http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36270/Beware-the-death-of-the-disc

"Gerhard admitted the Jagex is interested in releasing its hugely popular Runescape game on disc at retail - but only "as a marketing opportunity. It doesn't get any deeper than that."

So RuneScape on CD, maybe this could also mean Stellar Dawn for CD.

Discuss here.

What's the point? It's a browser game anyway... Who would pay for a disk of a game you play in your browser...

I'm guessing you'd actually be buying a CD of the game and one month's membership, but I could be wrong. What do Jagex get out of it? Free advertising!

I would pay just for having the novelty of the RuneScape CD and case, add it to my collection :) I believe it would be pretty cheap aswell.

Who knows. It might mean no more 0.6 second delay, or improved graphics/audio. We'll have to wait and see.

If they give out something to someone who buys it on a CD your going to be sure that someone isn't going to like it. I don't like the idea that you don't need the
CD but Jagex is going ahead and making a CD anyway. RuneScape is extremely small, at least when they stream all of the content to you. I'm not quite sure on the actual size of the entire game on your computer (client side). I guess it could include concept art and other things but really, you can get that off the website. I just don't see a real need for the CD.

There isn't a "need" for a CD, but if they were to get it into stores then more people would play it because it was there. As Gerhard said, it would merely be a "marketing opportunity".

Knowing their advertising department, they'd put people off the game
Would those buying the CD get some kind of benefit, do you think?

It isn't free advertising as they do have to pay for manufacturing and all the artwork to go with it such as box art.

The thing I can see them doing is "Get one of 3 rare items only found in the Disk Version!" I think they'd lose even more customers if that happened...

Considering the reaction over those USB security dongles I find it unlikely that they'd do such a thing.

Put the game on a disc... ? I don't know what that means, what can you do with it?

Ok, so.

This is what it would involve:

Your lag and ability to do anything wouldn't be based off your internet connection, as you'd have a hard copy of the game. Not everything would be streamed right to you.

I'd definitely buy it for that reason.

This may have something to do with getting Runescape into the console market

Well they could finally take away distance fog. It would run more smoothly on older computers. And better advertisement.

lol what happened to jagex bragging about being 100% browser based

My thought exactly. There is no files or anything they could put on the disk anyways other than their browser quick start icon lol. Maybe a few documents perhaps?

Also I don't know why it's just now hit the media, Gower talked about putting runescape on a disc before Gerhard became CEO.



You would think that but they couldn't do anything to affect the game play or performance because the game engine itself is ran off of a browser.


It just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm guessing it'd still be browser based.

Then there would be absolutely no reason to buy it.

They've already stated that they can transfer runescript onto multiple platforms, such as the xbox and ps3. I'd only assume it would not be browser based, and instead an installation. This would give a reason to buy the disk because instead of their server sending you information every time you load a new area, all of it would be installed on your computer and already loaded. This would mean much bigger chunks of map can fit onto your loaded area, meaning the only true loading would most likely be done when teleporting.

Even so, with the game capable of being played off of a web page, it must not be all that big of a file. I would assume. That would make me think it would be unessential to be put onto a disk. The reason World of Warcraft is on a disk is because there is a vast amount of information and files. All of the terrains, effects, sounds, etc add up to roughly 7 gigabytes.

Unless A) You were a collector, or B) You didn't already know about the game and how to play via website, or potentially C) because it is your preferred/only method of purchasing membership.

I'd buy it if it had some sort of software to place your own monsters and scenes. Pretty much a private server, but an officially sanctioned Jagex tool designed for taking photos or whatnot, for such uses as website layouts for fansites and webcomics. I'd also be interested if it came with membership and/or collectible stuff, especially concept art books.

If Jagex were to add special items like REN was stating earlier to the CD that you could only get by purchasing the CD, It could easily be pirated.

When did I saying they'd add special items? I doubt they'd do this.

Lord John said that they might include free items to the CD to get more people into it. I suppose some people will buy the CD to reduce loading time and maybe they will add a server like MC said. If it cut down on loading time, I would most probably buy it.

I doubt that Jagex would simply hand out their sacred server code that runs RuneScape. The client is one thing but the server is like giving private servers a boost beyond belief.

The only reason for doing this from a marketing perspective is to have the cds on the shelves in the shop. The row of cds would be an advertisement for the game and because they would be cheap (probably only a months membership) they might sell a few to curious people who haven't come across runescape on the internet before.

Other than that the odd fan might want one for the cover art and to have a disc to hold, but as they seem slow at shipping out the cards with a pin on them, which are presumably cheaper to make than a cd i am not holding my breath!

I know my knowledge isn't 100%, but this is what I have come to believe.

Runescape's bigger than you think. The only things saved on your computer when playing off the browser are the small tid-bits of information. All the big things are stored over at Jagex, and are given to you when your client asks the server for them. From what I understand, all the files you have are client side, and all the files they have are server side.

Runescape isn't exactly a humongous file if anything though. Jagex makes sure to use a lot of care in making the game as quick to run as possible. However if it was put to CD, we could see a lot of smaller changes to the game, such as moving away from low quality Midi sounds and other small things like that. It would also mean for more work on each update.

I could see this being useful for people like me who crash their RS setup way too often when they cross a loading zone.

not sure of discs, but their existing cards is a good idea

I took the liberty of making them some box art.

I win.

That's freaking epic.

RS on CD...unlikely. You gotta remember, RuneScape gets an update almost every week, often very significantly. It's one of only a handful of games that can keep to such an incredible update schedule (only other that comes to mind is AdventureQuest Worlds, which is in my opinion still in Beta). It wouldn't be a huge file to begin with (Certainly, vastly smaller than WoW or anything like it), and an update could suddenly make a portion of that data irrelevant. We would end up downloading sizable updates weekly and daily just like we do now.

Only benefit I could see is in graphics rendering, and music quality. Which I suppose would be the whole point, but still

And suddenly I realise my graphics work has been a huge missed opportunity.

My task was to design a game case and POS display for it.

I saw that pic on Dramatica.

Anyway, if the CD reduced lagg, what would happen when the game updated? You'd then have to stream the new content and the CD would be obsolete.

Just think about all of the assets that would be on that CD. The assets that updated and such would be small compared to the entire database of assets being updated. Also, the Xbox is pretty powerful machine to how low RuneScape's specs are so lag could be reduced by showing simple solid colors then filling in the textures and stuff as it loads.

You sir, are a true reality haxor.

Runescape isn't E for everyone. It's 13 and up. Eep.

Nobody really takes notice of that, Stellar

Maybe the disk is for um, people who don't have internet?

Who then couldn't play the game because it requires an Internet connection?

Maybe with Jagex ditching Java, it won't require an Internet connection?

Source?

Runescape is an online game. If it isn't the sort of game to be played on your own. I also doubt wether it would be were it is now if it wasn't an online browser game.

Runescape: Tactical Espionage Action.


Envelop yourself in the full fledged tactical shooter called Runescape. Use your own wit to outsmart the enemy as you avoid security cameras and cow things. A full length 1 hour of gameplay, with 29 hours of cutscenes movies.

Sounds interesting - i wonder if we'll still use the same accounts or whether it will be isolated from the internet version. Nice Find!

RuneScape by yourself would be horribly, horribly boring. All MMORPGs become boring and meaningless when there aren't a few million people to validate your pixel achievements. And also it's my impression that they aren't ditching Java - they've just developed the capability to port their RuneScript into other, um, stuff.

They are not ditching it.
Just by changing a companies name to something they are not doing is not ditching it.

I don't find it boring at all.

runescape with NO other sad no lifers insulting you everytime you cut a yew tree and no other immature community is ftw!

Runescape in peace alone with my Npc's is mai dream :D

A dream i won't letchu have! I'll find a way into your runescape! I will!

Jagex used to stand for Java Gaming EXperts.(recently changed because they need to focus on the gaming experience) I doubt they'll ditch java.

The CDs could be used to precache all the content onto the computer, so you could virtually have the base for RS already there, meaning no loading screens. They could even send the updates silently the night before, and unload them. Or maybe mp3 sounds?

Well still noones actually thought of how a CD could be in anyway useful... (which is clearly correct; a CD for a Java game is utterly stupid.)