Fans of Myst Online: Uru Live should know that the VP of Content and Creative Director for GameTap, Ricardo Sanchez, has just released an open letter to the community announcing the shutdown of the game's servers in 60 days. Before you get angry at the company for doing so, you might want to read the reasons for this decision. You can find that and more in the full article.

GameTap has announced that Familiar Voices, the newest Myst Online: Uru Live episode, is launching today. With Familiar Voices, players can continue the journey they began back when the game first launched early this year.

"Since launching in February, Myst Online continues to be one of our top titles at GameTap," said Ricardo Sanchez, VP of Content and Creative Director for GameTap. "One of the strengths of the game is the commitment of the community, whose interaction and feedback has a direct impact on the direction of these new episodic segments."

Familiar Voices will bring more new puzzles, content and Ages - just like the episodes that came before it. The never-before-seen Age of Jalak will also be debuting in Familiar Voices. Jalak features an ancient arena that was once used for D'ni competitions, and perhaps the coolest thing about it is that will allow players to compete and even create their own games.

Myst Online: Uru Live is also available for Macs.

GameTap today announced the latest episode for Myst Online: Uru Live. Called "A New Light", this new installment will pick up right where last month's "Scars" left off.

Story-wise, A New Light brings a shift in power to the game as old leaders begin to fade and new ones begin to emerge. More and more people are also fearing the possibility of a coming war, and the new Age Er'Cana is released and explorers are asked to help feed the darkening lake.

Of course, since this is a Myst title after all, players will see more challenging mysteries and puzzles - and rewards - in A New Light. This latest Myst Online: Uru Live episode will debut on June 23, so you Myst fans out there should have plenty to keep you occupied through the weekend.

Part MMO and part mystery game, Myst Online: Uru Live is now live and online after an announced February 15 release date. GameTap, the provider of episodic games online, adds the latest installment of the favorite adventure franchise to its long list of 800 games under the GameTap Originals label.

The MMO mystery game will allow players to socialize and team up to explore a whole new collection of Ages and mysteries. The game will feature breathtaking sceneries and a changing online storyline that is affected by each and every player's choices made while playing the game.

Cyan Worlds' CEO and co-creator of Myst, Rand Miller, commented, "Myst Online: Uru Live is the most ambitious Myst experience we've ever created. By developing an interactive, online world driven by intrigue and exploration instead of violence, massively multiplayer online gamers now have a choice unlike any of the other options."

Myst Online: Uru Live will be available to America, Canada, and select countries around the world:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Sweden
• Spain
• Norway
• New Zealand
• Netherlands
• Italy
• Germany
• France
• Finland
• Denmark
• Canada
• Australia

A Mac version will also be available this spring. Mac users can sign up for the Mac beta program at the Myst Online site.

We like Uru Live if only for the sheer entertainment value of saying Uru again and again. Try it. You'll feel like a... well, you'll feel something. Results vary, y'know. Anyway, those waiting for Myst Online: Uru Live, get your pens and mark your calendars. GameTap has finally announced that the game's highly anticipated debut will be on February 15.

Currently in beta release, the Myst Online: Uru Live preview storyline continues to showcase new content for fans of the Myst franchise on an almost daily basis, and when the game is released, another never-before seen world will also make its debut. The new Age will feature an intricate, yet easily engaging, all-new multiplayer puzzle for players to solve.

Myst Online: Uru Live will be available to GameTap subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be made available for direct download at Gametap.com to international consumers living in select countries around the world. You can also check out the list of international launch countries at the link above.

The romantics maintain that great stories don't have happy endings simply because they just don't end at all. We don't know if the loyal subscribers of Myst Online: Uru Live are romantics themselves, but with this update, we're pretty sure they are about to become one.

GameTap just announced two major developments for the game. First, they mentioned that a new area of the city as well as a never-before-seen Age will be released in the beta phase today, January 19. This is actually important as we all know how the gameplay of the Myst series go: nonstop exploration and puzzle solving all throughout the game's maze-like world.

A new city and a new Age mean more content and more adventure for players.

Furthermore, the publisher also added that a Mac compatible version of the game is currently in active development. While the MMO title is being maintained by Cyan Worlds, TransGaming is handling the move to Mac. It is no secret that the golden era of the Myst series happened on PC around a decade ago. But little do its new fans know that the first installation appeared on the Mac.

So, are you one of them romantics yet? No? Well, we will just have to see about that when Myst Online: Uru Live finally arrives sometime during the early part of this year.

Showtime is expanding their horizons with this recent move. The CBS Corporation owned cable channel is going to work with game publisher Broadband Libraries LLC to form "On Broadband". What is it? Think of GameTap and you'll probably have an idea what On Broadband would be about.

Anyhow, the company will be offering a private label game service for cable TV companies and DSL broadband providers come  the second quarter of this year. They will be offering a collection of games that can be downloaded or played online, some will be free and some will be available for purchase.

A subscription option will also be available. Aside from that, game-related content such as reviews and cheats and tricks will also be offered. In parting, Peter Von Schlossberg of Broadband Libraries has this to say:

Cable operators have tried to populate their home pages with any sort of entertainment they can...We believe (the service) should be in their name and be delivered to them and passed along to consumers as they like.

Great news to all GameTap subscribers, you can now have an all-exclusive sneak peek and access to the final stage of Myst Online: Uru Live's beta!

Oh yes, you got that right. GameTap subscribers will now be able to have a glimpse of the game waaay before its official launch early next year. And to celebrate this announcement, they have also released a trailer on the game's site, which gives us a glimpse into the realms of the Myst universe. If you check out Uru Live's website now, you'll see that they've also put up a list of Myst co-creator Rand Miller's top 10 favorite GameTap titles, and a feature that shows the making of Uru Live which takes users behind the scenes of their favorite game.

You can now check out the Myst Online: Uru Live website by clicking on the "Read" link below. Have fun!

It disappeared with a whimper. And soon-after, we hear news of Myst Online: Uru Live's return, and the sites rejoiced. There's a lot to celebrate about now that the game's going to be getting a second chance at going online, and while we have yet to touch the game itself, we bring more good news, straight from the game devs.

Myst co-creator Rand Miller will be featured on a podcast via the new GameTap website. The podcast will be discussing several game-related matters, such as how the game's intrigue will be its driving force, as compared to its combat-oriented competitors.

And for the guys who're interested in other items aside from the podcast video over at GameTap, the site also features a community section which includes features such as Forums, Shot of the Day, Contests, In Game Events, Out of Game Events, Developers, and Community Web Sites.

For the people who've long awaited this game's return, now's your chance to check up on what you've been missing as the game wraps up its closed beta phase.

Remember Cyan World's Myst? Remember how it almost pushed through only it sort of fell just before launch? Well, with the inception of GameTap an online subscription based game service with classic titles and current episodic gaming content, Uru's been given new life.

IGN managed to get an interview with Rand Miller, it's a bit lengthy, but what's nice is that it mostly talks about the connections between Myst Online, and it's legacy.

Here be the pertinent bits:

When asked about the connection between Myst Online and the established series, and how the new game will connect fans of the old game to the established history, Miller had this to say:

There are things that will resonate and things that are different. Uru is a spin-off from the Myst storyline. The family from the original storyline had a very definite beginning and end interacting with this amazing culture. What was always left open was what the culture was. What was that culture? How did they have books of such power? How did that affect them? Can I go there? In many ways, when we decided to do Uru, we were throwing back the curtain that kept things hidden for so long.

Let's not do this in the past. Let's not tell a story that's already been told. Let's make it now. This is what would happen if the story was absolutely true, an underground empire was there just as the story laid it out. Now you can get there and find that things are still alive and things are still happening. Instead of being portrayed as history, you're part of what happens.

So just how will Uru bridge the gap between Adventure gaming and MMOs? Well, according to Miller, the very core of Uru is the idea of ownership. As you explore "Ages" and places, you become owner of an instance of that Age. Every time you use a book it appears on a bookshelf in a very personal space, and the state of things in there will be as you left them.

Of course this time, you can choose to invite people to go in with you and have a team of people explore these ages on a regular basis and share. Of course since you're the "owner" you control access to them and you can explore them on your own if you like.

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!