If I could have even one quarter of the time I wasted spent enjoying Myst, I'd live forever. After finally finishing the game on my Mac, I felt compelled to do it all over again when the Playstation version became available. I didn't play Riven or the other sequels, but Myst V just may pull me back in.

A demo became available today, and I played it for a while tonight. It's just as beautiful as I remember, with the fantastic scenery and soundtrack. There are more interactive elements in this version than the original, which my 1.25ghz iMac seemed to handle well, though the introductory cinematic sequence was a little jumpy. Still, the brief experience brought back memories of looking at my old desk clock to see it read 2:30 AM.

At 457MB, it's a hefty download, and the system requirements are kind of steep, too: Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later, G4/1GHz or faster, 256MB RAM and an ATI Radeon 7000 or Nvidia GeForce2 MX or better 3D graphics with at least 32MB VRAM. The formal release is scheduled for September and will cost $49.95US.