URU Live: A Cinderella Story

In PC Gaming, dominance is the proper word to use whenever referring to the run done by Myst during the past decade. Before it was finally dethroned by The Sims, it did sold more than six million units.

Back in 2003, attempts by developer Cyan to revive it as URU Live failed as publisher Ubisoft wasn’t pleased with the number of players joining the beta phase, considering it being open and free. Disappointment was beginning to creep in but little did they know that things are unfolding and changing in a most unexpected way.

URU Live Community Manager Ron Meiners was more than happy to share how the restoration can solely be attributed to fans. After the beta phase closed down in 2004, fan-run servers sprang up all over the web immediately for users to continue playing the game. Eventually expansion occurred as they kept on adding contents of their own. This new fan-run community got support from the wavering company as it released support technology and dished out server access.

All of these, Meiners concluded, led internet service GameTap to pick up URU Live from the proverbial ashes. Today, Cyan is more than thankful to fans that it integrated the aforementioned contents in the release version.

URU Live, like the great Myst series is based on exploration and puzzle solving. All explorers are live players, with no computer-controlled NPCs whatsoever. What’s more exciting is that real employees of Cyan mix it up with the players as they appear as members of the Restoration Council.

This newly restored adventure game offers an episodic nature so there is no telling where the game would end up this time, what jewels players would find, and what puzzles all of them have to solve. Cyan deems it fit, to let the game’s fate remain in the hands of the faithful few who resurrected it.

Via MMORPG.com

In PC Gaming, dominance is the proper word to use whenever referring to the run done by Myst during the past decade. Before it was finally dethroned by The Sims, it did sold more than six million units.

Back in 2003, attempts by developer Cyan to revive it as URU Live failed as publisher Ubisoft wasn’t pleased with the number of players joining the beta phase, considering it being open and free. Disappointment was beginning to creep in but little did they know that things are unfolding and changing in a most unexpected way.

URU Live Community Manager Ron Meiners was more than happy to share how the restoration can solely be attributed to fans. After the beta phase closed down in 2004, fan-run servers sprang up all over the web immediately for users to continue playing the game. Eventually expansion occurred as they kept on adding contents of their own. This new fan-run community got support from the wavering company as it released support technology and dished out server access.

All of these, Meiners concluded, led internet service GameTap to pick up URU Live from the proverbial ashes. Today, Cyan is more than thankful to fans that it integrated the aforementioned contents in the release version.

URU Live, like the great Myst series is based on exploration and puzzle solving. All explorers are live players, with no computer-controlled NPCs whatsoever. What’s more exciting is that real employees of Cyan mix it up with the players as they appear as members of the Restoration Council.

This newly restored adventure game offers an episodic nature so there is no telling where the game would end up this time, what jewels players would find, and what puzzles all of them have to solve. Cyan deems it fit, to let the game’s fate remain in the hands of the faithful few who resurrected it.

Via MMORPG.com