Yesterday Cyan Worlds announced the release of the Myst V: End of Ages Original Soundtrack. Created as accompaniment to the final chapter of the Myst saga, the soundtrack totals over 50 minutes of music from the game.

Cyan Music Director/Composer Tim Larkin has created the game's original soundtrack as an homage, of sorts, to the entire franchise. Listeners will find an evocative taste of the isolated, eerie, moods, the vivid and bursting orchestral productions, and the unique combinations of world sounds that have been present in past soundtracks combined into a new and invigorating 17 track delight, woven together to carry the beauty and mood of Myst V, and to bring the series to a masterful and worthy end.

Cyan Worlds Soundtracks

Cyan

Myst V: End of Ages

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IMG has posted a review of Battle For Wesnoth. Take a jaunt down memory lane and sample the vast strategic combat that Battle for Wesnoth has to offer. With tons of user generated content, lots of multiplayer action and a total lack of a price tag, Wesnoth is a game that practically demands to be played.

To check out the review, follow the link below.

IMG Review: Battle For Wesnoth

The Apple Store Special Deals page has unbelievable deals on the hottest refurbished and new, unopened Apple products. Current offerings include the iPod mini starting at only $159, Mac mini 1.25GHz for only $379, Power Mac G5 Dual 2GHz with SuperDrive for only $1,549, PowerBook G4 15" for only $1,899, iMac G5 20" with SuperDrive for only $1,149, and much more. But hurry; supplies are limited and sure to go fast.

Small Dog Electronics has great prices on top quality Mac products, including Burton iPod-ready Jackets, Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium for Mac Student/Teach Edition, Dantz Retrospect Desktop 6.0, QuickerTek Aluminum Handle for 12- or 14-inch iBook, Rain Design iLap for 12-inch Laptop, LaCie 321 21.3" LCD Display, and much more.

MacZone has fantastic prices on essential Mac products, including Xerox Phaser 8500N Color Laser Printer with $100 mail-in rebate, Sony Stylepro SDM-S204 20.1" Digital/Analog LCD Display, Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro Upgrade with FREE 128MB Flash Drive, Intuit Quicken 2006 Basic with $20 mail-in rebate, Nikon CoolPix 7900 7MP Digital Camera, and much more.

Mac Game Store has great deals on the hottest games for the Mac, including MacSoft Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, MacPlay Chainz 2: Relinked, MacPlay Bookworm Deluxe, Virtual Programming Crusader Kings, Aspyr Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection, UbiSoft Myst V: End of Ages, Masque 101 Bally Slots, and more.

Winter Wolves Software has released version 1.1.4 of Magic Stones, their unique melding of fantasy RPG and card game. The game's action takes place in the land of Aravorn, a world based on Celtic mythology, where the player takes the role of a druid who uses his powerful creations to discover artifacts and compete in challenges against other druids.

Your druid may come from one of three backgrounds and one of three specialties.  Noble druids excel in intelligence, wild druids in willpower, and country druids in .  Specialties could be Air, Earth, or Fire.  Each selection has its own advantages and your travels will teach you many things.
 
The levels are diverse and difficult, but as you gain experience and grow in power new foes and allies await your command.  The true strategic card player and the fantasy gamer can find their home in Magic Stones.

For more information about the game follow the links below.

Magic Stones

MGF: Magic Stones 1.1.4

Winter Wolves Software

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Not sure where to venture next in your travels throughout the World of WarCraft and need advice from someone whose been there? TravelWOWcity, a website with information about "Nodd the Gnome's" epic journey through all the regions in the game may help you decide. The website provides comments, ratings, and an image for each region.

Nodd the Gnome travels through the Burning Steppes region.

Now this is my kinda place. Lots of fire, lots of stuff going BOOM! Great stuff. A real pyro's dream, Burning Steppes has some of the best volcanic parks anywhere. Fun for the whole family, I gave this spot a smoking...5 Stars.

Please follow the links below to check out this website and to learn more information about the world's most popular MMORPG.

TravelWOWcity

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

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All may be quiet on the major Mac gaming front, but Mac shareware is alive and kicking with the latest release of Solitaire Forever. As the name suggests, Solitaire Forever is a solitaire card game that features over 100 solitaire games in 3D, graphic interface, rules, full screen mode, unlimited play and a variety of options for the seasoned solitaire veteran to the newcomer. In the latest version, the most notable changes was the addition of a menu, statistics, and three new games.

Fixes/Changes

• added a menu bar
• added statistics (seen in game select screen)
• added new games, Montana, Gaps, Pyramid
• added "show shadows" checkbox on the title screen
• fixed "jiggle" when clicking the undo/redo slider bar
• fixed mis-placed cards in undo buffer after continuing a saved game
• extended the duration before the screen begins idle animation

Please follow the links below to try out Solitaire Forever and to learn more information.

Solitaire Forever

MGF: Solitaire Forever

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Myst Format, a UK based Mac Magazine, recently interviewed James "Aquila" Carpenter, a Myst uber-fan and online community leader. Aquila voices his opinion on the Myst series, Cyan's interaction with it's fans, and his thought on the end of the series. From the Myst Format article:

MacFormat: Is Myst the mother of all adventure games?
James Carpenter: In my opinion, yes it is. One only has to have played any adventure game, to see that the genalogical lines all lead right back to Myst. Even if you've never played Myst, I'll bet you've had a 'Myst moment' while playing an adventure game. That moment where you finally figure out something and think to yourself, "Ahh, so that's the reason I needed to do that earlier". That's a classic Myst moment... And many, if not all, adventure games try to use it.

Cyan

Myst V: End of Ages

Mac Format Article - Aquila Interviewed (Scanned Image)

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Gamespot recently posted a review of Infinity Ward's latest World War II opus, Call of Duty 2. Following in the footsteps of the original Call of Duty, which was released on the Mac by Aspyr Media, COD2 puts you in the many exciting battles of WWII. From the Gamespot review:

Call of Duty 2 is just about everything you would hope for and expect from the sequel to one of the most successful World War II shooters of all time. Its varied campaign, excellent sound and gameplay design, and generally good AI make it a worthy successor to the original. At the same time, though, it's still a World War II shooter, and if you've grown weary of them, then Call of Duty 2's lack of new material might turn you away. It can also be murderous on your computer if you have modest hardware. What Call of Duty 2 does do well is nail down just about all aspects that define an ideal first-person shooter. If you liked the original and have been thirsting for more, Call of Duty 2 will definitely deliver that.

To view the entire article, click the link below.

Gamespot Article - Call of Duty 2 Review

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Still on the fence about Myst V? Perhaps THE ULTIMATE MYST V REVIEW LIST will help you decide! Below is a compiled list of all popular reviews of Myst V. Perhaps now we can put all these Myst V reviews behind us.

Gameboomers - 95%

IGN - 88%

VG Pub - 84%

Just Adventure - 80%

Globe Technology - 80%

Yahoo Games - 80%

Cheat Code Central - 80%

Gamespot - 79%

1up - 75%

Total Video Games - 70%

Eurogamer - 60%

Myst V: End of Ages

Cyan

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