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Minecraft will officially launch on 11/11/11
Step aside, Skyrim, another endless world of magical adventure is set to steal your spotlight. That's right, Minecraft will finally be released later this year on November 11. Of course, the official release seems a little less momentous considering there are nearly two million people enjoying the game already. Minecraft maestro Markus "Notch" Persson notes that the "full version" of the game won't differ significantly from its current beta. In fact, it would seem that the most important distinction will simply be the removal of the "beta" label. Persson adds that the development team will continue to update the game with new features after the official release. Also, for what it's worth, Persson notes that he's "excited" for Skyrim too.
Minecraft beta update 1.5 to include weather effects
Since everyone knows that Minecraft's raked in a cool $33 million to date, Notch has taken it upon himself to, in true rock star fashion, make it rain. In a series of Tweets this morning, Notch revealed that Minecraft beta update 1.5 will add precipitation to the game, which could possibly have gameplay implications like watering crops, putting out fires, filling small holes and moistening wolves. By the way, "Moistening Wolves" is totally the name of our new, indie noise-rock band. Notch included an image of the weather effects at the border of two in-game biomes, showing off some sort of fantasy world where distinct rain and snow systems are allowed to hang out and be buddies. We called up our local meteorologist to see if this was a phenomenon that could occur in real life, and he literally exploded.
Minecraft has earned over $33 million, Notch reveals
Let that soak in: $33 million. All those dollars, slightly eroded by Paypal fees and taxes, come from around 800,000 alpha version adopters, who picked up the game at €9.95 ($14.26), and over one million beta version sales at €14.95 ($21.43). Currently, the Minecraft stats page lists 1,813,527 customers, pegging revenue at slightly above €23 million ($33 million). The figures come from a Reddit thread, where Minecraft creator Markus Persson (AKA Notch) shared the figures -- a level of success he admitted he's somewhat uncomfortable with. "I've always had a tendency to feel like I'm just not quite keeping up with demands, even before starting work on Minecraft. It's not gotten better by having a runaway hit like this." The latest update for the game, version 1.4, launched last week, adding a host of new features to the game. A documentary is also in the works.
Scrolls newsletter sign up includes alpha tester option
We've got good news for you newsletter collectors: Minecraft dev Mojang isn't just offering an email publication about its second game, Scrolls, but also potential alpha testing access. As Tumblr user Buddyp450 points out, signing up for the newsletter at the bottom of the Scrolls game site includes the choice to "opt-in to become alpha tester." Of course, if you're all anti-newsletter or something, but you're one of the hundreds of thousands who purchased a Minecraft license when that (still unfinished) game was in alpha, you're also guaranteed access to the initial Scrolls preview. Of course, if you miss out on the alpha test, there's always the free public beta after that. And, we imagine, eventually you'll even be able to purchase the full, complete game at some point.
April Fools: Minecraft update adds megatransaction store
And so it begins. Today is the annual celebration fraught with clever (and not-so-clever) gags -- the day of fools and fooling, as it were -- and Minecraft dev Mojang is clearly taking the event very seriously. Beyond adding actual stuff in the game's beta update 1.4, the developer has launched the new (totally fake) "Minecraft Store," which features a collection of in-game items for purchase. If the outrageous prices weren't enough of a tip-off -- $494 for the "Response from Support" item? -- the screaming Velociraptor from Mojang's match-three classic, BeDino Quest, which runs across the screen when you attempt to check out, should serve as enough of a heads-up. Unfortunately, a few sad sacks may still end up clicking away in an effort to snap up a $155 "Secret Griefer Identity" or what have you -- and to those folks, we wish you luck with the rest of today.
Minecraft beta 1.4 goes live, adds wolves, cookies and a new logo
Mojang's world-designing blockbuster Minecraft received a rather eccentric mix of new additions today with the launch of beta 1.4. As promised, wolves can now be encountered and tamed in your homespun world -- however, a less-advertised part of the update is the addition of cookies. What do these cookies do? We're not entirely sure, but we'd recommend keeping them away from your pet wolves. Those little bastards will eat the cookies right out of your hand. Other changes include the ability to reset your spawn point by sleeping in a bed, a fresh new logo (pictured above), and a few infrastructure tweaks to prepare for the arrival of achievements. Check out the full list of updates after the jump!
Extra Lives running charity Minecraft marathon for Japan
To raise money for Japan relief (through the International Medical Corps), Extra Lives has started a Minecraft marathon, which is running through sometime Sunday. Go donate now to assuage the guilt you feel about spending this entire weekend playing Minecraft for your own benefit! If you want to play Minecraft and help the cause, donors of $20 or more will get a chance to play on the Extra Lives server, for "about three hours" per $20. Try not to destroy all the other players' stuff. This is a nice Minecraft game.
Molyneux: 'Minecraft's the best thing I've played in the last ten years'
Is Markus Persson's blocky world-builder pretty much your favorite thing on the earth, right up there with blue cotton candy and baby laughter? You're among some pretty prestigious company -- in a recent interview with IGN, gaming industry titan Peter Molyneux sung the praises of Minecraft, even going so far as to say, "I think Minecraft's the best thing I've played in the last ten years." Molyneux added that he appreciated the solo efforts of Persson, saying, "he did everything on his own, and I think how brilliant and inspirational that is, to not need the full force of publishers and marketing people." That's not all -- we hear Persson developed the entire game while astride the back of a gallant steed while holding an eagle in each hand. Now that's inspirational.
Notch suggests Minecraft achievements, console ports in the future
Minecraft has already cemented its place as one of the best sandbox games of all time, but sometimes you need a little narrative with your creative impulses. Don't worry -- there's a solution for you: achievements. In an interview with Gamasutra, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson says that achievements are one way he could add a little narrative structure to the title, by rewarding players for doing certain things in the game in a certain order (starting by chopping down a tree, for example, and moving on to "killing a dragon or something"). Notch also says he's still surprised by all the interest in the game, both his own and that of players, who've actually turned up in greater numbers after he recently decided to raise the price. Also, while he does agree that Minecraft could be ported to other platforms at some point and "become a franchise," he warns that, "if we make an Xbox version there should be a point to it being on Xbox." Sounds reasonable enough. Hopefully if he does go with the achievement model, we'll get a nice big reward for "Burning Down the House."
Minecraft beta 1.3 adds hospitality
The latest version of the still-unfinished (but super popular anyway!) Minecraft brings beds. Yes, beds. These comfy furniture items act as a mechanism for skipping the night. "If all players in a map [sleep] in a bed during night," according to the update notes, "the game immediately skips until morning." Just the thing for a complicated building project! This latest version of the beta (v1.3) also adds a new, optional lighting engine, enables more save slots and puts "three new half-size blocks" in the world. If you were holding out for a different block size before you took the Minecraft plunge, your time has come.
Minecraft clone coming to Xbox Live Indie Games: FortressCraft
Are you wildly in love with Minecraft, but your computer lacks the technoguts required to really process its cuboid contents? First of all, your computer is whack. Secondly: Independent studio Projector Games is working on an extremely similar title for the Xbox Live Indie Games platform. Check out the fan-made video posted after the jump to see just how extremely similar we mean. The game, which is (perhaps cheekily) titled FortressCraft, will be broken down into seven chapters to be released every four to six weeks. In a post on the Minecraft forums, a Projector representative explained, "Chapter 1 is basically Minecraft's Creative, Chapter 2 adds in crafting, Chapter 3 adds in life, Chapter 4 adds in machinery, Chapter 5 adds in Minions, Chapter 6 adds in PvP, Chapter 7 adds in Fortress Assault mode... (or whatever)." According to the FortressCraft Twitter account, the first chapter is due out next Friday, March 4 for 80 Microsoft Points ($1). Each of these Chapters contains the features of previous installments -- a workaround for the platform's inability to patch in new updates. It sounds like a pretty ambitious (if not fairly original) undertaking for the developer. Whether the studio receives the support needed to complete all seven chapters -- or whether litigious sources intercede -- remains to be seen. [Thanks, Styles!]
Minecraft documentary gets a 20 minute preview, needs you to chip in for the finished product
Do you love Minecraft? Wait, don't answer. We know the answer. Well, we know how you feel -- and so do the folks at 2 Player Productions, the documentarians that brought you the extra-special chiptune film, Reformat the Planet. The scrappy team of filmmakers has once again gone back to work, this time focusing their attentions on the gaming phenomenon and its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, in a project entitled Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. 2 Player has taken its project to the streets (and by streets we mean internet) by posting a 20 minute teaser of the forthcoming documentary, and asking for funding via Kickstarter. Just think, you could be your very own Hollywood mogul. There are all kinds of goodies for those who lay down the cash; for instance, if you pledge more than $2,500, you'll get an actual pick axe mounted on a stand signed by the Mojang team. And for $10,000? You get an Executive Producer credit and your own profile page on IMDB. The project is aiming for $150,000 of funding, and has already scored $22,048 (at the time this article was written) with 32 days to go. If you were serious about what you said earlier when it comes to Minecraft, you owe it to yourself to put your money where your virtual mouth is. You can also take a look at a teaser clip after the break -- and that won't cost you a dime.
Dead Island meets Minecraft, bites it right in the neck
If you thought the evocative debut trailer for Dead Island would have been more effective had it been rendered completely in textured blocks -- no, you didn't think that. Nobody could have, except for Vareide Productions, who whipped up the Dead Minecraft trailer below.
Mojang crafting official iPhone/iPad Minecraft release [update: Android too!]
The unsanctioned iPhone version of Minecraft might have been taken down like a shoddy lean-to during a zombie invasion, but it'll be replaced this year by something way better: an official version developed by Mojang. Minecraft creator Markus Persson told Gamasutra that a new Mojang employee, Aron Neiminen, is working on the port with a release targeted for 2011. Persson said that not every update for the PC/Mac beta will be implemented in the iOS version, but that instead Mojang will curate the feature set based on what "makes sense" for the iPhone and iPad controls. Update: Kotaku reports that Minecraft is headed to the Android platform as well.
Minecraft: The Last Minecart combines zombies and crafting
While some of you have likely had enough of all this zombie stuff, we feel Corridor Digital's homage to both the undead and Minecraft is worth highlighting for its clever use of crafting and its impressive production values.
Took longer than expected: A marriage proposal in Minecraft
Wow, you really can build anything in Minecraft: To-scale models of the U.S.S. Enterprise, gigantic explorable globes, or relationships that last a lifetime. Check out the video after the jump to see one BioWare audio designer's super saccharine, equally nerdy request for betrothment.
Halo recreated in Minecraft somehow, probably using dark magic or something
We can't begin to understand how YouTube user SidolaTehNerd managed to recreate Halo using the rudimentary tools of Minecraft -- but our lack of understanding doesn't make this accomplishment any less radical. Check out a clip of the world-builder-turned-FPS after the jump.
2 Player Productions working on Minecraft documentary
Independent documentary outfit 2 Player Productions is making quite a name for itself with it's gaming oriented films -- you've probably already seen one of their works; a list which includes Reformat the Planet, season one of Penny Arcade: The Series and short behind-the-scenes videos for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch Productions. The group is adding another high-profile name to their list of subjects with their next film: Mojang Studios, the creators behind the indie blockbuster Minecraft. We'll have to wait until next month before we can lay eyes on the film, but 2 Player Productions uploaded a few production stills to get the ball rolling. It might be too soon to say, but we're pretty sure that we're going to ... dig it?
Block mesa plays Portal's 'Still Alive' in Minecraft
This is a triumph: Using the musical blocks introduced in the latest version of indie world-builder Minecraft, YouTube user Tritex989 has managed to re-create Portal's theme song, "Still Alive," in its entirety -- minus some notes and with some transposing, due to the blocks' two-octave limitation.
Minecraft users go wild building CPUs in their virtual world (video)
So, apparently this is what a functioning 16-bit arithmetic logic unit looks like... at least when it is designed in Minecraft. And that ain't the half of it! It seems that there are a whole bunch of folks who are taking the game, with its avatars, pitchforks, and immense landscape, and building computers and the like. Indeed, there is also a complete 8-bit CPU out there, which takes binary machine code and sends output to a line of torches. While we'd rather spend our time teaching our avatars to breakdance in Second Life, we do admire the hard work that clearly went into these projects. For a tutorial on the 8-bit CPU, hit up the source link. For more info on either of these projects, check out the folks' YouTube pages -- we've thoughtfully included the videos after the break.
