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Surprise: XBLA Minecraft's split-screen multiplayer requires HDTV
Split-screen multiplayer in the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft requires an HDTV connection, but the game's description on the Xbox Live Marketplace website fails to note this necessity. Minecraft's description on XBLA does list "HDTV 720p" under the "Local Capabilities" details, but that generally is taken to mean the title will support up to HD 720p, and not as a requirement. In-game, a screen prompts players to "play the game in High Definition mode" for split-screen multiplayer.Notch wasn't aware that local multiplayer wouldn't work with standard-definition TVs, he tweeted and apologized to a fan today.Port developer 4J Studios has justified the HD requirement on Twitter: "The inventory and crafting just didn't work in splitscreen Standard Definition - it was too small to make out."Some fans want a refund from Microsoft, saying they wouldn't have bought Minecraft if the HD requirement was clearer, but Microsoft is holding out on a few of them, Kotaku reports.
Deja Review: Minecraft (XBLA)
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. Minecraft on Xbox Live Arcade is surreal. It's like eating jelly on eggs while watching a baby play in a lion cage: It doesn't belong where it is, but now that it's there you can't look away and, for some reason, there's a surprisingly delicious taste in your mouth.Minecraft's shock value as an XBLA breakout isn't a result of it not making sense on the platform – in fact, it plays almost like a native title. It's surprising because Minecraft was never supposed to be big enough for a high-profile XBLA port. It's a voxel-based PC-only sandbox game with choppy graphics and no defined goal, which some argue makes it the opposite of a "game." Minecraft was never supposed to be a hit. It wasn't supposed to sell more than 5 million copies, generate $80 million or be played by more than 25 million people. It wasn't supposed to turn Markus Persson's developer persona, Notch, into a millionaire, a fashion icon, or a common name among Swedes and gamers alike,But Minecraft has done all of these things, and now it's made its way XBLA. And just as it has everywhere else, Minecraft surprisingly succeeds.
We wish the guy narrating this unofficial 0x10c trailer narrated everything
If we had a set of pipes like the guy narrating this fan-made 0x10c trailer does, we'd sit around narrating our own game trailers, too – that, and making voicemail greetings for all of our friends.
Notch explores 0x10c with more early screens
Notch has been a busy fellow, and understandably so: he recently announced his next project, 0x10c. After unveiling the first preliminary screen for his work-in-progress, he uploaded several others to the game's official site. The link to the screens section isn't visible on the front page, so you'll want to drop this link into your address bar and change the .png file number accordingly. There are currently a total of seven (007) screens.Above you can see a stoic miner staring out a window as his ship passes by what appears to be a large asteroid. Not every screenshot is as thrilling as the one above, but you're free to do some mining of your own in our gallery below.%Gallery-153065%
First 0x10c screenshot shines light on less cubic, more triangular human characters
Not that these fine lads in adventure gear aren't boxy, but they're a sight less cube-like than Notch's previous work in Minecraft. 0x10c is an alternate-reality title, examining the historical timeline that would have been had the space race never ended and our astrological exploration expanded exponentially, until a group of humans awake from cryogenic sleep in the year 281,474,976,712,644 AD to find civilization has disappeared.The screenshot shows off "flashlights, for spelunking and fixing broken ships!" Notch tweeted. Something about that description sounds familiar, but we can't put our finger on it. Minecraft had spaceships, right?
Is Notch's 0x10c an MMO?
Markus "Notch" Persson has let slip the fact that he's working on a followup to Minecraft. The title -- jokingly referred to as Mars Effect a couple of weeks ago -- is now known as 0x10c, and it's got enough geek cred to make our hearts go pitter-patter. First of all it's hard science-fiction, and second of all, it has an ambitious feature list that boasts an advanced economy, space battles, seamless planetary landings, and "lots of engineering." It's also got a nifty ship system wherein players will need to manage a generator and wattage to power various onboard systems. Finally, there's a fully functioning computer within the computer game. Notch says that the "emulated 16-bit CPU can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games [...] while waiting for a large mining operation to finish." The only question left in our minds (other than when can we play it) is whether or not it's an MMO. The website hints at single- and multiplayer functionality "via the multiverse," and it also mentions a monthly fee.
Notch's new game is '0x10c'
We're not even going to pretend we know how to say the name of Markus "Notch" Persson's next game: 0x10c. According to what info he's placed on the new game's website, it's "a space game" that will launch in a manner similar to MineCraft -- releasing in an early state so players can help shape the final end product.The story revolves around a fictional parallel universe where the space race never ended, and corporations and wealthy individuals ventured out into the unknown. After an error occurred in the computers governing human sleep cycles while ships ventured out into uncharted space, humans woke up in the year 281,474,976,712,644 AD, finding little-to-no civilization remained.Each ship runs on a fixed wattage CPU, so any action will drain the ship's systems. Balancing wattage will be a core component of the game. "The computer in the game is a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish." 0x10c promises space battles, salvaging supplies from derelict ships, an advanced economy system and ... duct tape.Finally, the site says the game will likely charge a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse, since Notch and crew will "emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in."
Notch's new space game is called ... Mars Effect?! [April Fools!]
It looks like the Elite-inspired space trading game Mojang's Notch has been working on finally has a name: Mars Effect. The game's official site just went live with a smattering of gameplay details, as well as insight into the philosophy behind Mars Effect's name."After several weeks of trying to come up with a good name for the game, we finally decided not to learn from previous experiences and pick a name that's already kind of in use by a huge existing franchise," says Notch. "After playing around with names like 'Elight,' 'Wind Commander,' and 'Steve Online,' we finally settled on the very catchy name 'Mars Effect'."The game's bulleted list of features includes things like "waist high walls" and "a game ending that makes sense," among other things. Notch also outlines the game's "fixed wattage" system: All ships produce a finite amount of energy, and your ship's features require specific amounts of power. Activating a cloaking device, for example, requires so much power that other ancillary systems like computers and lights must be shut down in order to free up wattage. Each ship is also equipped with a fully emulated 16-bit computer, which "can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish."Update: Rather than play along with these gags as they happen, we've decided instead to tag each April Fools' Day prank as such in the headline, in order to avoid as many dashed hopes as possible. While we never believed for a second that Notch would actually call his next game Mars Effect, we wouldn't be surprised if some of these gameplay mechanics ended up in his actual space game.[Thanks, Jason!]
Notch making Elite-inspired space-based trading sim/sandbox title
It looks like Notch has decided which of his three ongoing projects to focus on over the summer: The designer is currently working on a "sandbox space trading sim" similar to the 1984 classic Elite, with one key difference. Rather than exclusively piloting a spaceship around space, the player will also be able to explore different areas of their ship. "I want the space game that's more like Firefly," Notch told PCGamer. "I want to run around on my ship and have to put out a fire. Like, oh crap, the cooling system failed, I have to put out the fire here." The game is being developed with a Minecraft mentality, in that it'll most likely be playable before its finished, which is good considering that we want to get our greasy little hands on it as soon as humanly possible.
Notch hopes to be working on one of three games by summer
Recusing himself from regular Minecraft duties has apparently freed up quite a bit of time in Markus Persson's schedule, so much so that he's currently in the process of deciding which of his three ongoing development projects will be come his next game. "I'm kinda halfway through one, started somewhat the engine on one and prototyping a third, so I hope to pick a project by this summer," Persson told VG247 after accepting the BAFTA Special Award at last night's proceedings. He also commented on the future of Minecraft, saying that he is "not really a huge fan of making sequels" and will instead continue reiterating and adding to the existing title.We're gonna go out on a limb and guess that since none of these three projects are a Minecraft sequel, at least one of them has to be a Cooking Mama-esque haberdashery and hat repair simulator. [image credit: Mojang]
Mojang can't use 'Scrolls' in any sequels to 'Scrolls,' lawsuit dictates
Notch seems to be happy with the outcome of Mojang's legal tussle with Bethesda, which allows Mojang to use Scrolls as the title of a coming game that looks and plays nothing like anything in the Elder Scrolls series. Bethesda retains the trademark for "Scrolls," but Mojang can use it for its title, a result that had Notch beaming -- but as with all legal battles, it's not that simple.After the celebratory "Yaaaay! <3" Notch tweeted, "The actual document I signed was like a billion pages, so at least we know a bunch of lawyers got rich. Good, wouldn't want them to starve." Within those billion-odd pages comes an interesting deal that prohibits Mojang from using "Scrolls" in the title of any sequels to Scrolls:"ZeniMax has licensed the 'Scrolls' mark to Mojang to be used solely in conjunction with its existing Scrolls digital card game and any add-on material it makes to that game," a Bethesda statement reads. "The terms of the settlement bar Mojang from using the Scrolls mark for any sequel to the current card game, or any other video game."Either Notch doesn't plan on making more than one iteration of Scrolls, or the subsequent titles will be called "Reams," "Parchments" or "Ancient Paper that One Rolls Up and can Unravel to Read From, Such as a Decree."
Bethesda and Mojang settle, Scrolls will keep its name
Everything's coming up Notch. The Swedish indie game rockstar has so much money he's giving it away, presented several GDC panels to adoring throngs, and has even sparked a fashion trend (Notch hats were the accessory at GDC). And now he's settled with Bethesda over the use of the name "Scrolls".Notch tweeted today that the two companies had settled, adding "Yaaaay! <3" Mojang had been locked in a court case with Bethesda, who claimed that the title of the upcoming game was too close to the "Elder Scrolls" series name. Notch later tweeted details of the agreement: "The settlement is that we give them the trademark," he said, "get to keep the name, and won't make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the name." Not that it was likely to in the first place.
Overheard@GDC: The craft of mining
Minecraft creator and recent millionaire Notch held a fireside chat with Spyparty's Chris Hecker, seated alongside a pixelated fire roaring across a plasma screen in one of the large halls at GDC. Hecker and Notch kicked off the chat with two bottles of Sierra Nevada and a cheers, and for one hour, a roomful of fans and developers listened to the pair of them talk about the intricacies of Minecraft's development in some of the most riveting, "you had to be there" moments.But one thing Notch said applies to everyone, even those who weren't cool enough to be in the room:"There is one thing that hasn't been found," he declared, referring to the Easter Eggs and cool tricks buried in Minecraft gameplay. Grab a beer (or legally applicable beverage) and get diggin', folks.
Five legendary indie developers walk into a room...
Over the past few years, the definition of "indie" has expanded exponentially. It now includes the five men invited to speak to an audience of developers in a cavernous room at GDC's North hall: Jordan Mechner (Prince of Persia), Tim Sweeney (Epic Games), John Romero (Doom), Adam Saltsman (Canabalt) and Markus "Notch" Persson (Minecraft)."Indie" now includes "rockstar."These five spoke at "Back to the Garage: The Return of Indie Development (From Those Who Were There and Some Who've Just Arrived)," and without specifically addressing the concrete idea behind what makes indie "indie," they helped define the term in its modern trappings. "Indie" involves listening to feedback from outside sources. "Indies" create AAA titles. "Indie" means talking to press, managing staff and marketing a game while respecting other people's time. "Indie" is about making money.Being indie doesn't sound so different than standard publisher-style game creation, mostly because it's not -- indie is now a sub-genre of game development, rather than a separate enterprise. It's in the tone with which these developers speak about the business, their independent passion and the amount of risk they're willing to take that offers a clear distinction from the sterile PR BS often found in the campaigns from large publishers.
Notch gives $3 million Mojang dividend to employees
If you're looking for an employee from Minecraft developer Mojang, you might want to look out your window, because they are currently over the moon. Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson tweeted yesterday that he will distribute his 2011 Mojang dividends to his employees. The rub: said dividends totalled "about three million dollars" before tax. That is, to put it mildly, one hell of a bonus.Mojang staff members have made their feelings known on Twitter, with Lydia Winters, Mojang's director of fun (no, really) revealing she was "incredibly stunned." Business developer Daniel Kaplan, meanwhile, admits to crying "tears in shock and happiness." Mojang "boss" Carl Manneh noted that Mojang is "the best company in the world." We'd be inclined to agree, but Notch has yet to acknowledge our application to become Mojang's Head of Monitor Dusting.
Notch reels in Psychonauts 2 talk
Ever since Double Fine snagged publishing rights for Psychonauts back in 2011, we've all hoped the studio would work on a sequel. Actually, no past tense about it -- we still hope Double Fine cranks out a sequel. And when Markus Persson (Notch) of Minecraft fame expressed interest in funding a sequel, we thought it was a dream come true.Then Double Fine went ahead and set records on Kickstarter as the developer sought funding for a new adventure game. Suddenly, Psychonauts 2 was on the backburner. But Notch hasn't forgotten about it, much as we haven't, and published a missive today with some more information. Spoiler alert: it's a much more difficult undertaking than we initially thought."The budget for doing a Psychonauts 2 is three times higher than my initial impression," Notch wrote on his blog. "I have NO idea if this is actually going to happen." He went on to say that he is still interested in doing it (and still believes it would be a profitable venture), but posits that Double Fine could simply go through Kickstarter again to fund the sequel, considering how crazy successful the company's first campaign currently is. Today it was revealed the Double Fine adventure game would launch on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android devices."All I know is that IF the numbers work out and IF they still want to do it and IF they don't decide to self fund a sequel by doing more crowd funding (which is honestly what I would've done if I were them), I would be most interested in doing this type of investment." We hope it all works out, but be patient, fellow interested parties: if it happens, it's not going to be for a good long while.
Schafer needs a millionaire to fund Psychonauts 2, Notch raises hand
Double Fine's Tim Schafer would love to make Psychonauts 2, he told Digital Spy -- he's pitched it to publishers a few times, but no one has ponied up for the project, and Schafer still needs a few million dollars to back it up. Enter: Notch.After learning of Schafer's problem, Markus "Notch" Persson, creator of Minecraft and resident indie millionaire, tweeted at Schafer, "Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen," followed by ";D Also, I'm serious." This afternoon, the official word from Double Fine is, "Tim and Markus are talking. Who knows what might happen?"Notch has followed up candidly, tweeting that he and Schafer are talking via email, hinting that they may talk more at GDC, and finishing with a warning: "Anyway, please don't get your hopes too high yet. Everything is extremely vague!"There it is, ladies and gentlemen. The potential multi-million-dollar business deal to create Psychonauts 2, started on Twitter and including a winky, open-mouthed-smiling emoticon. Ah, technology.
Notch asks community for permission to track player data in Minecraft
Mojang's Notch is a smart guy, not only in game design terms but also when it comes to managing his company's 20 million or so Minecraft players. The designer has posted a poll on his personal blog to discover whether his cuboid constituents would feel comfortable with the company collecting various types of anonymous data from its players.Currently, Mojang only tracks when a player logs into the game. Notch's proposal is to also track "non-private data" like gameplay-session length, your PC's OS type, whether you're playing in single or multiplayer mode and whether you're playing via the client or the web applet. The collected information would then be shared with the community, "as usual.""Naturally, the data sent will be fully anonymous," said Notch. "So it wouldn't contain any session information or your user name, and it wouldn't send any sensitive information that you might not want to share." To be perfectly honest, we're fairly surprised this kind of data wasn't already being collected. If you're part of the Minecraft nation, you can let your voice be heard by voting for or against anonymous data collection here.
Ludum Dare hosting anti-SOPA game jam, Notch is in
Wikipedia and a few other sites around the Internet will be going under a blackout on Wednesday to protest SOPA, PIPA, and any other legislation that threatens to shut down parts of the Internet for the interests of a few in power. But shutting down for the day is a less creative way to go about it, so Ludum Dare has a better idea: Why not make some indie games instead? The famous indie game competition is hosting a virtual game jam throughout the day, asking indie game developers (or anyone off from usual work) to make games inspired by the fight against SOPA. There are already a few submitted, and you can make and add your own, or see what other developers have done throughout the day. It's just a freeform jam, so there aren't any real prizes to be had, except that we all get some fun (or crazy, or hastily designed) indie games to play afterwards. The #sopajam hashtag is being used to follow the conversation on Twitter, and at least one major indie developer has taken up the cause himself. Last time Notch jammed on a game it turned into a real Mojang release, so who knows what we'll get this time?
Minecraft hits 20 million registered users
Mojang mastermind Notch has tweeted that Minecraft has reached the 20 million user milestone, and that if each user weighed 154 pounds, that Minecraft's total player base would equal 25 percent of the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It's an interesting statistic, if somewhat of a stretch, only because it got us thinking about other ways to arbitrarily compartmentalize that sort of information. For example: Assuming that every Minecraft player contains the human average of 1.3 gallons of blood, Minecraft's player base equates to 39.9 regulation olympic-sized swimming pools full of vital fluids. Math is neat, isn't it?
