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Does the iPhone have many (any?) games that aren't of the simple silly cellphone variety?

Myst for the iPhone

No one's going to release new games straight to gametap when they can sell them in stores and online for far more, just like no one releases new, quality products straight to the dollar store.

You know, that is so true when you ignore TellTale Games and Cyan Worlds. After all, they are making the Sam and Max episodic games and Uru Live respectively, both of which will be available through GameTap instead of brick-and-mortar stores. Yes, TellTale plans to eventually sell the games through its Web site and then as a CD or DVD-based compilation, but all of the episodes of Sam and Max will enjoy a period of exclusivity on GameTap first and foremost.

swear, there should be a law that if a MMORPG closes its servers, they open the source to the playerbase so people can create and host their own servers off of it.

Cyan/Ubisoft did this with Their online Myst debacle last year.
They created installable binaries and a DB install to create a sigle box server version of Uru onilne and called it Until Uru.
The server software is freely available and you may still be able to obtain a login.
Cyan gave the go-ahead to work on player created content as long as people steer clear of their IP and stay away from certian story lines they might want to use in the future.

Myst any of them will provide a great mental challenge. while it wont teach students facts, it helps develop problem solving and analytical skills. The best for the classroom would have to by Myst3:Exile by Presto Studios, its not too difficult and looks wonderful.

Ubi didnt kill live because of lack of interest. there was a HUGE interest going on.

It is a simple case of economics. If there aren't X number of customers Cyan couldn't cover the burn rate of Y. If you aren't making enough money, isn't it better to change early, instead of going [url=http://www.enron.com/]bankrupt[/url]?

PC Gamer was highly impressed with it. the real reason it was killed was most likely because the morons who coded the network side of the game couldnt hack it.

That makes me a moron?

Anyone who played it new that the netcode was POORLY written.

I am afraid you should stop speaking out of your ass now. If you looked at the auctual use of in-game bandwidth, URU uses signifigantly less than most common First Person Shooters. I should know, I wrote an Ethereal plugin while I worked at Cyan. This plugin would disect our own protcol. We closely examined every byte that is sent over the network.

The True cause of the lag lies mostly with the Client. Improvements to this were being made. But since the online part of URU has been stopped, they will never see the light of day.

URU Might of come before its time, and I am deeply saddened to see a project I worked on go down this path.

Follow a couple of links around on the UBI soft site, and you will find that the creators Cyan have a complete opensource section around the myst stuff. right here http://open.cyanworlds.com/

If you notice, Cyan is releasing some of their software as Open Source.

They also run all their servers on Linux.

Wow. They are such Microsoft Whores.

Stop trolling and get a life.

The Official Uru Website also has Wallpapers. On the UbiSoft E3 website there is a cool Trailer![2nd game down]

Cyan also runs a in character site. Its called the DRC, and without getting into too much detal, the DRC is an organization from within the Uru Story. There are more screen shots and even music that you can get from DRC Site.

There are many cool community sites, including MystCommunity. Cyan even releases some Open Source software from this website.

Looking at the screen shots this could be one of the most visualy inspiring games in a long time. If they can pull off this Hybrid MMOG way to gamming(you did RTFA didn't you?) it will be very cool.

There have been quite a few articles on Uru recently, to find most of them, just do a search on Google News

I find Myst appealing because it gives you relaxation from all the stress caused by a hectic lifestyle. It also instills an appreciation for these slower things - for example, nature. In realMyst, I love to just stand on the dock and watch the sunset, or chase the butterflies. In Riven I enjoy just walking around taking it all in. The puzzles in the games teach you to use logic and put everything you have learned together (an essential life-skill I might add ;). Yes, they can be frustrating at times, but the "Aha!" experience when it is solved always makes it worth it. It is a sense of accomplishment you can't get from blowing people up. I hope you all get to experience it sometime :)

As for the game, there seems to be a misconception going around that Myst Online is going to be almost exactly like the original Myst game. This is not true at all. Myst Online (or as I like to refer to it, MUDPIE (its original working title)) will be in real-time 3D format, and from the screenshots that have been released at mystonline.com, and the other ones you can view at cyanworlds.com, the graphics will be absolutely AMAZING. This game has nothing to do with Atrus or his family, instead, it is about the intricate and engrossing backstory hinted at in the games and detailed in the 3 Myst novels. It is the story of a great civilization - the D'ni - linked to a cave deep in the Earth thousands of years ago from their former world, which was collapsing. In that cave they rebuilt their culture and a great city. What made this civilization most unique was their knowledge of The Art - the ability to link to other worlds by Writing about them in special books. They existed on Earth for 10,000 years until a biological attack by some rebels wiped out many of them. The survivors fled through the Books, but the rebels made sure many of these escape routes were infected as well. Thus, the city was abandoned for years. Now in the game Myst Online, we will have the chance to inhabit D'ni. We will travel down the tunnels leading to the great city, and learn much more about their history and culture. We will discover Ages and travel to them. There will be puzzles along the way, but a main focus will be exploration and discovery :) (The game is geered not at the testosterone-driven, heavy-gamer, but athe the general public, who tend to enjoy this type of thing more than blowing up people. It is also a lot better for families, a good marketing strategy in my opinion ;) Information indicates you will probably be able to choose who you will travel with, traveling with a group of friends, not seeing the thousands of others playing as well. The world will be growing constantly, according to an article "Every day new content will be added to the game. Every week a "substantial" addition will be made. Every month an entirely new Age will be added." Someday we might even be able to write our own worlds. Doesn't this sound wonderful?

For more information on Myst Online, check out MUDPIE Obsession :)

Have a look at these screenshots from the testing edition of M.O.

Personally, I hope this does well. Adventure games are my computer entertainment of choice. If you're a Quaker (apologies to the religious sect) who can't enjoy a game without a full arsenal of improbable weapons - your loss.

Gabe

Cyan and UbiSoft just announced Myst Online, a MMORPG based on the Myst universe. It will take place in the present, with you playing a modern-day adventurer (you could even customize your character's model to look like yourself) exploring the ruins of the ancient underground city of D'ni, the inhabitants of which practiced the art of creating portals to parallel universes (called "Ages") by describing them in great detail in special books (the original Myst and Riven games each took place in one of these parallel universes). You will also get the ability to explore some of these Ages, and more and more as Cyan adds them on.

The game will be focused on cooperative puzzle solving and exploration, and as with all Cyan games, violence will not be a focus (or maybe not present at all - that would be a first for an MMORPG, wouldn't it? <g>). It will feature voice-based communications via your computer microphone, as well as traditional text-based chat.

Based on advance screenshots (this being the most impressive one) the game is just gorgeous. This and this are some more screenshots. The release date is set at 2003, pricing is as yet undisclosed.

Finally, here's the official press release at Avault (which has a screenshot of its own, click the thumbnail for a larger version :P).

Cyan and UbiSoft just announced Myst Online, a MMORPG based on the Myst universe. It will take place in the present, with you playing a modern-day adventurer (you could even customize your character's model to look like yourself) exploring the ruins of the ancient underground city of D'ni, the inhabitants of which practiced the art of creating portals to parallel universes (called "Ages") by describing them in great detail in special books (the original Myst and Riven games each took place in one of these parallel universes). You will also get the ability to explore some of these Ages, and more and more as Cyan adds them on.

The game will be focused on cooperative puzzle solving and exploration, and as with all Cyan games, violence will not be a focus (or maybe not present at all - that would be a first for an MMORPG, wouldn't it? <g>). It will feature voice-based communications via your computer microphone, as well as traditional text-based chat.

Based on advance screenshots (this being the most impressive one) the game is just gorgeous. This and this are some more screenshots. The release date is set at 2003, pricing is as yet undisclosed.

Finally, here's the official press release at Avault (which has a screenshot of its own, click the thumbnail for a larger version :P).

Cyan and UbiSoft just announced Myst Online, a MMORPG based on the Myst universe. It will take place in the present, with you playing a modern-day adventurer (you could even customize your character's model to look like yourself) exploring the ruins of the ancient underground city of D'ni, the inhabitants of which practiced the art of creating portals to parallel universes (called "Ages") by describing them in great detail in special books (the original Myst and Riven games each took place in one of these parallel universes). You will also get the ability to explore some of these Ages, and more and more as Cyan adds them on.

The game will be focused on cooperative puzzle solving and exploration, and as with all Cyan games, violence will not be a focus (or maybe not present at all - that would be a first for an MMORPG, wouldn't it? <g>). It will feature voice-based communications via your computer microphone, as well as traditional text-based chat.

Based on advance screenshots (this being the most impressive one) the game is just gorgeous. This and this are some more screenshots. The release date is set at 2003, pricing is as yet undisclosed.

Finally, here's the official press release at Avault (which has a screenshot of its own, click the thumbnail for a larger version :P).