Is it wrong to suggest that the iPhone is the perfect platform for a Myst revival? Lets hope not, because that is exactly what is coming. Cyan have posted a status report to the Myst Online forums that contains a little announcement about iMyst - a port of the original Myst to Apple's little slab of magic.

It could work really well, actually. Being able to cart those puzzles around with you might make them a bit easier to solve (having to fire up your 486 whenever you had a flash of inspiration was always a pain) and it might well make the perfect public transport companion.

Also, Myst had terrible 3G reception. You see? Made in heaven.

Status Report - Cyan development [Myst Online Forums via Wired]

Cyan CTO Mark "Chogon" DeForest said in a community board letter that despite having a plan in place, cheerfully titled the "Myst Online: Restoration Experiment (MORE)," there are some "hurdles to overcome." Among the necessary compromises will be an implementation of a $25 fee for a six month subscription.

"We are not trying to make any money on this at this stage - but we do need to cover some of the costs," he said.

"You should know that the roadmap does not involve any new content from Cyan at this time. The plan is to start to move the content creation - the 'Art' - to you. In addition the guilds themselves will start to exercise some authority in monitoring, approving, communicating, etc."

Kotaku also spoke to Chogon about when the bigger, better, faster, MORE Myst Online might be up and running:

"We hope to have the MystOnline servers up sometime before the end of the year... hopefully, even sooner," he said.

The result will be a "more grass roots" Myst Online that will resemble Until Uru, but with more involvement with Cyan, Chogon said.

"Cyan will be in control of the core servers and the core of the game. While, the fans will be involved in not only creating content and tools but also helping run the game as well as providing structure (through the guilds) and key insights into keeping MystOnline going.

"This will start slowly but in the future, Cyan may be able to provide content once again and continue the story it has started."

GameTap has launched a 500-player beta of Uru Live, which could be loosely referred to as Myst Online. The game originally launched several years ago, immediately tanking in February 2004 due to lack of funds, and leaving behind a small but heartbroken fanbase.

These fans have kept the game alive in the form of fansites and a developer-made freeware version of the game called Until Uru.

Says GayGamer:

GameTap has improved the game with new sound support and a new physics engine that makes it much easier and faster to interact with others, something that bogged down the original game, and if things go as planned Uru Live may begin to incorporate content generated by its incredibly creative player community. If that works out, we could be in for ages and ages of fun. Here's hoping.

I am hoping for a less eye-searing alternative to Second Life's very cool content generation tools in something more closely approximating an actual game. I will be attempting to get in on the beta, and if that doesn't work I'll give the game itself a whirl when it launches. Eliza Gauger

Uru Live Lives! [GayGamer]