abyss launch page.

Stygian Abyss, the eighth expansion for Ultima Online, launches today as a digital download that will be available through the EA Store and UO Gamecodes. The expansion costs $29.99 for existing players. Also, new players can buy the full game for $39.99 with 30 days of game time added.

Shards were brought down approximately an hour ago for their final maintenance period before the launch of Stygian Abyss. The expansion will be available for purchase once the maintenance is complete.

The expansion focuses on the addition of Gargoyles, a new playable race. You can explore Ter Mur, home of the Gargoyles, and fight through the new Stygian Abyss massive dungeon. You can also try out the Mysticism, Throwing, Imbuing and Flight skills that have been added to the game. For more details, check out the full features list for the expansion after the jump.

Mythic and Electronic Arts have been saying since April that Stygian Abyss, the eighth expansion for Ultima Online, will be coming out this summer. Well, a release date has finally been revealed, and it's Sept. 8. The expansion will be available through digital download only via UOGameCodes.com and the EA Store for $29.99. Also, new players can buy the full game for $39.99 with 30 days of game time added.

Current UO subscribers can participate in the Stygian Abyss open beta starting tomorrow, Aug. 14, by logging on the Retribution server on the server selection screen. The beta event will end Aug. 23. In addition, players who buy the expansion from Sept. 8-29 will receive multiple Alteration Tokens to transform current characters into Gargoyles, an exclusive gargoyle craftable pet, and decorative Stygian Abyss mob boss statues.

For more information, check out the full announcement below.

Have you ever wondered what the modern MMO landscape might look like if the forerunners of the genre had been different? The multiplayer text-based games, MUDs, of the late 80s and early 90s ran on pre-Internet, dial-up networks called Bulletin Board Systems, or BBSs. These games helped to pave the way for early-generation MMOGs like Neverwinter Nights; the first MMOG to feature graphics instead of a text-only or ASCII art interface.

Next came the classics; the pioneers of the MMO industry like The Realm, Ultima Online and Everquest. But it wasn't until World of Warcraft that MMORPGs truly went mainstream, breaking down the walls that separated RPG fans and PC gamers. Both Everquest and WoW changed many gamers' preconceptions about the role-playing genre. They exemplified a new breed of MMORPGs that didn't rely so much on turn-based combat, text-heavy interaction and many other inherent staples of traditional RPGs.

When I see the products that consistently rise to the top in today's lineup, it makes me wonder if the modern "mold" of MMOs is cured to a rock-hard standard, or if we might still see an innovative change in the mainstream market. Also inspired by an editorial I stumbled upon recently; Colin "Seraphina" Brennan's "All hail the modern MMO gamer—a twitchy, frothy mess," I'm more curious about the current MMORPG paradigm than ever. Will players embrace unfamiliar MMO concepts, or are we stuck in a market that will only produce viable games if they follow tried-and-true designs?

Mythic has continually stated that Stygian Abyss, the eighth expansion for Ultima Online, will be available through digital distribution this summer. As we wait to see when the Abyss will go live in the next couple months, the company has announced that Mondain's Legacy, the game's seventh expansion, is now available for free to both subscribers and those who try out the 14-day free trial.

Mondain's Legacy was released three years ago in the summer of 2005 and introduced elves, increased storage, spellweaving and new dungeons. If you're a UO subscriber, your client will now be automatically updated with the content from this expansion. If you try out the free trial, you'll get the chance to experience Mondain's Legacy for two weeks.

Jeff Hickman, Mythic's executive producer, said he hopes this move excites players for the upcoming launch of Stygian Abyss. "Our goal is to continually provide fresh and rewarding experiences for our thriving UO community," he said. You can read the full announcement below.

As we reported yesterday, the Web site for Stygian Abyss has been updated with new information in preparation for the expansion's summer launch. Well, the Ultima Online team has just announced that the new game client has entered open beta so you can try out the improvements to the interface and user experience before the expansion goes live.

Remember, this open beta is for the new client, not for Stygian Abyss. You can use the new client on any shard, so you'll actually be able to use it while playing the live game to see what you think of all the updates, such as the ability to adjust your in-game play window to any size. You can read more about the new client after the jump.

Also, the trial account page has been updated, so check it out if you'd like to try out Ultima Online for free for 14 days. The game's turning 12 years old in September, so now may be a good time to revisit the world or try it out for the first time.

If you're patiently waiting for the release of Stygian Abyss this summer so you can get your hands on the new Gargoyles playable race, you may be interested to know the expansion's Web site has received some updates. The game overview page now has information on the three environments in Stygian Abyss and the weapons you'll be able to use, and the media page has some new screenshots, renders and sounds.

While the Stygian Abyss release date has not been announced yet, the FAQ do state that the expansion and the client will only be available through digital distribution only.

The biggest news in MMO gaming last week might have been Mark Jacobs' departure from Mythic, as we reported earlier. At the height of the story's frenzy, we also featured a story on Jacobs' explanation of his departure. The Jacobs story pretty much overshadowed everything coming out of Mythic around that time, including this substantial announcement about Warhammer Online from Jeff Hickman (Mythic's new exec), titled "Executive Producer's Letter - Part 3."

"We're looking at some fairly radical approaches on how to best bring the population together," Hickman said. "We want to ensure everyone is having fun, but we need to do so in such a way that further imbalances aren't created overnight as we have seen in the past. There are a lot of ideas on the table, but your satisfaction is our top concern."

It seems like Mythic is finally rethinking a few of its previous strategies and paradigms, specifically the issues of population (im)balance, stability and sieges. But that's not all. Hickman lists off quite a few other issues that Mythic recognizes as problems or player concerns, structured in a series of concise bullet points. The icing on the cake for some fans, however, was Hickman's acknowledgment that Mythic is still committed to Dark Age of Camelot, among its other games.

We recently reported that Stygian Abyss, the newest Ultima Online expansion, will be released this summer. Well, the closed beta for the expansion is set to begin later this month and you can currently register to be a tester. Spots are limited and not everyone will be accepted.

Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts actually have some criteria for who will be selected for the closed beta, including computer system specs, game experience and community involvement. You must already be an Ultima Online subcriber and be at least 18 years old.

Head on over to the Stygian Abyss beta page on the official Ultima Online site if you'd like to register.

You might remember that the latest expansion for Ultima Online, Stygian Abyss, was announced late last week. At the time, the press release said that the expansion would be available "via digital distribution only". However, a European packshot for the expansion has now been uncovered. In other words, will the expansion be hitting stores after all, or is this image just an example of what a boxed version could look like?