Word: myst
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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VIDEO GAMES: Can stellar effects revive the Myst franchise...
Tomahna isn't real, but as you watch the leaves sway in the breeze and the clouds drift across the sky, it's easy to forget that. It's one of several interconnected virtual worlds that players explore in the new computer game Myst IV: Revelation, due out Sept. 28 from Ubisoft...
...video games go, Myst is like the weird, arty kid in a family of jocks. Launched in 1993, the same year as Doom, the original Myst involved clicking through a fantasy world and solving puzzles in order to unravel a conflict between a father and his two sons. It became one of the best-selling computer games of all time. And its nonviolent story line helped make it one of the first to attract many female players: about 30% were women, says Ubisoft, vs. 10% for most games...
Although several sequels have come out since, excitement about Myst has dwindled. The past two installments, Myst III: Exile and Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, have sold only about 450,000 copies combined. Criticized for being too slow paced and for having puzzles that were too hard, the franchise lost out to the heart-pumping action and 3D graphics served up by competitors. "Myst is no longer as relevant to gamers as it used to be," says Greg Kasavin, executive editor of GameSpot, a video-game website. "It represents an antiquated style of gaming...
...creators of Myst IV hope to change that with a faster-paced, more immersive game. "The whole idea is about living an adventure, not solving a particular puzzle," says Patrick Fortier, the game's lead designer. If you can't figure out how to restart a broken power generator in Tomahna, for example, you can refer to a help guide. And there's more than an hour of live-action video in which characters offer cryptic clues on how to proceed...