Uru Live gets closer- Open Beta on Gametap
 

From GameTap (via email & in-service info):

Uru Live 'open beta'
 

A beta version of Myst Online will launch within GameTap on Dec. 12. This is an 'open beta', meaning that every GameTap subscriber can now try out the Uru Live beta! Since I live in Europe I will have to wait until the official release, but still this is exciting news! Hopefully they will release UL before Christmas, but I think that is too optimistic. For more info, look here.

Great news, although i'm not gametap subscriber :frusty:

Strange that, although Uru Live ranks fourth on the hype-o-meter, almost nobody here seems interested in it. I gues that's because Uru was never considered a 'real' adventure game.

I think it's a combination of: 1. Myst series having not as big following here as on the other AG forums, 2. people having got burned on the previous online incarnation of Uru, and 3. non-Americans having little reason to get excited about the game they won't be able to play in the foreseeable future.

Another reason, I think, is that this turns away from what many people expect from Myst. Sure, there are those who are really into the world, the backstory, etc., but I think the reason why lots of people liked Myst was because they could explore those beautiful worlds with almost no one in them. So, I think a big part of the Myst user base isn't really interested in having to socialize with other people, at least not when playing Myst -- and unfortunately, it's this aspect that Cyan has been putting the emphasis on in their PR. I remember reading a preview of Uru live somewhere some time ago, and basically the only thing it discussed was how you had a house, and you decorated it, a then you had a neighbourhood you could invite your friends to, etc., etc., etc. :Z Well, personally, I can move, I've got a phone, I've got e-mail, I've got voice chat, I visit forums, so I don't really need to pay a monthly subscription to what is supposed to be a game to socialize with people, thank you.

For me, it'll all depend on what the actual gaming part will look like. I know what a MMORPG is, and how it plays like, and what being MMO adds to the gameplay. But a MMOAG? I'm definitely curious, but not sure what to expect (and I really can't imagine what interest it could have, but I'm willing to be surprised). So I guess once real, hands-on previews start pouring in, and if they show that Uru is more than a cross between The Sims and a glorified chat room, and that the MMO aspect actually adds something to the gameplay, then more people will get interested.

Note the if.

(AFGNCAAP: I'm pretty sure GameTap said the game would be available worldwide)

Eventually, yes, but nobody ever promised any dates, did they? It could be simultaneously with the Gametap premiere, or it could be a year after that. That's why I said "foreseeable future".

EDIT: I think you are right, by the way. For a game that aspires to create a subgenre of its own, the previews were curiously secretive about what the actual gameplay will be like in Uru.

I for one am very curious about UL. I've played a lot of UU (Until Uru), but that's not funny anymore after a few months, because nothing ever changes there. But in UL, regular new content is promised. So I think I will try it out for a few months to see how I like it. It's not very expensive, at least not if they charge about the same price in Europe as they will in the US ($ 10 a month).

Gametap is coming to the UK, Austraila and New Zeland in early 2007:
Because of the large number of international Uru players, Cyan and GameTap are working on an interface that will allow them to access Uru Live independantly of GameTap, from the first day of release.

Myst Online: Uru Live Podcast and Website Launched
 

http://www.gamershell.com/news/35022.html

Neat

Timbo

Uru Live on Yahoo & Google
 

http://games.yahoo.com/gametap
Includes a new trailer, and a clip from the developer interview on GameTap

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...61016395809622
Myst Online: Uru Live 101 video from GameTap

The Sneak Peek Beta on GameTap goes until Dec. 18th

International Uru Live
 

Randomos, the GameTap Community manager, answers some burning questions about MO:UL, the upcoming 'preview', launch, and access for international players HERE

Am I the only one who had never realised that the game's title is built around a pun? :crazy:

Well, I'm excited about it. :D Of course, it helps that I already have a GameTap account.

My Ki number is 403470... if anyone from AG is going to try out the beta, look for me! I'm going to try to hop in there tonight, if it works okay on my home computer (I've only tried it at work so far).

Wow you get to play video games at work? I envy you fov!

(she works at Telltale, who are also developing a game that's distributed on GameTap)

Nice little blurb on the Telltale blog, too :)

On December 19th, in between the end of the sneek peek, and the start of the actual storyline on GameTap, there's a Town Hall with the D'ni Restoration Council on the D'mala shard.

RAWA of Cyan also suggests that even if you're not interested in the Town Hall, it'll be well worth your time to be in D'ni while it's happening.

URU offers much that is both subtle and immediately enjoyable, visually, intrinsically and as a new frontier of dynamic versioning and "living" game play, and individual story trees. I have watched and studied it for some time through the surviving D'mala shard called Until URU, in the CC game version, up until now, and look forward to the new release with great interest. It may indeed surpass the original single title releases, Myst and RIVEN were and are wonderful as they are, URU is a come to life version that offers solitude for those who want it, and community involvement for those who enjoy that, so it offers both. I do not know what the new content will be like, but over the years, Cyan has shown remarkable imagination and creative genius, and has taken the time and care to craft the details and the game world in a way that few others have tried. There is a mystery and a sense of unknown about it all, and things are not forced upon the player, indeed much remains enigmatic and unspoken, beyond the curtain so to speak, just as is the nature of real life. I would urge anyone with curiosity to see what may be one of the new frontiers of gaming to try URU, and to give it time, for it has been in development for years now, and the initial trial launch and its closing was not Cyan's choice, but the vagaries of the marketplace at the time and the dearth at that time of DSL subscribers, but there were many thousands willing to try it then according to reliable reports I have seen but do not know for sure. I am not sure how many will sign up this time, but I did see the URU Live forums gain some 4000 new members in a very short time after the word got out that there was a revival on the way.

As a peaceful and intriguing alternative to some contemporary game titles, and one with a deep and participitory story line, URU offers much to many, and I will look to see many interesting and delightful qualities when it is released.

See you all in Cavern, my KI# is 68241