Jagex re-releases the 2007 version of Runescape to current members.
2007: It was the year the iPhone was released, the Orange Box taught us that the cake was a spy, and Mass Effect still had moon buggies. Now you can relive it all over again, assuming you were a Runescape player. Thanks to a vote by its members, Jagex is re-releasing the 2007 build of the web browser MMO as Old School Runescape, allowing you to travel back to a time when the PVP area The Wilderness still existed and Furgilisious was on the radio.
For the moment, Old School Runescape is only accessible to paying members. Current subscribers can play on the Old School servers at no additional cost. Jagex currently plans to keep it free for the next six months, but possibly charging a $5 access fee afterwards, depending on the population. Players can log in via a fashionably ancient portal using their current account details. Once on the other side, players will be able to talk to all their contacts on the normal servers, but won’t be able to transfer items or characters. Interested parties can find more details on the official page.
Runescape launched in 2001 and was free-to-play before it was cool. For better or worse, it was the first MMO experience many gamers ever had. Considering the many metamorphoses an MMO goes through, having an officially sanctioned “snapshot” of a previous rendition is a pretty cool idea. I’m sure that more than a few gamers would dearly love for a pre-Wrath WoW or Everquest before Planes of Power to play again.
Source: Jagex
Image: Joystiq
