[XBLA]Minecraft

[metallicorphan]

Trailer

I will pick this up whenever it's out,looks like fun..oh,and great trailer

[whiteboyskim]

LOL. That's awesome.

[metallicorphan]

A release date for this will be announced in 2 days time

http://playxbla.com/minecraft-launch-date-tease/

[metallicorphan]

Minecraft hitting XBLA this May

May 9th
1600 MSP 

[EddieA]

It will be interesting to see how it fares against the numerous $1-$3 knockoffs available in the indie games section.

[Bullwinkle]

1600 points is ridiculous.

[EddieA]

While $20 is certainly high for an XBLA game, it's still $7 cheaper than the PC version.

[Covenant]

Out today! I have this on the PC already (one of my favorite games of all time) but picked this up so the wife and I could play together split screen. Downloaded it this morning an mucked around with it for about 10 minutes or so.  My quick and dirty impressions:

Graphics: They seem to be the same as the PC but better quality if that makes sense.
Performance: Much better than the PC.  This is running at a smooth 60 fps, and once you see it will realize how bad the PC version actually runs.
Gameplay: This is basically a direct port of version 1.6.6 so there's no hunger bar, XP, strongholds, mineshafts, ravines, villages, or jungle biomes. Still, it's faithful and the plan from the developer is to eventually get both versions fully synched. The controls feel nice, and what changes there are seem to be nice compromises. Crafting is the major change that I see in that you don't have to know the recipies; everything that can be crafted will show up with a list of what is needed to create the item.  If you have the items, it will craft the item, if you don't then it won't. I guess some people might have an issue with this, but I always just looked up recipies on the wiki anyway so this saves me that step, plus selecting individual items and placing them in the crafting table would be anightmare with a controller. Another major change is world size; while the PC version is essentially infinite, the console version is only 1000x1000.  I'm not sure what I think about this yet, as it sounds very small to me. People who have tested this out however have said it is plenty large in actual practice. Time will tell on this one. I believe the developer has also stated they are trying to increase this limitation, so I'm hoping it works out. The final big change that I have seen is the integration of multiplayer (rather than having to set up a server on the PC).  When you create a world, you can tell it to be online and then friends can join your world with a simple button click.  A friend can also join locally and it will go into split screen. There are some rules around what accounts need gold access depending on who is connected that I'm confused about right now, so I will jsut say look it up.  I did test connecting a second controller and once you choose a profile (I created a new simple one without xbox live connectivity) and it appeared in game just fine.

I would say anyone who hasn't played minecraft yet should check out the trial, and everyone who already has it on the PC consider purchasing it for easy multiplayer and couch creating.

[The Grue]

Speaking of running poorly on the PC....why does it?  It's one of the reasons I don't play it there and I have a computer that runs most games with everything turned up. Might grab this on 360 if it runs nice.

[kronovan]

Ditto about  poor performance on the PC keeping me away. My son got it when it was in alpha and now that its final product -if there really is such a thing for the game- it still run's slowly. He's running it on a quad-core with 8/GB RAM and a Nvidia 560, so I don't think its the gaming rig. I'd like to get it to play split-screen with him, but the game costs over $20 on XBL Canada. I'll wait until its a deal of the week, or I'm more in the mood for throwing money away.

[Bullwinkle]

For those interested, Best Buy is selling it for $5 less than XBLM.

[Destructor]

Speaking of running poorly on the PC....why does it?  It's one of the reasons I don't play it there and I have a computer that runs most games with everything turned up. Might grab this on 360 if it runs nice.

Honestly? Java isn't exactly the fastest of programming languages. Although for me at least, it runs great as long as I'm not running it full screen.

And the 360 version is only 1000x1000 blocks? That's downright TINY.

[Hetz]

For those interested, Best Buy is selling it for $5 less than XBLM.

Thanks! Picked it up for $15

[CeeKay]

played the trial, wasn't wowed enough to double dip.  it did get me to fire up the PC version for the first time in ages though.

[siege]

Runs so much smoother on the 360. One of the reasons I abandoned playing it on PC was the constant stuttering. Drove me mad.

The addition of split screen is great.

[USMC Kato]

Buying this for my son since he is cuckoo for coco puffs for minecraft.

[Caine]

For those interested, Best Buy is selling it for $5 less than XBLM.

Thanks! Picked it up for $15

apparently, not any more.  link broken and the new item page is saying $20.

I'll wait for a sale.  or just fire up the pc version I bought ages ago.

[Roguetad]

I purchased an unlock code at my local best buy last night for $15.  They didn't have any boxes, just the code printed on a receipt (and they email it to you).  I went home, entered the code, and 90 minutes later I started to understand why people have been addicted to this game on their PCs.  It ran well, the inventory management was simple enough to figure out.  Some of the interactions with the environment are contextual, using the 360 triggers, others require using the quick inventory or pulling out an item.  

My 8 year old loves building games, and he's already salivating to modify and add on to the structures I built last night.  I like that we can play local co-op and build together.  It's easy to just pick up a controller and join in, with the game going to split screen to support local co-op.

I didn't get very far into crafting, but I was able to fortify the first structure into a tower defense, complete with ladders, doors, observation decks, and a trap door to exit quickly.  All wooden stuff.  It's withstood the evening zombie incursions, but I would be screwed if they ever decided to use fire.  I made a wooden sword, and slaughtered some cows to make crude leather armor.  I need to venture out from my "I am Legend" inspired safehouse and begin exploring.

My son and I discovered the hazards of digging tunnels near water.  We were happily tunneling away when we hit the water table, and it was like a pixelated disaster movie as we tried frantically to escape to the surface.      

[PeteRock]

I may have to check this out as I am completely unfamiliar with the game.  But if it can be co-op fun, perhaps it'll provide a fun game for me and the wife to play together as I hate Carcassone (she hands me my ass every time we play and it still doesn't make any sense to me) and she only likes to play MP shooters when in the same living room with friends, and that's only limited to Halo as she has zero interest in military shooters.

Even after watching videos I still don't even understand what the point of gameplay is.   

[The Grue]

Even after watching videos I still don't even understand what the point of gameplay is.   

Think of it as Lego on your XBox.  Just there to play around with and build stuff, though you have to watch out for monsters.

[happydog]

she only likes to play MP shooters when in the same living room with friends, and that's only limited to Halo as she has zero interest in military shooters.

Borderlands.

[Roman]

Buying this for my son since he is cuckoo for coco puffs for minecraft.

Same on this end. Bought it last night and he enjoyed it - he is already asking if / when he can install mods! 

[Rumpy]

Speaking of running poorly on the PC....why does it?  It's one of the reasons I don't play it there and I have a computer that runs most games with everything turned up. Might grab this on 360 if it runs nice.

Honestly? Java isn't exactly the fastest of programming languages. Although for me at least, it runs great as long as I'm not running it full screen.

Yeah, Java's always been rather slow. I imagine the infinite terrain isn't helping things either, which is why you're likely seeing smoother performance on the 360 version due to the smaller terrain size. Sprite animations also slow things down, because I notice that if I'm looking in the direction of fire, my framerate will slow down, which also explains why the Nether has a much different performance than the overworld as there's lots of fire there.

[CeeKay]

does that big MINECRAFT logo floating in the sky ever go away?  that was another thing that was bugging me.

[Covenant]

does that big MINECRAFT logo floating in the sky ever go away?  that was another thing that was bugging me.

Are you playing in the tutorial world? Once you complete the tutorial, you're expected to exit and then generate a new world to truly start "playing"

[Destructor]

Think Minecraft on the 360 is popular? Well, you'd be wrong.

Instead, it's absolutely absurdly popular. It's SO popular that it was profitable after the first hour of sales. It's SO popular that it broke all Day 1 sales records ever on XBLA.

Want specifics? It apparently sold more than 400,000 copies in its first 24 hours.

Wow.

[Razgon]

Who are all these people that keep buying Minecraft?!?!

[Roguetad]

Holy crap...that's an $8 million gross in the first 24 hours.  That's freaking crazy.  And unlike the big triple A titles, he doesn't have a huge budget or large operating expenses.   

[CeeKay]

Holy crap...that's an $8 million gross in the first 24 hours.  That's freaking crazy.  And unlike the big triple A titles, he doesn't have a huge budget or large operating expenses.   

plus they've made enough off of the PC version that probably anything that comes in is profit at this point.

[Covenant]

[happydog]

Holy crap...that's an $8 million gross in the first 24 hours.  That's freaking crazy.  And unlike the big triple A titles, he doesn't have a huge budget or large operating expenses.   

I haven't been following Minecraft much lately, but I would guess that they worked with another company to create the 360 port. Depending on the agreement, this could have cost quite a chunk of cash.

[CeeKay]

Holy crap...that's an $8 million gross in the first 24 hours.  That's freaking crazy.  And unlike the big triple A titles, he doesn't have a huge budget or large operating expenses.   

I haven't been following Minecraft much lately, but I would guess that they worked with another company to create the 360 port. Depending on the agreement, this could have cost quite a chunk of cash.

yep, 4J Studios.

[Razgon]

So - anyone want to have some MP fun with this?

[CeeKay]

refunds for SDTV owners who found out they cannot do split screen MP.

[CeeKay]

looks like you may be able to add PSN to the title.