Myst MMOG Details Announced 131
Ubi Soft and Cyan announced the title for their upcoming online game. Uru: Online Ages Beyond Myst , developed by Cyan Worlds, Inc., is slated for release late this year. From the press release, "Uru will take advantage of broadband to deliver a continually updated, immersive environment and storyline, with content that grows, changes and evolves constantly. It will also be the first persistent world to support real-time voice communication." Sounds like a different road than online games like The Sims Online and Star Wars Galaxies are taking, with the entertainment consisting in exploration and storyline rather than in player status and achievement.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:3, Interesting)
This from someone who makes nine posts to SlashDot within an hour [slashdot.org] (more than half of which are on the same parent post). How did that saying go about glass houses or something...?
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:1)
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
Excellent reference! (That page is really cool.)
Of course the original saying is something to the effect of one who lives in a glass house shouldn't (not mustn't) walk around naked (or whatever). Besides, even if I did have the desire to deny SlashDotters (or anyone) the ability to demonstrate hypocrisy, it is (fortunately) beyond my abilities.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
Easy reaon why we need another: Each new game pushes the state of the technology a little further. The long term consequences of this process are of likely benefit to everybody, regardless of their interests.
so much for freedom
WTF does freedom have to do with anything, again, you're using emotionally charged words, that have no relevance to try and argue a point.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading the press-release, and considering the Myst series, it will be a game more concentrating on a story line and riddles, than leveling. (Wonder, how they want to achieve story lines in MMOGs)
I think it is an interesting approach, since leveling always introduces a competetive element, which a) is often less appealing to women (see success of Myst) b) is more appealing to pks.
> I mean how many MMOG [...]
So many, that the different type of players have their type of game, e.g. Roleplaying-people don't have to be bothered by Hack-n-slay-people, or strategists have their little empire, while more reactive-oriented people can have their ego-shooter world.
I think, currently the problem with MMOGs is, that most MMOGs are only variation of the same game with different themes and rules. Not different MMOGs.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:1)
find me a perfect anti-cheat system and we'll talk ;)
Re:Anti-cheat system. (Score:2)
Palladium can make out of the PC a trusted hardware (especially trusted by the company distributing the game), the trusted hardware can verifies the software, which signs its data.
So, the user can't inject false data into the stream.
Problem: Extracting the secret from hardware can be hard or easy, but not impossible. DVD-players should be trusted hardware. Having Xing distributing a software player with weak protections made it relatively easy.
Auntie Cheat (Score:2)
Virg
Re:Auntie Cheat (Score:2)
But I was talking more about the theoretical aspects of security. Unless you have trusted hardware on the client side, you cannot trust the data produced by the client. Even when you have a bug free client, the client still can be modified, or mimiced by a bot. So, no matter how bug-free and well-designed the server is, the client can still cheat.
This is most fatal in ego-shooters, but AFAIK scripting also exists Ultima Online and is inherently possible for all online-games.
Of course, when you write buggy programs, no additional security measurements makes your software more secure. But it is possible to write programs, which are secure.
Lastly, there is no cure for stupidity, but evolution
Exploit (Score:2)
I can concede this.
Virg
P.S. the function key thing is an old social engineering thing in Diablo II. In this game, when your system drops the connection to the server (like a system crash), your avatar hangs around for thirty seconds or so before disappearing. Also, when you "go hostile" to another player, you must be in town, they are warned, and you can't attack them in town. So, the trick is that someone will walk up to you when you're outside the border of the town (a good hunting zone for newbies) and tell you, "if you hold down your Alt key and hit F1-F2-F3-F4-F5 you'll get 10,000 gold" or something else valuable. If you're dumb enough to do that, you'll find that Alt-F1, 2, 3 and 5 are meaningless, but Alt-F4 (the Windows "close program" hotkey) causes Diablo II to exit immediately. This leaves your immobile and defenseless avatar standing in the game for thirty seconds, which is long enough for the trickster to enter town, go hostile to you (you don't see the warning because you crashed your program), return and kill you to take all your stuff.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
Practically, one can create, where cheating is near useless.
One possibility is to eliminate competion, but since this is most often the driving force behind an MMOG, it's not possible.
Another one is a "weapon race", so to speak.
In MMORPGs people are usually cheating by scripting their avatars, letting them doing the tedious repetetive work. By keeping the tasks more complicated (and more interesting) one could eliminate this scripting by making it too complicated and interesting to do the actual work.
The problem is, the client can be beefed up, to tackle the task and there are a lot more clients than servers. This is impossible for less social/intellectual games (ego-shooters).
Last possibility: Social engineering.
In RL people can cheat and make other people feel miserable, too.
Why is it still in acceptable bounds? Because people get punished by the community, who don't behave.
An online-game is a community, too. But why doesn't it work? Because, there is no real punishment possible.
To a certain degree, a community with punishements comes to existence by itself. For example, in Dark Age of Camelot, one can complain over the offender by the guild of the offender (often with support from ones own guild). The guild reprimands or even expells the offender (Or so I'm told from a friend of mine, lacking first hand experience in this game).
This helps, but only for people, who are already involved in the gameplay, so that those potential measurements are really a punishement.
But no one hinders people from creating another character, and fooling around with that one.
And what about people, who just started?
One solution could be, by integrating community functions more into the game system. For example a punishement could be extended to the other characters as well.
But what about people just starting with the game?
Hopefully, a well functioning community will integrate them (see Slashdot
For example, one has to sign a contract for a membership over a year. It is terminable at will, unless the person commits a "crime", which requires the culprit to pay for at least a year.
I've admit this is less than ideal, since it is very suceptible to abuse.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
In RL people can cheat and make other people feel miserable, too.
Why is it still in acceptable bounds? Because people get punished by the community, who don't behave.
An online-game is a community, too. But why doesn't it work? Because, there is no real punishment possible.
In EverQuest, it's "illegal" to do many things that feel like "cheating," including kill-stealing and trade scamming. It's against the Play Nice Policy, and is subject to enforcement by the GMs. What typically happens is, if a player willfully does this stuff and admits it on chat, a player can send that chat with a
It doesn't stop things from happening; mostly because people don't properly report or GMs don't respond quickly enough to catch the perpetrator. But they do have a system, and it does work sometimes.
Is that kind of what you're talking about?
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:3, Funny)
I can see them now, blushing after saying it, kinda scared, since they'd never say that to anyone in real life.
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
But how long could you tolerate their squeaking mating cry of:
"A/S/L? A/S/L? A/S/L? ..."
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:1)
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:2)
A/S/L [everything2.com]
Re:seriously, do we need this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Infinitely many! Seriously, the MMORPG market is beginning to diversify, with games available or being released soon, catering to different tastes and playstyles. If the trend continues, I see the following things happening:
1) MMORPG's become more mainstream. The Sims and Star Wars Galaxies may set off this trend and expand the market for MMORPG's.
2) Each individual MMORPG will have less subscribers than they have now, and it will become increasingly difficult to obtain customers. That means that they may have to cater for smaller niche markets rather than trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. This is good news: people are more likely to find an MMORPG they like, rather than having a choice from 5 or so games, all trying to be everything to everyone.
3) With each individual MMORPG appealing to smaller groups, revenues will drop sharply. However I suspect that MMORPGs for small groups can be run profitably, especially if a company runs more than one of them and shares resources such as billing, customer care, server facilities and possibly the servers and game code as well. Remember: some of today's MMORPGs are obscenely profitable. For a while, EA has been faltering, and Ultima Online by itself was the only thing keeping the company afloat (EA even admitted as much in one of the quarterly reports). These things will be profitable for less people.
Since when have games ever been about Needs? (Score:2)
Oh well... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oh well... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Oh well... (Score:1)
Powerpoint and Netmeeting... (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that internet enable Myst ? Or is this REALLY fancy with each person seeing their own powerpoint which can be updated ?
Myst has to be from a tech perspective one of the simplest games to net-enable, what it will be is bandwidth intensive, what it isn't however is time restricted.
Re:Powerpoint and Netmeeting... (Score:1)
now that's scary: Microsoft MMOG...
Scary. (Score:1)
Scary? [microsoft.com] Well, not really a lot more than the other offerings.
Re:Powerpoint and Netmeeting... (Score:2, Interesting)
real-time 3D engine (Score:3, Interesting)
Cyan was candid about RealMyst being a technology vehicle for a future game, and included a "Bonus Age" at the end to check out more features. While most of RealMyst was merely slow-ish, the Rime Age was downright glacial. I'll be sure to check this out on the new machine, too.
But I have neither the time nor money to pick up on a time-chewer online game.
Rime and Reason (Score:2)
I hope you did this on purpose. It was damn funny.
Virg
Re:real-time 3D engine (Score:2)
Triv
Re:real-time 3D engine (Score:1)
Re:real-time 3D engine (Score:1)
Now I can look stupid... Online! (Score:5, Funny)
How much a month?
s/nerd/boss/
Multi-platform? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Multi-platform? (Score:2)
Although, since the PS2 doesn't come with a hard drive (unless you buy the Linux kit), I'm not sure how you'll experience the persistent, changing and evolving worlds they're touting.
Re:Multi-platform? (Score:2, Informative)
The downside of real-time voice communication (Score:5, Funny)
Xyphor: Welcome to the Weapons Shoppe! How may I serve thee on this fine morn?
Benny38: Hey, er, what's up dude?
Xyphor: Dost thou wish to sample my wares?
Benny38: Can you hear this? Are we like talking now?
Xyphor: Thou art testing my patience with these fine weapons close at hand.
Benny38: Umm, hello? Can someone send me an email and tell me if they can hear me? It's benny38 at AOL dot com.
(insert blood-wrenching sound effect here)
Re:The downside of real-time voice communication (Score:5, Funny)
Benny38: What a lithe and lissom priestress you are.
Shalandra (impersonated by Mr BigMac): Oh, you are flattering me.
MMOG? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like the closest thing yet to an actual online RPG, and it's not even being called a MMORPG, which things like EverQrack certainly are not. The gameplay differences between so called "MMORPGs" and games like Doom, Quake, and Unreal are negligible at best. FPS + chargen doth not an RPG make.
Don't get me started on how Final Fanstasy devolved from a game into a non-interactive movie.
Re:MMOG? (Score:2)
Depends on the game, and the people you play with. I heard of a few roleplaying groups in Dark Age of Camelot, and I know from experience that roleplaying is alive and well in Ultima Online. I can't speak for Everquest but I suspect there are roleplayers in there as well. These game do not at all compare to FPS games.
It is true that the current MMORPG's focus, as stated, on player status rather than storylines that would support roleplaying. In the current MMORPG's, roleplayers have to make up their own story, which is fun but of course limited by the game engine, since players do not have the same powers as the Game Masters.
It'll be interesting to see how this develop... but I foresee a problem, well a potential one at least: in a world where the storyline and RP are what is supposed to keep the players in, those players may well want frequent content updates and active Dungeon Masters. And those may be expensive to provide... compare that to Ultima or Everquest where the games practically run themselves. I'll definitely give it a go though, I always found the Myst worlds interesting, but they lacked one thing: people!
Re:MMOG? (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyone in Thailand got ten extra hours a week?
Eq Bashing ? (Score:2)
I've been playing Evercrack, on and off, since the day 1 ruins of kunark was released to stores in Finland.
I stopped for allmost a year in same point but have been playing again something around 5 months now.
The thing is, as i said earlier allready, game is what you make it yourself.
I've never had highend character, mainly because of my inpatiance so i dont know how things evolve after +30 levels but before that, all the time its been just mob hunting and exp gaining (far from rpg'ing)... Till now..
After i started playing again, i headed to Firiona Vie which everyone called "Roleplay" server. Well, ofcourse there are d00ds as much as anywhere else and IC is not mandatorying but. Its still there if you go forth with it yourself..
I've now joined one of the respected RPG guilds in FV and since then, (joining took me 3 months because something broke my computer and was offline most of that time) i havent been OOC ingame at all. IC goes on even in the guild boards (tavern) and play is good. Im still *young* compared to rest of the guild but i must admit, as a semiserious roleplayer, things havent been this good *ever* in evercrack..
So, if our EQ experience is lacking, dont make it the truth what you say.. RPG'ing is there and is going on really well.
Dullfiina, pround member of Saga.
Cleric of Bristlebane and Hugable Halfling.
Re:MMOG? (Score:2)
Sounds like the closest thing yet to an actual online RPG, and it's not even being called a MMORPG
Bartle wrote long ago how there are four types [brandeis.edu] of online gamers -- killers, achievers, socializers, and explorers. While this may be somewhat simplistic, it turns out to be pretty accurate. This game simply focuses on Exploration and Socialization. The Sims Online focuses on Socialization and Achievement (get into those top-10 lists!). AC2 focuses almost entirely on Killing.
There are lots of "actual online RPGs" out there, they just never made it very big. If you want true roleplaying, try out Underlight [underlight.com] for example.
Besides, I don't see anything how this game is going to "enforce roleplaying" at all.
Tears For Fears' (Score:2)
Oh great, like I need anything else to get me [amazon.com]
Hooked on the Net
What's the attraction, well its like the song title
Yeah, I know, now you're going to have to spend the rest of the day getting that stupid tune out of your head.
YAY!! Its Shadowbane... (Score:1)
SlashDot (Score:2)
It will be very intressting.. (Score:1)
It will be very interesting to see what types of online games (the persistent world types) that actually takes of and generates profit in the coming years.
Is it only typical "geek" games as EQ, SWO and DAOC that have a chance to build and keep a large fan base ?
Persistent world voice chat is old hat. (Score:2, Informative)
Err, that's false. WorldsChat did voice on a persistent 3D world about five or more years ago.
More recently, the just announced There, also supports voice chat, for broadband users.
Re:Persistent world voice chat is old hat. (Score:1)
Oh yay (Score:2, Funny)
*conk*
I'll believe it when I see it (Score:2)
This is more or less exactly what Funcom said they would do with Anarchy Online [anarchyonline.com]. Now I only played the game for a few months, but the rumors I've heard indicate that any real storyline progression has been sporadic at best, and nonexistant most of the time. Can anyone who actually plays AO comment on how the storyline stuff is working out?
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:1)
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:4, Informative)
with the introduction of "The Notum Wars", AO has become a more player-driven story line as PVP battles erupt all throughout the planet. certain lands are pretty much uncontested, and other lands have turned into constant war zones. the plot isn't really advancing; rubi-ka has always been a land that was being fought for, but now people are becoming much more involved in the fight.
Theevilcouch Level 126 Martial Artist, Rubi-ka 1
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:2)
I've been playing E&B for about a month now, and while it's quite addicitve and fun so far, I've heard from higher level players that there's not much to do yet when you get to the top...
Others to watch for... (Score:3, Interesting)
Both these games will get great intial turnout, I would expect, simply due to the already successful marketing of their names. But beyond that they have relatively little to offer.
For my money, a game like ShadowBane [ubisoft.com] (also from UbiSoft) will truly rock the market and gain players that will stick. As will Planetside [sony.com] , the first first-person shooter MMOG, at least that I know of.
At least these companies have their bases covered. When Myst dies a silent death UbiSoft will be sitting pretty atop the cash cow that ShadowBane will become, and Sony will keep things running with Planetside and of course the neverending run of EQ.
Re:Others to watch for... (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides if I was looking for something like shadowbane I would go with dragon empires, it has better graphics, some neater features, and with it coming out in fall 2003 will probably beat SB to a release date.
Re:Others to watch for... (Score:1)
Re:Others to watch for... (Score:1)
Shadowbane however, I don't feel will do as well as eq2, eq, or swg. It focuses to much on pvp-- dont get me wrong, the game will do well I belive, just not as well as the previously mentioned games. I think shadowbane will have probally 30k-75k players that stick... I look for swg to hit about 250-500k that stick. EQ2 will eat better than half of the eq players I think... not to mention pick up hmm 75k of it's own. The market is getting more diluted, I dont think you are going to see any games do as well as swg for a long long time... swg has alot of massmarket appeal the others don't have.
(Side Note: I've played ac, ac2, uo, daoc, ao, eq, lineage, and many many many muds over the years and gotten fairly high in most of them... (57 in ac, 30 in ac2 (thus far), 3xGM in uo, 35 in daoc, 55 in eq, max levels in many of the muds, and got sick of being pk'd in lineage before i got far.) Honestly, I don't like eq, but it is the most popular for very obvious reasons, and sony/verant knows those reasons as well as the players... swg will have those same features guarenteed... and it is much better branded than eq could ever HOPE to be.)
Anyways, my 2 gold pieces.
Considering my basic dislike of MMOGs... (Score:1)
good for those with lives? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've got your game: NWN (Score:4, Interesting)
Then out comes Neverwinter Nights. Pick up a module, or make your own, get a group of friends together (or make some friends in one of the persistent NWN worlds out there), and boom, you're good to go. You and your group control when the gaming takes place (I play every Thursday with a group of close friends who we all used to play tabletop D&D but in the past few years we've all found ourselves scattered to different parts of the U.S. - this helps us stay together and closer as friends even though we're geographically very far apart), and when you're not playing, the world stays still, ready to be picked up again when you guys get together; you don't get left behind. You've got the good things of online gaming without most of the bad: friendship, camraderie, fun, adventure, without the pk'ing, looting, endless hamster-wheel advancement (sure, you still have to kill monsters to level up normally in NWN, but the person running the module can choose to grant XP for other things at any moment, so you can go up in level faster by RP'ing instead of slaying monsters if that's the type of play you want).
Basically, it's a great online experience that you and your friends control, not some megacompany. And you don't have to pay a monthly fee for it either!
Allright, thus ends my rant about how much better NWN is than normal MMORPG's. This is just my opinion though, your mileage may vary.
Re:I've got your game: NWN (Score:2)
I'll second that. Once you take 'Massively' out of MMORPG, you lose a lot of problems the genre presents you with and gain a whole lot of power. You choose when you want to play, who you want to play with (so you don't have to deal with griefers at ALL) and what exactly you're going to play.
Couple that with an excellent matching service like www.NeverwinterConnections.com and you have the idea envrion for online RPG gaming. It's as close to pencil 'n paper as you can get, with the power of not needing everybody in the same room at the same time. Who needs massively multiplayer? As long as you're having fun, that's what counts.
Re:I've got your game: NWN (Score:1)
However, I'll grant you that this type of gameplay might not appeal to everyone, for some people, the ability to show off their virtual achievements to a large group, as in having a really high level or truly rare items in an MMORPG, is a big plus, and for that, there's really no substitute. I've personally played more than a few MMORPG's, and the envious stares and
In my opinion, it's when you find a group of likeminded players and enter a guild or party of some sort and work together that these games shine. It just so happens that I prefer to have my group/guild/clan/party in a NWN-type setting where we don't have to deal with the bad sides of the whole MMORPG experience and can focus on the cool group stuff.
Re:I've got your game: NWN (Score:2)
This thread has shuffled off into slashdot obscurity, but in the interest of answering your question:
www.neverwinterconnections.com
That's how you meet people. The site is a matching service which is designed specifically to get groups of players together. I didn't know anybody personally who I could play with either, but I've met lots of terrific people through here and have joined guild-like groups that spawned out of NWC that really helped me in my mod development and provided me plenty of games to play in.
Granted, it's not as easy as walking up to a stranger in an MMORPG and saying "Wanna party up?" but that's an advantage -- since the investment is more key than some passing grouping with people you may never see again, you really get to know folks.
For every problem, fan communities can come up with a solution.
Re:Worst title since Attack of the Clones? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Worst title since Attack of the Clones? (Score:2)
Parable
Mudpie (The most commonly used among the fan-base)
Myst Online (The worse by far!)
And a bunch of others I can't think of at the moment. I had written a paper about the issue of titles for Mudpie, but that's on another computer at the moment. But Ubi/Cyan seemed to followed the outlines I stated.
not what you think (Score:4, Informative)
Re:not what you think (Score:1)
So I wonder if anything in real-time can truly be as good as MYST III. Tell me more...
Re:not what you think (Score:1)
I'm a bigger fan, I've been following it since it was called 'Get some dirt and water.'
Soon Competition between MM rhelms (Score:4, Insightful)
It would be nice if early on, the multiplayer industry members got together and agreed tho make their worlds and technology compatible, allowing one single account to which individual game charges are applied. This would a) reduce the cost of companies running their own billing sections, and b) allow a person to switch to another game without having to establish yet another account.
But most importantly, this would open the way to having an Ether -- a plcae outside all of the game rhelms where characters of all sorts could interact (imagine a Sim talking to a Stromtrooper while an Ultima Online player rode by on a horse!). THIS social in-between area would be the start of the Metaverse.
Re:Soon Competition between MM rhelms (Score:2)
This would seriously "break the fourth wall", I think. Besides, why would you have to have the same avatar in the "break room"/Metaverse as in the game? If you're out-of-character anyway... (and if you're not OOC then I imagine Stormtroopers aren't very interesting conversationalists!)
Re:Soon Competition between MM rhelms (Score:1)
"Ib bib doo waaaaaaa, bop boo...." [picture of airplane appears]
POW!
"Aaaaargh"
"That's one less Rebel scum."
Welcome to the Ether (Score:2)
For megaMMORPGs like EverQuest, this is something they want to avoid, since lock-in is an important part of their business strategy. But I think this leaves a large niche open for new competitors. Ideally, individual users should be able to design their own virtual worlds and host them in the Metaverse, with the revenue generated in a given virtual world being split between the creator of the world and the corporation doing the hosting and designing the software.
Design an exciting, intriguing world and make a living off it. That's what I'd like to see.
Re:Welcome to the Ether (Score:2)
Avoid? They are very happy to charge you $50 to change to another server. In fact, it's a revenue stream that's made them a million dollars [business2.com].
Ideally, individual users should be able to design their own virtual worlds and host them in the Metaverse
This is what Neverwinter Nights is doing. You can gate between worlds. However, no revenue is involved.
Re:Welcome to the Ether (Score:2)
I meant "lock-in" in the sense of being locked into EverQuest. They'll gladly take your money to switch you to another EQ server, but there's no incentive for them to enable you to switch between competing virtual worlds as easily as you can currently switch between competing websites.
Neverwinter Nights looks like a great step towards the ideal of the Metaverse. We just need to broaden the scope beyond D&D.
Re:Um...... NO! (Score:2)
What I'm thinking is some lowest-common denominator protocol and character representation that all online multiplayer realms could build upon, but of course each realm (or, the programmers of the game software) would be free to augment or extend those protocols and avatar definition data within their own worlds. Think of it in terms of object-oriented programming: all massively multiplayer systems could adhere to a common base class of character, defining look and feel, then subclass that character for the unique features and functions of the realm which that character belongs.
Strange interactions would take place as well, as avatars (or more to the point, people) from both the social (like The Sims) and the rpg worlds mix.
Great! (Score:1)
I think I'll have to buy a wireless keyboard/mouse and connect my tv to my graphics card. This could replace must see tv...
ubi (Score:1)
Re:ubi (Score:2)
Forget vaporbane.
Ubisoft = Vaporsoft. Don't hold your breath... (Score:1)
Shadowbane was even listed (#8) in Wired's Vaporware for 2002. . . [wired.com]
Well, I'm sure it'll look like myst... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Well, I'm sure it'll look like myst... (Score:1)
Re:Well, I'm sure it'll look like myst... (Score:2)
Hmm... if it had support for gestures, you could actually respond to "asl??" in ASL...
Re:Well, I'm sure it'll look like myst... (Score:2)
They can easily make it "abandoned" by simply making instanced versions of zones/areas. Basically, each individual person has there own instance of a place. Not a problem to implement, if that is what they are going for. Ever play Anarchy Online?
However, I disagree that they will lose money because they don't have that "abandoned feeling". You don't play online to play alone -- you play online to play with others. One of the chief complaints of the Asheron's Call 2 world is that it LOOKS abandoned and dead. They have, what, only 35k subscribers right now?
Building new ages (Score:1)
But what -I- want is a game where one can do that themselves, and then leave linking books lying around for other players.
A great onling game/community.... (Score:2)
NOOOO!!! (Score:1)
Uru vs. There (Score:1, Interesting)
Would you rather spend time There [gamespot.com]...
or here [gamespot.com]?
Weird people you meet online notwithstanding, Uru looks like a place I'm actually interested in visiting, exploring, etc. What I am not interested in is buying virutal Levi's jeans for my avatar with real cash.
Myst universe is great (Score:4, Insightful)
To be honest, I'd be very much interested in seeing how they involve the Myst universe. The games Myst and Riven were quite good, and the books even better. There is a lot of potential for the Myst universe, given the idea that if you are trained, you can become a writer (creator/linker of worlds).
This sounds really cool (Score:2, Insightful)
One more note... the game "Lighthouse" (From Sierra) was awsome as well. While many people probably percieved it as somewhat of a Myst ripoff, I thought it was very innovative for it's time. They had much nicer graphics and better sound/music. However, it felt more SciFi than Fantasy when compared to Myst. Anyone else here ever tried Lighthouse?
Re:This sounds really cool (Score:1)
Myst MMOG a step towards game in Enders Game (Score:2, Insightful)
For those who don't know, _Ender's Game_ is a great sci-fi book by Orson Scott Card. I've heard they'll be making a movie about it, but I don't know when.
This is 'Project Mudpie', if I remember correctly. (Score:1)
From the screenshots, this appears to be what Cyan was calling "Project Mudpie" a few years back. They had a very nice feature on it in "Wired", as I recall.
There are two really interesting aspects of the game to me:
Myst...we meet again... (Score:2)
Possible idea (Score:1)
IMHO, that would make a great game, one that I could be addicted to for hours each day (But that could be a bad thing!/i?
Re:Myst online is the change to rebuild the D'ni t (Score:2)
In Myst: Book of Ti'ana [amazon.com], A'Gaeris was the key player in the dystruction of D'ni and only inlisted (and to a point even tricked) Veovis who did help in the biological attack that caused the distruction.