RuneScape

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RuneScape 3 is an ambitious project, especially for an MMO series as old as RuneScape's, but Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard told IGN in a recent interview that they're ready to take the wildly popular MMO to the next level. This not only means the previously announced change from a Java-based platform to HTML5, but it also means that the game will be coming to tablets by Q4 of this year.

Gerhard also added that the possibility of a smartphone connection is there as well, but only as an addition to the overall game experience. Where else can Jagex go from here? Smart TVs? Consoles? Both are possibilities, according to Gerhard.

The secret is out and can't be shoved back in the box: RuneScape 3 is coming. Of course, we already knew that, but there was a time not so long ago that the world was ignorant of this fact. If you wondered how the global reveal of this title went for those who were there, then Jagex has a neat behind-the-scenes video showing how and what the press saw when the studio went live with the info.

In addition to the pomp and circumstance of the event, the team also used the video to reveal the first new skill of the game: Divination. What does it do? Well, the devs were not as keen to share that. Speculate away!

Check out the reveal video after the jump.

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With twelve years already under its belt, and a good chunk of those years providing weekly updates, it's understandable if new players might consider RuneScape literally too big to get into. So how do you circumvent this and continue to expand the population base? Why, you throw in a major update and rename the game to RuneScape 3, of course!

In a recent interview, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard talked to Gamasutra about how this exact approach gives the game an all-new feel that is more likely to draw in new players who might otherwise overlook it. He stated, "We could have called it RuneScape Next Age if we wanted to, and part of my thinking was, for people who haven't played this game in a year, it's going to be night and day. It's not a completely new game, but it's certainly a new experience." RuneScape 3 will have a more powerful audio engine, boosted visuals and a better draw distance, and upgrades to the UI, among other things.

Just like back with RuneScape 2, the plan is to maintain the RuneScape 3 moniker for a while, then drop the numeral and return to the original name again.

After opening the door for potential testers, Jagex announced today that it has begun the beta for RuneScape 3. Accepted testers and gold/silver club members can go ahead and get a peek at the next iteration of the MMO. If you applied and haven't been chosen yet, Jagex promises that more invites will go out in the next few weeks.

Jagex does specify that this is an early build in the HTML5 client. As such, the studio warns that there will be noticeable bugs and glitches as the tech undergoes optimization, not to mention missing features. Testers' visual settings will be set to minimum specs initially.

RuneScape 3 will be released this summer.

There's nothing more important to me than the ability to freely explore MMOs. Heck, exploration is the reason I got into MMOs. I remember grabbing that box of Ultima Online (man, I wish I still had that box!) from a shelf at the local game store and looking in wonder at just how vast this virtual world seemed to be. I'm still the same way, although after years of doing this, I am a bit more cynical about games. I've heard so many promises that never came true, but I know that even the worst of titles offers the chance to explore a brand-new world.

There are a lot of exploration mechanics out there. Free Realms has an adventurer "job," The Secret World needs players to explore to solve mysteries, Guild Wars 2 offers experience based on discovering new areas, EverQuest II entices people to explore by offering collectible items embedded in the ground, and there are so many MMOs that allow players to gain experience just by approaching areas they haven't before.

But I have my favorites. These are games that just make me feel like an explorer.

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Jagex has announced RuneScape 3's beta program via a news posting on its website. There are several key dates to be aware of, including the beginning of the registration period on April 3rd.

Interestingly, the new HTML5 beta client will access the game's live servers, and testers will be able to progress and earn XP in the main game while testing! Click through to the RuneScape website for full details.

Sequels are both the bane of and a fact of life for movies and video games. Well, "bane" is a strong word, and you're probably thinking of Batman right now anyway, but personally, I'm always willing to give the benefit of doubt to any continuation of a favorite franchise. While we don't see sequels pop up as often in MMOs, they do exist and have significant effects upon the original title that bears the same name.

It's here that MMOs diverge from movies and other video games. With those, the original is not in any sort of danger, other than the perception of having its legacy dragged down into the muck (Caddyshack II, anyone?) and perhaps overstaying its welcome. An MMO sequel, on the other hand, can cause serious consequences to its ancestor.

Here at Game Archaeologist, we look at classic games that have often seen their time come and go. But what happens to one of these titles when a sequel attacks? Almost anything, it turns out.

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Have you noticed a reduction in RuneScape's bot population today? That could be because the game recently banned 20,000 gold-farming accounts in a single night! Thanks to the latest phase of RuneScape's Botwatch anti-botting technology, which targets third party clients and botting software as well as gold farmers, botters are being weeded out even better than before.

But even with one battle won, the war on botting is far from over; RuneScape maintains its zero-tolerance policy and promises ongoing advances in eradicating this infestation. In fact, Jagex is already working on the next phase of the anti-botting technology and will be rolling it out over the coming months.

Those old-school RuneScape servers we told you about earlier this week are launching an early access period today. The shards will revisit the title as it was in late 2007, a window that Jagex says is "heralded as one of the defining periods of the game by its players."

The firm is opening up a voting period through which players will decide how much developer investment should be devoted to old-school RuneScape going forward. The options range from a basic service with critical maintenance to a full dev team that will iterate based on player input.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard notes that this isn't the first time his company has left major decisions in the hands of its users. In 2011, RuneScape's Free Trade and Wilderness mechanics were reintroduced to the game following a player poll. "Our players' dedication, passion, feedback, and enthusiasm all provide the compass, energy, and satisfaction that powers Jagex," he said. Jagex says that over 250,000 votes were cast in the old-school poll.

[Source: Jagex press release]

There ain't no school like the old school. RuneScape players have spoken, and Jagex has listened: It's time to bring back a touch of nostalgia to the game in the form of pure old school servers, with the exact mix still to be determined. A recent announcement confirms that the servers will be coming back and reminds players to keep voting to determine the makeup of these servers. All voters will receive the first month on the throwback server for free.

For those who want more hard information from the development team, a special live forum chat will be held on Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST. Players can also begin posting to a forum thread tomorrow to help give the developers some advance idea of what to expect. If you're one of the 160,000 players who wanted to party like it's 2007, it looks as if your wish is coming true.

Believe it or not, an "old-school" RuneScape server may be in the making. The crazy developers over at Jagex discovered a complete backup of the game from August 2007 and are allowing the community to vote on whether or not there's interest in playing this five-and-a-half year-old copy of the game.

The poll will go live on Friday for the following two weeks, but Mod Mark wanted to explain the hows and whys of this potential project in advance. He also set milestones for voting, with the minimum for the old-school server to become a reality being 50,000 votes for a maintenance-only version. If the server project gets enough votes, Jagex will actually hire a team to develop for it.

Mod Mark did want to clarify that possibility, however: "If this idea gathers sufficient support, then we will not need to take our current talent away from all of the exciting updates to be implemented into the current version of the game, as we will be able to hire a new dedicated team to work specifically on this project."

Tell you what: Why don't we have our own unofficial pre-poll poll right now? Vote on whether you'd play on a classic server after the jump!

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Collecting MMO soundtracks is a scattered, scavenger-like experience. Releasing video game soundtracks isn't exactly high up on studio and publisher to-do lists (although we're seeing more love from digital stores), so whether or not a title will get a music release is really a crapshoot. What does get released is never in the same place twice: Some game soundtracks are released as special editions only, some only as CDs, some as full MP3 album releases, some directly from the composer, some are buried on websites, and so on.

So I'm constantly looking everywhere trying to beef up my MMO soundtrack library, and as a result I've uncovered several scores that the studios are giving away for free. I'm all over free (legal) music, especially when it's in my area of interest!

If you've been looking to start an MMO soundtrack collection or are looking to add to what you have, I've put together a list of 11 MMO scores that you can get today free of charge. Sound good? It does to me!

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Have you ever wondered how an MMO studio plans its upcoming content delivery? A new RuneScape dev diary takes us behind the scenes at Jagex, where Mod Mark outlines the nuts-and-bolts of the process: "We think about the next 12 months of content and what we want to achieve within those 12 months and have a broad idea of what we want to achieve over the next three years. We think about what sort of players we've got and we try to make sure that the content we have planned over the next year is appropriate for all of those groups of players."

Mod Mark said that the team also considers what it's focused on recently, what areas haven't been touched on in a long time, and what parts of the game may have become dated. Content additions and improvements are then scheduled according to the time available to the team.

One lesson to take away is that it always takes the development team a lot more time and effort to create new content than players assume. Sometimes even a single quest may spend up to a year in development before being pushed to live.

You can watch the full dev diary after the jump!

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