The classic brain bender Myst has arrived for iPhone and iPod Touch, notes WhatTheyPlay. The $6 app is a hefty 700MB, so the developers at Cyan Worlds probably aren't kidding when they state the "original Myst sights and sounds have been meticulously re-assembled ... in a format where a simple touch or swipe moves you through the world."

The game features the full Myst experience -- allegedly "better than original Myst" -- with auto-save, bookmarking and (most importantly) quick access to the hint guide. We haven't had a chance to check it out, so let us know how Cyan Worlds did porting the game for portable play.

iTunes - Download Myst at the iTunes App Store

Seeing as we're fast approaching Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to try to find a "scary" game to examine for Bury the Shovelware. I could have easily gone the "it's so bad, it's SCARY" route, but I thought it would be nice to avoid lame sarcasm. I spent most of this week's Top 5 gushing over Resident Evil 1 & 4, which reminded me that the PSOne original was ported to the DS in early 2006. Surprisingly, I never looked into it. Perhaps it had something to do with the mixed (but not terrible) reviews it received. To get to the point, now's the perfect time to take a closer look. Is Resident Evil: Deadly Silence shovelware? Let's find out.

Pedigree

On paper, this project looks easily reasonable. The original was an instant classic, and this version was both developed and published officially by Capcom. They could have easily farmed this out to a lesser company, but they decided to keep it in-house. The DS is perfectly capable of supporting PSOne-era graphics and audio, as we've seen fairly impressive graphics on the handheld before. And from what I'd read before playing this version, Capcom was adding touch-based controls and minigames into the mix. Although use of the phrase "minigames" in this neo-casual market can elicit a full-hearted "uggh" from most core gamers, I had faith in Capcom as a developer. After witnessing their beautiful port of this same title for the GameCube take full advantage of the system's capabilities, I expected the same for this version.

Ports are tricky. Indeed, the DS's big brother gets a lot of flak for hosting PS2 ports with tacked-on waggle. Yet, if the original game is good and a reasonable amount of bonus content is added, we generally give the game a pass.

But things get even trickier when discussing the retro-port. I touched on this at the end of the Petz Dogz Fashion post, but it's worth restating: would you pay full retail price for an exact copy of your favorite retro game? As the Super Mario Advance series proved: yes, you will. Apparently, identical or near-identical copies of older games at standard market prices can still sell extremely well. It'll be interesting to see how successful the Chrono Trigger port will be (my prediction: very). It'd be especially nice if we could determine how many of those purchasing the game have never played it before (my second prediction: not very many). Information such as this would allow us to determine what effect -- if any -- retro-ports have on the current state of gaming.

Examining Myst for the DS has been on my queue for quite some time. The reason for the delay was simply because I was unsure if it was fair to put it under the spotlight since I never played the original. But upon deliberating the sentiments above, I realized the DS port of the 1993 graphic adventure would be the perfect opportunity to put the question to a litmus test.

Oh Myst, whatever happened to you? We loved you when you were original, and we loved you even more when Riven came out. Then we were rudely slapped in the face when the game left Cyan and Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile and later Myst IV: Ages of Revelation. We tried to be chipper when you went back to Cyan and Myst V: End of Ages came out, but honestly too much water had passed under the bridge. Maybe because of the Uru: Ages Beyond Myst / Myst Online: Uru Live debacle.

But... what's this? You're coming to the iPhone? And you're being developed by Cyan? Well, glory be. However, you promised as a PSP version, and we're still waiting on that. It came out in Europe in 2006, so what gives? We know your DS version came out recently, but it is not being universally loved.

We know you might be too busy and Hollywood now, with your movie deal and iPhone announcement. But, we're still smarting from our past experiences. We'll give you another chance, but you'll need to hurry along while we're still smitten with the iPhone. And please, don't call it iMyst. Myst will do just fine. You wouldn't want us to get Pyst all over again.

[Update: We just heard from one of the gents working on the game (Yeah, that's the kind of pull we have) and they tell us "I'm pretty darn sure we're only calling it iMyst internally as a goofy moniker. I really doubt you've got anything to worry about with regards to rebranding of the game. Who knows, maybe if it does well, other Cyan games will follow." Good news all around!]

For us, this week's releases only come down to Drone Tactics and Myst DS. Sure, we could check out Prince Caspian (it did launch the Dgamer network, after all), but we're not really ones to enjoy the licensed games too much.

What about you all, though? Are you digging on Atlus's SRPG action or the classic Myst? Are you resorting to busting out a dusty, old cartridge and seeing what that's all about this weekend? For us, it looks like mostly rain, so it's the perfect excuse to sit indoors and spend some quality time with our DS.

It's a good week to be a DS owner, no matter where you are in the world. For once, every major region has at least one interesting title hitting shelves this week, and while Australia's line-up isn't necessarily the most exciting, it's at least varied. If you are a) desperate for a new game and b) a citizen of some place with DS games, it's probably okay to be you.

• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Drone Tactics
• Myst

What's out in the rest of the world's major markets? Take a little trip past the break to find out.

Imagine you're in charge of a video game publisher. You've been given the opportunity to publish a DS version of Myst. Myst is one of the most popular games of all time, and the DS is one of the most popular systems of all time. Do you decide to pick up the project, or do you pass?

Are your reasons financial or artistic? Do you think Myst is a timeless classic, bound to sell on the most adventure-friendly system in ages, or is it an archaic slideshow? Does that matter business-wise?

Sometimes, we really wish that we could be flies on the walls of game company offices. Maybe we're just huge nerds (actually, that's a fact), but still, we'd love to hear the reasoning behind some of the business decisions made -- just because we're curious when it comes to those types of things.

Every so often, though, we get a little insight into the industry. Most recently, MTV Multiplayer learned some things about Myst DS from it's license owner, Manny Granillo, regarding why the game was turned down by many of the "top publishers." Granillo doesn't mention which companies refused to publish the title for Nintendo's handheld, but he divulged the reasons they gave.

Fifteen years after the original Myst released for home computers, it's hard to remember what an incredible phenomenon the game had been. The adventure genre had been reshaped by the innovative use of a first-person view, and many had rushed out to purchase cutting-edge "CD-ROM drives." With millions of copies sold, it still stands as the best selling PC adventure game of all time.

But what was behind the frenzy? Empire Interactive wants DS owners to find out later this month (PSP owners will have to wait a few more months for their port). The entire game is controlled through the touch screen, an obvious design decision considering the hardware's capabilities. Point and click now becomes point and touch -- however, expect to have a bit more difficulty with the handheld version. When using the mouse on the PC, players knew what they can click on by the shape of their cursor. There is no on-screen representation of your stylus, so players will have to simply use their intuition to click on the appropriate items.

There are a few new tools for players to use, however. There's a clever magnifying glass, which allows players to zoom in on objects in the game world. You can even take snapshots of your screen and save them, recalling them for use during a particularly tricky puzzle. There's a map as well, but it won't indicate where you are. Finally, you can save notes, typed via virtual keyboard (no handwriting recognition, sorry). These additional tools should make navigating the game's tricky puzzles a bit less daunting.

If more game-to-film projects got their start like this, we might end up seeing a few of them. Two filmmakers and Myst nuts, Patrick A. McIntire and Adrian Vanderbosch, set out to make a film based on the game series. Without so much as the rights they began work, eventually winning the endorsement of Cyan Worlds, the company behind the Myst games.

Now, they're trying to get some interest for the project with their production blog and website, which you can poke through to find a few different details and hints about the kind of film they'd like to make. The whole shebang is in the early stages, but just looking at the site and the blog, we're encouraged. Even if it doesn't get off the ground, it seems their hearts are in the right place.

The above image was captured from the GameTap client hours ago, with the special note: "Uru: Myst Online Live" with the subtitle "Experience never-ending online adventure." Joystiq readers, say hello to irony.
(Thanks, Patrick)

Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Metareview - Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360, PS3)
Today's nerdiest audio: Street Fighter songs
X3F Week in Review: February 1, 2008 - February 7, 2008

News
React Recharge Dock powers 4 Wiimotes for $50
Finally! Assassin's Creed DS gameplay
GameTap Thursday: Get down with your Bagh Chal self
Atlus signs 'family-friendly' Wii puzzler Octomania for North America
Nintendo says no to MMOs
Sega announces 'English of the Dead' for DS
DICE 08: Pirates director urges creativity in keynote
Legendary to open this summer for Xbox 360, PS3, PC
DICE 08: Quirky indie hit 'Juno' to birth a game
Max Payne filming to start next month
THQ announces Band Mashups, Wii exclusive rhythm game for April
Suda51 talks Xbox 360, American market
Steam hits 15 million users
Cell down to 45nm, PS3 production costs to slim too
ESRB: Number of M-rated games declined in 2007
Pirates vs. Ninja Dodgeball: robot contenders profiled
Twisted Metal PS3 revealed in hidden code
PopCap denies Peggle DS 'rumor'
Call of Duty 4 overtakes Halo 3 again, tops Xbox Live Activity
Burnout Paradise DLC explained
Circuit City to expand used game sales program
Namco Bandai blames Wii for arcade closures
PSN Thursday: Lost Planet demo, Go! Sports Skydiving

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Viacom bidding $1.5 billion to take over Take-Two
Rumor: BioWare not involved with Star Wars MMO

Culture & Community
Zero Punctuation hears the Call of Duty
Ziff Davis reorganizes, changes review scoring
Gerstmann talks firing on X-Play tonight
"Paper" Mario comes to life in art project

Following up our conference call with one of the producers for Myst DS, the PR firm handling the game has dished out a new trailer. Within, you will find what every Myst fan loves about the franchise: Myst-like stuff. There's a look at traversing the environments, working some puzzles and more traversing the environments. It's pretty much everything the Myst lover, uh ... loves. So, check it out and tell us what you think!

Note: To see the video in proper resolution (you know, not all stretched), you're going to have to click through and watch it at YouTube. There will be a small format button in the bottom right (the second from right). That's what you'll want to click.

A little over a year after being reborn on GameTap, Myst Online: Uru Live will be unplugged. GameTap's VP of Content and Creative Director Ricardo Sanchez writes on the GameTap forums that the decision was made for "business reasons" rather than any design or vision issues with developer Cyan Worlds. The game will remain live for another 60 days and then it's over, but MystOnline.com will stay active.

Sanchez went on to say that GameTap looked at a "wide variety of possibilities for maintaining the game," and in a later forum post writes the company "isn't a bunch of evil corporate types who do nothing but count pennies and wear Brooks Brothers suits." Taking a sip from the "glass is half-full" perspective: At least GameTap gave Myst Online a chance for a year.

[Thanks to all who sent this in]

We just got through a lengthy conference call with the producer for the upcoming PC-to-DS title Myst, Manny Granillo. He had quite a bit of information for us regarding the game and its extra pack-in, The Rime Age. So, be sure to strap in and head past the break for some of that delicious knowledge. But first, head into our gallery below for some fresh screens.

When we received a stash of screens and fact sheet via our inbox today for upcoming PC-to-DS game Myst, we hardly believed our eyes. Surely, like navigating the game's island, finding any kind of substantial information on the game would require some kind of incredibly difficult task, proving our brain is as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Luckily, our contact has helped us get a head start on the whole thing, providing us with a look into each of the game's ages. So, take a stroll through our gallery below and take a look at the world of Myst.