cyan-worlds posts

Over two years ago it was reported that an independent group of filmmakers called the Mysteria Film Group had bought the movie rights to the classic adventure game Myst from its developer Cyan Worlds. Now the Hollywood blog site Deadline is reporting that the film is gettng some high powered producers as new partners.

The site reports that Hunt Lowry and Mark Johnson have now joined with Mysteria's Adrian Vanderbosch and Isaac Testerman to try to adapt the movie. Johnson is a producer of the upcoming big budget fantasy movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The goal is to find a writer to create a script for the movie before shopping the project to Hollywood movie studios, according to the report. The storyline will use the mythology from the Myst games along with content from a trilogy of Myst-based novels.

It's almost Friday - do you know where your Zerg is?

• Check out some Civilization V narration voice clips from actor Morgan Sheppard.
• The official Civilization V site also has some info on the game's strategic resources.
• Zombie Cow Studios' free PC game Privates is now available for download. Yep, it's about creatures inside people's naughty bits.
• Slitherine Software has released its latest PC game, the WWII themed turn-based strategy title Battlefield Academy.
• Sorry UK PC gamers. You won't be able to buy the PC Collector's Edition of Mafia II.
• Blizzard is monitoring a World of Warcraft server to shut down, among other things, erotic role play by players.
• Cyan Worlds' games, including its Myst titles, have been added to Steam's library.
• Gearbox's forums have possible spoilers to the next Borderlands DLC. Read at your own risk.
• After watching this video, we are retracting our application for being an intern at EA.

Some games just can't be kept down, and despite having an off then on again history, it looks like Myst Online: Uru Live is a game that's here to stay. Supported by a dedicated group of programmers using open source code, Myst Online is a free-to-play massively-multiplayer puzzle adventure game. Visit the official website fore more information and to sign up for an account. System requirements are shown after the jump.

"Myst Online: Uru Live is a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) unlike anything else. Instead of repetitive kill/take/buy gameplay of other MMOGs, the very essence of Myst Online is to explore vast, fantastic worlds; savoring and uncovering new areas and new information at every turn. Exploring in Myst Online is an extraordinary experience, where immersing yourself in the environment gives you insight into how to move forward, and what went on before. You can explore alone, or share the journey with a select group friends or family from anywhere in the world. Create an online avatar and chat via text and voice, share images and clues, and explore the Ages of Myst Online together. You'll rediscover, restore and rebuild the ancient city of D'ni and learn about the history of its fallen civilization."

Download Myst Online: Uru Live Install Client (1.12 GB)

Gallery: Myst Online: Uru Live

Over the years we have seen a number of high profile MMO games bit the dust. The Sims Online, Shadowbane, The Maxtrix Online, and Tabula Rasa are just a few examples of titles that tried and failed to find an audience. Until this week we would have also put Myst Online: Uru Live as one of those titles but it seems this game has more lives than a virtual cat.

Cyan Worlds' adventure-themed MMO has already had two lives; as a multiplayer component for Uru: Ages Beyond Myst that didn't get past the beta stage. GameTap revived the game on their service in 2007 but shut it down a year later due to lack of subscribers. Now Cyan has turned Uru Live into an open source game project and have launched a free-to-play server (although they are taking donations). Will this unique way to relaunch an MMO succeed? Good question.

The DRM-free classic PC game site GoG.com has launched its regular weekly sales event today. This time they have put three of the game they have acquired from developer Cyan Worlds on the temporary price chopping block. Myst Masterpiece Edition, Riven: The Sequel to Myst and the children's game The Manhole Masterpiece Edition are all on sale for 25 percent off their normal GoG.com priced until the end of the day on Monday.

However there's also something very interesting on the GoG.com site today; a countdown clock. The timer is clicking down to a date that seems to end at 6 am ET on Thursday. The clock's only clue is "Expect the unexcelled." Hmmmmm.

The classic DRM-free PC game web site GoG.com has been adding games from Cyan Worlds' classic Myst series for some time and today they complete their cycle with Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. This title is now being called Uru Complete Chronicles as it adds two expansion packs to the original game.

While designed as a single player adventure game, it was also supposed to be the basis for Uru Online, an MMO game that never got out of beta in its original incarnation. Gametap tried to revive the MMO version but that was also shut down a year after launch. Uru Complete Chronicles is now available for $9.99.

The DRM-free PC game download site GoG.com has added yet another game from the Myst series to its line-up of titles. This time the game is RealMyst, the 2000 released graphical remake of Cyan Worlds' first game in their best selling adventure game series.

The graphical remake turns the original 2D game into a full 3D experience which is what the developers at Cyan Worlds originally intended. While you can't play in a casino kingdom in the remake, there is now full 360 degree movement in this remake. You can purchase and download RealMyst now for just $5.99.

GoG.com continues to grow in terms of the number of publisher and developers it has brought in and the game it has added to its DRM-free library. Today the service announced that they have added Cyan Worlds to their developer family and have made their game Myst Masterpiece Edition available to download.

This is the graphically updated version of the first game in the long running and highly influential adventure game series. The game is now available to download for $5.99. GoG.com plans to add more games from Cyan Worlds to its download library in the near future including the little known children's game The Manhole in its own Masterpiece Edition.

The PC game download site Gametap updates their library of titles every Thursday and today is no except. This week they are adding the adventure game Runaway: Dream Of The Turtle for their premimum users. Also, the Rebellion-developed action game Rogue Trooper will be free to play via Gametap for the next week.

However the official GameTap blog is reporting some bad news; they are now removing nearly all of the Myst based games from their library of titles. According to the blog the surprise removal of the games was "due to an external conflict between (developer) Cyan Worlds and (publisher) Ubisoft" The one exception is RealMYST, the fully 3D remake of the original game.

Cyan Worlds, the developers and creators of Myst, have had a brutal 2008. Their online adventure-themed MMO Myst Online: Uru Live was shut down by its publisher Gametap earlier this year and last month Cyan let go of 50 team members who worked as QA testers. However fans of Myst Online have reason to be happy this weekend as the game has now been revived as an open source project.

Yep, you read that right. According to the game's official web site, "Cyan has decided to give make MystOnline available to the fans by releasing the source code for the servers, client and tools for MystOnline as an open source project. We will also host a data server with the data for MystOnline. MORE is still possible but only with the help from fans." The developer admits having a game project like this for anyone to tinker with is "scary" but adds, "...we've poured so much into UruLive, and it has touched so many, that we could not just let it whither and die. We still have hopes that someday we will be able to provide new content for UruLive and/or work on the next UruLive." There's no word on when the files for the game will be released.

[Via Massively]