Fans Celebrate the Return of Uru Live

C|Net is reporting on the resurrection of Uru Live , the Massively Multiplayer chapter of the Myst Saga. Now a part of the GameTap network (which just seems to be getting better and better), Uru is scheduled to launch with great fanfare later this year. Despite being cancelled all the way back in 2004, there are already a number of people lined up to get back into the game. From the article: "Some 500 players are participating in a beta of the game, which formally launches this holiday season on Turner Broadcasting's GameTap game network, and 7,000 more are waiting to join them ... 'There are a number of factors now that I think will help it be successful,' said Ron Meiners, who for the last few months has been working as a contract community manager for GameTap. He was an 'Uru Live' community manager at Ubisoft, which published the original game. 'In many ways, it was ahead of its time. There's more broadband penetration now, and a lot more mainstream understanding of what an MMO is, due to 'World of Warcraft', 'Second Life' and other virtual experiences.' There are also a number of changes to the game. GameTap has implemented a new 'physics engine' that governs movements in the game's virtual space and has new sound support for 'Uru Live.' While there are still bugs in the system, there should be no problems with the scheduled holiday launch plan, Meiners said. "

Re:Sorry, Gamteap is only available in the United

[GermanShepherd]

Uru Live is planned on being available as a standalone client that operates outside of the GameTap client. Uru will be eventually available worldwide. Only the GameTap service itself is restricted to the United States for the time being. (According to the Uru Live support site here [urulive.com].)

If you previously bought the game...

[ItWasThem]

Do you have to buy it again? Being one of those people who bought this game primarily for the heavily promoted "Live" aspect and then summarily dissapointed by bugs, drops and "coming soon" web portals there is no way I'm paying more money until I see this work and get something for the money I already spent.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

There is (or shortly will be) a free limited mode for players who do not want to sign up for the subscription service yet.

Re:

[GermanShepherd]

According to Cyanworlds [urulive.com], they're going to release the game with a free "visitor" mode. Anyone and everyone can access the game for free, but will be restricted to a few areas [urulive.com] unless you pay for a GameTap subscription. (...and you will be able to join Uru Live regardless of the fact that GameTap isn't available outside the United States. They are planning to make Uru Live accessable worldwide [urulive.com].) So the client itself will be free, and you can check it out without committing to a subscription.

Re:

[etherlad]

Yes, you'll have to "buy" it again. But it won't cost you any extra.

GameTap costs $10/month (Uru itself costs $10/mo in places were GameTap is unavailable). When you connect, all relevant files are downloaded to your system.

As I understand it, the basic Uru program is only 20 MB or so. However, each time you connect to a given area, you download the lastest version of that area (assuming that it's changed since your last visit). Total size with all Ages downloaded is about 700 MB, if I'm remembering correct

Gametap impressions?

[SanityInAnarchy]

How does Gametap compare to, say, Steam, in terms of UI, technical details, DRM madness? It looks like a nice service, but I'm loathe to try any subscription service that's not exclusively an MMO, due to the massive DRM often needed to enforce a subscription for a single-player game.

Re:

[cjb909]

Well, you load all the games through the GameTap Client, so you need an broadband connection and active subscription to play your games. The games you download sit on your hard drive, but in an encrypted form. So DRM'd to the point that you don't own the games, but at least they don't pretend that you own them. One nice feature is that you can create subaccounts, typically for children that you restrict which games they can play, but two accounts can be logged in at once, under one subscription.

Re:

[bigbigbison]

Think of Gametap like AOL (or at least what AOL was like during its peak). It is a "portal" that is seperate from the rest of the computer. You start it up and you are in their UI, which isn't too bad, but it is only Gametap, not a little window like Steam.
Gametap is a subscriber service, so it is the Napster or Rhapsody of gaming. You stop paying, you stop playing. Look at the game list. There are lots and lots of consol games, but subscribing just for Uru Live would be a bit extreme. Only for the har

Re:

[WedgeTalon]

"There are lots and lots of consol games, but subscribing just for Uru Live would be a bit extreme."\

When you consider that the Uru subscription and GT subscription are the same price (from what I recall of details from months ago), if you want Uru, there's no reason NOT to subscribe to GT anyway. ...unless you are non-US.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

How does Gametap compare to, say, Steam, in terms of UI, technical details, DRM madness? It looks like a nice service, but I'm loathe to try any subscription service that's not exclusively an MMO, due to the massive DRM often needed to enforce a subscription for a single-player game.

GameTap is an online service, while Steam is a distribution service. GameTap is closer to subscription music services like Rhapsody/Napster, while Steam would be more like iTunes Music Store. The former is used by the game to pr

Re:

[SanityInAnarchy]

Either way, it beats the need to have the CDs themselves copyprotected with crap. Given the option of having a million CDs to keep around in the drive, or installing rootkits for copyprotection, or having the program check if you're legit (with the option to run offline), I'd choose the latter.

This is more what I was interested in. The last three comments missed the point -- I know GT is subscription, whereas Steam is distribution. I want to know whether I can do things like -- Steam lets me backup games

That appropriate for an MMO?

[hansamurai]

My old roommate used to beta test this game, but he hated interacting with people. There was one time where he actually spent 20 minutes running away from what seemed like the only other person on the server. Very funny. Not sure if Myst was the best game to choose to move to the MMO setting.

Re:

[etherlad]

Given that it is an MMO, I'm not sure why someone would play it if that's not their bag.

Uru's community is certainly what I would call one of its strong points. It's not the same as most other MMOs on the market, to be sure, but the community has kept the flame alive for three years, and most of that time they weren't expecting anything to come of it. It's only in the last six months or so that they've known that Live was coming back.

That said, aside from the island of Ae'gura and the Neighborhoods, most of

Re:

[MysterM]

Are you sure he was talking about Uru? Uru is one of the few (only?) MMO's that you actually can choose how many other people you want to hang with - that means you can go it alone, if you're so inclined. On top of that, the first interation of Uru actually shipped as a single player (off the shelf) game that didn't even require connection to the server at all.

Asheron's Call 2?

[blitzsieg]

If they are going to resurrect MMO's, how about Asheron's Call 2?

Re:

[kalirion]

How many of the 15 ex-AC2 subscribers would likely chose to subscribe to gametap as well?

success story

[trickster721]

Woooooo! Now that /. and PA are plugging Uru, I'm no longer a sad fanboy. I'm an early adopter who has secretly been cool for years. Thanks, mass web media!