Ubi’s Uru takes Myst online
And you can sign up to the closed beta
Having already secured a deal to publish Myst titles until 2008, Ubi Soft has this week given birth to Uru: Online Ages Beyond Myst, which is as the name suggests Cyan's first foray into online gaming with the pretty, albeit somewhat lifeless adventure series.
Uru will bustle with meticulously crafted environments, which are the developer's forte, and concerns the exploration of the newly discovered underground D'ni empire, which predates human civilisation.
Reading between the lines a bit, Uru will need a broadband connection to play properly and real-time voice communications will be the order of the day. It's not quite clear yet how the sedate spectacle of a game of Myst will translate into an engaging multiplayer adventure, but Cyan claims that it should be able to incorporate many players, each with their own avatar, to play through the quest co-operatively.
Players will even be able to customise their level of interaction with other players - thus dictating just how 'online' they really are.
Having finally named Cyan's online project, Ubi Soft has now been good enough to send over some screenshots (and a couple of bits of concept artwork... if you can spot the difference). What's more, Cyan is looking for people to take part in the closed beta at the end of this month - click here if you're interested.
Uru: Online Ages Beyond Myst will be released towards the end of 2003.