Day: July 12, 2008

Gaming Flashback: MystGaming Flashback: Myst

Myst was published by Brøderbund Software, developed by Cyan Worlds and created by two brothers that did the design and directed the game (it was, much like a movie).

The original game was released on the Macintosh (in 1993) and then later ported to Microsoft Windows and Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Jaguar CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, 3DO, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS.

Myst puts the player in the role of the Stranger, who uses an enchanted book to travel to the island of Myst. There, the player uses other special books written by an artisan and explorer named Atrus to travel to several worlds known as “Ages”. Clues found in each of these Ages help reveal the back-story of the game’s characters. The game has several endings, depending on the course of action the player takes.” (wikipedia)

The game was a success, no doubt, and was considered the best selling PC game of all time until TheSims dethroned it. Besides mind blowing graphics, at the time, Myst helped move the game and PC industry along by selling CDROM’s. The game required a CDROM, which was rare at the time, and I recall them bundling Myst with some CDROMS or hyping it as “you need a CDROM so you can play Myst.” On more than one occasion when a person game to me asking what they should get to show off their new (costly) CDROM I would say “you need to try Myst.”

The gameplay of Myst consists of a first-person journey through an interactive world. The player moves the character by clicking on locations shown in the main display; the scene then crossfades into another frame, and the player can continue to explore. Players can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking or dragging them(wikipedia)

Franchise sales: 12-million copies (first Myst game alone in the franchise, 6-million), pretty impressive eh?

You don’t have to be a huge Myst fan to know how it changed the industry, grew the medium of CD-based games and entertained millions. A real gamers thinking game!

To hear our full impression of Myst, checkout the TD Gaming Podcast Episode 77.

Rock Band 2 Songs ExpandedRock Band 2 Songs Expanded

Game Informer magazine is showing off a few more songs for Rock Band 2. The song list includes yet more great variety in their set list, it’s also said that you’ll be able to pose your characters and upload them to RockBand.com to show them off. Not sure that’s a killer feature, but additional features are always good for new game releases.

Anyway, latest song information:

  • Bon Jovi – “Livin’ on a Prayer”
  • Steve Miller Band – “Rock ‘n Me”
  • Rage Against the Machine – “Testify”
  • Billy Idol – “White Wedding Pt. 1”
  • Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation”
  • Avenged Sevenfold – “Almost Easy”
  • Social Distortion – “I Was Wrong”

It wouldn’t be Rock Band without Bon Jovi, apparently, and the inclusion of Testify would make it a rocking good time. We get to flashback to White Wedding as well and you have to respect a game that includes Steve Miller Band!

Recently we received a few tidbits of their song list, now this! Soon we’ll have the entire confirmed list of songs (barring the rumors which have been very accurate so far). What songs would you love to see in a Rock Band game?

(Thanks, Shacknews)