runescape posts

UK-based Jagex, creators of the popular broswer-based fantasy MMO RuneScape, has decided to cancel their plans for MechScape, their next major browser-based MMO. According to Gamesindustry.biz the decision came in a late stage of the game's development with the company's CEO Mark Gerhard saying it will cost Jagex " . . . tens of millions of pounds. Maybe more." He admitted that the continued success of RuneScape helped make their move to cancel MechScape easier.

However the final product was not turning out as Jagex had hoped with Gerhard stating, "The previous game wasn't a game that we want to play." They are now working on a new secret game project that will use the game engine that was being developed for MechScape. It's current release date is sometime in 2010.

It's currently one of the most popular online PC MMO games but it doesn't get as much media attention as World of Warcraft. It's RuneScape, the browser based title from developer/publisher Jagex that has five million active players. In 2008 a graphically improved version of the game, RuneScape HD, was launched and Jagex states in a new press release today that the majority of RuneScape players have moved onto the updated version.

Today during GDC, Jagex has announced plans to launch an all new MMO title for release sometime later this year. The code name of the game is MechScape but other than that no other details of the game have been announced. Jagex claims the new title "will appeal to both existing RuneScape players and an entirely new audience of online gamers."

2009 is now firmly underway but some companies are still looking back to the past 12 months. One of those companies is Nielsen who is best known for their TV ratings system. Today the company announced their 2008 top 10 lists covering entertainment and ads in a variety of catagories. One of them was for the top 10 PC games that were most played in the US (the ratings were actually for activity for January-October 2008).

It's not a shock to learn that Blizzard's hit MMO World of Warcraft was the number one PC game that was most played according to Nielsen. The study claims that the game is played an average of 671 minutes a week, or just over 11 hours, per gamer. Nielsen also claims that every minute about .723 percent of all PC gamers are playing World of Warcraft, a massive number that blows away every other game on the top 10 list. A number of older games are on the list including the PC version of Halo and web browser based MMO RuneScape:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
3. Halo: Combat Evolved
4. The Sims
5. The Sims 2
6. RuneScape
7. Diablo II
8. Team Fortress 2
9. Counter-Strike
10. Counter-Strike: Source

Jagex Software, developer of titles such as FunOrb and the popular RuneScape MMO, have confirmed the development of RuneScape: High Detail with IGN. Previously known as RuneScape III, RuneScape: HD will officially debut at this year's E3 and will boast a new look that has been in development for quite some time, according to Jagex.

Not much else is known as of this writing, though E3 will obviously bring more concrete details.

Much has been made on the companies that won't be attending E3 this year (most notably the upcoming Activision Blizzard and NCsoft) but there are a number of new publishers that will be attending the show for the first time. At the official (password protected) E3 web site a new exhibitor just showed up on the list. It's the UK based Jagex, best known for their hugely popular web-based fantasy MMO Runescape.

There's no word on what the company will be showing at the show but if Jagex is coming across the pond to show off something to the media attending E3 it might be pretty major. Another new addition to the E3 list is G4 Media which likely means that the cable TV network will once again be covering E3 for its viewers.