Everything really is better together

It may have taken 16 years to happen, but Halo's Master Chief will finally be playable on a Nintendo platform, though not necessarily in a way that fan's have wanted. Due to Microsoft going all in with their "Better Together" updates for all versions of Minecraft (minus Sony), the "Halo mashup pack" will soon be coming?? to each iteration of the immensely popular game.

So, in some weird way, you'll get to use a rival console's mascot on a Nintendo platform and potentially kill Mario with him. When are we going to see a Smash Bros.-esque game that is simply titled Console Wars? I think that would be a riot (maybe literally). Either way, this is p?retty neat news; maybe we'll even get to see Mario grace the Xbox One in the future. That would definitely blow people's minds.

Halo is coming to Nintendo Switch... in Minecraft [Eurogamer]

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Suggested deal worth roughly $2 billion

Microsoft is in serious talks to purchase Minecraft developer Mojang, according to a WSJ report citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. The supposed deal is said to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 billion, and could be signed as early as this wee?k. 

Earlier this summer, Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson had this to say about acquisition:

"Mojang does not exist to make as much money as possible for the owners. As the majority shareholder, I’d know. Every time a big ?money making deal c?omes up that would make a lot of money, it’s of course very tempting, but at the end of the day we choose to do what either makes the most sense for our products, or the things that seem like fun for us at Mojang," Persson wrote in a June blog post.

That same month, Mojang business analyst Patrick Geuder revealed Minecraft was near 54 million copies sold across all platforms. ?The title officially launched in 2011 following a two-year beta.

Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang [The Wall Street Journal]

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~Gregorian chant begins~

Previously, we have seen Skyrim and Marvel come to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, but the flagship Xbox franchise Halo has been suspiciously absent. You don't think Microsoft would pass up on an opportunity to marry two of its biggest Xbox moneymakers, do you? Of course not. Soon, players will be able to bring the Master Chief and his friends (and enemies) into the blocky world of Minecraft.

In the trailer above, we see Spartans, Elites, Jackals, the Arbiter, Cortana, and more. In addition to Halo characters, the downloadable content includes terrain textures, vehicles, pre-built loc??ations (ahh, Blood Gulch, my home away from home), and the series' signature music.

The Halo Mash-up pack will be ??available tomorrow, May 28, for $3.99.

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Xbox One & PlayStation 4 VS Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3

The people responsible for bringing Minecraft over to consoles just shared how much more draw distance players can expect on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game com??pared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. The power of next-gen means more viewable voxel blocks.

In response to a Tweet, developer 4J S??tudios stated that the they're "currently trying out a world size increases of 36 times the area of the Xbox 360??/PS3 world."

In other news, PC player??s are just laughing?? at this news.

PS3:

PS4:

Xbox 360:

Xbox One:

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Relive your Wreck-It-Ralph fantasies

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition fans will be pleased to know that they can buy the Candy Texture Pack now on Xbox Live for $1, whic?h re-skins everything to the brighter, sweeter side of life. You'll find easter eggs, chocolate, soda oceans, and ice cream foilage in addition? to a ton of other sweet creatures.

Or, y??ou c?ould just play it on the PC and grab some free mods.

Minecraft [Xbox.com]

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Baked potatoes for everyone!

Man. I can type "title u" into Google and "title update 14" appears. Minecraft scares me a little bit, sometimes. Console players are getting this update real soon -- it goes live today on Xbox 360 an??d tomorrow on PlayStation 3. Find the full list of items,?? features, and bug fixes below.

Mojang's Daniel Kaplan says the studio doesn't have any release dates to share regarding the upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Minecraft, "but hopefully soon we can tell you!"

Minecraft TU14 on Xbox360 today and on PS3 tomorrow??! [Mojang]

New Items:

• Emerald
• Emerald Ore
• Block of Emerald
• Ender Chest
• Tripwire Hook
• Enchanted Golden Apple
• Anvil
• Flower Pot
• Cobblestone Walls
• Mossy Cobblestone Walls
• Wither Painting
• Potato
• Baked Potato
• Poisonous Potato
• Carrot
• Golden Carrot
• Carrot on a Stick
• Pumpkin Pie
• Night Vision Potion
• Invisibility Potion
• Nether Quartz
• Nether Quartz Ore
• Block of Quartz
• Quartz Slab
• Quartz Stair
• Chiseled Quartz Block
• Pillar Quartz Block
• Enchanted Book
• Carpet

Other Features:

• Added new recipes for Smooth Sandstone and Chiseled Sandstone.
• Added new Mobs – Zombie Villagers. 
• Added new terrain generation features – Desert Temples, Desert Villages, and Jungle Temples.
• Added Trading with villagers.
• Added Anvil interface.
• Added sideways log placement.
• Changed placement of half blocks and other blocks on half blocks.
• Changed placement of upside down stairs and slabs.
• Wooden Buttons and Wooden Pressure Plates can be activated with Arrows.
• Can dye leather armor.
• Can dye wolf collars.
• Can control riding a pig with a Carrot on a Stick.
• Added different villager professions.
• Villagers spawned from a spawn egg will have a random profession.
• Furnaces can use wooden tools as a fuel.
• Ice and Glass panes can be collected with silk touch enchanted tools.
• Nether mobs can spawn in the Overworld from Portals.
• Creepers and Spiders are aggressive towards the last player that hit them.
• Mobs in Creative mode become neutral again after a short period.
• Remove knockback when drowning.
• Doors being broken by zombies show damage.
• Ice melts in the Nether.
• Cauldrons fill up when out in the rain.
• Pistons take twice as long to update.
• Pig drops Saddle when killed (if has one).
• Sky color in The End changed.
• String can be placed (for Tripwires).
• Rain drips through leaves.
• Levers can be placed on the bottom of blocks.
• TNT does variable damage depending on difficulty setting.
• Book recipe changed.
• Boats break Lily Pads, instead of Lily Pads breaking Boats.
• Pigs drop more Porkchops.
• Slimes spawn less in Superflat worlds.
• Creeper damage variable based on difficulty setting, more knockback.
• Fixed Endermen not opening their jaws.
• Added new Host Options for flying, invisibility and invulnerability for remote players.
• Added teleporting of players (using the player menu in-game).
• Furnace will return an empty bucket when fuelled by a bucket of lava.
• Updated Bonus Chest content with more items.
• Added new tutorials to the Tutorial World for new items and features.
• Updated the positions of the Music Disc Chests in the Tutorial World.
• Updated all texture packs and mash-up packs with new TU14 additions.
• Changed the gray wool texture for City to be more like a road surface

Fixes:

• Fixed a crash with Maps in Item Frames which happened when players were in the Nether or The End
• Fixed Chest locks showing through walls at a distance
• Fixes a couple of crashes related to the player’s banned level list
• Some lighting fixes
• Fix to Blazes so they go on fire before shooting fire charges
• Fix to allow drinking milk in Creative mode
• Fix to allow split screen players to see Splash Potion particles
• Fix to stop the held item being replaced with the first item in the Quick Select on exiting The End.
• Fixed an issue with throwing an Ender Pearl while traveling to The Nether or The End
• Fixed the active time for Wooden and Stone Buttons.
• Fixed a crash with Dispensers and Fire Charges
• Fixed a crash with local profiles in the Help & Options menu
• Corrected the leaves obtained using silk touch on Jungle trees

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$128 million in 2012

Buttload. It's totally a phrase. 

Mojang, the makers of the runaway hit Minecraft, doubled their net income in 2013 according to The Wall Street Journal. They made $128 million last year, and revenue wise they saw 38% from the PC version, the console versions pull??ed in 30%, and around 25% came from the mobile versi??on. 

Minecraft is five years old now, and it doesn't look like things are slowing down anytime soon for the studio. “Usually with games, you would start to expect a decline after the first year since launch,&rdqu??o; Mojang Chief Executive Carl Manneh stated. “Tha??t’s never really happened for us.”

‘Minecraft’ Maker’s ??Profit Soars [The Wall Street Journal]

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Money maker

I don't know that I fully grasp the appeal of premium skins in Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, but I was never one to buy crap for my Avatar, either, so I'm clearly not the intended audience. I?f I were, however, these characters from the upcoming Avengers Ski?n Pack might just do the trick.

I mean, look at that -- they made the Red Skull adorable. Some of the confirmed characters include Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Loki, Wasp, Falcon, Vision, Maria Hill, and Agent Coulson (of course). No date has been given yet other than "coming soon." Seems like something they'd want to get out by the end of the year, however.

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Players may be able to transfer their saves after all

Those who have invested many hours into Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and are planning on picking up the Xbox One port hav?e, for some time, been wondering whether or not they'd have to leave their creations ??behind. As it turns out, they may not have to.

4J Studios, responding to a question on Twitter regarding world transfers between the 360 and Xbox One, has revealed that it is currently "...working on ways to move Xbox 360 saves to Xb?ox One with Microsoft." Though this is definitely ??great news, 4J noted that it won't be able to guarantee this nifty feature until the studio gets it fully working.

Anyone out there planning on getting Minecraft: Xbox One Edition when it launches?

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PS3 version getting ready for testing

There are a number of upcoming Minecraft ports (PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and Xbox One) and while we aren't entirely sure when these versions are releasing, 4J Studios has provided a bit of clarity. In an update on Twitter, the developer noted that "We're hard at work getting Minecraft: PS3 Edition ready for testi??ng just now. The other platforms [and title upd??ate 14] will be later."

In a follow-up response, 4J explained that the PS4 Minecraft "won't be a launch title." As expected as that is considering how little we've heard about this specific version, it's such a missed opportunity. Like, if I owned the console and ran out of things to play (which would definitely happen), I'd be tempted to double dip on Minecraft. You know -- just to have it.

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As paid DLC, naturally

It can be difficult to keep up with all of the content 4J Studios pumps out for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition and the millions of people that seem to own that version of the game. This seems like a big one, though. It's a DLC pack that brings elements of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim into the realm of Minecraft, including new textures, 40 character skins, restyled menus, craftable items, and 20-some songs from the Skyrim soundtrack.

This Mash-up pack is priced at $3.99/£2.69/€3.79, though release info hasn't been divulged yet. Bethesda has the specifics in a blog post and says there will also be a demo, should you want to see this for the novelty of it and not put down any money. Minecraft megafans attending Mine??con 2013 in Orlando this week can get their hands on the content.

No hard feelings about the whole Scrolls trademark dispute between Mojang and Bethesda, then?

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Smurf juice!

Our favorite blacksmith is back! This time he's recreated the Minecraft's Diamond Sword on the latest episode of Man At Arms. Another cool creation, but I'd hate to ac??tually have to wield ?this thing as the handle doesn't look comfortable at all.

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Not too long now

Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is currently the highest grossing Xbox LIVE Arcade game out there and, nearly a year after ??its release, is still one of the most pl??ayed games on Xbox LIVE -- outdoing most retail games when it comes to online activity.

Given all the success, it was hardly surprising to hear that a retail version of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was to be released by Microsoft, 4J Studios, and Mojang. A disc-based Minecraft game for Xbox 360 is still happening, it's just we're go??ing to need to ?wait a little while longer.

Larry Hryb has posted an update on the game, stating that, "In order to include the very latest content, the retail version for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has been delayed until June 4 (US)."

No news yet if othe??r regions, which had been given an "early June" lau?nch date, will also be receiving a delay.

@MajorNelson [Twitter]

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It took four months to make!

It took four months for Minecraft player Josh Collin to recreate Jurassic Park. Hold on to your clever girl butts!

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Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

It's been way too long since we've posted an amazing Minecraft creation. So I'm really happy we get to highlight this awesome fan created roller coaster themed after Beetlejuice, both the cartoon and movie.

It's pretty trippy, and the project took about two months off and on to complete. Even crazier is that this was done on the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft!

The post Beetlejuice & Minecraft come together to break your brain appeared first on Destructoid.

Daniel Kaplan has just revealed that Minecraft has sold seven million copies on PC to date. Relatedly, the Xbox Live Arcade version has sold around three million.

For those of you who don't remember the extremely lengthy alpha and beta stages that started in 2009, the game officially launched in November of 2011. Now i??t has its own convention, and a loyal fanbase to boot, who work tirelessly around the clock creating new worlds block by block.

I doubt Mojang will be able to replicate this explosive runaway success again (Minecraft 2?), but regardless of what the future may bring, ten millio??n copies is still an amazing accomplishment.

Daniel Kaplan [Twitter]

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Honestly, I'm still at a loss as to why Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition does not allow players to import character skins through some sort of PC wizardry. Creating custom skins for Minecraft is a basic luxury, but I digress. Mojang's answer to whatever issue?? preven?ts us from creating our own skins is the first of, I assume, many DLC packs.

Skin Pack 1, due out in the near future, features themed skins features Fable's Jack of Blades, Banjo, Ms 'Splosion, Gears' Clayton Carm??i??ne, and a nondescript prisoner. It's better than nothing, right? There's no date or price as of now, but I'm sure we'll be getting that info soon enough.

Moar Minecraft Themed Skins Revealed! [Play XBLA]

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Speaking to OXM about the future of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, 4J Studios' Paddy Burns said that the team is "working with Daniel Kaplan at Mojang to define what is going in to the Xbox version, but the aim is to include as many of the PC features that make sense on the Xbo??x as possi??ble."

The first update is said to get the game up to version 1.7.3, but that's only the beginning. 4J is looking to eventually bring the so-called Adventure Update content to Xbox 360 players. This was the one that included Creative mode, Endermen, expanded combat mechanics, and a whole lot more.

Having not touched the Xbox 360 Edition yet, I feel like the odd man out. It's the second most-played game on the console right now. That shouldn't be surprising, but after looking at the titles Minecraft s??urpassed? to get there, I don't know how else to react.

M??i?necraft Xbox 360 update: "Adventure" update is "the most difficult" [OXM via Eurogamer]

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In news that's equally surprising as it is not surprising, Microsoft has announced the official sales figures of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Major Nelson and Notch themselves were hinting at very strong sales last weekend, with no official on the actual numbers. As of today, Minecraft 360 ha??s sold just over 1 million copies in just five ?days. That really is quite impressive.

I'm going to be honest and say I find it weird that people are paying $20 for the 360 version of Minecraft. Al??l the Kinect stuff isn't there yet, it's missing quite a few updates, there's no dedicated servers, and there's no mod support. There is a promise of most of that stuff coming in future updates, but the PC version is definitely the one to go with. Maybe that's just me. If y??ou've been playing the console port, what do you think of it? Are my reservations ridiculous?

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Minecraft's success simply cannot be denied, whether you're one of its many loyal fans or highly vocal detractors. The blocky world and lack of objectives may be ?deceptively simple, but its honest freedom, as well as hidden depths both literal and figurative, has earned a cult following that is easily understood. 

After vacuuming the lives of PC and mobile gamers around the world, Minecraft is finally coming to consoles with Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Not only does ?it face the chal?lenge of providing the same experience as it does on computers, it also has to convince the console audience that its sandbox world is worth the considerable amount of time it demands.

It's going to be interesting finding out what 360 users on th??e whole make of it. This particular one has some mixed feelings.  

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: 4J Studios, Mojang
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Released: May 9, 2012
MSRP: 1600 Microsoft Points

For those not in the know, Minecraft is essentially an open world of building blocks, where the player is free to do whatever they wish -- within the limitations of the cuboid world's physical rules, of course. Aided by tools, crafting tables, and furnaces -- all of which must be built and rebuilt -- the player's only job is to make their own entertainment? in a randomly generated sandbox world. 

Everything in that world has a use, or multiple uses, and players will come to learn them as they play. Punching a tree, for example, produces blocks of wood, which can be taken to? a crafting table and tur?ned into wooden planks for buildings, stairs, or sticks. Sticks can be combined with other items to create new objects, working with coal to create torches, or cotton to produce beds. Different materials are stripped from the environment and exploited to fuel whatever the player would like to fashion. Be it a humble woodshed, an expansive fortress, or even an entire town, whatever can be imagined can be built, provided one is willing to invest the time and find the resources. 

Despite the game's frankly ugly appearance, there's an impressive sense of atmosphere with some lovely musical accompaniment, and the world feels strangely alive as ?angular sheep and cows stroll through pixelated forests and swim in bright blue grids. As artificial and static as everything is, the subtle sense that everything's breathing helps the player feel far more connected than he or she might first believe. The vastness of the world is truly felt when armed with a pickaxe and digging deep into the earth, discovering subterranean caves filled with precious ores, gold, and less savory things besides.

Although it's predominantly a game about building, Minecraft is something of a survival horror on the side. The first thing most players will do is build a quick and dirty habitat, complete with a door and a bed, for at night the monsters come crawling from underground to wreak havoc. Zombies, skeletal archers, and spider?s roam the surface, and any player caught outside risks mutilation. Enclosed buildings with shut doors keep them out, light sources reduce their desire to come near, and most of them will burn to death in the morning sun. Thus it is that most players learn to spend their day??s working and their nights sleeping in secure shelter. 

Daytime isn't completely safe, however. Zombies and skeletons can hide in the shade to cat??ch unwary players, while the sinister Creepers fear no light and love to sneak behind the player before hissing and exploding in a sacrificial attempt to ruin your day. Players who dig too deeply may also find themselves overrun by legions of underground beasts that have made their homes in the many preexisting caves. Should a player die, they respawn in the last bed they slept in, but will have to return to the scene of the crime if they want to regain any of the equipment they were carrying. 

It is up to you what you make of yourself in the world. Some will enjoy abiding by the laws of nature, crafting by day and sleeping by night. Some will build grand fortresses, while others may use the animals and plants to create their own working farms. Yet others will instead use their resources to craft bows, swords, and armor before actively taking on the monste??rs in defiant adventure. After all, everything has its use, and even the deadliest of creatures may yield useful supplies once slain. 

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Minecraft is in discovering the things that you're not told directly. What if I give this wolf a bone? What else can I use a fishing rod for? What can I do with this magma spewing out of the wall? While unimaginative players may be wondering what the point of the game is, those with curious minds and big visions will have plenty to do and an expansive playpen in which to do it.&nb??sp;

While it's incredibly engrossing and more than a little addictive, Minecraft's slow pace and excessive time encroachment can be something of a hassle. Any plans beyond building a small shed and killing things requires a large investment of time, as well as regularly wasted energy. One can spend hours digging underground to grab just enough materials to finish certain creations, and mining often involves huge amounts of doing very little but the same mindless c?hores over and over again. Getting to the gold, diamonds, and redstone requires vast sessions of simply holding down a button over successive grey blocks, getting deeper and deeper into grey caves full of more grey blocks to brainlessly mine. Walking through the world is slow? and tedious, a problem offset by the ability to build minecarts -- which themselves will require lots of tedious mining and walking in order to craft. 

Once materials are obtained, one will need to wait around while they're turned into useful components within furnaces. Even something as simple as getting meat to replenish health involves monotony and waiting, as well as fiddling around in the game's irritating and disorganized inventory system to get the required items in hand. All this, and one still has to contend with monsters that are fond of an ambush and can easily rob a player of hard-won items should they fall down the wrong hole and find themselves unable ??to reclaim their gear. 

Minecraft requires a ton of patience, and for many players the rewards simply aren't going to be there. After all, once you've built your fortress and filled it with decorations, what then? Build another one? Run around mashing buttons at monsters to kill them for idle sport? Minecraft is only fun for those who make it so, but the fun comes at quite a significant personal expense, and there's a pervasive feeling that once you've finished your own pet projects, you won't feel the need to keep playing it. While there's a lot to discover in Minecraft, little of it is worth? revisiting and some of it just isn't worth fighting to? see. 

All that said, the determined will become ensnared as so many have already, ever eager to find out what lies beneath the ground and what more can be created. For every player who finds the game a pointless waste of time, yet more shall find themselves gladly spending their lives exploring, surviving, and making whatever their imaginations can conjure up. Even after letting the game bore them to death, adventurers can still find a sudden spark of interest that reignites their passion and draws them even deeper, whether it's a maddening desire to expand one's home, march resplendent in solid gold armor, or simply maintain the largest wheat farm conceivable. You get out what you put in, provided that you enjoy Minecraft's eccentric offerings in the first place. 

While the Xbox 360 Edition is largely identical to the original, there are a few alterations. For one thing, mods and many of the updates are missing, though more features are due to be added over time. Right now there are no options for new player skins, and gameplay elements such as hunger are nonexistent. Crafting has been slightly streamlined, with players not having to worry about manually placing components while building objects (simply clicking an item will build it), and a tutorial mode has bee??n included to ease newcomers into the environment. Every new game always begins with a map in the inventory as standard, just to make navigating a little easier. 

Up to eight players can collude online, and four-player split-screen play is also supported, which? can make things a lot more fun for those getting bored. Though Kinect functionality has been previously promised, it is not available at launch. Those hoping to get their motion on will need to w?ait for future updates. 

Meanwhile, the 360 controller works surprisingly well with the game's keyboard-and-mouse-friendly gamepl??ay. While navigating the inventory is a real bitch, moving through the world and fighting enemies is rather fluid and satisfactory. The game has been tailored very nicely to the controller, and while those ?more used to mouse controls might find the input somewhat inelegant, most 360 users should have an easy time exploring and building. 

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was my first foray into Mojang's success story, giving me the chance to review this product as a game more than a port. Having already wasted more of my time than is sensible in Minecraft's strange little universe, I can see what all the fuss is about. I can also, however, see plenty of things to question and have been exasperated almost as much as I've been inspired. Minecraft is not a game I personally foresee playing a year from now, but should I look back on the hours already invested, I doubt I'll feel cheated. Indeed, Minecraft is endearing and regularly f??ascinates for as long as one's personal mileage can take them.

I don't regret the engrossing, addictive, and often boring adventure I've had. No matter how tired I may be by the end of a day's excavating, ?stone smelting, and undead slaying, I can say that, overall, it was worth the effort. Just about.

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