Richard Garriott released the first Ultima game in 1981, launching a series that would come to define computer role-playing games. A decade later, he sold the series and his studio, Origin Systems, to Electronic Arts for $30 million. After a short-lived attempt to launch another game, the MMO Tabula Rasa, and a successful stint as a private astronaut, Garriott is about to take the Ultima rights back from EA.