Andy Hollis, the veteran designer responsible for many MicroProse and Jane's flight sims, is recruited to head EA's Austin studio and oversee the Ultima franchise's next steps.
When we recently heard that Andy Hollis had joined EA's Origin studio in Austin, Texas, as chief operating officer and executive producer, we had to wonder if the Austin studio would turn back the clock to the heady days of the Wing Commander series, Privateer, and Strike Commander and do a new combat flight sim. That's because Hollis has a long résumé that includes design and programming credits on MicroProse's F-19 Stealth Fighter and F-15 Strike Fighter games. And more recently, he was executive producer on the Electronic Arts' own Jane's combat sims. But no, after a two-year retirement that let him devote time to race driving, Hollis is returning to EA not to get directly involved with new game development, but rather to guide the Origin development staff working on the long-running Ultima series.
Head over to Gamespot and check out the full story.