Cyan Worlds unveils ‘Myst’ for iPhone

Spokane game developer Cyan Worlds has released a new version of its groundbreaking game “Myst” for the Apple iPhone.

Cyan CEO Tony Fryman said Apple approved the new application for the iPhone late Sunday.

The game can be downloaded from iTunes for $5.99. It takes up more than 700 megabytes of storage, making it one of the biggest applications offered for the iPhone, Fryman said.

In the original version, players explored a mysterious island world and used the mouse to find clues and decode puzzles or challenges.

Two challenges faced by Cyan’s developers were using the iPhone’s touch screen technology instead of a mouse and maintaining the game’s quality, Cyan Worlds President Rand Miller said.

Fans who’ve downloaded “Myst” for iPhone have posted online reviews saying the game provides superior-quality sound and images and retains the feeling of the original version, first released in 1993.

Revenue from the sales will be divided three ways, with Apple getting about 30 percent and the rest split between Cyan and its Japanese partner, SunSoft.

While the application for the iPhone will generate some cash, Miller and Fryman are looking for new projects so they can hire back developers and designers. The company has fewer than 10 developers on staff.

“Now that we have our feet wet in the app-development area, we have some ideas for other games that could be interesting as well,” Miller said.

Tom Sowa

MISSOULA

Yellowstone Club loan flawed, expert says

A real estate expert says a $375 million loan to the Yellowstone Club before it sought bankruptcy protection was based on faulty assumptions that sales at the exclusive Montana club would be brisk.

Credit Suisse is accused of making a bogus loan to the club in 2005.

The club’s creditors have sued in federal court for the loan to be voided because most of the money was transferred to founder Tim Blixseth and his former wife, Edra. That would wipe out most of the club’s more than $400 million in debts.

John Hekman, a former Federal Reserve economist called by the creditors, said that at the time of the loan, Credit Suisse projected that the pace of sales of lots on club land would double.

But the credit crisis and a failed expansion plan have left it in debt.

Associated Press

Englewood, Colo.

DirecTV Group plans merger, spinoff

DirecTV Group Inc., the nation’s largest satellite TV provider, said Monday it will be combined with the entertainment unit of Liberty Media Corp. and spun off into a separately traded company.

The deal will give DirecTV assets that would enhance the offerings of its satellite TV operations: regional sports networks in Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh as well as a 65 percent stake in the Game Show Network and FUN Technologies, a provider of online sports games and information.

Associated Press