Microsoft distance themselves further from Notch

Speaking with Variety, a Microsoft spokesperson has announced that Minecraft creator ??Markus Persson - better known by pseudonym "Notch," will not be in attendance at an upcoming event celebrating the 10-year anniversary of ?the globally popular crafting game.

Notch, who created Minecraft back in 2009, sold the franchise for $2.4 billion in 2014. Microsoft has snubbed the game's creator for the upcoming event, however, telling Variety that "His comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang and are not representative of Minecraft." Persson has come under fire in recent years for a string of c?ontroversial comments made on social media platforms such as Twitter.

This is not the first time Microsoft has distanced itself from the Minecraft creator. Last month, the Minecraft team removed all references to Per?sson within the game itself, deleting refer??ences and messages from loading and splash screens. But this is the first time the company has o??penly acknowledged its disassociation from him.

The Minecraft anniversary event will take place at the Mojang studio in Stockholm. The event will celebrate and discuss the "past, present and exciting future of the decade-old franchise." Minecraft is available now on... w?ell, pretty mu??ch everything.

Minecraft creator excluded from anniversary event [Variety]

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New update scrubs creator's name from splash screens

A new update has rolled out for globally-popular crafting title Minecraft that appears to remove multiple references to the game's creator, Markus Persson, most??ly k?nown by his handle "Notch".

Although Persson's name remains in the Minecraft credits, splash messages such as "The Work of Notch", "Made by Notch" and a reference to the creator's wedding date have been coded out of the game's menus. Microsoft, of course, purchased Minecraft and its developing studio Mojang back in 2014 for an unprecedented $2.5 billion.

Notch has not been involved with the developmen?t of the game since selling the rights, but still appeared in-game via these randomised references. Not any more. Microsoft is yet to give a statement regarding the update??.

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Spencer wanted it, (probably) Mattrick didn't

In 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang and Minecraft for a cool $2.5 billion. It was a monumental acquisition, one spurred on by Minecraft creator Markus Persson ultimately growing tired of navigating a company that had grown to that size. It was extra notable because Persson had previously made a point ?of hoping to stay independent forever.

However, details have come to light that indicate maybe Minecraft was on the negotiating table sometime before the September 2014 sale. In his new book Hit Refresh, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that Microsoft passed on seriously pursuing Mojang before he w??as appointed CEO (which happened on February 4, 2014). And it was current Xbox leader Phil Spencer who wanted to make the deal.

"Early in Microsoft's relationship with Mojang, before I was CEO, [Spencer] presented an opportunity to purchase Minecraft, but [Spencer's] boss at the time chose not to move forward," Nadella wrote. He continued "For some, such a visible, high-level rejection could have been withering, but [Spencer] didn't give up?."

It's nearly impossible to definitively suss out who's to blame for passing on Minecraft, but the timeline of events points toward one person: Don Mattrick. Before Nadella became CEO, Mattrick was head of Xbox until his resignation in mid-2013. It's most likely that Spencer reported directly to Mattrick, meaning that Mattrick was probably the one who axed this before it was ever seriously considered. If Microsoft could've struck a deal earlier in Minecraft's life, it's pos??sible that an acquisition could've been made for far less than the astronomical $2.5 billion that it?? was eventually sold for.

However, just because Microsoft passed doesn't necessarily mean ?that Persson would've been ready to sell. When asked about Nadella's account, Persson said "I'm probably the wrong person to ask about specifics, but I do remember us getting a ridiculously low offer from some company at some point fairly early on. We said no. Just to be clear, we weren't actively looking to sell, but would with some frequency get asked. It wasn't until my tweet we decided to pursue it."

Persson's account seems hazy and you would think someone would remember if Microsoft tried buying their company -- especially if it were for a "ridiculously low" price. It's very possible that Microsoft's intentions to buy Minecraft before 2014 never amounted to anything more than internal conversations. But, it's sti??ll worth noting that Spencer thought an acquisition would be a good decision and ??that he was likely shut down by Mattrick. If it's true, that's just one more bad decision for Mattrick, a man whose legacy with Xbox is not much more than a series of bad decisions.

Micro??soft CEO S??atya Nadella says the company had the chance to buy Minecraft well before 2014, but passed [Business Insider]

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Game devs say the craziest things

Umm... wow. 

_{[Update: Notch has since apologized and deleted the tweets. It was allegedly a joke. You'll have to check his Twitter account for context. Nevertheless that's what was posted, and it was the most active community quickpost of the day.]} 

Which was later followed by this pseudo-apology:

[Spotted something crazy a developer said? Q-Post it and it may end up on our home page!]

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Twitter bullshit ahead

_{[I'm closing the comments, thanks for the 24 hour shit show, everyone involved. Destructoid hosts many voices - if you don't agree with an individual there's a mute and ignore function in your settings. If you have more to say we provide free microblogging and longblog tools, use Destructoid as intended. Publish or perish! -Niero]}

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson spent much of his weekend on Twitter despite a net worth of $1.5 billion. The noted sad man who once outbid Jay-Z and Beyonce on a $70 million Hollywood mansion took umbrage with a joke online and proceeded to call a couple women "cunts" for effect. I advise you, dear reader, to back out now and enjoy some of the other lovely content the internet has to offer, but for the rubber-neckers we proceed.

Mansplaining: The statue. pic.twitter.com/WubfBgtg78

— Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) May 20, 2016

Ga??me designer Jennifer Scheurle made the above joke online by taking a picture of something from her daily life, adding a tongue-in-cheek caption, and then moving on with her life. The joke here is that the statue is not called "M?ansplaining" or meant to describe the phenomenon of men jumping in unsolicited to "explain" things to women because they 1) assume their own authority on the topic or 2) don't understand what a "joke" is and actually think the original jokester thinks this statue in a United States university is actually called "Mansplaining."

The irony of this reply tho. pic.twitter.com/9OVLTosjqC

— Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) May 20, 2016

Our boy here gladly took care of number two. Also brings in some new unintentionally funny information: that the aforetweeted statue that is impetus for our joke here is located in a United States university, which, when coupled with knowledge that women are now more likely than men to have a degree maybe becomes an additional source of irony, like all that mega-good oil beneath all the well crap other ?folks are bringing up.

Two jokes deep (or, one joke, and the presentation of something obviously funny), Scheurle turned serious for a moment and offered, "Mansplaining is a funny, but actually quite problematic and real issue. It silences women." This is where our boy Ignatius Reilly Notch comes into ?our tale, jumping to object to a tweet.

@Gaohmee No, mansplaining is a sexist term designed to silence?? men via gender shaming.

— Markus Persson (@notch) May 21, 2016

Notch, of the $1.5 billion net worth and 3.75 million Twitter followers thinks the portmanteau "silences men," ignoring that it was portmanteau'd thusly because of men who really should be silenced (people who don't understand jokes or mistakenly assume they're smarter than the person they're responding to). It's kind of like arguing that calling it "necrophi??lia" shames corpse-fuckers, when the term is intentionally rese??rved to describe a certain act perpetrated by wrongheaded people.

Notch has different opinions about portmanteaus.

Stop #cuntfusing the issue by dismissing my words with a derogatory term about my gender. //t.co/F9iKyLVY0k

— Markus Persson (@notch) May 22, 2016

Ah. ??So "man" who's "explaining" equals "cunt" who's "confused." And then it's I guess, just, double irony to complain about "dismissing my words with a derogatory term about my gender" while doing the same thing. No??tch has a self-satisfied "gotcha!" in response despite the obvious false dichotomy between the term "man" and the word "cunt"and despite ignoring the historical/social context of the term and despite the fact that he spent his weekend getting mad at women for oppressing him online.

He followed up by telling another woman, "you're a cunt," and went to play Quake Live.

---

_{[I'm closing the comments, thanks for the 24 hour shit show, everyone involved. Destructoid hosts many voices - if you don't agree with an individual there's a mute and ignore function in your settings. If you have more to say we provide free microblogging and longblog tools, use Destructoid as intended. Publish or perish! -Niero]}

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Hollywooooood...Hollywood swinging!

It may pale in comparison to the $70 million mansion Notch outbid Jay-Z and Beyonce on (spending G's indeed), but YouTub??e video maker Jordan "CaptainSparklez" Maron just bought himself a?? $4.5 million house in the Hollywood Hills. It's 1/5 the size, but 1/15 the price.

Maron, who primarily plays Minecraft on his YouTube channel for 8.8 million subscribers, is now quite close to Notch, the creator of Minecraft and owner of a small nation's?? GDP (Samoa, maybe).

Sure, 23-year-old Maron's home? has four bathrooms, three bedrooms, a three car garage, and a pool with a view, but have you tried driving in Los Angeles? It's horrible. He'll probably just stay in the hot tub all day. Plus, then you have to be a Dodgers fan. Did you see that illegal slide Utley pulled last night to br??eak the Mets' shortstop's leg? Literally the highest payroll in baseball and you got to get lucky to have the ump not call the flagrant rule violation just to keep from going down two games to none.

Also get a laugh out of that Monopoly man art.

Anyw?ays, I've got to go tamp down the bins as they are stuffed with confett??i pink "FINAL NOTICE" bills. It would be sweet if you got money for recycling papers like you do for bottles and cans. These things would pay for themselves.

YouTube Star Jordan Maron Nabs Sunset Plaza Pad [Variety]

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Because the media will publish anything

Markus “Notch” Persson opened up on Twitter this weekend, posting several tweets lamenting that life as an celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be. The tweets became a news sensation as several high-profile websites painted Persson as a sad and lonely man who hates being a billionaire. Today, the Minecraft creator announced he’s just going to po?st some random shit to Twitter to see what the media does with it.

The media, best known for playing its role in exacerbating all of the problems we as a society face today, pounced as Persson posted tweet after ambiguous tweet; turning his cryptic messages into baseless, non-fact-?checked pieces of clickbait garbage.

“I’ve posted about 47 tweets so far, all of them nonsensical,” Persson explained. “Dur?ing the last Google News search of my name I found 73 different articles in about 13 different languages, with topics ranging from me wanting to get a sex change to me potentially buying the Toronto Blue Jays. I suppose that’s better than a ton of articles telling everyone I’m a crybaby billionaire whom nobody loves. I mean, jeez, you post a few tweets at a particular low point of the day and suddenly you’re a Zoloft-popping sad-sack who hugs strangers just to feel human contact. My life is great. Last week I partied with both Bruno Mars and Charlie Sheen. Who else, besides a cocaine dealer, can say that?”

While gaming-related websites have shockingly avoided covering Persson’s tweets, established news agencies like The Daily Mail, The Independent, and Forbes are lapping up each word he writes, producing what can only be described as ad-ridden donkey shit. As he set up a Google Alert for his own name to track the utter?ly ridiculous pieces that are written about him, Persson was amused to find that even the most innocuous tweet can lead to a series of truly stupid articles.

“Look at this tweet. It’s ??just the number seven. I don’t even remember sending that one out. I’m pretty sure that’s a butt-tweet. Yet here’s CNET with an article saying that tweet means I’m counting down to sometime big, with three follow-up pieces speculating what that something big could be. I think tomorrow I’m going to post the number eight just to see if they freak out.&rdq??uo;

Persson says he plans to continue fucking with the media until? it stops being fun, at which point he’ll sell his Twitter account to Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars.

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Commence wild speculations in 3...2...1

Minecraft creator Notch i??s going to be in LA during E3 next month.

His tweet - a casual comment about "being in LA in a month" - tells us nothing. And I kn???ow what you're thinking: we're reading too much into it, right?

But you know what? Kojima's left Konami. Silent Hills has been cancelled. Fallout 4 is seemingly in development. 2015 has been a weird-ass year and right now, anything is possible... 

Well. Maybe. Although I'll be honest, I wouldn't recommend holding your breath for Minecraft 2 just yet...

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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 bill??ion, and could be signed as early as this week. 

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 comes up that would make a lot of mone?y, 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," Pe?rsson wrote in a June blog post.

That same month, Mojang business analyst Patrick Geuder revealed Minecraft was near 54 million copies sold acro??ss 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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That's where yer Minecraft money is going folks

One of the more interesting Kickstarter projects in recent memory is the Caustic Window project, an effort to buy and then release copies of a fabled "lost" album from electronic maverick Aphex Twin. After being successfully funded, the original and unique vinyl pressing was put up on eBay and sold f??or just over $46,000 to a mystery buyer. Turns out that mystery buyer was Minecraft head h??oncho Markus "Notch" Persson, who isn't exactly short of cash these days. 

Whilst initially a mystery, Notch recently tweeted he "spent a lot of money on a double LP from the '90s." Suppose if you've got plenty of cash you can splurge on things like that; I felt slight aggrieved at having to spend £25 on the recent Spiderland reissue... 

The creator of Minecraft was the mystery buyer of Aphex Twin's?? unreleased ??album [The Verge]

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It's about climbing cliffs as a horse

No doubt as a homage to various Bethesda games that have wonky horse physics, Minecraft creator Notch has launched a new game -- Cliffhorse. The game is in early access form, but it's free (you can donate if you want). It's self explanatory, as you'l??l spend most of your time just running around and walking?? up cliffs.

That's about it for now. This is a thing.

Cliffhorse [Cliffhorse.com via Eurogamer]

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Solve

Need a crushing reminder of the frailty and futility of life? Markus "Notch" Persson has your back. His web-based experience Drowning in Problems ??;does a pretty fine job? of making sure you don't forget.

Watch as growing only leads to more problems. The list of things "you need" only gets larger, and each solution seemingly points to mo?re voids in your life. Maybe you're better off without all the stuff that you "can't afford" anyway. Before long, you realize that you didn't sign up for this, damnit; you're just an unwilling participant in a cruel game.

Drowning in Problems [Notch]

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Notch stands by his decision

I'll admit it: when I heard Markus "Notch" Persson had canceled Minecraft for Oculus Rift because Facebook acquired its creator Oculus VR and the social network company "creeps" him out, I was skeptical about how much work had really gone into the project. Speaking to Kotaku, Notch said he had personally built "several prototypes of games for the Oculus Rift" and the team working on Minecraft for?? mobile "ha?d worked on an Oculus Rift prototype of the game."

What's more, this version of the absurdly popular title would have likely been free. "The last thing I said to the Oculus people before I left was that I would love for us to make a free version of Minecraft ("Minecraft VR Edition" perhaps?) to help promote VR, even if I don't think a game with as much GUI as Minecraft is ideal for VR."

Also, former Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski got mad at Notch for the cancellation, which was a bit of a funny thing. In a blog post, Bleszinski said the dec?ision "makes you look like a pouty kid who is taking his ball and going home. It's a bratty and petty move and it saddens me greatly."

In response, Notch said "Damn straight I am." Earlier, he tweeted "Mojang exists because it's fun to make ??games, not to only have the ma??ximum profit."

Minecraft On Oculus Rift Would Have Been A F?ree Demo, Notch Says [Kotaku] [Image source]

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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 pulled in 30%, and around 25% came from the mobile version. 

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,&rdquo?; Mojang Chief Executive Carl Manneh stated. “That’s never really happened for us.”

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

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I guess money's not a rare item at Mojang

Markus "Notch" Persson and Mojang are counting their millions, but that doesn't necessarily mean dollars in this instance. Well, indirectly it does. Notch revealed via Twitter recently that the PC version of Minecraft ha??s recently passed the 14 million sales milestone. That tally doesn't seem set to slow down anytime soon.

Computer players aren't the only ones that love them some Minecraft. In December 2013, it was announced that the game had sold in excess of 10 million copies on Xbox 360. With a newly released PlayStation 3 version th??at's already passed one million sales, and Xbox One, PS4??, and PS Vita iterations all in the works, these numbers are probably going to do nothing but increase dramatically. All just bricks in Notch's big, blocky empire.

@notch [Twitter]

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He wants to create a Valve rather than work at Valve

Most people that are even remotely interested in the videogames industry would figuratively kill (maybe literally!) for a shot at ?interviewing at Valve, let alone securing a job there. Markus Persson, better known to the gaming community as "Notch", did the former on accident, and then turned down a job offer.

In an excerpt from his book Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything, which was republished by AllThingsD, Notch tells of the time that he was invited to visit Valve as Minecraft's b??eta was taking off and generated quite a bit of buzz.

After touring the studio and meeting Gabe Newell, Notch sat down in a meeting room to chat with one of Valve's human resources representatives. He told a bit about himself and his plans for Minecraft before realizing that he was midway through a job interview??.

Eventually, he was told by the member of HR that the company wanted him to become a Valve employee, and asked if he was interested in joining. Notch politely declined the off??er, stating that it was one of the toughest decisions he's ever had to make.

His reasoning for turning down employment at Valve was ambitious and laudable. "Somehow, I felt that Minecraft was my chance to create a Valve, rather than ??work at Valve," he said. He may not have created a behemoth of that magnitude yet, but he's certainly ?on the right path.

Book Excerpt: How Minecraft Creator Markus Persson Almost Took a Job at ??Valve [AllThingsD via CVG]

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See the story of Notch

The documentary on Minecraft that 2 Player Productions released back in 2011 is now up in its entirety on YouTube. This is a full and official release of Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, and it's not some pirated garbage.

The film tells the story of Notch and how he created Minecraft and founded Mojang, and includes tons of people from the gaming industry that you might recognize. If you really love what you watch and you want to support the guys that made the film, you can buy the DVDs, a digital download, or the soundtrack.

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Fans come together to begin working on their own take on the concept

[Update: Notch has shared his thoughts on 0x10c with a blog post. "Turns out, what I love doing is making games," he wrote. "Not hyping games or trying to sell a lot of copies. I just want t?o experiment and develop and think and tinker and tweak."

As for Project Trillek, Notch finds it to be? "absolutely amazing. I want to play this game so much, but I am not the right person to make it. Not any more. I’m convinced a new team with less public interest can make a vas??tly superior game than what I would make."]

Conceptually, 0x10c sounded like the stuff of dreams. A space game designed by Minecraft's Notch and inspired by such things we love as Elite and Firefly, its troubled development has come to an end. Notch had previously said the title had been "put on ice" -- that the project just wasn't coming together -- but word has since gotten out that he's done with 0x10c. Done done.

"There are no future aspirations for 0x10c," the designer said on a live ?stream. "If someone else at the office wants to do it, then yeah. But I'm just going to be working on small games for the rest of my life."

A shame, obviously, but sometimes even good projects need to be cut to make way for great projects. Go?ing back to what I was saying about the game's strong ??premise, there is some hope for any of you wanting this kind of spacefaring experience realized.

Fans are working on an open-source game inspired by 0x10c called Project Trillek, which would be astounding were it not for the fact that this isn't that rare of an occurrence. Actually, it's still astounding. Follow Trillek's development on the official subreddit or on its website.

N?otch Puts 0x10c On Ice , Community Picks Up Torch [US Gamer]

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He made a bunch of sub-4K Java games, actually

A great way to waste time is to Google any odd topic that happens to pop into your head and play a game of link tag until you strike pay dirt. My latest excursion led me to Sonic Racer 4K, a Java-based Sonic fan game. But what really cau??ght my attention was the name of the developer: Markus Per??sson.

You know, the Minecraft guy.

After a little more digging, I discovered an old resume that he still hosts on the Mojang page, even though it's no longer directly linked anywhere on the site. Turns out Notch was a frequent participant in the Java 4K Programming Contest, which tasks entrants to create a Java game with a total file size less than 4K bytes. Sonic Racer 4K was a 2005 submissions, but he also made other 4K fan games, including MEGA4KMAN and Left 4K Dead.

I don't know how much of this? is common knowledge, but it's certainly a big surprise to me. I like learning about what folks did before they were famous. As for the games themselves, they are impressive considering the constraints, even if they are kind of poopy. Test them out yourselves!

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How long can you last?

Notch's new game is called Drop, and it's a? simple little speed typing game that you can play right in your browser. Well it starts off simple e??nough, but then things quickly change and you start to doubt your typing skills as you fail over and over again.

Basically, imagine Super Hexagon as a typing game. Notch says Terry Cavanagh's game was an inspiration for Drop, along with the ending of Fez, and his own ceiling. The time you have to type out letters decrea??ses the longer you go, and missing a character increases speeds even more. How long can you last?

@Notch [Twitter, via Game Informer]

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Player creations to be included in insert

Sweedish book Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game that Cha??nged Everything, was written by journalists Linus La?rsson and Daniel Goldberg, and has been translated by Jennifer Hawkins for Seven Stories Press. It's coming to our English-reading eyeballs this November 5th.

Through interv???iews and investigative work, this book gives us the full rags to riches story of Notch and how he created one of the most popular games available, Minecraft. 

Seven Storie??s says that they're partnering with Mojang and will crowd-source photos of Minecraft player creations for a full-color insert to be included in t?he book. 

At this year's MineCon, set to kick off so?me time this fall, Larsson and Goldberg will be there to sign books. And speaking of signings, pre-orders are now being taken on the Seven Stories Press website; the first three hundred copies ordered will be sign??ed by the authors. 

Minecraft; The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game that Changed Everything

By Linus Larsson and Daniel Goldberg
November 5, 2013
256 pages | 978-1-60980-537-1 | $21.95
Hardcover | Includes 16-page color photo insert

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Because you're clearly not doing anything important right now

During this past week's Mojam event, designers from Mojang, Vlambeer, Wolfire Games and more participated in a 78-hour game design challenge. All of the games created were offered through Humble Bundle in exchange for a donation, with proceeds to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mojang's own "Block by Block" partnership with UN Habitat.

Mojang's founder Notch offered a significant inducement to donors should sales of the Mojam 2 bundle reach $500,000: his beard. I suppose it goes without saying that the threshold was reached. Of course, just because Notch's beard is gone d??oesn't mean that your charitable good nature should be as well. Humble Bundle is still offering the Mojam 2 bundle for two quite worthy causes, so you may want to cruise over and pick up some little games while feeling good about yourself at the same time.

And, before you ask, no. The wife won't allow it.

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Triumph explains how it happened

Did you see the new trailer and screenshots for Age of Wonders 3? The game is looking hot, let me tell you. And the fact that it's not relying on Kickstarter, just this once, is reassuring. Developer Triumph Studios was said to have received financial help from a "big partner," which ended up being none other than Minecraft creator Notch, reports Eurogamer.

"We noticed Minecraft's random title-screen blurb mentioned Age of Wonders," Triumph managing director Lennart Sas told the outlet, "so I thought what the heck and I sent Notch an email. We had a demo for Age of Wonders 3 and talked to various parties including traditio?nal publishers. There was certainly interest but the prospect of having Notch help fund was a dream come true, as he's a fan of the game and didn't i??nsist on owning it like many of the publishers do these days when they fund development."

While Notch may have backed off from Psychonauts 2 for the time being, this more than makes up for it. (As if he needed to make up for anything in the first place!) Continuing, Sas said that the deal "certainly didn't happen overnight, and he kept a healthy business sense towards the project. His biggest concern was that it would cost him a lot of time, so it helped that we made this sort of game before and were at an advanced stage of development. Notch is pretty much hands off. He's a super busy ma?n, now even more so then when we approached him."

How Notch funding Age of Wonders 3 came about [Eurogamer]

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Potential sequel still in limbo, though not all hope is lost

The mere possibility of Minecraft creator Notch funding the development of a creatively rewarding yet financially risky game like Psychonauts 2 was wonderful to see play out online, even if the odds were against such an arrangement. In a recent Reddit thread, talk of the sequel resurfaced.

"I somewhat naively thought 'a couple of million' was two million," writes Notch. "I had no doubt in my mind that a Psychonauts 2 would earn that money back easily. Turns out they wanted 18 million dollars, haha. I don’t have the time at th??e moment to even try to get educated enough to make an 18 million dollar deal. Perhaps in some distant future when I'm no longer trying to make games, I could get into angel investing. I've made one private investment into a game so far, at $100K, and it's frankly a lot more work than I thought."

While we should never say never, it looks like for the immediate future, we'll have to carry on living in a world without Psychonauts 2. GamesBeat got a comment from developer Double Fine, which says the studio is "excited about the prospect of making a sequel to Psychonauts, but we??'re currently focused on making our Kickstarter game and haven't been ?able to budget it out. Once we get around to it, we'll likely explore alternative funding methods that will require multiple sources to make it a reality."

On some level, I suppose that puts even more pressure on the team to really deliver with Double Fine Adventure, assuming they would opt to go with Kickstarter again or take a similar crowdfunding approach to fund the sequel.? The heat is on.

Exclusive: Minecraft’s Notch no longer funding Psych?onauts 2 [GamesBeat]

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Notch, can I borrow $5,000?

Markus "Notch" Persson has confirmed via Twitter that the PC version of Minecraft has passed the 8 million sold mark. 

"The PC version of Minecraft just passed 8 million sales!" Tweeted Notch. "My face is making grinning sounds, so I assume it's g?rinning!"

I'm sure his grins sound like dollar bills rubbing together. Wadding together. His entire facial muscle structure is made up of currency fibers. 8 million is nuts for a game tha??t dropped about this time last year. Congrats, Notch.

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Yes, that is the title of today's episode

Hey gang! Here we are again, another Friday episode where Tara and I goof of?f a bunch because we f??eel like it.

Big news today: something something boobs controversy Team Ninja Dead Or Alive 5, Konami unveils collector's editions for The Zone of the Enders HD Collection and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Notch talks some smack about Windows 8, Hamza checked out the Black Ops II multiplayer, Microsoft wants to reward high Gamerscores, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance gives a new meaning to the arms race.

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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 o?fficially launched in November of 2011. Now it 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 mi?llion copies is still an amazing accomplis??hment.

Daniel Kaplan [Twitter]

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Notch has been chatting about gender in the world of Minecraft, relating how the protagonist was never meant to be a man or a woman, and only became known as Steve due to a random name choice. See Minecraft recognizes neither sex, but in doing so, creates a world where sam??e-sex procreation is the only answer. 

"All the other mobs in the game are genderless and usually exhibit the most prominent traits of both genders," expl?ains the?? developer. "Cows have horns and udders (even if I’ve later learned that there are some cows where the females do have horns), and the chicken/duck/whatevers have heads that look like roosters, but still lay eggs. For breeding, any animal can breed with any other animal of the same species.

"Obviously, I’m not saying this is a good way to deal with gender in all games, as the better your graphics are, and because of how quickly the human mind tries to identify the gender of other humans, you are going to have to make a decision as a developer about gender, but I felt we could get away with it in Minecraft."

As a side note, Notch points out that the one-gender natural law makes every single creature in the Minecraft world a homosexual, adding, "Take THAT, homophobes." And? here I was thinking I couldn't like the cut of this man's jib anymore than I already did.

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Minecraft maker Mojang (really, Markus "Notch" Persson) was working on a first-person shooter with another c?ompany, but that has now been officially canceled. Gone before you could get excited about it. Fortunately, this project was only in the prototype sta?ge before it got canned.

Notch told Joystiq that the project was killed because "Mojang did not want more external dependencies." Also: "The success of Minecraft meant we could focus on proje??cts fully owned by?? us."

Notch is op??en to futu??re collaborations as long as they're not to make money. What a guy!

What a shame, t??hough. I'm sure we all would have loved to see this FPS.

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Patent troll Uniloc is suing Minecraft developer Mojang, as well as EA and Square Enix, for infringing on a form of copy-protection it "owns." Uniloc's goal is to "Look at many ideas. Pick an outstanding one. Patent it. Commercial?ize it. Reap the rewards." In other words, it sits on c?oncepts and sues anybody who comes close. 

Uniloc claims to own the patent behind applications "that require communication with a server to perform a license check to prevent the unauthorized use of said application, including, but not limited to, Minecraft." In other words, it's suing over what sounds like most modern copy protection. A number of other companies are in Uniloc's sights, such as Gamelo?ft. 

Oh, and they referred to Minecraft as "Mindcraft" because they're?? ludicrous douches. 

"Unfortunately for them, they’re suing us over a software patent," Tweeted the studio founder. "If needed, I will throw piles of m??oney?? at making sure they don’t get a cent."

Notch later blogged about the nature of patents, writing, "There is no way in?? hell you can convince me that it’s beneficial for society to not share ideas. Ideas are free. They improve on old things, make them better, and this results in all of society being better. Sharing ideas is how we improve."

I understand why patents exist, but I think the rules governing them need a major overhaul. We can't hav??e this situation where a company conceives (or, as seems to be the case, acquires) a vague idea, reserves the rights to it, then just sits on it with the intent to sue anybody who has a similar idea but has the willingness to do something productive.

It's disgustingly parasitic, and allows serpents like Tim Langdell to exist. It's ridiculous that we have a system in place that allows people to make money by pretending to be entitled to the rewards of somebody else's hard work. Even if the target i??s copy protection, it's still rather? gross. 

Mojang sued for patent infringement [PC Gamer]

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