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Eat_My_Shortz' News Archives
1 October 2005
Updates to EMS Relto
I've finally gotten around to updating the site - particularly the
parts relating to Myst V which have been getting stagnant for awhile.
You may notice that I've updated the main page to reflect the changing
community: it is no longer mainly Uru-centric, but instead focusses
on the Myst saga as a whole.
Myst may be over, but EMS Relto will continue to flourish, and
as always, be but a single fan's representation of the Myst community.
Keep reading... there's more news!
Cyan is back!!!
It's not even been a month since the community was hit with the hardest
news we've ever had to take: Cyan is closing. And look what's happened...
Cyan had a meeting with a publisher, and it would seem, they are back
in business! The exciting news was revealed on GreyDragon's blog (here)
- the same place where the closure was announced. More recently, Rand
Miller sent an email to a fan, saying this:
"We've had a reprieve. Managed to pull a rabbit out of
the hat (that I can't give details about yet), so we rehired almost everybody.
Crazy industry. It's giving me whiplash!"
So, there'll be no more Myst, but (if everything goes well), there
will be more Cyan. The ending, as always, has not yet been written.
My Myst V Review
Well, I finally got my hands on Myst V: End of Ages, and have
been playing it over the past week (that's my official excuse for not
updating the site sooner ;). Now that I'm finished, I've written a lengthy
review offering my opinion of the game. Short answer: I absolutely loved
it. Please do yourself and Cyan a favour, and buy it. Long answer: read
the review.
I've also updated the main Myst V page
with lots of new information and screenshots.
20 September 2005
Myst V Released
It's here! The final chapter in the Myst saga has begun shipping
to stores worldwide. I can't wait to get my hands on it!
8 September 2005
Situation with Cyan
Hmm... it seems that some of us may have been a bit "premature"
with our 'ending-has-been-written's and 'rest-in-peace's and long melancholy
tribute videos to Cyan. Six days since the news broke, there is hope,
both at the remains of Cyan, and in the community, that Cyan may live
on to produce another game. Facts are pretty hard to come by right now,
but here are the things we "know":
- Earlier today, Rand Miller and some other (ex)-Cyanites had a meeting
with a publisher to try and secure a publishing contract for another
game. The result is as yet unknown. But the important thing is they
are trying.
- "Cyan is not in debt with Ubisoft"
- according to GreyDragon's latest blogpost
- they are not "in debt" in the strongest sense of the word.
He described it as a "fiscal obligation" which may be sugar
for "debt", but at least it can't be not terribly much.
- To quote MystWorlds Community Manager Kha'tie: "It's
not as "Final" as it sounds at the moment... there's hope and there
are a lot of varying issues at stake. :)"
- Cyan as a company still exists - Rand Miller and Tony Fryman are still
part of the company. From what it seems, a lot of "ex" employees
are still working with them on securing contracts and informing the
community - they just aren't being paid. It's sort of a crisis-mode,
with employees still helping out even though not officially employed.
- If Cyan gets the contract for another game, they will rehire as many
employees as possible.
One thing is very very important: Myst V must sell well for there
to be any hope for Cyan. Remember, Cyan still exists, and are STILL
getting cash from sales of Myst V - it isn't like it's all going to Ubisoft.
Cyan needs your money. You need this game. Everyone should be happy.
We as a community need to spread the word that Myst V exists
and is coming, so that all the millions of people who bought Myst
and Riven can have one final trek through the Ages.
Cyan are trying to secure the contract for their next game, but cannot
do it without all of our help! Remember, as always, the ending has
not yet been written.
Discuss
7 September 2005
A Tribute to Cyan Worlds
Like everyone in the community, I was deeply saddened at the news
of Cyan's closure, so I decided to do something creative. As a gift to
the community, I spent two days over the weekend creating a video tribute
to the company.
The video runs for seven minutes and incorporates clips from past trailers
and making-ofs. I urge you all to download it to celebrate the history
of our favourite game studio, and remember the good times.
Cyan
Tribute (36.9 MB Quicktime)
(Note: You should right-click and choose "Save As", because I've had problems
streaming it, and it's also one of those things you should watch all at
once).
Special thanks to MystObsession/Dusante
for helping me with the hosting and providing space. If the location of
the file changes in future, check back here to find out what's happened
to it!
Thankyou, Cyan, for all the memories!
3 September 2005
The Ending Has Been Written
 A community
mourns today. After seventeen years and eight games, Cyan Worlds closed
its doors today, by laying off all but two of their employees. The announcement
was made earlier on GreyDragon's
blog. This means that Myst V: End of Ages, to be released later
this month, will be Cyan's final game. UruObsession has a page with information
about the closing, which should be updated as more information becomes
available. UruObsession:
Cyan FAQ.
22 August 2005
Myst V Gone Gold! Mac Demo Released!
Time to start obsessing over Myst again! Myst V, the
final game in the 12-year-long Myst saga, has gone gold, and will
be released next month. For die-hard fans, there is a collectors edition
which is different depending on where you live (US/Canada get the "Limited
Edition" and Europe/Elsewhere get the "Collectors Edition").
Each has different goodies. (US
Limited Edition has video, soundtrack CD, collectors art and strategy
guide, the Europe
Collectors Edition has a video DVD with making-ofs, trailers and music,
and a lovely 152-page colour book. And apparently, a cube).
The lucky Mac users can download and play the demo right now - reactions
are very positive, besides random crashing which should be fixed (we hope)
for the full release. Myst V is being showcased at the Penny
Arcade Expo next week, and the PC demo should be released around then.
In the meantime, there are previews everywhere.
Myst V will be released on September 22, 2005, bringing the Myst
saga to a dramatic close.
26 May 2005
Chat with Kha'tie
Fellow Myst-fan Toria and I had a chat with Myst Worlds Community
Manager Kha'tie last night, and she revealed a few things about the upcoming
game! (That's right... the first EMS Relto Exclusive! ;)
We asked her about the trailer that has just been released, and why there
were complaints from Cyan (here)
about it not representing the actual game enough. She told us that the
trailer was made by a guy who had done other famous game trailers, who
had been contracted by Ubisoft. The character Esher could not be shown
in the trailer for legal reasons I won't go into! The trailer isn't really
designed for Myst fans, but more to attract the eye of general gamers,
and should serve this purpose well.
Also, she revealed that Esher would have the voice of David Ogden Stiers
(which you can sort of tell from the gameplay videos here)
- he did the voices of Zandi and Dr. Watson in Uru. His face has also
been used for Esher's in-game appearance, but Esher's body is apparently
motion-captured from the body of Rand Miller!
When asked whether or not Rand's main role, Atrus, would appear in the
game, Kha'tie refused to comment. Thanks to Kha'tie for letting me post
this here.
20 May 2005
Myst V Mania!
E3 is on, and a whole lot of new content is available for Myst
V!
- Three gameplay videos! See the game in action for the first time at
the Myst
Obsession movies page. Courtesy IGN. These cool movies give you
a good look (and listen) at Yeesha and Esher, and show off the opening
of the doors from Atrus' room in K'veer!
- There's a new website up! It's still a "teaser" site and
contains the words "Full site coming soon" but it's got quite
a bit more content, including some new screenshots, one of the snow
age which is apparently called "Taghira".
13 May 2005
Official Myst V E3 Trailer
It is here. It is real! See the first glimpse of the Myst V
trailer now!
The verdict: looks absolutely FANTASTIC! Although, I doubt that it's
rendered using the game engine. The graphics are way too good and detailed
for a realtime engine. I won't say any more, just watch!
Update: It seems that the official trailer is not entirely representative
of the gameplay. Particularly, Esher as seen in the trailer does not look
or sound like he will in the game.
Oh also, the Myst IV soundtrack has been released in USA! Buy
it.
23 April 2005
Rand Miller speaks about Myst V: Live video!
Gamespot has
just posted a new preview article and video interview with CEO of Cyan
Worlds, Rand Miller. Both the article and interview disclose new information
about the upcoming game Myst V, and even better, check out his
hair! Heh heh... cerebrially.
Read
the Article (contains links to video)
I've also updated the EMS Relto Myst V
page with all the latest information.
21 April 2005
A postmortem on Myst IV
Gamasutra has
posted a very honest and interesting look back at the development of Myst
IV: Revelation by Genevičve Lord, the game's producer. It discusses
the good and bad parts of the game's three-year development. Thanks to
ToriaUru
for the link.
Postmortem:
Myst IV - Revelation
15 April 2005
New Myst V Screenshots and INFO!
At last some new content churns out of the Cyan factory, and it is
a wonder to behold! Get your mouse clicking on this
link as fast as you possibly can to visit the Cyan gallery and see
five all-new shots of Noloben, K'veer, and some other mysterious Age.
Furthermore, Myst Obsession has posted three links to some articles which
give a whole lot of new info about the upcoming game!
What have we learned from these articles and shots? Well firstly, the
game will definitly be first person, no avatars, with a hand very similar
to realMyst. It looks like the controls (which were disparaged
heavily in realMyst and Uru) have been beefed up, and there
are more options - including, somewhat unexpectedly, an option
to have node-based movement like Myst III and IV. Secondly,
it will feature just four Ages, technically. However the article assures
fans that there will be six "areas" and they will be huge. The
game seems to revolve around Yeesha, grown up, and a new character, Escher.
But sadly, not Atrus. We must pray that he at least gets his hand in the
voice-over! Characters will be completely realtime, but in a good news
story, will be all motion-captured and face-captured, similar to Half-Life
2.
I'm still sticking my thumb out for a ride to Releeshahn. Not sure if
that's going to happen, but one article did mention that there
would be "more NPCs". Since the main reason for not doing Releeshahn
was "there would be too many people," perhaps this mention is
a good sign.
2 April 2005
April Fools!
That was pretty cool! I didn't expect this much attention from one
post to the forum and one very active friend who posted the link to the
Lyst. Just to make sure everyone knows: that was an April Fools
joke, conceived by myself and nothing to do with Cyan. Sorry to disappoint
anyone who was "fooled"! The page will remain up there for posterity,
if you ever want the link you will find it buried in the archives
under 1 April 2005.
The joke gave this site record traffic. This index page registered 42
(I love that number) unique hits for the 1st and 2nd of April, and the
ultimateMyst page received 59 uniques
in the past two days. Judging by the response from the Lyst the reaction
was positive, and not anger as I may have feared! Thanks everyone. Now
we can hope for some real news regarding Myst V in the coming months,
and then maybe we can start thinking about ultimateMyst
again.
1 April 2005
Cyan announces new Myst remake: ultimateMyst
In exciting news for Myst fans today, Cyan Worlds has announced
the production of a brand new remake of the classic Myst. Latest
in a long line of remakes, such as Myst Masterpiece Edition and
realMyst, the new product, dubbed "ultimateMyst" incorporates
modern technology with the adventure that made the classic title great.
Read more info about the ultimate version
of Myst!
10 March 2005
A new Myst V Screenshot!
It's about time: something new has emerged from Cyan Worlds: A single
new shot, which seems to be some sort of gallery in D'ni (it is reminiscent
of the Kadish Gallery in Uru). I've
added the shot to my Myst V page. See:
The Cyan
Myst V gallery, New
shot - large.
3 March 2005
Myst IV Patch 1.03
The latest patch for Myst IV: Revelation has been released.
I'm not sure what it does exactly, but here are the links: Windows
Mac.
11 February 2005
RAWA Interview
Lockergnome
recently had an in-depth interview with Richard A. Watson ("RAWA")
of Cyan Worlds. It doesn't have much about Myst V, but it's got
a good deal of info about the Myst worlds and Cyan in general.
Worth a read:
Part
1
Part
2
Part
3
10 February 2005
EMS Relto now authorised by W3C
It's been a bit quiet on the Myst V front of late. Luckily
I've got something to write home about. I spent a good few hours today
converting EMS Relto to my new template format, and fixing/upgrading the
thirty-one pages on this site. Technically, the old site wasn't correct
HTML code... now I've been able to run all of the pages through the W3C
validator so they are now 100% valid HTML 4.01 Transitional. I'm proudly
showing off the W3C sticker on the right. Basically this means the site
looks exactly the same, but... just is better ;).
27 January 2005
RAWA Explains: The meaning of "Untěl Uru"
Firstly, it's funny that many people haven't actually noticed the
little ` on the 'ě' in "Untěl Uru". Well there is one. See?
I've taken special care on this website to always write it like that,
and I'm glad I did it now because it's there for a reason.
In ancient Sumerian:
un = the people, the community
těl = to live, to keep alive
Uru = the deep city
You can get many applicable meanings out of various
combinations, but the one we had in mind is: "The people keep alive Uru".
- RAWA (Richard A. Watson)
13 January 2005
Myst V Website is up
New screens and music
Noloben and Todelmer are IN
And so the Myst V media wagon marches on... today myst5.ubi.com
officially went live! Its just a small teaser at this stage but it already
confirms some of the big questions that have been hanging around since
Uru Live collapsed. Namely: "Will we ever see Noloben, Todelmer,
or Negilahn again?" These three ages were in the original design
for Uru Live, and we even saw a few screenshots of them (See my
Uru History page for the only shot of Noloben -
until now)
Visit the new Myst V teaser
site for three new screenshots, a new music track and concept art,
including pics of Noloben, Todelmer and the much-awaited tunnel from D'ni
to the surface. Myst
Obsession has also posted hi-res and downloadable versions of these
screenshots
and music.
(They seem to think its Todelmer, which is why I'm calling it that. The
other shots are definitely Noloben and the tunnels). The music is also
fantastic, most likely done by Tim Larkin (who works for Cyan and did
the realMyst and Uru scores).
Now all we need is Releeshahn... Come on Cyan, you guys can't let us
down!
(Click these links to see Mudpie/Uru shots of unreleased Ages: Noloben
and Negilahn)
Comparing the Noloben images from Mudpie
and Myst
V demonstrates just how advanced the new engine is.
12 January 2005
Myst V: Official Announcement
 After
the very scarce information and wild speculation of yesterday's unofficial
announcement, it was good to see something official come out of Ubisoft.
(For some reason the only place you can find it is on Yahoo news, but...)
HERE
IT IS!
And as you can see on the right, we have our very first screenshot! Looks
like the huge dagger from Riven has fallen into the Cleft. Click the image
for a huge version.
We also have a new website URL: myst5.ubi.com.
At the moment it just links back to Ubi.com but hopefully soon it will
be full of new information!
As a final treat, Myst Obsession have gotten hold of an article in the
Spokesman Review, which discusses Myst V and Something Else.
As in, Something that is NOT Myst V. Have a read!
I've created a new Myst V page for Eat_My_Shortz'
Relto, containing all known information. Check back for updates as they
arrive.
11 January 2005
Myst V: End of Ages
It's been a huge 14 months for the Myst universe - two full
games and an expansion pack. And today, Ubisoft and Cyan proved once again
that they aren't prepared to rest on their laurels. In an announcement
few of us dared hope for, so soon after the release of Myst IV: Revelation,
the Myst Worlds
official site has announced the game by the name of "Myst V: End
of Ages". Sounds pretty final doesn't it? But they have stated its
"the next chapter of the Myst saga." Drop everything and run
over to the Myst Worlds site, where you can already start posting to the
new Myst
V forum! Is this game the much-touted "Something Else,"
or is it something else? Time will tell. But with a name like that, it's
gotta be great!
Update: MystObsession
has posted a translation of a much larger press release from the German
MystWorlds site. In this article, Myst V is labeled conclusively
as the final Myst game. Ubisoft North America president Laurent
Detoc calls it the "crowning finish of the series," while Rand
Miller states that "Myst V: End of Ages tells the Myst-story
to its end."
Eat_My_Shortz' Relto will be following progress with a keen eye, so check
back here often! Oh and I'd also like to celebrate the fact that someone
thought this site was worthy of being listed as a fansite on the Myst
entry in Wikipedia. Thanks random person!
21 December 2004
GameSpot gives Myst IV: Revelation "Best Adventure Game 2004"
Yes! At last our favourite adventure has some long-deserved recognition.
I couldn't hide my disappointment in the past few days with Myst IV
being nominated for, and failing to win, four of the GameSpot categories,
particularly with its being beaten in "Best Graphics, Artistic"
by Half-Life 2. So its a great thing that it has been recognised
as the "best all-around adventure game of 2004". Check out the
article
and video about the award! Congratulations Team Revelation! Of course,
if you haven't played the best adventure game of 2004, download
the demo or rush out and buy it for PC or Mac!
7 December 2004
My personal Path of the Shell journal
I just remembered that during The Path of the Shell I kept a journal
(using the game's journal system) which I was meaning to upload once I
got a website. (This is it!) So I've pasted that into HTML and prettied
it up a bit. I this brings back some fond memories: Eat_My_Shortz'
Path of the Shell Journal. I also kept a Myst IV journal,
but that will be a bit harder to convert. I guess thats coming soon!
6 December 2004
Blogging
Today I decided to get a blog for myself (to see what all the fuss was
about!) I've been setting it up and you can now read it here.
Its obviously a more personal site than this one. While jumping around
the "blogsphere" as its apparently called, I came across Kha'tie's
blog (she is the Myst Worlds community manager) which had this lovely
sentiment:
"To appreciate the value of a year, ask a Myst Fan". You
see, in just one year, we've had two titles come to life; a 6-year and
a 3-year creation. We've seen the rise of new D'ni, and the second fall.
We've seen the rebirth of an ancient tale. We've seen money made, money
sent, money lost and money spent. We've seen friends made, friendships
betrayed. We've weathered storms and traveled through time and space,
and come out on the bright side facing the future together, with hope.
Also check out some other blogs from the Myst community: Toria,
Cyantist GreyDragon,
Deg,
and the Myst
IV E3 (Development Team) blog.
5 December 2004
Parties in the 'hood
My good friend Toria arranged a birthday party for me in the Institution
Hood today - which was a great idea. When we got there, we realised that
a large number of people were congregating in the Safety First hood, so
we went over for a look. It turns out they were celebrating a "Balcony
Jump" competition, so we crashed their party and all had a great
time with so many Uru friends. Later, the powers-that-be came over
and treated us to a fireworks display and some other displays of their
godly powers. Pictures will be posted at a later date. (Oh there are lots!)
23 November 2004
Sad news for Uru Mac
Today Cyan announced
that the Uru Mac project has been officially cancelled, as yet
another in a string of scars in Uru's sad track record. While Myst
and Riven were developed on Mac, for Mac, and ported to PC, and
even Myst IV: Revelation was developed simultaneously for Mac and
PC, Uru was developed for PC only. While Cyan always intended to
go over to the Mac platform, the creator of Uru's central Havok
physics engine refused to create a Mac port for the engine. The light
side of the news is that Cyan's new game, codenamed "Something Else,"
which will be using Uru's Plasma engine, will not be using the
Havok engine, and will *hopefully* be available for both PC and Mac this
time!
19 November 2004
A Korfah V'ja in order?
The Myst Worlds community site has some exciting news - an unnamed
explorer has "Written," yes, actually Written a new Uru
Age! It looks very primitive, but if this is all its cracked up to be,
soon we could have our Relto shelves full of player-created Ages. Check
out the story here
(with a screenshot!). The COBBS
community has several extensions to Uru underway, including
the "H'uru project" which promises to bring multiplayer to The
Path of the Shell - we suspect that these "new Ages" are
a part of that project.
18 November 2004
Uru story page updated
I've added three more detailed historical documents from the DRC's website
(Pre-Earth, Why a Cavern?, and Early Earth) to my
Uru story page. They provide some important
in-character insight to the ancient history of D'ni and our own Age, Earth.
Also, the Untěl Uru gallery
page and Myst series page have received
minor updates.
17 November 2004
Myst IV PC Patch 1.02 Released
Hmm... 1.01 was a bit of a disaster for PC, wasn't it? It added a lot
of horrendous graphic anomalies, including for many people, the loss of
the Depth-of-Field effect. The new patch was released today, which basically
does all the good things that 1.01 did, without the bad things! I've tried
it out, and have no further complaints. All reports are good, so download
it! The PC patch is available here.
Apparently, Mac 1.01 was fine, so there is no 1.02 for Mac. Also, the
subtitles are still not in; they will be ready for version 1.2.
15 November 2004
Happy realMyst Day!
One day later, we celebrate the fourth anniversary of realMyst,
the ultimate directors' cut of Myst in realtime 3D! This underrated
game brought the classic we love up to speed with modern technology, with
fully recreated textures and landscapes, new animations, re-filmed live-action
sequences, and a new Age. Check out the realMyst
page for more information.
14 November 2004
Happy Uru Day!
Today is November 14th!
Yes, its 1 whole year since the release of the original "Uru: Ages Beyond
Myst"... What a year its been!
So many new people have joined the forums, and Uru. So many new friends
have been made. So many hearts were broken in February, including those
at Cyan. So much excitement was reborn when the cavern was reopened in
March. Even more was found in July when we walked the Path of the Shell.
And in August, the community was brought together once more, in the cavern!
Lets celebrate Uru Day today, reflecting upon the past, and embracing
the future.
13 November 2004
New Untěl Uru Gallery Shots
I've been on some more Uru adventures, and have some new photos
to show you! Check out the second
Untěl Uru gallery (Includes photos from the D'Olympic games).
Also don't forget to read all about Untěl Uru here.
This ring a bell?
As part of my hobby of changing my forum avatar image once in a while,
I've added a new feature to my personal page
- an archive of all the avatars I've had since December last year. It
was fun for me to dig out some of my old images. Maybe some of you guys
will remember me from back then...?
8 November 2004
Toria's Updated Uru Tribute Site
Toria, who many of you will remember from various Myst-related
forums, and Untěl Uru, has just uploaded a fully updated version
of her Uru fansite, with a bit of my help (can you see the resemblence?)
Head on over and check out all of Toria's Uru memories.
Toria's
Uru Explorers
Also, we've both put up pictures of a special ceramic that Toria made
and sent to some of her Uru friends. You can see the tile here.
4 November 2004
Myst IV Patch causes more problems than it solves
Making it a mixed blessing. True, it fixes some bugs with the Haven Mangree
and Spire Chair puzzles, but it has also caused innumerable graphical
glitches on most users' computers, including disabling Depth of Field
for some cards. However some clever Mystites have found the solution to
"unpatching" the game. So patch it, get through the puzzle,
then unpatch to keep playing.
The process to unpatch is to simply insert Disc 1 and copy all the files
in the "bin" folder which start with "M4" and are
DLL files, and the Myst4.exe file, over the top of your current "bin"
folder on your hard drive. There should be 16 files in total when you
do this. This reverts to v1.00. I hope this helps people until the next
patch comes out!
3 November 2004
Myst IV Patch 1.01 Released
The patch is here! This fixes several bugs and gameplay issues associated
with Myst IV: Revelation which were discovered after the game's
launch. (See below for the full details). Grab the PC
Patch (39MB) or the Mac
Patch (9MB) from Ubisoft.
Myst IV Forums - "One Sentence Story"
On July 11, 2004, a thread began on the Myst IV forums in which
posters could write a story by posting one sentence at a time. That thread
is now up to 199 posts, and weaves a hilarious story about a girl called
Carlie, her friend Brad who is allergic to things that begin with
the letter "C," and their crazy adventures. In celebration
of the upcoming milestone, I've copied down the whole story into paragraph
format. You can read the entire story here,
or join the thread here
if you want to add to it.
Eat_My_Shortz' Relto now listed on Cyan's Links page
Just a quick note to say that my site is now listed as an official Myst/Riven/Uru/D'ni
fansite! Cyan were incredibly fast - I put in a request yesterday and
it was up five hours later! Thanks Cyan. (Links
page)
30 October 2004
Riven turns seven!
Today Riven: The Sequel to Myst celebrates the seventh anniversary
of its launch, on October 30, 1997. Since its launch, Riven has
sold millions of copies, and been voted the best Myst game by fans
on numerous occasions. Today we honour the five years of work that went
into this mysterious, alluring game. See my Riven
page for more information. (note this date, October 30 is according
to GameSpot. It might be out by a day or so.)
28 October 2004
Myst IV patch announced
Nothing is perfect. Myst IV: Revelation needs a patch to address
certain issues, but the good news is, Team Revelation have announced one
due out next week. It will make the following changes:
- Radeon 7000-7500 graphics card issues in Spire
- Time sensitive puzzle in Spire reworked
- "Mangree" puzzle crash issue resolved
- Game version number now displayed correctly in the main menu
- Game save issue (when the user has collected an extensive picture
gallery) corrected
- Workaround for the ATI driver bug that was causing issues on the Radeon
7500 on Windows XP in the second node of the observatory and at random
places. Fixed with ATI driver catalyst 4.9 and 4.10
- Registration problem (identifying as Prince of Persia) fixed
- MAC fire offering display issue in Serenia corrected
26 October 2004
Myst IV Soundtrack due mid-November
Jack Wall has made a statement on his site that he is expecting to see
the official soundtrack to Myst IV: Revelation released by mid-November:
Looks like the official Revelation soundtrack will be released
in mid-November! We were aiming for a simultaneous release, just so you
know, but these things are complicated. The CD will be available all over
Europe and in North America as an import. Also on the Ubi.com website.
Itunes will be carrying not only some of the tracks from Revelation but
from Exile as well!
24 October 2004
Rand Miller and Chris Brandkamp Radio Interview
Spokane's public radio station KPBX had a brilliant 20-minute interview
with Rand Miller (Myst/Riven/Uru designer, and Cyan Worlds CEO)
and Chris Brandkamp (Cyan Worlds VP) about Uru and Cyan. A recording
of the interview is available courtesy of Kevin8020 (interview
recording, MP3). Rand himself says amazing things about Uru's
fanbase, the collapse of Live and also speaks about Untěl Uru
for the first time. Here is a quote from Rand Miller relating to Cyan's
incredible fanbase:
I think we have the best fans around. Partially
because the nature of the entertainment we make is... I don't want to
call it "cerebral" but there's this great balance between exploring
and thought and imagination in what we do, and so it attracts a crowd
that has those same kind of attributes, and they're just wonderful. So
when we meet them, its always pleasant...
Thats the core that keeps us going. If we didn't have that,
I don't know what we'd... this would truly just be a job.
21 October 2004
Get the facts - New page filled with Myst facts and speculation
I recently answered several forum posts asking some very deep questions
about the greater Myst universe, and realised that there are things
about the Art, and D'ni that new players won't exactly know unless they
read the books, the websites, etc. So I've started a page where I am collecting
all the facts I know, and adding my own speculations. Along the way, I've
even learnt things I didn't know. So check out this already massive page,
which is sure to grow in the future: Myst Facts and
Speculation
15 October 2004
D'Olympics ready to go!
A large bunch of people have been busy organising Untěl Uru's olympic
games - the D'Olympics, for some time now. Everything is set for the opening
ceremony later today, or tomorrow, depending on where you are in the world.
The games are being held on the D'ni League of Activities shard (DLA)
Head over to the DLA
site to find out all the details!
5 October 2004
Myst IV Hits Australia
Yep, its arrived! Australia and New Zealand are often one of the last
places to get games, so I assume its hit pretty much everywhere by now.
If you don't have it, see if you can find it in your local store (or ask
them to hurry up!) I got the Collectors Edition and was very happy to
see it was no longer $135 AU, but just $100 AU ($10 more than the standard
version) - so all in all it is quite good value. The game itself is excellent
so far, and you can expect to see more about it on this site in the days
ahead.
3 October 2004
Gamespot features Myst IV
Gamespot has been
amassing a large collection of info, screenshots and videos about Myst
IV. If you haven't got the game yet, check out their Myst
IV section. It includes a review from Greg Kasavin, who gave it
8.5 (Great) - he's also done a video review, in which he speaks very highly
of the game, and gives us some unique footage. The Gamespot users have
given the game 8.7. There are also 7 gameplay videos, plus exclusive interviews
with the developers.
30 September 2004
Myst IV in the hands of the public (well, some of them!)
The secret is out! People have started talking about Revelation.
Log on to the Myst
IV: Revelation forums to discuss all about it!
29 September 2004
Chat Event - Revelations about Myst IV
Yesterday, some 60 members of the Myst community gathered in an Ubisoft
chatroom to talk to a number of members of the Myst IV: Revelation
team. I was there, and wrote this report on the
chat event. The chat was logged here
by Amon-re. Reports are that Myst IV started shipping yesterday
- look for it on shelves worldwide from October 1st.
28 September 2004
New Myst Series movie - "Saga"
Mysterium.ch have
posted a new video which takes a look at the five games of the series
(Myst, Riven, Myst III: Exile, Uru, and Myst
IV: Revelation). It is a very good introduction for people who have
missed out on the previous experiences. Pity about the mispronunciation
of "Atrus", "Achenar" and "Uru", but the
video is a good recap of the game and development story, and its only
45MB. Get
it here. (Right-click, save target as...)
27 September 2004
Release date is tomorrow!
Toria has news from the inside! The shipping date for Revelation
is Tuesday 28th September, and the game should be in stores by Friday
1st October. Now when does it get to Australia? :) (Thanks to Kha'tie
for clearing that up).
New Myst character wallpaper - "Catherine"
To celebrate the upcoming release of Myst IV: Revelation, I've
added the latest wallpaper to the Myst character wallpapers series
- the dreamer, Catherine. Find all the wallpapers on the Fan
Content page.
26 September 2004
Myst IV Release Date?
Myst IV is coming soon! But we still haven't been given a solid release
date. This is quite unusual for a game this close to release, but the
dates floating around range from September 29th to October 1st in at least
the US and UK.
23 September 2004
My site's publicity
Special thanks to Toria who has been very active in promoting this
site across the various message boards, including Ubi.com,
COBBS,
and by word of mouth. I've already got nearly 100 hits in the first 2
days, and 40% of them came from the COBBS link. Toria was also helpful
in the construction of this site. Check out her own Uru page here.
22 September 2004
EMS' Relto Forum Topic
Comments, suggestions, criticisms? Come round to the EMS' Relto thread
on the forums and discuss this site here!
21 September 2004
Welcome to Eat_My_Shortz' Relto
Shorah once again, and welcome. This is the launch of the site, and I
hope you'll stay to enjoy what I and the game designers have to offer.
Recent Myst News
Since this site is brand new, I thought I'd write a bit about what's been
happening recently. Since two companies are working on the games, there's
always a lot going on. Most exciting is the upcoming release of Myst
IV: Revelation which went gold earlier this month, and will be
out by the end of September. In Uru news, a special announcement
was made the other day that the COBBS
hacker community may have found a way to run the Path of the Shell
expansion in multiplayer! This is all unofficial, but with the blessing
of Cyan, it may just happen. Read the announcement here.
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