Jagex launches new version of popular Java-based MMORPG

British developer Jagex has announced the launch of RuneScape 2, the latest version of its hugely popular browser-based online RPG title - which boasts some 660,000 players and 64,000 paying subscribers.

The Cambridge based company has been running RuneScape since January 2001, with a subscription based members version launched in February 2002, and has seen player and subscriber numbers grow rapidly to make the game into one of the most popular online RPGs in the world.

Uniquely, RuneScape is a Java based game which is played through a web browser, and Jagex has developed graphics compression technologies which allow the entire game to fit onto a single floppy disc - making the download painless even for those on dial-up connections.

The new version of the game offers fully 3D graphics and a massive game world, and the subscribers version of the title gives access to a map twice as large, three times as many quests and a variety of new skills and special features which are not available in the free version.

"We're very excited that we've managed to get a high detail 3d engine and a massive world running within the limitations of a normal web-browser," commented Jagex co-founder and RuneScape creator Andrew Gower. "The whole team has worked really hard to prove that a standard web-browser with no extra plugins, can be made to do far more than anyone thought possible."

"Every single person in the company can be incredibly proud of what has been achieved over the last year and a half," commented Jagex managing director Constant Tedder. "The new version of RuneScape has been completely re-written to take advantage of the power of the new engine; because it is such a big game, that took a little longer than we would have liked. But now the really exciting bit can start - creating new great content that we simply couldnât do before."

External Link: [RuneScape]