[img width=160 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-016/bf/U-016-S-03250-A.jpg[/img]
I am very glad I stumbled upon this wonderful website - I found out about it while searching for a book called
Video Game Bible. Not only the site features one of the biggest game databases on the web along with built-in collection tracking software, it doesn't even have any ads! How often do you see that on the web nowadays?
I thought that this website deserved a donation, and if you can spare even a dollar, you should too (the link is
here).
I am sure every one of us has some pretty old games in the collection (this is why you are here, right?). Well, I thought we may as well acknowledge memorable games by celebrating their birthdays! And this is why I have this feature. To narrow the scope, I will only post about games that were released after the
crash, but are at least 10 years old (I think ten years is enough to realize whether a game has left any influence in the world of video games). I will also explain why this game is important enough to mention.
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September 24, 1993 (15 years ago):
Myst is released.
Console: Macintosh initially, many more soon after.
While hailed by some as a "fancy collection of really obscure puzzles" or "interactive slide-show" (they may be right!), the popularity of the game could not be questioned. Myst eventually sold over 6 million copies, a record it held for almost 9 years, until the arrival of The Sims. The release of Myst also largely helped adopt the CD-ROM format on personal computers, since the game fully took advantage of the format with tons of images and music. Myst spawned four well-selling sequels, as well a couple of remakes, some spin-offs, and many imitators.
In my personal opinion, I would attribute the popularity of Myst to first-person view combined with realistic graphics (something first-person games of the era could not yet pull off), making the game very immersive, while the puzzles and lack of violence made it appealing to people who would not normally play games (even "moms" played it in the early 90's).
See also: If you liked Myst, then I would recommend horror adventures
AMBER: Journeys Beyond (1996), or the much later
Scratches (2006), as well as many other mystery games spawned by this style.
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Wow, thanks for the kind words! Thanks for the donation as well! I remember Myst, it blew my mind. I was only 8 years old at the time, but yeah, I just remember a friend playing it and thinking "I am too young to be watching someone my age playing this game". That said, I imagine I'd enjoy it much more if I played it today.
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As Dave said, we really appreciate the donation. Keep spreading the good word of RFGen around!
I remember playing Myst back in the day. It was very stunning visually for it's time and I love how it integrated the puzzles into the different aspects of the game. Sadly you don't see too many games like it around anymore. There were a few sequels, but I have yet to play any of them. Gotta get out to the store and track one of them down for old times sake.
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why isn't the nice man honored by the 'Donor' status and being listed on the Donor page? Cause ya know... He is awesome and all. Nice write up, and thanks for the Donation. All the members, Donor and Nondonor, appreciate it.
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He will be, be patient. Please allow 2-3 days for donor status processing 
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@St0rmTK421: TJ just did it! XD XD 
2-3 Days? Mine was done in about 10 hours! So "2-3 Days, but Processing time may vary" 
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I have to say that Myst disappointed me, but it's been a long time since I've tried to play it, and I totally intend to give it another shot one of these days.
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Ah, the Video Game Bible. It's been a while since I pulled that one off the shelf...
In a related story, I've never owned or played Myst.
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Thank you all so much! This seems like a nice community.
(The communist thing is a joke, by the way. It's mostly because of my background and my thick accent. I was, however, born in USSR, and am proud of it. But as of this year, I have dual American-Russian citizenship.)
Yeah, Myst is not for everyone. But if you haven't tried the sequels, you should. While I found Riven (Myst 2) to be way too hard (not my kind of thinking), I could play Myst III and 4 fine for the most part (it took me three trips to an online walkthrough to beat Myst III, I counted).
As for the Video Game Bible, I read a segment of it in a preview, and became interested. The book has many typos (as many first edition books do), and some opinions in the book I could disagree on, but it is the quantity of titles mentioned that interests me. My copy should be arriving next week.
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Myst was the only non-educational game on the family Macintosh way back around 1995-6.
I usually watched my dad play it, seeing as I was too young to figure it out myself.
I picked up the Windows version at a garage sale a few weeks ago, and I'm going to try playing it myself when I get the chance.
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Congrats on your first blog post, a very good idea 
On topic: I've looked at Myst games a couple of times in stores but somehow never bought one. I'll give it a go once I find it.
@logical123:I was donor 5min after making my donation So the 2-3 days is probably the maximum time.
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I agree with Sirgin, I like this new blog. Continue !!!
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Velcome Nik,
I was never much of a Myst fan, there were far too many puzzles as well as that lack of violence . Then, when I became a Myth (the RTS series) fanatic, everyone thought I was talking about Myst all the time...but I can't believe it's 15, I must have been playing it when I was 8-9. o.0
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Yay! I'm so happy you decided to post this! I hope you keep blogging about this, as long as there are gaming birthdays to celebrate! I never knew you could write so well! I'm so proud!! XD *Kissy*
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@logical123: We add new donors as soon as we realize they donated, which is usually within a couple hours. I said 2-3 days kind of jokingly, but I guess it didn't come out that way. Oh well.
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