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Mysteries of D'ni Newsletter - May 2003 Issue
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In This Issue:
* Introduction
* Latest News
* Uru's Updated Website
* E3 Expo
* Uru Trailer
* Press Release Madness
* Older News
* Outside D'ni
== Introduction ==
Welcome to the May Edition of the Mysteries of D'ni Newsletter! With the E3 expo featuring this month, we were flooded with new and amazing info, images, sounds and a trailer. Even before E3 started, new items of interest started popping up on the different major websites: Uru's site, the DRC and Cyan Worlds.
The most influential things however were the changes to Ubi Soft's Uru website a few days before E3 and the introduction of the Uru Trailer. But we cannot forget the articles concerning Uru which have been written. As expected with E3, a lot of press releases arrived, but I don't think anyone quite imagined the amount of these which would come: 10 to my knowledge! Never has Uru had so much coverage.
== Latest News ==
The Mac Observer posted an article today on the issue of Uru for Macs. At the moment there is no Mac version being made, and this has upset a lot of Mac owners. I can understand the reason why there has been no plans made for Mac users, because Uru is after all an online game too and Macs and PC's just aren't compatible. But Cyan have stated in the past that they wanted to include a Mac version, but were simply unable - well now the Mac Observer has published an article on just this topic; and it does, if anything, show a glimmer of light at the end of the Mac tunnel. You can read it here: http://www.macobserver.com/columns/justathought/2003/20030529.shtml
Five new images have been released from various sources. They include images from the D'ni city, Eder Kemo, the Cleft and an unnamed land which we've seen many times before but have never been given a name to connect it to. You can view these images within the Mysteries of D'ni Uru Gallery: http://www.geocities.com/sihtrin/uru_gallery.html
It would seem that our initial thoughts that the word ‘uru’ meant ‘city’ were not entirely correct. In fact it has been recorded to actually mean ‘large gathering’ or ‘grand community’. This could of course be further translated into meaning something close to a city, but it is not as exact a translation as we first thought.
== Uru's Updated Website ==
That's right, Uru has yet again updated their Uru Website. They did this a few days before E3 started, so if you haven't checked it out for a few weeks, go immediately to: http://uru.ubi.com
The improved site includes a couple of new images, downloadable backgrounds, and a short briefing on what Uru will offer. But more importantly, the site introduced a section about the storyline surrounding Uru. This section makes a few interesting comments concerning Yeesha, Atrus and Catherine's daughter. It would appear that Yeesha is the main character behind the game. I know! The last we saw of her, she was in nappies! How time flies.
Also included in the new site layout is a section for Uru FAQ. This section discusses many things we have all been begging to ask, and some we already knew. Some of the most interesting questions concern the customization of your character, and the fact that 1st and 3rd person views will be available in the game.
== E3 Expo ==
As everybody knows, the 13th to the 16th of this month was the time when this year's E3 expo was held in Los Angeles. There have not been many images released from the expo itself, but Cyan have placed a few within their Cam section at http://www.cyanworlds.com
The news which we received from the expo was quite another story however. We learnt many things, including the different aspects of the Personal Age which is integrated into Uru. It appears that this Age is not as static as all the other Ages we've visited before. Apparently we can make changes to this Age as we choose - at the expo they showed how a waterfall could be added and removed.
== Uru Trailer ==
Being released with the E3 expo came the much anticipated trailer. Although only available on a small screen at present, it does show us a great deal of fantastic insight into Uru. You can download the trailer here: ftp://ftp.ubisoft.fr/pub/video/e3/2003/URU_E3Trailer.zip (right click, and save as)
Looking at the trailer, it seems that you start your journey near the cleft. This point was also drawn on at the E3 expo. However, new info concerning the matter has arisen, and it states that you begin the game on your Personal Age, NOT the cleft. The trailer also shows you a brief glimpse of Zandi who seems to be waiting for you near the cleft. It may still be that Zandi is the first person you get to speak to in the game. I think this is kind of fitting really, but who knows - if we don't start at the cleft, it may be that we don't speak to Zandi first.
Who knows, maybe we will actually start at the cleft, but only in the online aspect of the game, and it's the offline content which has us starting on our personal Age. With whispers that our personal Age also acts as a hub to the entire game though…. I guess speculation will get us no where. Perhaps we will just have to wait and see for ourselves.
== Press Release Madness ==
Unbelievable! Within the last few weeks we have been inundated with press concerning Uru. Some of them appear to have conflicting information about the game though which is a little confusing. The following is a list of all the press releases this month that I know of, in date order:
May 27 - Adventure Gamers
http://www.adventuregamers.com/display.php?id=263
May 23 - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/05/23/myst.online.ap/index.html
May 22 - Firing Squad
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/features/e3_2003_games_part3/page5.asp
May 22 - AP Los Angeles
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5922303.htm
May 20 - Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~216~1401591,00.html
May 15 - Adventure Gamers
http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=516
May 14 - IGN.com
http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=516
May 13 - Wired
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.06/play.html?pg=1
May 7 - Ubi Soft
http://www.ubi.com/US/Articles/news_050703.htm
May 7 - Adventure Gamers
http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=493
PLEASE NOTE: some of these articles contain spoilers.
== Older News ==
GameSpy have a few pages up concerning Uru. It contains a few press releases from last month which you may not have read, a few pictures, and some interesting pieces of information such as: Uru will be the first persistent world to support real-time voice communication. It still refers to Uru as a massively multiplayer online game though, and Rand Miller has stated on many a time that Uru is not what gamers would commonly call an MMO game.
== Outside D'ni ==
Coming this summer (or winter if you live in the southern hemisphere) is the release of Ryan Miller's new book ‘Inkarri’. We've all read the Myst books which were written by Rand and Robyn Miller, so we know the skill that the Miller's have with words. Ryan's new book will be in no way connected with Myst, but rather it concerns the story of an Inca leader decapitated in 1533, and a current time James Leaf. For more news visit Ryan's official website for the book at: http://www.inkarri.com/
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